Covered Bridge Ride

The Lancaster Bicycle Club Sponsors a Covered Bridge Metric every August.

Jim (who I got to know on the past couple of FANY rides) wanted to try out my trike. Jim lives in Flemington, NJ, not far from me in Pennington, so we were looking for a local ride. We decided on the Covered Bridge Ride. Our plan was for Jim and I to ride my tandem trike. Also, Ginny would come along and we would meet her son Chris (from Harrisburg, PA) at the ride and Chris and Ginny would ride Chris' folding tandem recumbent.

The rest of the story is in the pictures below.

	The trike is unloaded and almost ready to go.		I reset the GPS unit. Photo by Jim.
	The registration tent at the start of the ride at the Greenfield Corporate Center near Lancaster, Pennsylvania.		One of the Lancaster Bicycle Club members helping with registration. The sideways covered bridge logo was painted on the road to mark the route. The marking was well done. We didn't need to use the cue sheet except to see how much farther to lunch! Photo by Jim.
	Yet more cyclists at the start of the ride. Roughly 3400 riders participated.		Jim (stoking) and I in the trike starting out on the metric century. Photo by Ginny.
	Some riders on the road. Metric, half-metric, and quarter-metric century routes we offered. At the beginning and end, all the routes were together.		The view from the back! Photo by Jim.
	After about 10 miles we came to the first water stop hosted by a big fan of Floyd Landis.		Some of the riders at the rest stop.
	More riders at the rest stop.		They are proud of Floyd Landis. Photo by Jim.
	They were selling T-shirts with the profits to be donated to charity.		The hosts at the rest stop.
	Shortly after the water stop, we came to covered bridge number one. We noticed that they were all quite similar. This one seemed to be the smallest of the ones we saw. In addition to the silhouette of the cyclist, you can just make out some local boys inside the bridge. They were fishing through a hole in the side of the bridge.		The bridge was still in Landis territory!
	Cycling into the bridge.		We saw a lot of the local people on bikes. We talked to these (Amish?) women. They seemed to be impressed that we still had 50 miles to go, but maybe they were just being nice. Photo by Jim.
	Most of the farms we rode through were growing corn. There was also a lot of soybeans and fair amount of tobacco! Here's an unusual field of what appear to be pumpkins although we're not sure. They seem to have deeper ridges than pumpkins so maybe they're some other kind of squash.		Here are Ginny and son Chris getting ready to leave the second rest stop. They're on Chris' Bike Friday folding tandem recumbent (a "DoubleDay"). According to Jim, only about 30-40 of these were ever made.
	A cyclist (whom I don't know) getting ready to leave the second water stop. She almost crashed getting going and is displaying an embarrassed grin, so that's why I took this photo!		Other cyclists and a SAG vehicle at the second water stop.
	Covered bridge number two is at the bottom of a hill. (Actually, they all are, more or less.)		Covered bridge number two up close. If you look carefully you can see the wooden arch inside the bridge. The arches seem to be the main structural members. Longer bridges had thicker (both radially and axially) arches.
	Another common form of transportation in Amish country. The ride was on Sunday and there were a lot of folks coming home from church. We discovered the trike was faster than a buggy on the downhills and flats, but slower on the uphills!		A schoolhouse? Photo by Jim.
	Covered bridge number three.		After about 34 miles, we arrived at the lunch stop where sandwiches, fruit, trail mix, etc., were served.
	You could also fill your bottles with water or gatorade.		We rode past this group of cute kids. (There were a couple more out of the picture!) Photo by Jim.
	Covered bridge number four.		After 53 miles we came to the last water stop. We rode right up to the coolers and filled up our water bottles without getting off the trike - a drive thru water stop! At least one of the club members wanted to know if we were in the trike because we were handicapped. I guess we blew our cover when we got up to take photos. That's Jim in the trike.
	Covered bridge number five. All are one lane bridges (even for buggies, I think).		Jim getting ready to take a photo of covered bridge number six.
	Covered bridge number six was the longest one we saw. The internal structure seemed to be doubled up.		Looking through covered bridge number six. There are actually eight arches. There are two on each side on the inside of the vertical members (you can see these four) and then two more on each side between the vertical members and the siding.
	Back at Lancaster at the end of the ride after 63 miles or so. There's a Turkey Hill truck. I think they were giving away ice cream, but it was all gone by the time we got there. We arrived about 10 minutes after the official end of the ride and things were being picked up. We got more and more tired and slower and slower as the day went on. The trike, at 110 lbs, is really a load to pedal up all the small, but numerous, hills.		Another shot at the end. Ginny on the right talks to her friend Tammie. In the background, Chris (in green) discusses his folding tandem recumbent with another rider.
	The track of our ride as recorded by my GPS receiver overlaid on a topo map. Made with GPSVisualizer.com.		The altitude and total climb profiles calculated from data recorded by my GPS receiver. Even though the altitude variation was only about 330 feet, there was a lot of climb due to the many small hills. (The altitude profile may look like noise, but the constant ups and downs are real!)