Tour de Black Creek

This weekend was the annual Boy Scout Tour de Black Creek. It’s a 25 mile bike ride followed by a campout. This year, being it’s the 100th anniversary of Boy Scouting, we paired it with a big camporee where about 1700 people (scouts and leaders) camped out at one of the county parks. We had activities, music, and fireworks. Plus all kinds of camp cooking was going on.

The ride was great, although it required getting up at 5:30 in the morning to get to the start point by 7 am. We got rolling about 8, with 9 scouts and 6 adults. I got to lead the group since I was confident I could set a pace that wouldn’t kill the scouts. Both the boys started with us for the full ride. Ellen decided to meet us at the half way point as she’s been a little run down. It’s been a crazy couple of weeks with all the weekend goings on (and it won’t let up for a couple more weeks). So instead of killing herself, she opted for a shorter route.

The ride was great. It was perfect weather. Partly sunny and about 70. No rain. The boys did great. All but one rode the entire 25 miles. We had one scout that decided candy bars was the breakfast of champions and he ran out of energy at about 15 miles. Who would have thought? We made sure there were good snacks like fruit and cliff bars for our boys and they were just fine. Everyone was a little tired by the end but proud they’d made it.

The next morning, we were both a little stiff, especially in the legs. So what was the best cure? Of course, going for a ride! We did about 5 miles on a trail that leads into the park where the camporee was held. We got there at about noon and checked out the site. Amazingly (or perhaps not so) you could never tell there were nearly 1700 scouts on that lawn the day before. The only remnant was the company that supplied porta-potties picking them up.

I won’t go into the other craziness from yesterday around Christopher’s confirmation practice as that would REALLY get me rolling. Suffice it to say he’s getting confirmed next week and the planning of the event by our parish staff leaves something to be desired. But the weather so far looks good for Memorial Day weekend so I’m sure Ellen and I will find some time to do more biking. What else would you want to do with your time off?

Comments

Jude said…
Congrats on everyone making it for the entire ride, it sounds like you all had a great time!

I hope the confirmation goes well next week. Sorry to hear the planning end of it is letting you down though.

Canada is having our Victoria Day long weekend, I hope your Memorial Day weekend is a good one for you. Enjoy your bike rides!
Jammie J. said…
Despite the parish staff's shortcomings on the planning end, I hope the confirmation went smooth.

Glad you had a good time bike riding and hope you get tons more in this weekend. :)
sydwynd said…
Jude: The weekend was nice. Hope yours was as well. Confirmation is tonight!

Jammie: We'll find out tonight. We got a message last night that there will be even MORE people! We did get a nice ride in this weekend.
Jammie J. said…
I have to say, you know you love something (or someone) if you're willing to get up at 5:30 in the morning for it (or them).

Your love for bicycling has really started to show. :)
sydwynd said…
You've heard golfers say they spend every moment thinking about the next time they can get on the course? I spend my free time thinking about the next time I can get on my bike.

Plus, it was a Scouting event so I got up early for the ride AND the kids.

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