| Date | November 6-8, 2009 |
| Hosts | Judy Allison and Malcolm Boyd |
| Where | Minnewaska State Park and Mohonk Mountain Preserve, NY |
| Who (else) | Helen and Bob Bird, Deb and Al Cudworth, Barbara Flint and Neil McPhee, Pat and Ed Gifford, Brenda and Larry Isherwood, Susan Nicolich and Dave Snope, Cheryl Prudhomme and Mark Cook, Wendy Samuelson and Jeff Winick, Trish and Ed Troike; non-DOGS: Peg and Bill Morris, Kelley and Jim O'dorisio, Cindy and Bob Powers (Saturday) |
We had visions of a dozen mountain tandems dancing in our heads as we headed to the New Paltz area of New York State for Malcolm & Judy's annual Minnewaska-Mohonk Off-Road Tandem Weekend Event. With all the rain that we have been having this year, and last year being drizzly to wet to sunny on the last day, we were anticipating similar weather conditions this year. We arrived for a crisp, clear & quite cool Friday pide in The Mohonk Preserve from the Spring Farm parking lot. The eleven miles of off-road took a nice bit of our afternoon, even more because of those that veered (albeit not on purpose) off the trail. We arrived at the Minnewaska Lodge to warm up, clean up and drink & eat up at the "cocktail hour" given by our hosts. We then "hiked" across the street to the Brauhaus for some hearty German meals. A little more "partying" in the Lodge common room and before 10pm most teams were headed to bed.
Saturday was a bit warmer but still quite cool for our morning start. We had an extra tandem team today, Bob & Cindy from LI, who just came down for the day. We donned our bike packs & our backpacks with lunch and extra clothing for the day's warmth changes. Today's ride was also in the Mohonk Preserve, but on the other side, starting from the West Trapp's parking lot. This year's clear skies enabled all to see the awesome views of the Catskill Mountains. We opted to have lunch when we were almost back to the parking lot, at noon, after 3 hours of riding the trails. Upon returning to the parking lot, some teams opted for the out & back to the waterfalls, giving us a total of 25 off-road miles for the day. Back at the Lodge, after cleaning up, there again of course was the cocktail hour before dinner with lots of jibber jabber when mouths were not busy with delicious drinks & tasty treats. Lombardi's did not disappoint with their fresh home made pasta dinners. Then it was back to the Lodge for a continuation of the cocktail hour. It seems the more days of riding, the earlier we hit they hay.
Sunday was again, like last year, the most spectacular day of weather, and, in our opinion, the best of the trail riding. It turned out to be a T-shirt kinda day for some halfway through the ride. The views at the Minnewaska State Park are breathtaking, which makes it harder to do those climbs. :-)...but well worth it! There were lots of stops to take in the views and then the long downhill to the cliff-edge lunch. Although we went downhill for quite a time, lunch on this cliff was still above the soaring birds below. Back up & out from lunch to the parking lot for all to "clean up" & change for the not so long ride home from the Catskills just to north Jersey!
We have to say a special thanks to Malcolm & especially Judy for hosting this year's event.
