The route took us from a start at Seratoma shelter #11 all the way to the other side of town at Sleepy Hollow Park by way of Pioneer Park, Central Market, and K-Mart, with a brief stop by US bank on Third Street. The goal was to get to all of those spots first and get back to shelter #11 in one piece. The added kicker was that at Central Market and K-Mart you had to purchase something so you were at the mercy of the check out person, the other spots had a deck of cards to prove you found the spot.

I had a great time doing this and have to suggest this to anyone interested in riding around town. Many of those riding were just in it for the ride and the hot dog and beer afterward. If you like cruising around the streets of Bismarck, dodging traffic and generally trying not to get your ass run over you would love it. I have to give credit Tyler and Ian for putting on such a twisted event, and of course Barry’s Bikes for hosting it.

So whether you want to challenge this year’s winners or just ride with your buddies and have some fun, make sure to watch for next year’s date. You won’t regret it.

The pictures have been added to the photo gallery all 373 of them for your viewing pleasure. I take no responsibility for either embarrassing or incriminating photos; complaints will be accepted and ignored as always! A big thank you to Jodi for all of the hard work she did during the racing. Many of you probably saw her lurking in the trees.

Until 2009, keep the rubber side down.

Amy will also be having a girl’s night at Epic Sports. See the invitation below for details.

Visit Huff Hills for more info and directions.

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.