# Rides around Hershey



## bikersteve (Mar 25, 2004)

Hey all

I just moved to Hershey and I'm looking for some good routes to ride in the area. I just did my first (short) ride today down 322 to 241 to 117 and back to Hershey. I like the scenery, I'll have to get used to the many smells in the area. If anyone has ideas, please post them.

On another note, the two lane roads without any shoulder and a speed limit of 50 do not make me feel comfortable (241 and 117). I nearly got sucked into an accident when a car tried to pass me on the blind side of a hill without checking for oncoming traffic. Do you guys avoid these roads, or do you just live with it?

Thanks

Steve


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## keepingcadence53 (Aug 17, 2006)

Hey Steve.

Ask someone to direct you to Old Jonestown Road. Try this: take 743 to Grantville, turn right and travel along until you come to rt. 72. Turn Left and travel a few miles and turn left at the redlight. this will take you up and through the Ft. Indiantown Gap military base. Turn left and ride back to Hershey when you come to 743 again, or just keep riding until you hit harrisburg and ride up to rt. 39 (Linglestown Road )via Front Street. This will take you back to Hershey again. It should be a good 50 mile ride. Check with a local for any questions you may have or just contact me at [email protected] All of the roads around here have cars that travel over 50 mph...suck it up!

Jon[QUOTE=bikersteve]Hey all

I just moved to Hershey and I'm looking for some good routes to ride in the area. I just did my first (short) ride today down 322 to 241 to 117 and back to Hershey. I like the scenery, I'll have to get used to the many smells in the area. If anyone has ideas, please post them.

On another note, the two lane roads without any shoulder and a speed limit of 50 do not make me feel comfortable (241 and 117). I nearly got sucked into an accident when a car tried to pass me on the blind side of a hill without checking for oncoming traffic. Do you guys avoid these roads, or do you just live with it?

Thanks

Steve[/QUOTE]


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## kevin3809 (Aug 18, 2006)

Steve, Welcome to the area... I'm from Elizabethtown and very much enjoy riding in the area between Hershey and Etown. Yes many people drive 50mph but you just need to take the time to explore the back roads where there aren't many cars to begin with. Its kind of difficult because if you're not familiar with the area you could easily get lost because the back roads aren't straight. However I think that makes for a much more enjoyable ride. Download Google Earth(which I highly recommend) or get some local maps and you'll see that there are tons of little back roads. The trick is connecting them together to make for a long ride and finding the ones that aren't crazy hilly. You'll find that a lot of the back roads are very hilly but that also makes for a good ride. You get a work out going up and an adrenaline rush coming down. Even after living in the area you'll find that there are so many different back roads you can make every ride a different one. Here's a sample ride of the area I am talking about but there is so much more than just this. Lots of places to explore. This ride is about 15 miles. Lots of turns for the length of the ride but it keeps you off the most dangerous roads. When I try a new ride I usually tape my directions to the tube of my bike so I don't have to stop... just a suggestion because there are so many turns. I like to ride this route at about 6 or 7pm when everyone is home from work and there are very few people out on the back roads. I'm not sure where you're coming from but this starting and stopping point should be familiar to you according to your previous ride. Yeah I would recommend riding on roads such as 117 and 241 as little as possible. The drivers really don't have much space to pass on those busy roads and its not safe for anyone. Drivers complain about bikers and while we do have the right to the road i think we can at least make an effort to stay out of the way on back roads if its possible. And besides usually the backroads make for a much quieter and scenic ride. Have fun and keep riding!

Heading East on 322
Right onto 117
Right onto Bell Rd.
Left onto Lawn Rd.
Left onto Colebrook Rd.
Right onto Gingrich Rd.
Straight onto Mapledale
Right onto Colebrook Rd.
Left onto Bachmanville Rd.
Right onto School House Rd.
Right onto Kreider Rd.
Left onto Chestnut Hill Rd.
Turns into Lawn Rd.
Brings you back to 322 just 1/2 mile from where you started

If you're looking to ride longer let me know and I can give you a good route that goes on the back roads around Elizabethtown and back. Around 50 miles.

Kevin


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## bmwrt (Aug 19, 2006)

Hey Steve,
I am from the E-town area also. I am just getting back into biking and have my new bike on order. In the meantime I have been also been looking for rides.
Search the web for lancaster bike club. It is $12 to join for the year. They have rides all through the week. You may also want to look for Harrisburg Bike club as a resource also

hope this helps


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## bikersteve (Mar 25, 2004)

Kevin - Thanks for that route! I did it in the steambath called last Sunday and it came out to be a great ride. I probably didn't see a car pass me in 30 minutes at one point. The fact that my last name matched one of the roads on the route was icing  .

I saw that one of the roads hooked up with Mt Gretna, which I've ridden to before. That'll give me another route to do.

I know that the Harrisburg bicycle club had rides leaving briarcrest square on mondays, so I'm going to look into that as well. 

Thanks for the info. If anyone of you guys have other routes you want to suggest, let me know.


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## Mr. MG (Aug 23, 2005)

Dont know where you moved from, but there are many many routes to ride in the Hershey area. You could get lost for hours. Go north to the hills, or south into lancaster county, plenty of places to ride. Lancaster Bike Club is another club to look at. Dont know what kind of rider you are, but this area is full of opportunities, touring, racing, etc. You will get use to the roads, it takes some time, but it can be done.


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