I can tell you this much persistence bordering on harassment sure has seemed too have paid off. On Monday (5-12-08) we had the best turn out to date for the Sleepy Hollow ride. I counted a definite 18 people showing up to ride some laps, but I know for sure at least a couple more showed up along the way, so I am calling the final count 20! For a day that once again the weather was not the greatest, I and few others were astounded by this turn out. Each week I see new faces that I have not seen the week before. If you are looking for a good time riding your bike, shooting the shit, and have fun stop by you won’t be disappointed.

I have some new info to pass along about some new group rides developing and/or in the works. The Monday night ride is staying at Sleepy Hollow indefinitely or at least for the rest of the season, why mess with a good thing is the general thought. Don’t worry; you will still get the email as a reminder or what I like to call friendly harassment. I don’t really think it will be moving to 7:00pm anymore either. I don’t know how much this really matters since if you show up at 7:00pm you still are not really late, so we are scratching that idea. You can just join in for what is the second lap, third lap, etc. For the Mandan Folks, and you know who you are (Brian, Wednesday night is your time to shine). We will be riding the Sunset Park Trail, yes I do know it is now called the Eagle Trail but I guess I am old school. The time is going to be 6:30pm also and we will be meeting at the west end of Boundary Road, for a map check the calendar on the right. Now I know this is conflicting with one ride for sure and that is Berry’s ride leaving from his shop. I am hoping this doesn’t cause too much of an issue since both will probably get a certain type of rider. As for the Adventist Academy ride that was Wednesday that is moving to weekends and for now will be on an email by email basis.

Other things I see being added in the future are a night time singletrack ride, a booze cruise, and a true singletrack ride for beginners. Our night rides we have done so far have us meeting at 9:00pm and riding until about 11:00pm give or take. I will tell you this much you definitely need a good light for riding singletrack at night. If you feel like trying night riding before spending the money on a good light let me know I may be able to dig up a light you can borrow to give it a try. The next ride is the booze cruise and the one that I still get ask about the most by the people that joined in last year. This one is self explanatory, we pretty much picked a starting spot and cruised around town from bar to bar enjoy a beverage at each stop. It definitely made for an interesting night full of laughs and a few good stories the next day. The one request I have had about this ride is that we run it on a Friday or Saturday since many did not like getting up for work the next morning. I have heard rumors that TNT (Thursday Night Thunder) has been revived I have not verified that for sure but I bet that if you talk to Tyler at Barry’s Bikes he may know more about it. The last thing is the beginners’ ride I know for a fact there are more new riders out there than what show up on either Monday or Wednesday night. So my thought is to have a ride at Fort Lincoln Legacy Trail and make it a true beginners’ ride, no hammering what so ever. Get some more experienced riders to show and just help the new riders with whatever they may need. Believe me having and experienced rider following behind you and coaching you can be a great help. We all know some one out there that always says I would like to try that but I couldn’t keep, or that is too hard for me, etc. We should really try and get some of these people out on a trail sometime with other riders that are in the same situation, this will take away a ton of intimidation.

Let me know your thoughts on what you would like to see. Some of these rides are going to be on an email by email basis, through the bike shops, and word of mouth. I will try my best to get word out through my emails in enough time so that you can plan to make the ride. Check back often since sometimes we add rides after we get together at the Monday group ride. I really think we have started a great thing, and this is coming from a guy who avoided large group rides like the plague.