The first season of AdventuRides is officially over. We hope you had as much fun as we did, exploring new places and meeting new friends. If you have any comments or suggestions, please let us know. We depend on you to let us know what we did right and wrong.

The Monday afternoon group (left) proved what great sports they were by surviving a cold downpour at Delaney Pond and then coming back for more adventures. Unfortunately, Rainy Days and Mondays were synonymous much of the time – but we didn’t let them get us down.

The Monday morning group (below) had much better weather when we visited the 1872 stone arch bridge in Dunstable.

We learned a lot about nature on our rides:

• How many kind of beetles are there in the Nissitissit River?  And why do we care?
• Swimming with water snakes is fun.
• Trout fishing is easy when you can see the fish and have an expert telling you where to place your line.
• Not all blue birds are bluebirdsJ.
• Herons, snapping turtles, painted turtles and kingbirds are not shy.
• Dogs are attracted to those who don’t like them (right Linda?).
• Mosquitoes are partial to Joe and Carole.

From Shaker cemeteries and stone ruins to town pounds, apple orchards, covered bridges, the “most historic village” in the country, century old stone arch bridges, bizarre shaped antennae in Harvard searching for extra-terrestrial life and shrines in rural Pepperell, we discovered lots of special places in our own backyards.

Our favorite route this season was Heald Pond in Pepperell (left). We were faced with a forecast high temperature of 98 degrees, so what did we do? We found a secluded beach and went swimming!

• Kimberly RAN 12 miles the day before she kicked our butts on the road/trails.
• Becky can jump her bike over tree trunks in a single bound.
• Hope should run the US Government or at least the army.
• Bobbie knows every soccer field in New England.
• Ellen and Karen can be lost in the woods with Carole and find their way out.
• Gitty will be traveling around the world for a whole year with her family.
• Luann wrote the book How to Have Sex in the Woods.
• Hale can recognize post and beam construction and 2 cycle cars at any speed.
• Rene got a new bike – after our rides were over.
• Everything about Bill is sleek and sexy (bike, car, camera, GPS) except Bill.
• Catherine can create her own routes through Pepperell.
• Christel proved that you never forget, “its just like riding a bike”.
• Janet can do the hills of Harvard twice.
• Tony’s attempt to “unicycle” with us was not totally successful.
• Aliza and Jen can start a route in the middle and finish it on their own.

Here we are enjoying our final ride of the Spring season at Bare Hill Pond in Harvard.

And to everyone a huge and heart-felt THANK YOU for making our first season such a joy! Have a great summer and we hope to see all of you in September for our next season of adventures. And don’t forget to tell your friends!

And finally, a very special thanks to Lee and Bob Evans for helping us every step of the way.

Check out www.GetUpNGoAdventures.com.