Since late COVID when I bought a bike for exercise and entertainment, I’ve gradually gotten more interested in bikes up to the point where I created a blog specifically for my cycling escapades. I’ve tried bikepacking, long challenging gravel races, and volunteer when I can at bike clinics and shops (not as much as I would like to.) But apart from the races I have joined, I’ve done very little group riding. But I’ve found that group riding tends to be my favorite riding, especially when combined with overnight events.
There are plenty of groups I could join that are doing exactly what I’m looking for. Cycling clubs, adventure groups, etc. But that would require expending social energy that I don’t want to expend. Instead, I’m jumping in way over my head and combining my love for a retreat center/summer camp at home and my love for cycling to start my own event that I can hopefully turn into a yearly fundraising event. I have ambitiously selected a 350 mile stretch of newly documented bikepacking trail as the route. How accessible is it? Will I be able to find time to get from Richmond to New York to scout out the route before the summer? How do I get my event out there? What do I need for a support crew? Will enough people be interested in this event to make it worthwhile? What counts as worthwhile? Funds raised? Participant enjoyment?
My goal in this blog series is to answer those questions and probably many more that will pop up as I start fleshing out the event more clearly. In the next post, I’ll go over the route that I would like to do as well as what issues I think it could create.