Another great trip! We were physically and spiritually fed! New riders this year included Oscar Meza Jr, Terry and Henamana Stevenson, Darrin Reed, James Shewell, Carlton Silvestro, Tim and Trevor Miller. There were others I’m sure but, I do not know their names.

11 Jul 2001: Leaving the church was delayed a little. We didn’t have enough room for all the gear, bikes and people. Since I no longer own the big brown van it was not available and I was not taking two vehicles up this year. We all loaded and headed to the Mattawoman Beantown Road Park and ride. There we met Terry and Henamana Stevenson, Mason Kearns and the groups from the White Plains Wards. Once again we did not have enough room. Terry ended up taking his Truck and it was fully loaded with people and gear. His wife and other kids ended up catching a ride back home with the sister Kearns. Terry’s truck ended up being used as a tow vehicle too. It hauled Ralph’s trailer. His new van was too loaded with people and gear to handle it too. Arrival in Cumberland was uneventful. I was asked to lead the ride to the campground at spring gap. Carl Torgesen rode with me. We were really moving along at a great pace when I heard Carl talking to someone. It was Travis. He was riding my GT and was flying. Wow! What a great surprise to see him up there with me. He has outgrown the Trek 820 and is really too tall for the GT but we decided not to invest in another bike yet. Thankfully the GT has a super long seat post. Travis had not been doing allot of riding so I did not expect him to be able to ride so fast. Boy was I wrong. Travis would stay in the front couple riders for the entire 3-day trip! We had a little mud on the first 10 miles to the camp. It was not bad though. We arrived and eventually I ended up waiting at the camp entrance to make sure all made the right turn. Our evening devotional was a surprise for all the kids. After the usual basic rules of camp and trail explanations by Ralph Gibson (our tireless terrific Trail Boss) and Jeff Heath, John Caless suggested everyone be forced to ride together as a group. Everyone would be forced to conform to the group’s speed and no one would get lost like previous years. The group would be together for everything the entire time. We would have no choices. This seemed to get some people riled up a bit. Some of the adults knew ahead of time what was going to happen but the kids and some adults did not. Carl suggested that we let people make their own pace and he would bring up the end and make sure no one was lost. People started to take sides and then light bulbs started to go on. Soon everyone was calmed down and similarities between the discussion and the war in Heaven were discussed. It was a great way to start the trip. The weather was clear but very cool. Carl and I shared my big 10 by 10 tent. I found out that evening that my thin fleece sleeping bag would be insufficient. I slept in flannel pajamas and I was still cold. Beth and Diana shared a tent. She had the blanket from the car. Since she left the next morning I was able to use the blanket the rest of the nights. Each night was cool. Great camping weather.

July 12, 2001: It was cool when we woke up and would stay that way most of the day. After the normal breakfast Carl and I rode as trail sweeps. We arrived at the Paw Paw Tunnel to see several people trying to change a spoke on the rear wheel of Dennis Reed’s Bike. Most of the tools were available but we could not get the leverage needed to remove the cassette. He rode to lunch on the broken spoke. Travis lost the bike computer off the GT around the tunnel area. We looked but were unable to find it.

We mentioned it to a couple of pedestrians. They had not seen it. Around Lock 59 I flatted and while I was fixing the flat a gentleman in his 60s/70s came up and talked to us. He was doing the entire trail in segments up and back by himself. Two days later I saw him pass up on another one of his segments. It was interesting to hear of his life experiences. While changing the flat two other riders that were going the same way we were stopped and asked if we had lost a bike computer. The pedestrians found it and gave it to them to see if they could catch up with us. They did. The computer was found! Eventually I managed to get the flat fixed and Carl and I headed for Ice Cream in Hancock. Carl and I rode with Tim and Trevor Miller for quite a bit of the day. At one point there was a short detour in the trail around some construction. Trevor ran into the back of Tim’s bike and scrapped his arm up pretty badly. We used rag and the water the construction crew had to clean him up. Eventually we arrived in Hancock. After Ice cream we took the paved Western MD rail trail until we needed to turn to catch the towpath toward Fort Frederick. Although the day had been cool and we had some mud but not allot the river still felt great. I do wish there were a way to get in and out of the river without the challenge of the tiny trails with Poison Ivy along the sides. Dinner was the traditional Spaghetti. It was great and there was more than enough this time. Dennis had another spoke repaired that night and Hyrum Shewell had to have fish line removed from his rear hub. It was preventing the wheel from coasting.

July 13, 2001: The 2^nd full day of riding. We had great weather again. It did get a little warm while we waited for the vehicle with our tent to return later in the day. I was not trail sweep today. We arrived at the mill early and washed the mud off the bikes before the ride on the road. It seemed like we waited for a long time for the last riders to show at the mill. We soon found out why. Oscar Meza Jr. had a frozen rear hub. No grease and the bearing cups were tightened all the way down. We were amazed he was able to ride it at all. Mark Henderson did the repair at the mill and it caused no more problems the rest of the trip. I was in the middle of the group for the detour ride on the road to lunch. We go down a very steep hill that turns to the right at the bottom immediately before lunch. We always strongly encourage everyone to ride the hill slowly. I had been coaching a rider on climbing the other hills and despite my warnings he rode too fast down that last hill. He crossed into the other lane. If a car had rounded that turn he would have been killed probably. Lunch was at the Rod and Gun Club this time and some riders missed the extra little turn to find it. No one stayed at the driveway to point the way. OOPS! I found them on their way back up from the park that is further down the road. That day they rode a couple of extra miles they didn’t need. They were troopers though. Following lunch some explored the cave a short way down the trail. Others went on to Snyder’s landing. From Snyder’s Landing I rode sweep. Climbing the hill one man’s chain broke. The link actually broke in the center of the link. I used my quick link to repair it. I was unable to do anything for his bruises though. The rest of the ride to the campground at Antietam was uneventful. I sure do hate the uphill part of those hills though! Zane Mason’s son-in-law (Jim Hall) came and gave a great fireside talk about his conversion to the gospel. He told us about a camping trip that he took before he joined the church. He was fishing and had not caught anything. Eventually he decided to get the Book of Mormon he had been given previously and read it while waiting for the fish. When he read a particular scripture a fish hit! He told the guys at camp. He went back and did the same thing again. I think he caught 2 or 3 fish reading that scripture that day. Never caught anymore on the rest of the trip. This incident helped to lead him to develop the strong testimony he has today. He tells the story much better than I remember it.

July 14, 2001: Carl and I are trail sweep again. A large group started early that day since they had been riding slower than the normal pace. Most of the day was uneventful. The trail was in good shape. We did have to dodge some mud but it was not too bad. I’m glad it did not rain on us this year. We were truly blessed. About an hour and a half we caught up with several riders from the group that left early. One was having problems with his bike and another had not been drinking his water so he was dehydrating. We did a temporary fix on the bike and started reminding the other rider to drink. There was now a total of seven of us in the rear of the pack. We were quite a bit behind the other riders. Following lunch Carl and I lagged behind to give them room. Soon we caught them again. The last section gets pretty hard sometimes because everyone is tired. Great Falls was very crowded, almost to crowded to ride through. At Great Falls we let the rest of the group go ahead of us. We waited and then slowly headed to the pick-up at Carderock, about mile marker 10.5. Carl and I rode in. It sure was great to see Beth waiting for me! We thought everyone else was there. We were wrong. The five did not make the turn. No one had been waiting at the trail. I was out of water but started out for them. I caught them headed back toward us. They rode down to mile 9 and realized they must have missed the turn. They rode extra miles that day too. By this time the one bike had a crank arm that would not stay on at all. He said he was going to trash the bike and buy a new one for the next year.

All in all it was a great trip. I was able to use some of my skills to help others and learn more about them and myself. I hope the ride continues each year. It is a great opportunity to fellowship with the saints and everyone on the trail. It is amazing how much more friendly the folks on the trail are away from the DC area.