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welp, thats a wrap folks! thanks all for coming out from far and near, straight and queer, you all had a good time, or so I hear … 500 signed up, and we had 480 of you in attendance despite some particularly saturated weather forecast. I have never seen so many soaking wet smiling faces — ya’ll are something else!

btw, here is a helpful feedback form if you’d like your input heard. just be sure you don’t miss the rest of this riveting blog post!

we were setting up on friday in unexpected dry conditions, and then at 3:00 right when the first wave of campers rolled in, the skies opened right on up. it pretty much did not stop raining for more than a few minutes until 11:30 the next day. but thankfully it did!

Friday night we enjoyed food from Cold Spring Farm Jess, a previous host of Nor’easter 2019 and 2021 and her lovely staff. I understand they got back up a little — sorry about that. we are going to have another food truck to handle the overflow next year. we are already BOOKED for the 18th – 20th 25-27 at the same spot next year. they loved us! good job everybody.

now that I think about it — the rain did indeed stop for a few hours friday night. we were all very optimistic … you could feel it in the dig dining hall. I gave a route presentation on the projector screen confident in drier conditions prevailing the following day. I went to sleep that night in our van to the soundtrack of quiet campers settling in for a restful night before a long day in the saddle. moments later I was sleeping under a snare drum — well, I wasn’t really sleeping. made getting up at 5 to start the coffee makers a lot easier though!

in stumbling to Clifton hall that morning i groggily processed just how damp and puddly it was — 480 people from coast to coast, even the UK came to ride in a puddle. its always a chance when planning outdoor events, but felt like we’d been pretty spoiled over the years. this year though, 16 out of the last 20 weekends have been rainy. pretty wild. oh well — and then it stopped raining again (I forgot about this one too, thats why its good to write it down). folks gobbled down breakfast and a third of the attendees pedaled as a deluge began. I got in the car and drove over to Peter Weigle’s to help with his half way aid station for there 20 brave souls that opted for the 80 miler in these conditions.

so many smiles (well 20) rolled into Peter’s Passage in Lyme — thanks to Bill for brining us a bunch of bagels and coffee and Peter for such a lovely job of hosting yet again.

then it was back to Deer Lake to find much to my surprise — dry roads!!!!

some happy campers indeed. I think nearly everyone who wanted one was able to find a roof — another huge plus for this venue. what a dreamy spot.

on Saturday night Fire in the Kitchen served 480 pizzas to 305 ticket holders. a new record for them! the insatiable hunger of a post ride cyclist is just that — insatiable.

the sun fully came out for us on a breezy dry Sunday morning — oh that felt good! we had a successful scorcher race attended by 8 athletes including myself — lol that event never grows. I think maybe now that we have such a sweet course and a reliable venue we can get 20 scorchers for next year.

the scorcher was a 5 mile course with a rolling dirt road, a paved climb, a class 4 downhill, and a single track mud slide into an open field finish. thanks to all the spectators for making it feel a lot bigger than it was! the video below is of the first 4 finishers coming down the last chute to the north field. I think crop t0p doubled our speed :::

ohhhkayyyy time for some sleep! thanks again everyone — I know it sounds corny, but its the folks that show up for this event that make it so special— truly!

XO Ronnie and Arya