How's the riding (road) in PA?

[ripvanrando]

Blue Balls, Elverson, Lancaster county, and most of Chester county are quite aways from Landsdale area. Great riding there but you are looking at an hour drive to get there if RT 202 thru KoP cooperates.

PA roads are narrower than comparable NNJ roads and shoulders are non-existent; however, some of the best country lane riding can be had to the north of your target home area.

[OtayBW]

Originally Posted by PaMtbRider

The further west from Philly you get, the better the riding. South central Pa has some of the best riding in the country. We are blessed with an extensive road network. The roads aren't always in the best condition, but the lack of traffic makes up for it. We have great diversity in our terrain, only lacking in long, sustained, mountain climbs.

I can appreciate the rural character of many of the roads, but good grief, the roads are really beat up, IMO. It's pretty easy to ride a century in southcentral PA and never get off a chip-seal surface.

[Ray]

Originally Posted by Formulasaab

It's really good, actually. I ride from northern Delaware up into Pennsylvania. The roads on the northern end of my rides will be some of the same ones you might find yourself on. It's "horse country" there, so beautiful, varied, and with light traffic.

Some pics from a recent ride:











See you out there!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Those are all on and around Runnymead, no? If not, looks EXACTLY like it! I live in West Chester and have done a lot of my favorite riding out in that area.

No, it's not this nice in tight around Blue Bell and Ambler, but you don't have to go too far north and west of there to get to similar farm country. Some of the roads aren't great, some are, but I always do alright with 23-25mm tires. Many roads are narrow with no shoulder, but most are quite winding with limited sight distance, so the cars tend not to go too fast. I've ridden in a lot of areas and haven't found any I like more than this area and damn few I like as much.

-Ray

[bumknees]

Originally Posted by Ken Robb

Did they really change the name to Blue BELL

Actually, there is a Blue Bell, in SE PA, which is the general area where we're targeting

[Ken Robb]

So we have Blue BELL and Blue BALL Pennsylvania? I worked for Armstrong in Lancaster,PA. many years ago and like many young male newcomers had many laughs learning the names of surrounding towns like Blue Ball, Intercourse, Bird-in-Hand, etc. I guess Blue Bell was too normal-sounding to register with us.

I did learn to be very careful riding my Ducati on the lovely country roads because I could never know when the pavement might be covered in road apples due to the many horse-drawn buggies in that area.

[Formulasaab]

Originally Posted by Ray

Those are all on and around Runnymead, no? If not, looks EXACTLY like it! I live in West Chester and have done a lot of my favorite riding out in that area.



No, it's not this nice in tight around Blue Bell and Ambler, but you don't have to go too far north and west of there to get to similar farm country. Some of the roads aren't great, some are, but I always do alright with 23-25mm tires. Many roads are narrow with no shoulder, but most are quite winding with limited sight distance, so the cars tend not to go too fast. I've ridden in a lot of areas and haven't found any I like more than this area and damn few I like as much.



-Ray

Route from the same ride... It started and ended at Victory Brewing in Kennet Square.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Ray]

Originally Posted by Formulasaab

Route from the same ride... It started and ended at Victory Brewing in Kennet Square.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Most of those shots (all but the first I'd wager) were from that little section of the ride out to the west of Route 841. Some of the prettiest country anywhere around here, with tiny little roads where you almost never see a car. A huge chunk of it is owned by heirs to the Campbell Soup fortune - sometimes if you're lucky (or willing to scale the gate) you can ride through that property on their dirt road. Just gorgeous...

-Ray

[ripvanrando]

South and West of Kennett Square has great country riding on course chip seal roads but the area is 90 minutes from the OP's desired home base.

[Ray]

Originally Posted by ripvanrando

South and West of Kennett Square has great country riding on course chip seal roads but the area is 90 minutes from the OP's desired home base.

I know, but the point is there's really good riding in the outer portions of Bucks and Montgomery County too, just as there is in Chester County. In all cases, the most suburban areas closest into Philly are gonna be the worst for riding, and the area the OP is planning to live is just such an area. But he won't have to go far to get to some really nice riding. I used to do the Nockamixon century that did a lot of miles in upper Bucks and Montgomery County and a good portion of the Philly century heads out in to Montgomery County before looping down into Northern Chester County. I don't know if the OP would have good riding from his front door, but he wouldn't have to drive nearly as far as Kennett Square to get to some really nice country roads...

-Ray

[bumknees]

Yeah, I'll prob have to drive out a bit to get to a nice area to ride. I lived in PA many years back, and remember nearly getting driven off the road by two nice fellows in a truck who took issue at men in spandex... This was when there were still many cornfields in MontCo. Hopefully, things haven't gotten worse.

[echappist]

Originally Posted by bumknees

I'll be moving to the Philly suburbs (Montgomery county, PA) soon and was wondering what the riding is like out there. Are there any good routes on par with, for example, the NYC to Bear Mountain (via 9W) ride that many of the northern NJ/NYC members here are familiar with? Thanks!

It was years after i left that i realized just how special 9W is. I am not aware of any place on the East Coast where you have wide shoulders and almost uninterrupted riding for ~8 miles. The sheer # of cyclists on it is also a rarity, and the roads out of DC are barren in comparison. Then, as you mention, there's the proximity to Bear Mountain. You'd be hard pressed to find a 20-min long hill only 40 miles away from a major metro area. If i were in NYC these days, i'd be on 9W all the time with my time trial bike.

I'm also thinking of relocating to Philly, and it would seem that doing intervals by the airport is the way to get in 15min of uninterrupted training.

[DerekB]

Plenty of great riding. I am in Merion Station, right next to Narberth. I lead a shop ride out of Main Line Cycles every Saturday morning leaving at 8:00. Come join us! 50 ish miles, 4,000-5,000 feet of climbing.

There are plenty of nice roads and I leave from my house on the bike. Also check out BCP, Bicycle Club of Philadelphia. They organize a great century ride every fall.

[Formulasaab]

Originally Posted by Ray

I don't know if the OP would have good riding from his front door, but he wouldn't have to drive nearly as far as Kennett Square to get to some really nice country roads...

Correct. My home is in northern Delaware, in the northern Wilmington suburbs. I have decent roads right from my front door, but need to ride for 30 minutes or so before I get to better stuff. We often start rides from a friend's house in Hockessin, DE or, from Garrison's Cyclery in Centreville, DE. Both are about 6 miles from Kennett Square. We are always trying to find the time to ride and explore farther north and west but truly appreciate how nice the riding is near to us.

[ripvanrando]

Originally Posted by echappist

It was years after i left that i realized just how special 9W is. I am not aware of any place on the East Coast where you have wide shoulders and almost uninterrupted riding for ~8 miles. ......

RT 29 south from Frenchtown, NJ to Stockton has wide shoulders and is about 12 miles along the Delaware River where there is about an 8 mile stretch with new pavement although the climbs off the River onto the plateau are only about a mile long. This is where I do my FTP confirmatory tests and although I generally prefer totally traffic free country lanes, I know I can let it Rip and not worry about any traffic ruining the effort. South Jersey has a few roads that fit that bill, too.

[Ray]

Originally Posted by Formulasaab

Correct. My home is in northern Delaware, in the northern Wilmington suburbs. I have decent roads right from my front door, but need to ride for 30 minutes or so before I get to better stuff. We often start rides from a friend's house in Hockessin, DE or, from Garrison's Cyclery in Centreville, DE. Both are about 6 miles from Kennett Square. We are always trying to find the time to ride and explore farther north and west but truly appreciate how nice the riding is near to us.

Yeah, I live in West Chester so I ride from my door and have about 3-4 miles of somewhat suburban riding to get through (but low traffic volumes) before I'm out on farm roads. When I used to ride a lot, I used to do all of those roads on the route you posted (and pretty well down into your neighborhood in Delaware as well) from my front door, but now the outer-reaches are getting a bit beyond my range unless I drive and park out there somewhere...

-Ray