The Fools Classic was conceived in 2005 by Bob Ruddy and Brian Ignatin, both active members of the Central Bucks Bicycle Club of Doylestown, Pennsylvania. The idea was simple; create a challenging spring ride that emulated the conditions of the Spring Classic races held in Northern Europe.

The idea was not exactly original. In the 1980s, Brian was a member of Team Hill USA, based out of the Hill Cycle shop in the Chestnut Hill section of Philadelphia. Team Hill's membership included Allan Rodzinski, who raced as an independent pro in the mid-80s. Each spring Allan leads a series of 3 rides over the cobbled and roads and narrow paths of Philadelphia and the suburbs, with a combined distance of roughly 250k (156 miles), which is the nominal distance of the European Spring Classics.

Bob and Brian decided that Bucks County needed a similar ride, but there was one major stumbling block; outside of a few stones here and there, Central and Northern Bucks County, unlike Philadelphia and Europe, doesn't have cobbled roads.

But thanks to shrinking budgets among the state, county, and townships, there are plenty of roads in quite rough condition. But there were also a lot of hidden gems; Bucks County has a number of well maintained, dirt, gravel, and chip sealed roads, all of which are perfectly suitable for road bikes.

Identifying featured roads wasn't so much the problem, but figuring out an interesting way of linking them together was, since the unsealed roads are typically clustered in close proximity, and repeating roads was deemed unacceptable.

2007 saw the inaugural Fools Classic on April 1st, which gave birth to the name. Held as a club ride, 13 members of CBBC braved a light morning rain to tackle 13 dirt roads over a 65 mile course, with total climbing of approximately 4200 feet. Most of the ride was held in Bucks County, PA, but there was also a stretch of the course then ventured across the Delaware River into Hunterdon County, NJ. All finishers received a practical (and tasty trophy) of a bottle of specially labeled homemade Hard Apple Cider made by Brian.

With the inaugural success, R&D commenced; many more unsealed roads were located. In a spell of evil, Brian designed and proposed a course for 2008 that was entirely in Bucks County (hooray; no walking across a bridge into NJ!) that included 25 dirt roads and when mapped out turned out to be 80 miles with just shy of 8000 feet of climbing. And three stream crossings...

Well, this would just not do for early spring. Benevolent Bob insisted on a redesign; who wants wet feet in April? Thus another route was charted. Causing additional problems was a section of River Road (PA-32) was closed in Solebury Township while PennDOT rebuilt part of the Delaware River Canal and the adjacent roadway that was damaged by flooding (the area flooded 3 times between 2004 and 2007). This cut off convenient access to a few roads, disrupting the plans for the initial and final segments of the route.

April 6, 2008 saw the 2nd Annual Fools Classic. 15 riders rode perhaps the toughest 65 miles of their lives on a course that included 18 unsealed roads. Participants were again treated to a tasty trophy, this time a bottle of specially labeled bottle of homemade red wine.

The 2009 edition of the Fools Classic took place on Sunday, April 5th.  For the first time, the event was opened up to members of a few other clubs (SCU, Princeton Freewheelers, and Team Evolution Pro Bikes).  Despite Brian making the course even harder (71 miles and 25 dirt roads), over 45 riders were at the start.  Finishers were again awarded the traditional trophy; another bottle of specially labeled homemade red wine.  

The 2010 ride was set to have a record crowd, but the Belgian winter weather moved in, so most didn't show.  Those that did earned Flahute points.  See CJ's article.