This Labor Day weekend (coming soon!) we're resurrecting Jim Kuehn's EPIC "Ain't No Breeze to Breezewood" overnighter, and we invite you to join us for this 2-day bicycling adventure. Jim first led the ride for PPTC way back in 1993, so that qualifies it as an antique. We've been doing it every other year or so since then, and it remains on our list of top 10 favorite rides! The ride starts in Williamsport, Maryland. We'll spend Saturday night at the Best Western in Breezewood, PA and return to Williamsport on Sunday. Both days feature an extravaganza of challenging climbs, delicious descents, and fabulous views. This will be an unsupported ride, meaning that you'll have to CARRY YOUR OWN GEAR to Breezewood and back.
Saturday's ride to Breezewood, starting from Williamsport, was designed by Jim Kuehn and is a MASTERPIECE! Heading west out of Williamsport, we pass Fort Frederick and then ride through the hilly and very scenic Indian Springs Wildlife Management Area. Next, after a particularly gnarly and notorious climb on Dyer Road, we'll swoop down into Hancock for a well-earned rest stop. The climbing resumes as we head north into Pennsylvania, and we'll tackle the first MAJOR climb over Town Hill before lunch. A long, fast descent into Crystal Spring follows, where we'll have lunch at the Cornerstone Café. After lunch, a few miles on Pleasant Valley Road will lead us to the next major climb over Sideling Hill. And no rest for the weary, as Kimber Mountain follows soon thereafter. After Kimber Mountain, a very long and luscious 6-mile descent takes us down into Hopewell, where we'll sit a spell at Linda's Little General Store. Then the terrain merely rolls for a few miles before our last major climb on Bunker Hill Rd, followed by a series of what Jim lovingly refers to as "little annoyances" on the way into Breezewood. Fact is it ain't over til it's over. 101 miles with close to 10,000 feet elevation gain. There is a 10-mile optional shortcut on the way to Hancock (via the Western Maryland Rail Trail) that omits several nasty climbs. And leaving Town Hill there's a humongous optional shortcut that yields a 64-mile ride (or 54 if you take the rail trail to Hancock). But you'll be missing the best of it if you take these shortcuts.
Sunday's ride back to Williamsport is yet another scenic torture-fest. We'll ride through the historic Jackson Mills Covered Bridge soon after leaving Breezewood. A very steep short climb follows immediately, but the first real eye-opener is the climb over McKee's Gap at mile 17. Another climb over Sideling Hill will take us down into Warfordsburg for a rest stop. Several noticeable ups and downs follow as we work our way up to Pleasant Ridge and eventually climb over Scrub Ridge before descending into McConnellsburg for lunch. There will still be plenty of climbing after lunch, but it will be somewhat less intense. And those who have done this ride in the past will probably be relieved to learn that we've replaced the painful grind over Hanging Rock Road with the kinder and gentler climb over Fairview Mountain on US40. If this modification offends you, Hanging Rock is still there and you know the way. 102 miles, with a metric century option that eliminates all the major climbs after Warfordsburg. As Sunday's route has been revised since we last rode to Breezewood, I don't know the elevation gain, but it's certainly over 8000 feet, maybe 9000.
We'll be spending Saturday night at the Best Western in Breezewood. There are plenty of additional lodging options in the motel capital of the world, a few of them listed below for your convenience. So, if you want to opt in for this weekend of spectacular riding (the more the merrier!), please make your reservations ASAP and advise me that you're going to join us. I'll send out an update including meeting time and directions to the ride start (Williamsport High School), etc. the week before Labor Day. Let's hope things cool down by then!
Breezewood motels:
Best Western Plaza Inn
16407 Lincoln Highway
877-722-3422
Holiday Inn Express
16503 Lincoln Highway
814-735-7666
866-270-5110
Quality Inn
16621 Lincoln Highway
814-735-4311
800-721-4311
Crista
**PS BREEZEWOOD IS NOT KNOWN FOR ITS FINE CUISINE.**
