Gettysburg in the Summer

 

I have been to Gettysburg 5 times since 2012. This is not because I'm a civil war history buff but because there is a lot of good bike riding in the area. Most of my trips here have been in October with the Philadelphia Bike Club. They run a ride out here every year where they fill up 2 hotels in, Hanover PA, with bicyclist who ride all the roads in and around Gettysburg. It's always a good trip and it is fun being part of a weekend which is all about biking and nothing else. 

I have always wanted to come out in the late spring or summer instead of the fall so we could ride in warmer weather. I have been trying to do this for a couple of years but weather or other commitments kept me from doing it. I tried this past June to get a trip going but the weather didn't work out so when I saw an opening of good weather at the end of August I sent out an email out to see if I could get enough people on short notice to do the trip.

Luckily 5 of us were able to do. Since I had been planning this trip for over a year I had all the logistics of the trip already work out, mostly. For this trip we always stay in the Hampton Inn in Hanover but the price was kind of expensive this time of year. I looked for discounts and while looking at other alternatives I found a house on Vrbo that would work so ended up booking that instead. 

So this past Friday off we went to Gettysburg. After driving to Gettysburg and meeting everyone at the starting point we start the ride off around noon.  Our first ride was around the battlefield. I had mapped out a 23 mile loop that hit all the different areas. Most of the ride was inside the park. There wasn't a lot of people at the park or in Gettysburg itself so we didn't have to deal with a lot of people or cars getting in our way. There are a lot of interesting monuments and statues here as well a a number of scenic overlooks so we took our time. I have rode around the battlefield a number of times but I always find some I haven't notice before so didn't mind doing it again. 

After the ride it was back to our house.

I have stayed in a number of Vrbo houses and am usually able to find a good place to stay. The only concern I had about this house was there was no reviews but it had 5 bedrooms (one for each of us), was on the route of our Saturday ride and was half the price of the hotel rooms. The house was on a 100 acre farm at the end of the long driveway. It was few hundred feet from the other houses on the farm and in the back corner so it was very private. 

 

We had great views of Lake Marburg and the rolling farmland. The house was larger than I expected with two large living rooms in the front (one of them became the bike room). A large eat in kitchen and dinning room as well as 1 bedroom on the first floor. Then the second floor had 4 bedrooms. The furniture was old but comfortable and the house was clean. However the best thing about it was the porch with its rocking chairs where you could sit out and watch the lake and farm. It was a good place to relax after the ride. 

Dinner was at a local dinner then back home to watch Jeff passionately root for the Eagles. 

On Saturday we did a ride to Loganville to visit a farmers market. This ride was through an area called Seven Valleys. Do you know what surrounds valleys?? That right HILLS! and depending on who's GPS you believed there were between 8 and 15 climbs on this ride. The first part of the ride was through the valley although this is Pennsylvania so it was more rolling than flat with a couple of annoying short bumps. On the way we ended up passing Hanover Junction train station

 

This is the train stations that Lincoln passed through on his way to Gettysburg to give his famous speech. Today its one of the trail heads for the Heritage Rail Trail which goes from York PA all the way down to the Mason Dixon line in Maryland. We stopped at the train station for a bathroom break and also got a history lesson from some of the union soldiers who were there as part of a family event. 

Then it was onward and mostly upward as we climbed out of the valley and to the farmers market. Brown's Farm Market is like a country version of Delicious Orchards. It has all the usual produce and baked goods as any normal farmers market would as well as a nice set of tables outside to sit at. It also had a good view of the valley we had rode through.

 

From there is was back down through what is call a town around here and then on to a dam on Lake William. Last time I did this route in 2018 they had drained the lake and were working on the dam. At that time there was a bridge out sign across the road but the we were still able to ride across the dam. I was curious to see what the new dam looked like. 

The new dam is very nice. They just forgot to add the bridge. DAM!! 

That was unexpected. If we were really adventurous we would have tried to walk down the hill and across the spillway but that would be a bad idea. Instead we had to go back up the hill from the dam and find another way back. I did plan for this contingency as when I mapped out the ride the road to the dam was marked as dirt so I made sure I had a way around. 

The way around ended up adding about 5 miles and 500 ft of climbing so what was going to be a hard 3200 ft 43 mile ride just turned into the hardest ride I have done if a few years. 

The weather was warm but not humid and we kept the pace easy but the way back had some long slow climbs.  We did manage to find a small farm stand along the way back for a second break. Since we added 5 mile to the ride we decided to try to cut off a few miles if we could. However because of lack of road signs and because I don't have a lot of experience in this area I missed the road that I was trying to use to shorted the ride. We ended up doing most of the planned ride. I cramped at 44 miles climbing a small hill so had to take a couple of breaks to stretch out my legs. 

I used my cell phone to find the best way back and made a few wrong turns but we did all make it back. I ended up with just over 47 miles and just under 3700 ft of climbing. I had definitely pushed myself to the limit which caused cramping for the next few hours but was none the worst for wear my legs were just really stiff. 

Saturday evening we headed out to explore Lake Marburg

then headed to the Utz pretzel outlet. Hanover PA is the pretzel capital of the world. There are manufacturing plants for all the major brands of pretzels include Utz, Hanover and Synders. 

Then it was on to dinner at Atland House. This is a restaurant and brew pub and the place the Philadelphia Bike Club usual has their Saturday night dinner during the fall weekend so the food is good. Dessert was at Brusters Real Ice Cream in Hanover. I had discovered this place in 2018 and always stop here when I'm in the area.

The forecast for Sunday before the trip had been for isolated morning showers that would be gone before sunrise but they ended up staying around a little longer. We got ready to leave the house on Sunday and waited around an extra hour for the rain to mostly stop. I decided to start the ride at the planned rest stop in New Oxford. The drive there would give more time for the rain to pass through and the roads to dry. When we got to New Oxford the rain had stopped and a check of the radar said we have a few hours before it would rain again so off we went on a slightly shorter version of the original ride I had planned. This ride was rolling with only one real hill. The roads we did on Sunday is more representative of the better roads in the area. Lots of farmland, low traffic and enough scenery and strange sight along the way to keep it interesting. For some reason there is an elephant status in the middle of the field next to a lake just south of New Oxford. I also saw the copy of the Scooby-Doo Mystery Machine along the road.

There is just a certain about of weirdness around here. My legs where still sore from the previous days ride but the tightness got better once I got a few miles in. It was cloudy but the rain stayed away. The best part of starting the ride in New Oxford is we got to end at one of the best rest stops on any bike ride Deja Brew. It's a coffee shop in the middle of town on a circle with good coffee and great baked goods. I always end up taking some stuff home from here because it is so good. I think if we did this ride again then we will always start from New Oxford because hanging out at Deja Brew is a good way to end a ride. 

And with that the quick three day weekend of riding was over. I don't know when I will be back to Gettysburg again but I know I will be back as it is just a great place to spend a few days riding around.  

 

Lying Bastard 2025

Believe or not I have been doing some form of the Lying Bastard ride for almost 13 years. This ride started out as a ride around Lake Nockamixon based on a route I got from the Philadelphia Bike Club. The original intention was to explore some new roads around the lake but this ride has come to define me in a strange sort of way. You can see the origin of the ride in this post. The short version of the story is that when I lead a ride around Lake Nockamixion, in 2012, I mention that the ride would be a little hilly but nothing too long or hard. Then in the first 7 miles we went up a 1 mile hill that had a 10% grade and an short but really steep 20% grade of 400 feet. At the top of the second hill one of the people on the ride asked if I'm often called a lying bastard. After that even though the hills and riding were a lot easier the other people joined in and at the moment my reputation was cemented. 

Some people may have been embarrassed by this moniker but I leaned into it and in subsequent rides put in a occasional unexpected steep hill or other surprise in the ride. This has led to a healthy sarcastic banter between me and my so called friends. In fact this is why the people I ride with on a regular basis are called the Insane Bike Posse because even though they jokingly say they hate my rides they keep coming back for more so they must be insane.

Over the years I have an annual ride I lead along some of the same roads of the original Lake Nockamixon ride that I title the "Lying Bastard" ride just to reinforce my identity. It has changed over the years to become a little shorter and easier but still is one of the hardest rides I do. As I will maintain until I die there is no one hill that is a real killer but I think the fact that there are no flat or easy spots in this ride is why it always feels tougher than it looks. 

This year I had to start the ride from Tinicum State Park as we couldn't start from Frenchtown because the walk way on the bridge is closed. This meant we started the climbing a mile sooner. I had some of the usual insane posse join the ride and a few new comers. 

The ride starts with a long slow climb up Headquarters Rd. It's only 2-3% so its not hard. The road has also been closed for at least 5 years as the bridge at the top of the road is closed and from the way it look (see picture at top of the post) the bridge is not going to be fixed anytime soon. In fact there is more junk across it every time we come this way. This makes for a nice no traffic road but the added tree this year did make it a little harder to get across. Dave bumped his chain against his leg going over the bridge so he needed a bandage for his leg and an adjustment to his chain before we could move on. 

Then is was a little uphill before we road along the ridge toward the southern part of the lake. On the way down the hill Dave got a pinch flat. I helped him change it as the rest of the people headed to a boat ramp for a quick break.

 

We join them a few minutes later and then headed up around the northern part of the lake and into the neighborhood above it. As I had mentioned in other posts about this ride this area is a little weird as there are some alternative medicine rest homes, a Greek temple among other strange things.  There is also a covered bridge hidden here. It was then down to the marina by the lake. My routes for this ride in recent years didn't go by the lake because it would have added too many miles but I found a new road that is paved that got us there.

It was a nice downhill going down to the lake. Once there we rode out to the point to see the view and watch a few sailboats on the lake. The day started out cloudy and humid but was in the mid 80s so it didn't feel too bad. It did clear a little but was still mostly cloudy. It was still good to see the lake although it meant a little climb to get back to the road. Then is was on to our rest stop. Its a Turkey Hill which is a slight step down from a Wawa but there are not a lot of options out this way. 

The rest stop is on a 611 which is a busy road and my old route stayed on 611 for a mile or so I tried to find a different way back for this years route. Of course the new way back had an extra hill that was a steep 200+ foot climb. So we traded traffic for climbing. It was a tough rude hill to add to the ride but it felt like the right thing to do for this years ride. Then it was mostly downhill and back to the start. 

This is tough ride but it is always interesting and something I will continue to do keep up my reputation.  

Belmar and Back

This past Tuesday I looked at the weather forecast and saw a perfect weather for Saturday. It was going to be in the mid 70s with sunshine and not much wind. This summer's weather has been mostly raining or hot and humid so there have only been a few rides where I didn't have to worry about getting wet or melting from the heat. The question was where should be ride? Flat or hills?

I wanted a long ride to take advantage of the weather so I decided in a flat ride. I thought let's go out of Etra Lake Park and head towards Farmingdale or Belmar. I usually don't like to ride to the beach in the summer months because it can be crowed but I wanted miles so put out the word I was doing a ride to Belmar on Saturday. This I knew would have Laura contemplating adding miles to the beginning and end of my ride to my ride to do a century. She wavered a little but eventually decided to do it and got Martin to join her. 

Those of use not doing the century option met at Etra Park. When I say met we actually all pulled in to the park with military precision with in seconds of each other even though we all came from different directions. I guess we all know the location of the starting points and the time it take to get there well enough to always get there about the same time.

Laura and Martin rode into the park a little while later as the rest of us were all set to start the ride and off we went. I have done this ride many times over the year so the route was familiar and I didn''t really have to think about the turns. I knew this was going to be a long ride so I kept a relaxed pace. Still with made good progress towards Belmar as the weather was as good as predicted and the riding was easy.

Because of the crowded roads expected by the beach we took the Edgar Felix bike path to get into Sea Girt. We were then on some busy roads on the way through the town. There was lots of traffic and some kind of festival and walk going on be we made it through unscathed. 

Then it was a few miles up Ocean ave to our normal rest stop in Belmar. We spent some time there fueling up and watching the beach goers. 

 

It was not as hectic as I expected. The only annoying thing is that the Trump train road by while we were sitting there. 

We headed out of Belmar on 16th street which is a one way street and we went the wrong way on it on purpose. I could have went up one of the other streets that is one way in the correct direction but that would have meant that we would have to have ridden on Main street to get back to 16th street once it was a two way street again and Main street has a lot of traffic with no real shoulder to ride in so it's not a good option either given the traffic at the shore today. 

In any case there wasn't any problem going the wrong way on the one way street and soon we were out of Belmar and heading back. We made our way through Farmingdale and then on to Freehold. The wind was mostly from the north east so we didn't have the normal headwind we usually do on the way back from the shore.  We had a second stop at a Duncan Donuts. I grab a glazed donut to get some sugar for the last 12 miles back to the start. 

The weather was still pleasant. It only warmed up a few degrees from the start the the humidity was low so although I was tired at the end of the ride I didn't feel wiped out as I did other times. After we got back to Etra Laura and Martin left to finish their century. They looked good so I doubt they had any problems finishing. 

This was a perfect ride for this perfect weather day. Hopefully we can have a few more like this as the summer continues.