Attendees can expect a unique fall trip at Bikeout: New Hope. In one intensive weekend experience, more than 100 people will travel through historic towns, including a stop in New Hope, visit an orchard for apple picking and then travel to an active farm and CSA, enjoy a special three-course farm-to-fork meal, camp out overnight on a private farm, wake up to an outdoor morning yoga session, and bike more than 60 miles roundtrip total, mostly on a protected trail system.
Attendees will ride on the D&L Trail for most of the trip, a beautiful national heritage corridor that celebrates the historic canal system that once ran commerce in the region, and now serves as an escape for recreational bikers and walkers in Bucks County, PA. A handful of local bike shops will provide ride support includingFirehouse Bicycles and Keystone Bicycle Co. The group will head first to Solebury Orchards, the busy local farmstand where riders will break for lunch, pick apples and explore the fields. Then after passing through New Hope and crossing the state border on the Lambertville Bridge, the group’s destination is a hilltop farm calledSandbrook Meadow Farm, an active farm and CSA in New Jersey.
On the farm, riders will set up their own campsite — tent, sleeping bag and gear — and spend an evening enjoying the company of the bike community. They’ll be treated to a three-course farm-to-fork dinner featuring the farm’s ingredients, curated and prepared by Chef Katie Briggs of Eckletik Domestic. They’ll enjoy beer from Flemington’s Lone Eagle Brewery and hard cider from the nearby Ironbound Cider, as well as traditional apple cider from Solebury Orchards. And then they’ll sleep under the stars on a field looking over New Jersey.
On Sunday morning, the riders will be led through a cycling-focused yoga session by New Hope’s Create Space Movement Laboratory and enjoy a breakfast prepared by Eckletik Domestic, with cold brew coffee by Elixr Coffee. The group will then depart for New Hope, where they’ll be provided with valet bike service to allow them to explore the town’s restaurant scene and boutique shops. Riders will then depart for the remaining few miles on the trail to Yardley Station, where they’ll return back home by train or car.
In all, about two dozen partner organizations—including the towns and municipalities along the way—are helping to make Bikeout: New Hope a reality. This project was completed in partnership with the Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor, Inc. Funding was provided in part by a grant from the William Penn Foundation, administered by Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor, Inc.
