for my national readers

West Chester Public Library, built in 1885, renovated in 2005

West Chester PA Farmer's Market

Downtown during Christmas

one of the covered bridges in Chester County

Thinking of taking a biking vacation?? Really, ya should consider coming to Chester County PA. We are located west of Philadelphia and right next to Lancaster County as well. Biking in Chester County is probably one of the best areas in the nation.

I have biked extensively in Santa Barbara, CA and in the Palm Beach area in Florida and in the Ann Arbor MI area as well. What Chester County has is the combination of hills and flat and scenes to take your breath away and the huge network of tertiary roads. So many back roads you can bike for weeks and weeks and not cover all the available roads.

When I was in Santa Barbara, the mountain views were spectacular but the amount of roads was limited and many were busy roads. Florida is nice but the main road is the A1A and that is it. There are no back roads in South Florida. And the hostility on the A1A is getting out of hand for the cyclists.

In Chester County we have covered bridges, horse farms, split rail fences and gently rolling hills. You can head west to Lancaster County or south to Delaware or east to Philadelphia or north to huge hills. North has French Creek State Park which is very hilly and beautiful. You can head to Lancaster county and bike through some of the most spectacular Amish country in the nation.

You can spend a 2 week vacation in this area and bike everyday to some place new. Better yet, plan your trip when one of the local area rides is taking place. Check this link, Suburban Cylists, click on EVENT CALENDAR and check out the local rides in the West Chester PA area.

To name a few, Chester County Challenge, Dog Daze Century, Pedal to Preserve, Bike Fresh Bike Local. All of these rides take place in the Chester county area. All are spectacular. Pedal to Preserve is in Lancaster but an unbelievable tour of the Amish farms.

West Chester hosts the nationally known Iron Hill Criterium in July. Over 20,000 folks come into West Chester for this event. For the cyclists, it is known as the best of their season. The riders say that no where else in the USA is the crowd as good as West Chester. Plus West Chester is a great little town. Lots of restaurants and outdoor eating. Check out my older post called, Things to Do in West Chester.

My son is up visiting from Florida. He said, "boy I miss this scenery and varied biking." He agreed, nothing like this county for a wide variety of biking opportunities. West Chester is an old historic town, over 250 years old, so for you westerners where old is something near 50 years, you will be amazed at how different a town can look.