WildBettys posted on January 15, 2012 14:55
Happy New Year.
2012, they say, those Mayans, is THE year, the LAST year. Okay, let’s make it a big one to remember. Surely that should always be the attitude, it’s a shame to be wasteful of anything, especially time.
For New Year’s 2012, I went on a marvelous Sacred Rides trip to Guatemala with their local partners, Old Town Outfitters. This Betty had an amazing week.
Our group rode six days of true mountain biking in the hills and towns around Antigua City, Parramos, Panajachel and Volcano Agua, with long climbs and challenging, amazing downhills.
On the days off the bike, we paddled on Lake Atitlan, an ancient volcano crater one day and hiked up the Pacaya Volcano another day. At the top, we roasted marshmallows on the rocks and picnicked while watching the setting sun and Volcano Fuego spew orange fames, before hiking back down. Note to self: need a far better camera, let alone better photographic skills to capture these awesome moments in life. But here’s a shot from the daytime of a poof of smoke out the top of this very active Volcano Fuego.
It’s been many years since this Betty went on a solo trip. I met some fabulous people, shared an insane amount laughter, learned so very much about a part of the world I had only heard about before and all the while I got to ride my favorite bike on some sweet single track. This was the perfect vacation. Thank you Sacred Rides, Old Town Outfitters, and the Sacred Nispiros.
Next time, I’m taking the Bettys with me, and a drop seat post!!!
We’ve been hoping to get a WB trailer this coming season to enable us to take us and our gear on a road trip or two. We haven’t quite got the funding yet for the trailer, but the roadtrips are going to happen. In the spring we’ll be heading to Quebec for a Canada Cup or two and in the summer we’ll be heading up north to Sudbury for Chico’s Ontario Cup on Walden Mountain. There’s training and social planning to be done before then but on the heels of this great New Year’s trip I’m in high gear now, not wasting a moment.
Wild Bettys is entering our third season. It is the wonderful ladies that make the club such a success. Good things usually take time to develop; athletes take years to reach their potential; business plans take time to execute; friendships grow closer over time with shared experienced, but the Bettys seemed to work right off the start because of the shared passion for mountain biking and desire for improvement. We are very excited about some wonderful partnerships and plans for 2012. Back supporting us for a second season are Mirvish.com and Sport Swap, as well as our original sponsors, Steve Neal Performance and Stott Pilates, who have been with us since the beginning. In addition we are building exciting new relationships with Lapierre Toronto and Clif Bar, Sacred Rides and Ride the Earth Cycles.
Membership will be open very soon through the Ontario Cycling Association's new online registration, imagine no more paper waivers! ‘Signed’ waivers and paid membership will still be required but can be done with the click of a mouse instead of printing and signing and faxing or snailmailing. Don’t want to waste time, sign up soon!!!
Ride On!
Melinda.