Riding near Allentown, PA

[saab2000]

Anyone here have any experience in the Leheigh Valley around Allentown? Ray?

How's the area? Is this really separate from the Philadelphia area?

Thanks!

PS - Yup, it's wishy-washy ol' Saab again wondering about that area. It's intriguing for some reason...... Plus, there are rumors in my company that my current base of Washington's Reagan National might not be open that long. I know.... we've been over this a million times. I am just wondering a bit about Allentown and Leheigh Valley.

[palincss]

We had the Eastern Tandem Rally there once. It's not far from Kutztown, the Trexlertown Velodrome, and Spectrum Cycles. The riding was wonderful. The Lehigh Wheelmen have a bunch of cue sheets posted on the club's web site:
http://www.enter.net/~lehighwheelmen/map-menu.htm


Is it different from Philly? You bet. It's PA rolling farm country.

[saab2000]

If that is the area near Tom Kellogg's Spectrum Cycles, then it is awesome. I visited his place once. I guess that is it, and only about 1 hour from the PHL airport. Neato. I might be homing in on something which would actually interest me.

Rural roads? yup.

[Ray]

Yeah, the Lehigh Valley area is great for riding. I did a century (Gap Gallup) and a couple of shorter rides in that area this year. The terrain isn't that different from the counties closer to Philly, except that in the northern portion of the valley, you start getting into the mountains (Blue Mountain is a nice climb). The Delaware Water Gap area to the north and east is really pretty too. And it's that much less populated, although there are some amazingly unpopulated areas in the four county area around Philly. I'd rate the riding as marginally better than the Philly area, but all of SE PA has some really fine riding except for the worst of the suburban areas.

And yeah, the Spectrum barn is just west of Allentown, so if you move to the area, you have to get a custom Spectrum!

-Ray

[SpongeDad]

If you ride in the DC area, I'd say the hills in the Lehigh Valley are more challenging than the one's around DC and there's more farmland. My recollection of Allentown itself is that it was very hilly as is Bethlehem PA. Doylestown (Bucks County), well to the east, is less so but still more than here in DC.

[saab2000]

Mr. Spongedad,

Thanks for the info. I have been in frequent contact with member Ray and he has informed me that the cycling in Chester County, west of Philadelphia is very good too. I want relatively easy access to Philadelphia airport. Gotta get out of the city environment.

[gt6267a]

I grew up in Allentown. There is plenty of good riding at all levels, hills, and a track if that interests you. The area around the velodrome is flooded with cyclists over the summer. It is fairly common to see professional cyclists on the hardcore club rides and/or teams training in the area.

If I remember reading some of your posts over the years, you lived in Switzerland. I doubt the valley walls or pocono’s a few miles to the north match the alps, but there are some challenges close to home. Most of the hills I rode were 1-2 miles. Others might know better hills to climb ...

There is not much for city style living, but, if living in a development or the country appeals to you, the Lehigh valley is not bad. The airport, ABE, is rather small, but not the worst around. You should be able to jump on a flight to Philly without a problem.

Though you have to know where to go, there is some decent food in the area, my favorite coffee shop called Hava Java on 19th street, and a farmer’s market not far away.

In terms of being separate from Philly, Allentown is about 60 min from Manayunk / Main Line and another 10 to downtown, with good traffic and another 30-40 without. Depending on where you live PHL is an hour and half. Another area to consider is Quakertown. Lots of rural living with great access to food and philly.

Let me know if you have addl questions.

Kind regards,
Keith

edited to add:

the owner of Evolution Pro, http://www.evolutionprobike.com/, is very nice, an excellent mechanic, and will surely talk your ear off about riding near philly. especially if you ask about cross.