Running With Perseverance

This weekend we participated in the Pennsylvania Dutch Farm to Fork Fondo for the fifth time. It was everything we’ve come to expect it to be–friendly participants, gorgeous scenery, and delicious food.

silo selfie 😉

Enjoying Our Fifth Farm to Fork Fondo

This year we signed up for the Weekend Adventure, with shorter rides Friday and Sunday sandwiching the main event on Saturday. The weather was dicey when we left home Friday morning, but the flash flood warnings subsided and the skies cleared as we headed north.

Friday’s Ride

We got to Lancaster with just enough time to have lunch at Max’s Eatery and browse the stalls at the Central Market before heading to the meet-up place for our first ride of the weekend—Cherry Hill Orchards.

Now those are high-visibility jerseys!

After a brief orientation and introductions, we were off. There were about 25 of us on this ride  We kept an easy pace, stopping to regroup and take pictures from time to time.

Can you see the tobacco hanging in the barn to dry?

Our ride was supposed to be about 15 miles, but the morning’s heavy rain washed out a bridge, so we had to double back and retrace part of our route. When we rolled back into the orchard parking lot we had covered about 13 miles.

Post-ride peach picking!

After our ride, we got to pick a few peaches from the orchard—they were so good my husband and I went back to pick more after our ride on Saturday.

We had a little over an hour to check into our hotel and get ready for the farm dinner. I had made reservations at a Comfort Inn which was in the parking lot of an outlet shopping center, and was surprised when Google Maps took us down country roads to get there. Out the front entrance of the hotel was a Burger King, but out the back was farmland.

Friday’s Farm Dinner

Dinner Friday was held at the main venue—Cherry Crest Adventure Farm—which is where the 2019 Pennsylvania Dutch Farm to Fork Fondo was held.

I was excited that they were serving Athletic Brewing Company non-alcoholic craft beer as the beer options. One of my friends who does the Conte’s Hill Ride recently introduced me to them, and they are pretty darn good! I am now hooked on their Hazy IPA and love that I can enjoy it without feeling tired—or hazy. 😉

Dinner was served buffet style. I had salmon, salad, and pasta salad, and a big blueberry muffin/cupcake for dessert. I was busy chatting with others so I didn’t take any pictures of dinner, but I did get up to capture this glorious sunset.

Saturday’s Ride

We returned to the venue shortly before 8:00 am to get ready for Saturday’s ride. We opted for the “medio” distance, which was 42 miles for this event. To strike a balance between covid protocols and saftey-in-numbers, they had small groups depart every 15 minutes. We rolled out with the 8:15 group.

And we were off! Rolling hills, working farms, Amish buggies—we saw it all.

There were three stops on our “medio” ride. The first stop was about 15 miles in, at The Amish Village, which is mostly a tourist trap. We could have taken a tour of the Amish home, but we were more interested in getting to the whoopie pies finishing before it got too hot.

About 10 miles further on, the second stop was at Riehl’s Family Farm, where we enjoyed fresh-made whoopie pies and homemade root beer.

Another 10 miles or so down the road we stopped at the Lapp Valley Farm for ice cream.

They even have a drive-through–buggies welcome! 

It was only 10 more miles–and one steep climb–back to the venue.

Love the wine stopper medals!

I was hardly hungry for lunch, but I filled my plate with veggies and enjoyed another Athletic Brewing Company Hazy IPA. My husband enjoyed the pulled pork sandwiches. Roasted chicken was another option. Oh, and brownies!

After our ride, we went back to our hotel to shower and change, and then went back to that peach orchard! I thought it would be a good way to pass some time before we were hungry for dinner, but when we checked out they gave us coupons for a cider donut at the store, which I couldn’t resist. 🙂

Sunday’s Ride

We were supposed to meet for a leisurely ride at 9:30 on Sunday morning, but we woke up to steady rain. After stalking the Weather Channel App radar for two hours, we faced the reality that it was not going to clear up until late morning at the earliest.

Since we had such a great time on Saturday, I didn’t see any reason to ride in the rain. We switched gears to plan B–taking a scenic drive across Pennsylvania to have brunch with my son and his wife on our way home. It was a great decision, as the drive really was scenic, and I’m never disappointed to spend time with them.

Final Thoughts On Our Fifth Farm to Fork Fondo

While Sunday’s rain was a bummer, Saturday’s ride was perfect. We had opted for the medio ride over the longer “gran fondo” ride to save some energy for Sunday, but even in retrospect I’m not sure I would have done the 68 mile ride. It probably would have taken us close to 6 hours (including rest stops), and I wasn’t mentally prepared for such a hard ride. That said, we are contemplating signing up for the Shenandoah Farm to Fork Fondo in late October, and definitely will be taking advantage of the opportunity to buy discounted entries for next year.

Here’s a fun “Relive” recap of our Farm to Fork Fondo Medio ride:

I’m joining the Tuesday Topics link up with Kim and Zenaida and the Runners’ Roundup with Debbie, Deborah, Lisa, Laura and Jenn.