The Road Apple Ride History (and Why It’s Back for 2026)

If you have been around the channel for a few years, you might remember the Road Apple Ride. If you are newer here, you have probably never heard of it, and honestly, that is exactly why I wanted to tell the Road Apple Ride history before this year’s ride happens. It started as a random Sunday hangout with a buddy and somehow turned into a recurring thing the Discord crew still talks about. So before I head out for the 2026 edition, I wanted to lay out where this whole thing came from and why it took a few years off.

The short version is that Goofy and I used to ride together pretty often, just texting each other on a random weekend to get out for a few hours. At some point the idea grew into something bigger, a group ride open to the Walt In PA Discord. That idea turned into a tradition, fizzled out for a while, and now it is coming back.

Here is the video where I talk through the whole thing, plus what is planned for this year’s ride.

How the Road Apple Ride Got Started

The whole thing started small. Goofy and I were riding together pretty regularly, just sending each other a text on a random Sunday to see if the other guy wanted to get out. During one of those rides, the idea came up to turn it into something bigger, a group ride tied to the Walt In PA Discord, which was starting to gain some traction at the time.

We landed on riding out to Shady Maple, the buffet out in Lancaster County, Amish country. At the time I was watching a lot of Mr. McStach on YouTube, and he talked about road apples, which is just a polite way of saying horse droppings in the road. Since we figured we would see plenty of horses and buggies out that way, the name stuck. I even put together a little logo, a motorcycle dodging a road apple. Simple, but it fit.

The First Ride

That first ride met up at Valley Forge Park and headed out toward Lancaster, stopping at a couple of covered bridges along the way before lunch at Shady Maple. It came in under 100 miles for the day, and we had somewhere between six and eight riders show up. Frank came out from New Jersey and Phil rode down from the Poconos, so a few guys covered real distance just to be part of it. It was a good day, the kind where everybody is already talking about doing it again before they get home.

Why It Fizzled Out

We did it again the following year, although the turnout dropped off quite a bit. There was one more attempt after that where I could not make the full ride and ended up meeting the group at Shady Maple partway through, riding back with just Goofy and Trekkie. After that, it kind of quietly stopped being a thing.

Part of the problem was logistics. Shady Maple is not open on Sundays, and Goofy is usually not free on Saturdays unless something unusual lines up. Since Goofy is one of the guys who started this ride with me, doing it without him never felt right. So a couple years went by without anything official. We still rode together as a group plenty of times, just not under the Road Apple Ride banner.

Why the Road Apple Ride Is Coming Back

I mentioned the Road Apple Ride in a motovlog a while back, almost in passing, and it turned out people actually remembered it and wanted to see it happen again. So this year we are bringing it back, with a few changes to make it work better for everyone’s schedules.

This time it is set for June 28th, a Sunday, which means Shady Maple is off the table since they are closed that day. Trekkie found us a new spot instead, a place called AJ’s Twisted Kitchen in Kinzers, out in Lancaster County. What sold me on it is that they have an actual motorcycle inside the building along with a wall of motorcycle and automotive memorabilia. Feels like the right kind of place for this crew to land for lunch.

So far the confirmed riders are me, Trekkie, and Goofy, with Scott from Scott’s Moto Adventures also planning to come out. Pat should be joining too, and Jeff might have a scheduling conflict that day. All together I am expecting somewhere between four and eight riders, which lines up with how this thing has gone in the past.

This Year’s Route

Goofy is leading the first half of the ride from Valley Forge through a few covered bridges in the area, and I am picking up from there to get us into Kinzers. He sent me his planned route through a Rever link, and since I do not have the app installed anymore, I still need to dig into exactly where the handoff happens. I do know he wants to run Route 345 at some point, which is one of the better motorcycle roads in southeast Pennsylvania, so that is a solid stretch to look forward to either way.

Covered bridges before lunch has basically become the unofficial theme of this ride since day one, so we are planning to hit at least a couple along the way again this year. We are aiming for somewhere around 100 miles total for the day, which keeps it manageable without feeling rushed.

What’s Next for the Road Apple Ride

I am genuinely looking forward to getting this one back on the calendar. It started as nothing more than two guys texting each other about a Sunday ride, and now it has turned into something the Discord crew brings up every year. Once the ride actually happens, I will have a full recap with how the roads were, how AJ’s Twisted Kitchen turned out, and who showed up.

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Ride With Me

If you want to keep up with how the Road Apple Ride turns out this year, subscribe to the WaltInPA YouTube channel for more riding content like this. If you know someone who would get a kick out of this story, share this post with a friend who rides. And if you want to talk group rides, covered bridges, or just bikes in general, come hang out in the WaltInPA Discord where good people talk about riding.