More than 50 riders rode up to 145 miles earlier in the month taking them from the University of Maine Presque to Easton, Fort Fairfield, Caribou, Stockholm, New Sweden and Mapleton.
“This has been the best two days of riding in my life,” Danny Watson, of East Millinocket, said July 12. “The scenery [and] the people are the best up here.”
Back for her third year was United States Navy Veteran Sandy Buckles, who is with the Wounded Warriors Program.
“I love this ride,” Buckles said. “You have two days of beauty of The County and all the fresh air.”
Buckles routinely rides with Ride 2 Recovery on the R2R Challenge Rides that use five-day, 350- to 500- mile to bicycle rides to help service members and veterans overcome physical, mental or emotional wounds.
“I’d love to get a Ride 2 Recovery ride up here,” Buckles said.”It’s so well organized and a good mix of hills and open country.”
Ride Aroostook organizers were unsure how much money the event raised for Camp Adventure this year, but Bill Flagg, event chairman and Cary Medical Center public relations director, said it would be significant.
“Camp Adventure is such a great cause,” Flagg said. “I would recommend anyone who would be interested to learn more about it and visit it.”
In addition to the standard camping activities like hiking, swimming and boating, participants at Camp Adventure learn how to manage their diabetes under the supervision of volunteer medical staff.
Volunteers are a big part of Ride Aroostook and Penny McHatten, volunteer coordinator, worked with a crew of 30 who staffed checkpoints, monitored road crossings and drove a fleet of trucks along the route to offer help to any cyclist in need.
“It went perfectly this year,” McHatten said Sunday. “The volunteers are a big part of keeping everyone safe and everyone did their job this year to do just that.”
Flagg is already looking ahead to next year.
“We want to shoot for 100 riders next year,” he said. “That is going to be the theme of our campaign.”
