Dreams of a Bike Rally
Seven years ago, I approached my wife Kim with an idea; I wanted to host a family bike rally. We had participated in several tandem rallies over the years and had a lot of fun.
We then read about the Family Cycling Tour and how it was started by several area cyclists, one couple being Harvy and Susan Sachs from the PPTC. They told how they had been at some bike rallies where children were not really welcome and decided to start up there own. Members of PPTC and WABITs strongly encouraged us to start it up. So after listening to more of their stories, we were convinced. We were going to host a bike rally!?!
We figured we needed someplace with quiet back roads or bike trails, things for the kids to see, low cost, places to play without disturbing others and Ice Cream. This was going to be a child centric weekend where everyone could relax. We scouted around and found Pocomoke State Park. We had ridden a lot of the local roads on the Seagull Centuries. They had a mixture of cabins and camping spots so we people could come at low cost or spend a little more and stay in side. These decisions were made in the fall of 2001.
The next spring came the first real hurdle. Convince the Executive Committee of the PPTC to support us. We got a pass on this, the President of the PPTC said, stay home, send me the paperwork and I will convince the board. A couple of weeks later, we were officially sanctioned to hold the first Family Bike Weekend. To paraphrase, “Host a rally and they will come”, but would they?
We initially set our goal low. If we had 20 folks attend, we would count it a success. The registration started out a little slow but a couple of families from the Family Cycling Tour joined in to help and ended up with 32 folks attending that year. The children ranged in age from 4 to 15 and all had a wonderful time.
One of the big things we learned that year was to relax and let the weekend develop it’s own pace. We had brought along song sheets for campfire songs and crafts for the kids to include making kites and sports equipment. What we found was that the children preferred the pool and unstructured playing to include more biking around the loop at the campground.
Over the years we have continued to host the rally out of Pocomoke State Park. We still do the rides to Furnace Town and Public Landing. Our registration fee is still only $25 per family, plus $50 (camping) or $100 (cabin) for lodging and shared food. Last year we had 46 folks register, of which two families were on the original rally and a majority of the other families had been on at least one other Family Bike Weekend.
This year we will once again be hosting the 2007 Family Bike Weekend at Pocomoke State Park over the weekend of 22-24 June. This is the weekend after Father’s Day. The registration cost is still $25 per family for PPTC members and $30 for non-members. If you are interested in attending, folks are required to make their own accommodation reservations. For more information see the Family Bike Weekend article in the Pedal Patter for details or contact me directly at kbrugman@cox.net or call evenings between 6 and 10 PM at 703-339-3948.