Dutch.
Bike.
Dutch.
Peanut butter.
Dutch Bike Dutch (n.) is a homespun event planned by Jeanette and a few of her compatriots. This weekend it consisted of (1) one night's hotel stay followed by (2) bike rides of various lengths (15, 30, or 60 miles, give or take, depending on one's ability to get lost) and (3) free peanut butter. It was sponsored this year by Crazy Richard's Peanut Butter (http://www.crazyrichards.com/), the peanuts-only peanut butter brand owned by my roommate Stephanie's parents. Did I mention that before? She's a peanut butter heiress. (It's pretty awesome stuff, actually. Its only ingredient is peanuts. No joke. Totally worth buying online or in your local grocery store.)
This time was the seventh time (they go twice a year--once in Fall, once in Spring), and it was the happeningest Dutch Bike Dutch ever. More than 70 young/not-so-young single adults from DC, NY, and Philly converged upon the Quality Inn in Lancaster, Pennsylvania (to the other hotel residents' chagrin), for late-night chatting, mid-morning tire-pumping, and early afternoon peanut butter eating.
And my great friend and former roommate, Elizabeth J., is visiting me from Austin this weekend, so she joined the crew, too. (See her and me and some locals by a covered bridge below.*) Despite my perpetual nose-blowing and deep-throat coughing (see previous post), it was awesome.
Yes, for those of you wondering, I did the hilly 15-miler ride mostly on my Raleigh cruiser, much like this one.
I also rode a few miles on a friend's small road bike, which he kindly offered for a respite. On it, I did go faster, but I was essentially pedaling in fetal position. We switched back before the end. He looked disappointed.
Today, my rear end and I are sore. But happy.
* All pictures courtesy of Elizabeth J.
Okay, one story: My favorite single moment came at a stop sign. A group of us bikers were lined up behind a horse-drawn buggy, which was trying to turn left onto a busy street. A little boy was looking out through the back window of the buggy. He was wearing black and had little blond bangs hanging from beneath a little black hat. He was staring out the back window at us, specifically, it seemed, at Paul, my roommate's boyfriend, who was taking this small, downtime moment to check something on his iPhone. Paul on an iPhone, the little boy in a horse-drawn buggy, and me without a camera. America, circa 2008. Heaven love us.
3 comments:
You are delightful.
Oh, it's beautiful!!! I miss the East so much! I miss fall right now especially. And Pennsylvania is so beautiful. My heart is sore, missing it all.
And I have to add that Matt and I were checking some blogs tonight and I said, "We have to get our Sarah fix for the day." Truly, we love reading your blog. You are just so fun to read.
I love the picture of the horse and buggy going through the tunnel. I confess, I was too timid to take a picture of any Amish. Sort of like maybe they feel like a freak show? But then again, I think they secretly like it. I would secretly like people taking pictures of me...
At any right, you did what I was unable to. I may plagiarize and/or commit theft by stealing this picture and claiming it as my own. Ok, I'll cite you as the original author...
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