smokeysurvival

Well I had a blast in PA for the past week! Leaving early in the morning from Staten Island NYC, I caught a bolt bus from lower Manhattan to Philadelphia. The plan was to visit New Holland, Strasburg, and Philadelphia for about 6 days. Once in Philadelphia I caught a SEPTA train from Philadelphia out to Thorndale save some time as to not get caught in the dark on my way to New Holland. I still arrived in New Holland at just before around sundown. I ended up taking some backroads (Bondsville road, Hadfield road, East Reeceville road, and Swinehart road), out of Thorndale till I reached US Route 322 and followed that out to Blue Ball and then to New Holland. I am glad I decided to take the train as it was warmer than I anticipated. Along with my bike only being three speeds, it took a little to acclimate to the hills in the area with a heavier than normal load in my bag.

smokeysurvival

Once in New Holland I took a short jaunt out to Weavers Mill covered Bridge before sundown and got caught in the dark on the way back.





The next day I went through Intercourse on the way to Strasburg for the Strasburg railroad and the Pennsylvania Railroad Museum.

smokeysurvival

Thankfully there were a few poles to lock up to.


Spent the night at the Red Caboose Motel



My last day in Lancaster county consisted of visiting the National toy train museum and riding back to Thorndale. I ended up taking Strasburg road through Gap Pennsylvania and Parkesburg. Then Valley road from Pomeroy to Coatesville and then finally US 30 through Caln to Thorndale.

smokeysurvival

I must say I enjoyed my first endeavor into bike touring and I will have to come back out to Lancaster with my road bike for a weekend possibly. I found the drivers to be very courteous throughout my stay in Lancaster. I did ride after dark out in Strasburg to go get some dinner and no issues from any motorists. I ended up only having my generator headlamp which was only just sufficient for seeing the ground but I had two extra niterider taillights on my Carradice bag which I also utilized during day light hours.

Once back in Philadelphia the usual city driving attitude took back over but I did get a chance to visit VIA Cycle where I picked up a nice westwood rim for a build.

Crossed the Benjamin Franklin Bridge into Camden to visit the USS New Jersey battleship museum.




As well as other nice places like the Eastern State Penitentiary and Boathouse Row.


I really hope to visit Pennsylvania by bike again sometime!

indyfabz

Nice. I have lived in Spring Garden or Fairmount nearly continuously since 1992 and have never been inside Eastern State despite riding or walking home past it nearly every working day since 2001. I keep saying I am going to take the tour but never do. Maybe this will be the year once they finish with their "haunted house" thing.


I can walk from my house to boat house row is about 10 min. You have to see the houses from the other side of the river when they are lit up at night.

kaos joe

Smokey,

But....but...what was your average speed????

Just kidding there! GREAT writeup of what looks like a wonderful tour. Beautiful photos too.

My go-to areas for tours like that are the Finger Lakes and the area of Central NY to the east of the lakes, where a lot of Amish/Mennonite people have settled on the old hill farms on recent years. Those areas are hilly.....your tour looks like it would have been more tandem-friendly too. Will have to look into that.

indyfabz

BTW...The "tee hee hee" towns out there are Blue Ball, Intercourse, Paradise, Virginville and Bird-in-Hand.

greg3rd48 

Great photos and story. We visit Philly often so this might be in the cards for next year. How many miles did you end up covering and did you ride alone? Did you camp or stay in rooms? Really cool.

berner

Your bike looks just right against the steam locomotive.

datlas 

Glad to hear it went well.

Kudos!

AngeloDolce

Great pictures, sounds like a nice trip.

I have some questions

(1) Any issues taking the bike on Bolt Bus?
If I go from Philadelphia to NY, I think MegaBus may have a more convenient schedule than Bolt, but that Bolt has no problems with bicycles (Megabus says they don't allow, not sure folding works either)

(2) Cool bike, what front hub and light do you have?
I have some 3 speeds with the old Dyno hubs, but would be interested in a newer LED that produces more light.

(3) Did you go upstairs at Via Bicycle?
Curtis used to have quite a collection of old and unusual bicycles and other items, I assume he still does. If you haven't seen it, ask if you go back.

AD

rumrunn6

well done Sir! looks like fun too! love the old locomotive!

smokeysurvival

1-Not at all. Just bring something like a bungee cord or even your helmet straps to secure your bike to the supports I suppose. All I had was my helmet and I clipped the front wheel to one of the supports for the first ride The second I didn't and no damage what so ever.

2- The front hub is a sach's orbit vt 70mm drum brake hub. The rear is a Sturmey Archer AB 90mm brake drum. The front light is a union model with a miller sidewall dynamo and rear lamp. Both wheels are laced with alloy Alessa rims. I have a front dynohub lying about but nothing to build it into currently.

3-I did visit the upstairs floors on recommendation of a friend of mine. I managed to drag back a NOS Dunlop westwood rim for my Raleigh DL1. I originally wanted to take the DL1 but I wasn't able to get the wheel and braking to behave well enough for a tour. Now it's amazing!

smokeysurvival

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I have wanted to go further upstate. The farthest from the city I've gone by bike is Ossining.