Brewery Bike Ride

by Sue Knorr

Thirteen riders (and one puppy named Charlie) arrived at Bull’s Island departure point on May 20th for the 20-mile brewery bike ride, despite the breezy 70-degree overcast day.   A fine spitting rain as we all left home that morning had us skeptical, but it turned out to be a perfect biking day along the canal path. We were pleasantly surprised!    By 10:00 a.m. the sun was out in full and warning us to shed our top layers. Stu G. gladly greased chains and checked air pressure on some bikes while we waited for all the riders to gather.   

As we began our scenic ride down the path, we had not even gotten our heart rates up at Mile 1 and we had to stop for a chain repair for Donna A. By Mile 3, Liz   J. and Rob L. decided to shake us up a bit and take a little spill and have us untangle them. Black and blue bruise marks were encountered on this fall for sure! And all this happened before we even hit a brewery!   (Wondering if this would be a good time for a bicycle safety talk?)    Between Mile 5 and 9 we encountered some beautiful nature scenes including a goose protecting her eggs atop a bridge abutment.  

Mile 10, we parked our bikes at Lambertville, NJ and walked over the bridge to New Hope, Pa. Much to our surprise it was Gay Pride Weekend in New Hope!   Somehow it always seems the club is on the tail end of these type celebrations, and we were thankful we were not donning our hot pink ski pole ties as a few of us reminisced over a similar funny “déjà vu” on a past Aspen ski trip!   We ate lunch and taste-tested beers (yes, even “Charlie”) at the Triumph Brewing Company, and then headed back to our bikes, watching some belly dancing street festival production along the way. (Oh guys – we are leaving now!)  

Miles 10 through 20 were pretty uneventful. We arrived back at Bull’s Island for more taste testing of Raspberry Wheat (the favorite) and Maiboch beers from another brewery, and ended a great day of fun and biking. Stay tuned for upcoming winery bike ride, Lehigh Valley Gorge ride, and a fall foliage ride to Grand Canyon, Pa.    Hope that you will be able to join us!