PA Dutch 200K - Saturday January 1, 2011

I'll be updating this one as I get additional time to update.

For our first brevet of the year, Rick Carpenter organized his annual PA Dutch 200k ride that begins (and finishes) at his hilltop home in Reading, Berks County PA. The route immediately descends into Reading where it heads west out of town, crossing over the Schuykill River at Gibraltar, then through Geigertown and into Chester County at Elverson. Following the first controle in Honey Brook the route navigates through the splendor of rural southern Lancaster County (Intercourse, Strasburg, Willow Street) before dropping-down to the banks of the Susquehanna at Conestoga / Safe Harbor. The obligatory climb to the Turkey Hill Point, home to the dairy / convenience store chain of the same name, is followed by an exhilarating downhill section takes you back riding along the Susquehanna river to the second controle in Columbia. In January the climb is a welcome chance to warm one's self up and while the following descent is generally appreciated as a chance to cool off, at this time of the year one must check one's descent as the cold air brings tears to to ones eyes that can ice up if one pushes it too far. After another small climb up to Conestoga, home of the original Conestogas of "wagon train" fame, the route leaves Columbia and heads northeast through scenic Lancaster County passing through five covered bridges on the return through Lititz, Ephrata and the eastern rural outlands surrounding Bowmanstown and Alleghenyville, then south of Green Hills through the Gibraltar Pass before returning to the start, with that last high climb to up to the Carpenter estate.