Information About the Ride:
- Event Website: Lancaster Bike Club (http://lancasterbikeclub.net/cbmc.html)
- Dates: Usually the 3rd Sunday of August (For 2014, it was on August 17th)
- Distances with links to maps: (Metric Century 65 miles, 36 miles and 18 miles)
- Ride Start: HACC Lancaster Campus • 1641 Old Philadelphia Pike Lancaster, PA 17602
- Registration cost: $40 (price in 2014)
- Event fills up quickly and maximum number of participants is 2500 – mark your calendar for when they open up registration (in June).
- Course Description: Rolling Hills – great course for beginners and intermediates (Show elevation profile Map)
Introduction:
Having just recently moved to Pennsylvania from France and having watched TLC’s popular Breaking Amish and Discovery Channel’s Amish Mafia, I became intrigued by the Amish culture. The distinctive practices of the Amish make them one of America’s most fascinating and colorful religious subcultures.
One of the biggest populations of Amish lives in Lancaster, Pennsylvania with the second largest community in Holms County Ohio. There are Amish communities spread out all over the United States and Canada. The chances of seeing that horse-drawn black buggy are much higher in Lancaster. The horse-drawn buggy keeps the community closer – just think if all I had was a bike I would not be going very far from my home.
To add a little bonus, Lancaster County is a bicyclist’s dream with plenty of low traffic, back country roads, the potential to share the road with the occasional black horse-drawn buggy, and the sight of farm equipment drawn by mules. I decided to combine my love of cycling with my intrigue of the Amish and use my bike to explore the beautiful Amish community set in the rolling countryside of Lancaster County.
About the Ride:
I found an organized bike ride that explores not only Amish country but also covered bridges in the area. The event draws a crowd with cyclists traveling from all over the country to attend the event. Due to the popularity of the event they have limited it to 2,500 riders and it fills up quickly. The morning of the event the weather was partly cloudy as we arrived at the start of the 65 mile ride. The music from the event DJ was raising my motivation level to get on the road and get away from modern civilization and into Amish farm country. I also was excited to try out my new GoPro Camera to capture scenes and share them with friends and family. As we started going out on the course, it took a little while to get out the city of Lancaster into the rolling countryside. After not more than 20 minutes we were onto farm roads following the little white covered bridge markers on the pavement and the passing smell of cow manure.
The traditional Amish black buggy.
It was not long before we encountered our first black horse-drawn buggy on the road. Since it was Sunday morning, most going likely there were going to church, which for the Amish do just once a month at a community member’s house. It is also possible that some of the buggies we saw were from the Old Order Mennonites, a group that has similar values and lifestyle as the Amish but meet in a dedicated church building. The traditional horse-drawn black buggy is a symbol of the Amish. The Amish are selective about modern technology: while they reject TV, cars, radios and personal computers, some communities choose to accept some modern technology to fit their ways. Their religious beliefs construe that being photographed is ‘making graven images’ and thus the Amish prefer not to be photographed, especially with close up shots.
In 1693 the Amish, or Dutch Anabaptists, came to the United States from Europe to seek refuge from persecution. Over 2,500 Anabaptists were condemned as heretics and burned at the stake. They fled from Switzerland and the Alsace region of France to avoid persecution due to their practice of baptizing adults and discipline tactics such as shunning or excommunication from the church. There are not any Amish communities that remain in Europe. As of today there are 480 geographical Amish settlements in 30 states and the Canadian province of Ontario. Their population totals approximately 290,100 people.
Today’s Amish strive for a modest life with a strong attention on community, family and their religious beliefs. They are far from remainders of the past and even have adopted some environmentally friendly habits to live off the electrical grid. Amish now use solar panels on their farms and businesses, and they have long used wind power to pump water for their farm needs. Propane can be used to offer heat and light and power refrigerators and appliances.
Amish are actually known to occasionally ‘pimp up their buggies’ with LED lighting and many of the buggies now use composite construction for the wheels and bodies of the carriage. To catch the attention of an Amish girl, a young man’s courting buggy can offer a luxurious interior with a surround sound system on the dashboard (battery operated of course). In order to measure distance and speed in a buggy, they will even mount a bicycle computer on the dashboard! You might even encounter a young Amish man testing your cycling skills by having his horse pick up the pace as you pass, although we did not experience this on our Sunday ride. (Also young Mennonite men on their bicycles might also want to test out your sprinting ability with their city bikes.)
Do you think this is where Floyd Landis got his cycling skills? Racing Buggies? Floyd Landis is a famous (or infamous?) cyclist from Lancaster. He was best known as the winner of the Tour de France in 2006 but was quickly stripped of the title when he tested positive for doping. Here is an expert from Wikipedia describing Floyd Landis’ life as a Mennonite riding a bike secretly and winning races:
His [Floyd Landis] childhood home is in the village of Farmersville in West Earl Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Conestoga Valley High School in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1994. He was raised in a devout Mennonite family and community. Landis used his first bike to ride while out fishing with his best friend but quickly learned to enjoy riding for its own sake. At one point, he became determined to ride in a local race. Landis showed up wearing sweatpants because his religion forbade wearing shorts. He won that race, and more wins followed as Landis continued to enjoy the sport.
Disturbed at his son’s participation in what he considered a “useless” endeavor, Landis’s father tried to discourage him from racing his bike by giving him extra chores. This left him no time to train during the day, so he would sneak out of the house at night to train, sometimes at 1 or 2 a.m. and often in the freezing cold. Landis’s father received a tip that his son had been going out at night. He did not appreciate his son’s passion for cycling and thought he might be getting into drugs or alcohol. He often followed Landis at a distance to make sure he was not getting into trouble. Landis’ father later became a hearty supporter of his son and considered himself one of Floyd’s biggest fans. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floyd_Landis
When sharing the roads with horse-drawn buggies, one has to be aware of horse droppings, also called “road apples” along the road. These horse droppings can become an obstacle that we needed to point out along the way when riding in a group. Another sign that the Amish were here is that the road is worn down on the right side where the buggies travel at lesser speed than a car. According to the Ohio Department of Transportation and Amish Safety, buggies travel at 5 to 8 mph. On our bike we were averaging between 17 to 18 mph and it felt as if we were flying past the buggies. We were the higher speed vehicle moving around the slower moving horse-drawn buggy. As a rule of thumb, when passing a buggy, do not pass too close as you might cause the horse or mule to become startled. While oncoming horse-drawn equipment and vehicles tend not to be a problem, please do take into consideration that those buggies do not have the most reliable turn signals (just like bicycles) and that they could be turning into an intersection or field. As a cyclist myself, I can relate to these situations and just like a buggy, cyclists can be unpredictable with stopping and turning. Also horses can take control when they are coming close to home, especially at feeding time, just like some bicyclists may become unpredictable when they see a food stop. Ummm … doughnuts!
Numerous black buggies that we passed had kids curiously peeking out the windows at all the cyclists on the road. The kids were waving as the cyclists waved back in a friendly gesture between cultures. I am sure we all looked like aliens from another planet with our multi-colored spandex, helmets and sun glasses on these carbon fiber or aluminum horses that passed the buggies in groups. To the Amish we are known as “English” – outsiders who speak English and have adopted the modern ways. They speak Pennsylvania Dutch which is a dialect of German.
Going to church on Sunday.
In one instance that I captured on my GoPro camera we watched a group of Old Order Mennonites going to church. Women in their traditional dresses and bonnets were riding bikes behind a buggy going to church and then as we passed the buggies, we saw children walking bare foot to church. Everyone was finely dressed with their brim hat and fathers pulling red wagons with their youngest children sitting and staring in amazement as all the cyclists passed by them on the road. Although the Amish and Mennonites share a common Anabaptist tradition, since 1693 the Amish and Mennonites have been separate groups within the Anabaptist heritage. Settling in the same areas, the Amish and Mennonites migrated separately to North America.
How do you tell the difference between Amish and Old Order Mennonite?
- Color of the Buggies: Often tourists think that all buggies are Amish buggies (typical colors are gray and black). Old Order Mennonite buggies are only the color black.
- Usage of bicycles: The Lancaster County Amish don’t ride bicycles, but as a substitute will use manual scooters or roller blades, while the Mennonite ride bicycles and some groups are allowed to drive cars that are dark colors such as black.
- Dress Code: Mennonites dress mostly in black, while the Amish women generally incorporate purple and green into their dresses. Also some less conservative Mennonites groups wear modern clothes, drive cars and have electricity and use modern technology.
- Men’s Beards: No beards or clean shaven mean that Amish men are not married or are Mennonite. Beards mean that Amish men are married.
Covered Bridges of Lancaster
The Covered Bridges of Lancaster
Lancaster has a total of 25 covered bridges to explore, but on this ride we only saw four of them. The organizers of the ride have photographers conveniently located by the bridges to snap shots of cyclists making it through the covered bridges and to sell later as souvenirs of the ride. Cycling through covered bridges is a great way to get off the beaten trail and experience history on a bike. As we passed through a covered bridge, we go from bright light into the tunnel-effect of the bridge, we hear the clacking of the wooded floor boards against the wheels of our bicycles, and sometimes we can see the water flowing below through the cracks between the floor boards; it was almost like being on a horse-drawn carriage, except in this case I am the horse. Before the age of iron and other modern construction methods, wood was a readily available resource to use in construction across a river or waterway. A covered bridge is now considered a historical structure. It consists of a timber-truss bridge with a roof and siding that create an almost complete enclosure to protect the bridge structure from weather. In the 1800s the load limit of a bridge was based on the number of horse-drawn wagons or number of cattle that could cross at a single time. I wonder how many bikes are allowed to cross at one time? I will have to ask a bridge engineer this question…
Unfortunately for us and the other riders in this year’s Lancaster Covered Bridges Metric Century, it started to rain lightly when we were around mile 40 with 25 miles still to go … and then it started pouring. The horse manure on the road became liquefied resulting in a rather unpleasant spray from the rear wheels of the bicycles and thus deterring us from drafting each other. But we still trudged along with mud spraying every which way. The spray from my rear wheel made a streak down the back of my jersey. My shoes eventually filled with water with my feet sloshing with every pedal stroke. The forecast had said a 10% chance of rain, but we learned from some other riders that there was rain on some portion of the ride in both previous years. Maybe there is an environmental factor with heat and humidity and agriculture in Lancaster that creates a bubble of rain every morning? It may be great for crops, not so ideal for cycling.
We slowed down our turns and kept riding as we came into back into modern civilization. The smell of cow manure slowly started to dissipate from the air as we came into the finish line of the ride. Then the sun started to come out and it was great to refuel with Subway sandwiches and Turkey Hill Ice Cream (a local well-known brand of ice cream made in Lancaster) for everyone and a great band playing live music. The course was well supported and, despite the rain, we had a great time. I would give this course two thumbs up in approval and would definitely recommend it to our Veni Vidi Velo fans, whether you do the organized ride or follow the course on your own some other day of the year.
Other great resources:
Our GPS files and maps from the 2014 event:
- Metric Century – 65 mile bike ride (GPX file | Map)
- 36 mile bike ride (GPX file | Map)
- 18 mile bike ride (GPX file | Map)
Other Lancaster Bike Rides with cue sheets: http://lancasterbikeclub.net/scenic-tours/ephrata-cloister.html (The Lancaster Bike Club offers a whole section of rides and cue sheets for free and is a great resource).
Recommended Books (affiliate links):
- 25 Bicycle Tours in Pennsylvania’s Lancaster & Chester Counties (25 Bicycle Tours)
- The Amish
- The Amish Baking Cookbook: Plainly Delicious Recipes from Oven to Table
Recommended Videos (affiliate links):
Where to Eat:
- Dinner – Good n’Plenty Restaurant – All you can eat family-style buffet of real Amish cuisine. Enjoy mashed potatoes and gravy along with meats and veggies. There is also an a la carte option. Website: http://www.goodnplenty.com/
Walking and cycling trails in the area:
- The Susquehanna River Trail, a 53 mile abandoned rail road trail that is great for walking, running and cycling with great views of the Susquehanna River – http://susquehannawatertrail.org/map
Other great resources for travel to Lancaster:
We hope you enjoyed our ride description. Join our mailing list to receive updates on upcoming rides and interviews with other cyclists.