Just got back from the Hudson Valley a few days ago, and let me tell you – the Farm to Fork Fondo was awesome.
- Beautiful scenery? Check.
- Challenging ride? Check.
- Farm-fresh treats at aid stations? Check.
- A CAMEL hanging out post race? Check. (Fo’ real – check out this photo!)
I was so excited to have partnered up with Wrenegade Sports to help promote this event, and couldn’t wait to go participate this past weekend. It definitely lived up to my expectations.
Here’s my Farm to Fork Fondo review & recap…
My family and I headed back to NY on Friday afternoon, giving us some time to enjoy the weekend with family and friends before the ride. Even though this wasn’t a race, I was feeling super nervous all weekend! I kept looking over the course map, and wondering if I should drop to the 12 miler because of the problems with my foot and the lack of hill riding. I knew the 36 mile ride would have about 1600 feet of climbing and I wasn’t used to that. I must have asked my husband about 20 times what to do, before I finally just told my inner self to shut up and stick with what I signed up for.
The ride was scheduled to start at 8:30am, which I felt like was a good time – not too early that you had to get up before sunrise, but not so late that you were waiting around or anything. We got there about an hour before the start. I was glad we did because parking was a bit far from check in. It actually wasn’t too bad distance wise, but walking back to the car after check in (to put swag bags away) was straight up hill. Thankfully my husband did that while I waited with the bikes. 😉 And the director delayed the start by about 15 minutes to make sure everyone had enough time to check in and get situated.
The ride is a mass start, with all the riders beginning at the same time. I am slightly claustrophobic and not the most graceful rider (aka I would probably cause a mass accident, haha) so Terry and I waited it out nice and calmly on the side until everyone else had passed the start. Then we hopped in at the back. I was happy with that.
The first 16 miles of our ride were wonderful – beautiful scenery with lots of farmland. We saw cows and horses, tons of vegetable crops, and even saw one of the riders pause on the side of the road to eat a few wild raspberries. (I wanted to but I know nothing about foraging and didn’t want to accidentally poison myself). The course was definitely hilly but it was actually not nearly as bad as I had mentally made it out to be in my head! {I swear those spin classes must have helped me out with the hills.}
The first of three aid stations was at mile 16, and it was definitely welcome at that point! I was thirsty (it was about 90 degrees out) and looking forward to refilling my water bottle. At the aid station they also had cheese and crackers, some bars, gatorade – and they were making fresh brick oven pizza using cheese from the local creamery! It was so tasty.
Here’s where our ride goes off track (literally): we left the aid station and apparently must have missed signage at some point, because we got lost. However, we didn’t realize we were lost for a very long time because we were in a group of a few other people that were also going in the same direction. I think we all just assumed we were all going the right way, haha. We went to make a turn and realized it was a yellow arrow, not a red arrow (for our route) and at that point about 5 of us paused to try to figure out where we were. Based on my bike mileage, we should have been less than 2 miles from the next aid station. But when Terry put the aid station address in his GPS, it was 9 miles away. Uh oh.
With the help of a friendly passerby, we figured out where we were and ironically we were headed back in the direction of the start/finish. We could just continue down that same road we had been on for a while and we would miss the two aid stations but we would still end up doing about 30 miles total of riding. The alternative was to backtrack to the aid station and add about 9 extra miles to the ride. I wasn’t mentally (or probably physically) prepared for that, so all of us that were in this small group opted to just continue on our path and head back to the finish at Pennings Farm.
So overall we ended up with around 30 miles of riding and a little over 1500 feet of climbing – pretty comparable to the original route, just six or so miles short. I’m honestly most sad that we missed the two other aid stations, but such is life. And luckily there was a great BBQ with some hard cider waiting back at the host farm.
I really think this is one of my favorite events that I’ve ever done, even despite getting lost. I highly recommend it. Everything else was really well organized and the amenities (great swag bags, local foods highlighted at aid stations, delicious post-race BBQ with many options) were top notch. My only critique was that course signage could have been somewhat better – but that said, I can be kind of an oblivious rider so that may have been my fault as well. 😉
Be sure to check out the Hudson Valley ride next year, and don’t forget that you can still sign up for one of the other three locations (Maine, Vermont, and Pennsylvania) this year!
Share with me: Are you planning to do a Farm to Fork Fondo event? Have you ever gotten lost during a ride?
Disclosure: I received one free ride entry for this event. As always, I only partner with brands I believe in and support! 🙂
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Yes! Last summer when I rode Venus de Miles Illinois, a volunteer sent me the wrong way and I rode about 8 miles out of the way. I didn’t realize it at first but I noticed that there were no other riders with me anymore. Then I came to a really busy intersection and I knew this wasn’t the right way. So I rode about 33 miles instead of 25…
Haha at one point I was thinking to myself “hmmm, this road seems awfully busy for what’s supposed to be a mostly quiet route” – but there were other people around me so I didn’t think twice!
wow that looks incredible- a great challenging ride PLUS amazing scenery is my kind of exercise!
YES! I’m all about a good experience when it comes to exercise. I love events like this.
Oh my goodness! This looks like so much fun!! Even though I don’t bike I think I do this for the scenery and good food. LOL.
Haha! There definitely was lots of good food! They also offer a shorter 12 mile ride that might be more your style if you don’t bike often 🙂
I’m so excited for Lancaster August 6th! I’m sure spinning helped – I spin once a week and ride outside once a week and the spinning has made a huge difference.
I think you’ll have a blast at the PA event – I can’t wait to read your recap! And yes, I am loving the spinning classes for help with those hills!
This is so cool!!! I’d love a bike ride complete with farm fresh eats 🙂
It was a fabulous event – I highly recommend checking out one of the four rides they offer!
Um, that dish looks delicious!
The pizza at the aid station? It definitely was amazing.
This looks like such a fun event–and great swag, too! I’m definitely going to look and see if there is something like it in my area.
I got lost on a 5K once–my stroller had a flat tire and I got so far behind that they removed the cones and I got completely turned around in a random residential neighborhood. Oops!
I’m glad to know I’m not the only one who has gotten lost in races, haha! I once got lost in a 5K too – the first one I ever did, lol.
This makes me want to get back out on my Specialized bike. It’s been a while. I love that you used it as time to explore too.
Yes! One of the things my husband said about bike rides which is so true – you get to use it as time to take in scenery and explore new places. I love that about cycling.
Um, so this is the coolest event ever and I want to do it. I could do without the mass start, though. I would probably kill someone! And as for getting lost–scenic route, baby 😀
Hahaha, that’s how I felt about the mass start. I thought for sure I’d crash into someone, esp since it was downhill lol. I was happy to wait my turn at the end 🙂
This looks like so much fun and I never heard of it before. Thanks for putting it on my radar!
No problem – it’s a great event and I love that they have 4 different rides throughout the Northeast!
Looks like you had beautiful scenery!!! Glad you enjoyed!
It was gorgeous Rachel! Thanks 🙂
Hi,
I signed up for this hudson valley ride this year and was wondering about the route and how easy was it to follow? I’m also a little nervous riding alongside cars. Was it a lot of car traffic? I see that part of the route is in state highway 32, little nervous about that. TIA
Hi there! I ended up getting slightly lost towards the middle with a small group of other riders, but that was really our own fault for not paying attention and not reviewing the course ahead of time, lol. It was easy to find our way back though. Also, that was several years back and I think the route may have been modified slightly since then, along with better signage – these guys do a really good job. As far as riding alongside cars, I don’t remember there being a ton of car traffic. There were always a good amount of other riders around so I feel like cars respected there was an event going on and gave plenty of space. I know the nerves are hard to quell, but don’t worry – you’ll have a blast and it’ll be great!! 🙂