The Bicycle Club of Philadelphia (BCP) Fall Foliage bike weekend is consistently one of the best bicycle experiences there is. I have done this trip two times before and wrote about it HERE and HERE If you like to ride a bike and be around other bikers then this is a trip to bike nirvana.
The BCP has been doing this trip for many years and have created a perfect combination of roads, accommodations and programs to satisfy any biker. In concept the trip is simple. They rent all the rooms in Hampton Inn and Holiday Inn, they provide cue sheets for 50 different rides from 15 to 100 miles, they provide all the meals and snacks you could want but most importantly they provide an atmosphere for bikers to gather and have fun.
The main difference between the BCP bike weekend and other bike trips or events, like Bike Virginia, is that instead of the focus of the event being a set of routes to ride the focus of the BCP bike weekend is providing the resources for the bikers that come here to explore the area by bike any way they want. This provides a more open ended experience that is easier for each person to tailor to fit the experience they want to have.
This year I got Jim, Jack and Dorthy to join me for the trip. When we got there on Friday afternoon. We meet Al in the parking lot. After changing into our bike cloths we took off for a 30 mile ride to the town of New Oxford. This is a ride I have done before but it is a scenic rolling route with a good rest stop with home made doughnuts and pastries. I felt a little slow but attributed that to being stiff from the 3 hour car trip. I also find it hard to start a ride in the middle of the day.
When we got back the 200+ bikers that were filling up the hotels. My friend Tim from Kentucky and one of his friends had decided to come to this trip so I talked to him and made plans to meet him for dinner. The Friday dinner was much better this year. Instead of a pot luck meal it was a catered meal in the hotel conference room of ziti, eggplant, salads and assorted side dishes. They set up tables so we could sit down and socialize as we were eating. As is usual this provides a great way for everybody to talk and get to know each other. It was great exchanging stories with people I don't know but share a passion with.
The hardest part of this weekend is deciding what rides to do as there are so many choices. You can just choose a route from one of the ride sheets provided or go on one of the rides that are lead by members of the BCP. For people who don't know the area or don't normally go out on their own this can be a little intimidating but since most of the people on this trip had done it many times it easy to get advice or find people to follow no matter what kind of riding you want to do.
Since I had been out here before I decided to help by leading a ride on Saturday to Westminister MD. I made the ride sound a little faster and harder than it was going to be. Its not that I wanted to scare people off the ride but I wanted to make sure people would not get on a ride that was over their ability and not have a good experience.
So Saturday morning I was out in front of the hotel looking for people who wanted to join my ride. I ended up a small group of mostly PFW people (Jack, Jim, John, and Al) my friend Tim and this guy West from BCP. It was around 45 degrees when we started but sunny when we started. After going through the town by the hotel we headed south and into the hills. The first main climb was past a reservoir before continuing on into endless farmlands.
It is probably peak fall season here so it was a very scenic ride. The roads were mostly traffic free and in decent shape. This terrain was hilly. There was no real long climbs but there were no flat spots and although the climbs were short that were steeper than expected. The profile for the ride has shown the climbs in the 6-8 percent range but they ended up being in the 10-12 percent range. None of them were long or hard but I'm glad I brought my Synapse. There were some epic down hills that were not only fast but had just enough curves to make them fun with out being too dangerous (Although Jack might disagree). I hit over 40 mph a couple of times as we wound our way to Westminister.
The town of Westminister is a old college town that ended up having a great little bakery that must be the hot spot in town based on the line at the counter. They had some really unique pastries as I got a piece of monkey bread. I'm not sure what is was exactly except delicious.
The ride back was almost as hilly as the ride out with one longish climb. As we stopped and gathered at the top we all whipped our GPSes to compare
The last miles were more down hill than up hill but the little bumps were steep and we were all glad to be back. The ride was beautiful and Westminister is a cool town to visit so I accepted the post ride cramping as payment for a good ride.
Saturday night we went to a convention hall in Hanover for a buffet meal. There was more good conversation and good food.
My original plan for Sunday was to head to Loganville where they had a good farm market but that was more hills than any of us wanted to do. I spent time Saturday night modifying a route to the Gettysburg battlefield from the hotel. It would be a less than half the climbing with did on Saturday with nothing over 6 percent. It would also give Jim and Jack a chance to see Gettysburg.
Sunday morning was a warm 60 degrees and sunny. It felt like early June and I was able to ride in a short sleeve jersey with out tights. I was a little stiff at the start and could feel the tightness in my legs but once we got rolling I was not worried about not being able to finish the ride. The route to Gettysburg was rolling but much easier then Saturday. I could feel the miles of the last two days so was taking it easy by downshifting quicker and spinning more than I usual do. The only real climb was up little round top which gave us a view of the battle field and its many monuments.
We then took a brief tour around the rest of the park with a stop at the Pennsylvania monument before heading into town for a rest stop.
After the break is was an easy ride back to the hotel. This really is beautiful country to ride in and like the last two time out here I wish I could spend more time here instead of heading back to the real world.
As always this was a great weekend. Linda and the rest of the BCP team really know how to make a hassle free trip. The best part was spending extra time with people I normally bike with and being able dedicate a full weekend to all things biking. We are already talking about doing this trip again next year and even doing the BCP spring trip to Danville. So although I may no longer be in bike nirvana I know I will visit again soon.
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