Wednesdays are all about mountain biking. Armed with our bag lunches and bug spray, we loaded up the big yellow bus at 8:30am for our trip to Millstone Bike Trails in Barre, VT. This was ELITEAM’s first year on these trails and they did not disappoint! The trail system has 70 miles of fantastic intermediate and single track, and proved to be quite scenic as the trails wind around the many old quarries that have provided beautiful granite to the world. One trail leads to a 360-degree lookout that towers 1000 feet above one of those quarries. Most of our riders made it to this “Grand Lookout” and enjoyed not only the view, but the downhill trip back to home base.
I have to give a shout-out to my group of beginner bikers – Paul SJ, Griffin, Sarah, Allegra, Rachel, Emma, Noelle and Kyle. After a great morning ride, I took them on a bike from hell in the afternoon on a trail that turned out not to be a trail at all. After a lot of walking through prickers, and finally finding the real trail, we made it back from our adventure in one piece and surprisingly in good spirits. It’s the ELITEAM way to persevere! See Doug’s group cross the bridge here.
Other notables were Andrew’s “Rock & Rollers” who braved some of the more technical trails. And Kelley & Molly reported that they were grateful for supreme navigator Iskandar, who repeatedly bailed them out through the maze of trails leading to the Lookout. I wouldn’t say that every group got lost, but there were many stories of “alternate routes” today. And with everyone busy decoding the trails maps and checking out the quarries, we didn’t take too many pictures, but we do have a few videos for you thanks to Coach Andrew!
After biking we headed back to campus to learn the Dance. Zander paced the group with some sweet moves. Get ready for action on Saturday when we show off our talent. I think you’ll be impressed! After that, the thunder rolled in, so we stayed inside for three EPIC games of dodgeball. The fast-paced action was supremely exciting as the campers and coaches were pitted against each other. I seriously can’t remember who won, but everyone got a workout for sure and the gym was alive with screams of glory, defeat and all-around excitement.
After dinner it was the 2nd round of the Rock Wall, Cooking & Games rotation. I was in the cooking group as they attempted to make healthy cupcakes using pureed spinach and squash. The energy and passion was there, but the complicated directions might have been a bit too much… two separate ingredient bowls proved to be quite confusing. While cleaning up, Chauncey discovered that he had forgotten to add the egg. Many of the muffins did not fair well in the oven and one batch actually exploded. The few that did survive were eaten by hungry campers at the dorm mtg, to rave reviews. Check out the two videos of the cooking action here.
V1-Zander separates an egg
V2-The muffins come out of the oven
Photo Link:
Today’s Pics
More Video Links:
Paul on Balance Beam
Expert Explorers Fly By
Zander on Roller Coaster
Mark on Teeter Totter
