Riding or writing?

It would be a nice feature to change the "Ignore" button so that any thread started by the user you choose to ignore never shows up on your feed. Just a suggestion.

I'm alone here, With emptiness, eagles and snow. (More old man music)

Where is this going?

As I was riding from Indiana Dunes National Park, headed back to Pittsburgh, I had just endured a couple of really bad days with the wind in my face. The prior day I only made it 35 miles in six hours. It was brutal. The day after the brutal day, I was riding along around 19 MPH really enjoying my new found speed. IT was a beautiful day in Northern Indiana. Suddenly I glanced in my mirror and saw a bike drafting me. It was being ridden by a young Amish man. He rode up next to me and we rode side by side talking. He asked where I was going, and I told hm I was riding back to Pittsburgh. He said, "Wow, I love riding my bike, maybe I should go along with you." I told him to come on. He laughed. We talked a bit more. He was coming home from work. He obviously started early, since it was around 12:30PM. We hit his turnoff and we said goodbye as he went on his way. Really nice encounter, and he could ride. He was riding an old style single speed bike.

I used to live in Western PA -- Amish country. One day as I was riding up a moderate hill, a horse-drawn buggy rolled up alongside me -- it was piloted by a young man, with a girl sitting next to him. As they got right alongside me, the young man grinned broadly and said, "Wanna race?"

I smiled and said, "I think you've got more horsepower than me." The guy laughed his head off at that one.

They weren't all as friendly, though. Amish adolescents in packs (as when they'd just gotten off a school bus together) would sometimes yell mocking remarks at me as I rode by. I always resisted the urge, but I wanted to yell back, "Oh yeah? When I get home, I'm gonna turn on the lights! And maybe watch some TV! Whaddya think of that?"

During my last cross-PA tour I rode behind 5 Amish kids in traditional dress that had just left a one-room school house in the Brush Valley east of State College. The one girl was wearing a dress. (That area is home to stricter Amish sects.). They were pushing scooters. After about a half mile I looked down and noticed they were all barefoot.

As we approached the eastern end of the valley, they started turning off into their respective homes. I imagined them meeting up the next morning to scooter to school together.

Does it really matter

I grew up around Amish, but riding through Northern Indiana on a bicycle was really interesting. The route I took was basically all Amish a lot of the days. I saw them on bikes, scooters as you described, and I saw young teenage girls in two wheeled pony drawn carts who giggled as I rode by. I passed a farm that had a lot of buggies parked in the field. There was a wedding going on.

I got dropped by two young girls in one of those things while riding in Lancaster County, PA. I could not keep up on the steep grades.

Six to eight hours would feel like a long ride indeed for me, but I have been fine up to four hours with Andiamo! padded skins under my running tights. They are about $27 straight from the shop in Hailey, Idaho. The padding is thin, and I think some riders use them as an inner liner inside other cycling shorts. This year my bikes both have the Jones spec saddle which has a bit of padding, so the combination is working just fine for my riding.

I'd probably bring an extra bit of chamois butter and make a stop to reapply halfway through if I were going to ride six to eight hours.

Otto

forgot to mention, my favs, Voler, are made in grover beach, CA. (of course with the note of domestic and imported fabrics)

Bike gear is made all over the place, but the big volume is Asia.... but that includes china, Malaysia, Taiwan, Japan, and the list goes on