What a great weekend!!!
Dan, Rich, and their volunteers had done a stellar job organizing this super fun event. It was so nice to see the kids riding their bikes around the festival, fishing, swimming, and simply hanging out with each other…..outside and with no parents hovering over them!!
I was lucky enough to lead a Stephens Intermediate ride on both Saturday and Sunday.
In addition to Dan and Rich, I wanted to thank
@mattybfat,
@pedals,
@sarcaro,
@seanrunnette, and
@Jam5377 for helping with keeping the group from getting split up as well as sweeping.
@mattybfat took over leading on Saturday as I pulled off with a father and son who were a bit over their comfort zone on skill and stamina. Thank you Matt!! I didn’t want to boy to get hurt or frustrated trying to keep up with the group as well as the entire group waiting at each hill. I explained to the boy (Jack) that the Allamuchy trail system is in the top 10 of the most challenging trails in the state as I could see he was getting frustrated with himself. At the picnic later, his father came up to me and said how much fun Jack had and that he told his father “that was so much fun and so cool that we were riding trails that are in the top 10 toughest in the state”. They are both coming back next year!!
Sunday’s ride turned out to be roll rather well even with the large group of 26. We got in a solid 16 miles of Stephens flowy trails with a bit of pain on the seemingly endless climbs followed by pure bliss with the super fun downhills.
@ChrisG and I came across a bear as we rounded one of the corners in the Pink Maze section. As in almost every single run in I’ve had, the bear got spooked and ran into the woods as fast as he/she could. It wanted nothing to do with a couple of smelly MAMILs.
For those on the fence….definitely put this on your radar for next year. It was a ton of fun!!!