Delaware Valley, Bucks County and Environs May 19th to May 25th
The Tripper - May - August 2007.pdf 
(528 Kb)
Ride Director: Daniel Telep
Report by: Bob Mueller
This ride was directed by Dan Telep who has previously led this ride several times in his home area. It is based in the sister cities of New Hope, PA and Lambertville, NJ which straddle the Delaware River. It is a wonderful area for cycling with lush forested country roads, covered bridges, quaint towns teeming with charm, stunning luxury homes and well manicured farmsteads.
This was a fixed base ride with different loop options originating each morning from one of the above cities, with the exception of two remote starts that were an easy drive from town. Some of the destinations that were particularly memorable included Princeton, NJ and Washington Crossing, PA where General Washington originated his surprise attack in 1776 on the Hessians. We seemed to find terrific lunch stops each day that proved most capable in satisfying the appetites that had been generated by that day's cycling challenges.
I participated in this ride two years ago and noted some changes that had occurred in this area in the interim. Although it remains relatively rural, it is apparent that this area "has been discovered" as evidenced by the new home construction, growth of developments and corresponding increase in traffic volume compared to 2005. On occasion, we had to cycle on some roads that had fairly busy auto and truck traffic as we were reconnecting with the quieter country roads. However, I remain amazed that such pastoral country so closely approximates the major metropolitan areas of Philadelphia and New York.
This ride was rated as a 2C. On average, we rode 53 miles (the longest being 58 miles) daily and had cumulative climbing of a little more than 2800 feet per day over the first five days. The totals were somewhat less than projected because of our decision to have two remote starts so that those days were less daunting. On the final day, we opted for an easy and soothing 32 mile ride on a canal path along the river that resulted in less than 150 feet of total climbing. Our director soloed on a more demanding alternative. Dan was receptive to alterations in routing each day for those of us who wished to have fewer miles or less climbing, but this necessitated reliance on our maps rather than the cue sheets. Sometimes these detours required returns on less meandering (and more heavily trafficked) routes.
No specific accommodation arrangements were made in advance by the ride director for participants on this ride, but he was helpful in directing us to several options in the area before we arrived. This flexibility enabled us to individually determine our budgetary allocations for lodging. Several of us stayed at local campgrounds, some at a local B&B and two of us at a nearby hostel. All of these choices seemed to be more affordable than stays at some of the local inns and motels (this is a tourist destination), but some of them involved a 15 - 20 minute drive into town. The downside to our stays at these disparate locations was that we had less opportunity for informal socialization than we may have had if we had stayed together. However, we had daily Happy Hours immediately following each day's ride with goodies supplied by Dan from the back of his truck and several of us would generally reconvene for dinner at local restaurants, where we always seemed to find some outstanding fare. In addition, Dan hosted us to a memorable lasagna dinner in his lovely home one evening.
