Glen here, your tour director and humble servant since 1997.  

It’s time to get out of the city and get back to beautiful relaxing farm country. Check out the photos on this web site -- all taken on The Farm Ride route.

Whether you are a beginner or an expert or traveling with kids, we have an incredible ride ready for you.

We’re going to pedal along the river, on no-car bike paths and on quiet, back-country roads shaded with trees. You’ll ride past farms, dairy cows, rivers, tobacco sheds... Overhead is the Holyoke Range mountains. No, we are NOT pedaling UP the mountains! We’ll pedal in the valley, ALONGSIDE the mountains! [Eric... Rudy... this means you!]

We’re going through towns that were founded in the 1700s.

There are no car alarms here.

There are no booming radios.

Instead you’ll enjoy a clear sky full of stars, friendly townspeople, great riding companions, fresh local food, and lush scenery.

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Come for the whole weekend or ride for just one day.  If you’re coming for the weekend  we’re staying on the campus of the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. We offer three different housing options on campus to fit your taste and your budget.

We’ll be visiting Amherst and Northampton -- both beautiful college towns with great bars, restaurants, and the place that I think has the best ice cream in the United States -- Herrell's  (This being a source of great controversy of course, so this year the plan is to hit Herrel's AND The Hadley Scoop.  Let the debating begin!)

Here’s a BRIEF schedule (more details on the web pages that follow). Remember -- pick only the days that work best for you.

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Maple Valley Creamery's Scoop at the Silos -- our Friday ride destination.

FRIDAY AUGUST 8

Many people will head to Amherst on Friday after work (or skip work entirely, which I highly recommend... in fact, I recommend skipping work any day...)  Drive to Amherst on your own or take our optional transportation for your bike and you from NYC. We offer two departures from NYC on Friday: 8:00 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. -- your choice. Stay overnight on the University of Massachusetts campus if you wish.

If you get to Amherst early, we’ll have on optional 2:30 p.m. escorted ride of about 20 miles to explore the area. (Read: “A ride to go eat ice cream.”)

In the early evening we’ll go on a VERY short trip to the UMass dining commons -- voted #1 in the country years in a row by The Princeton Review. Again, this ride and the dinner are both OPTIONAL -- come along if you want or head your own way -- your choice.  

You pay for your own ice cream and dinner, but otherwise this day is FREE.

SATURDAY AUGUST 9

We ride!  Today is the main Farm Ride!  

You’ll have your choice of routes: 100 miles, 70 miles, 55 miles, or 25 miles. We’ll do traditional free bike-ride breakfast at the start line (bagels, doughnuts, granola, coffee, bananas...) or if you want a full lumberjack breakfast you can buy it nearby.

We offer an optional escorted version of the 25-, 70-, and 100-mile routes at no additional charge -- ride with our cycling experts.

We’ll be right there with you all day with a gorgeous easy-to-follow marked route, turn sheet, GPS files if you want them, free turn-by-turn directions for your smartphone, full S.A.G. support (bike rescue) in case your bike breaks or you’re too tired to go on, and spectacular rest stops. (If you’ve never been on one of our rides, we tend to over-do the food thing, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.)

The routes are predominantly FLAT, but yes, there are indeed a few hills here and there. (But nothing you would write home about! Besides, you’re so tough that you don’t even care about hills! Too-much info on hills can be found here.)  

After the ride we’ll have a great all-you-can-eat post-ride meal. The meal is included in the price of your ride.  

PLUS... our swell post-ride Saturday Night Dorm Party. The party is so much fun that we were tempted to just hang out at the party and skip the pedaling entirely, but cooler heads prevailed. More details on the party here.  

SUNDAY AUGUST 10

Still ready to ride?  Good!  (Had enough riding and just want to relax? Also good!)

Today is a casual day of riding -- we’ll have several route sheets for you to choose from. The routes are fully-marked, and we’ll have S.A.G. crews out there in case you need help, but you’re otherwise free to spend the day the way YOU want to! Go out and hammer, take a short ride, sleep late, or just cruise around town and shop. There will be an escorted version of a lovely 40-mile route.

We’ll have a bike-snack buffet in the morning so you can fill your jersey with pocket food before you start to pedal.

Amherst and Northampton are full of great restaurants and we’ll point you the right way if you want to grab one more meal before you leave.

If you’ve already checked out of your room, we’ll make sure you still have a place to shower and change before you head home.

If you drove to Amherst on your own you can head back whenever you’re ready.  If you took our transportation from NYC we’ll have early and late runs home.