ALL TRAILS LEAD TO ICE CREAM

 With my new found sense of self worth, and a new sense of confidence in myself , White Squirrel emerged again in the fall of 2010.   The team; however, had a much different make up, which, over the next three years, would evolve and change even more.   Between 2010 & 2013, Billy Graves, Pete Lobianco, Chris Keller, Tim Sindlinger, Kevin Hardy, and Dave Raymond were, at one point, members of Team White Squirrel -- French Creek State Park, July of 2010 In September of 2010, I entered Team White Squirrel in the Wildlands Adventure Race at Blue Marsh Lake with the expectation of having fun...and winning the race.   We had five experienced mountain bikers and an accomplished marathon runner on our team.   I realized in earlier races, that just having a team of good mountain bikers was not going to win the race...we needed runner.  Pete was that guy.  Two of my former brother-in-laws, Kevin & Billy, were with me...and so was Chris Kelle...

When life hits rock bottom it is often easy to blame yourself...and in doing so, try to change and become someone who you are not.   In my case, I blamed the life that I was living, the music I listened to, the people I worked with, the friends I surrounded myself with, and even the bike I was riding.  In my case, I set out to erase the slate and completely start over with the belief that all my problems would somehow disappear.  Spoiler alert...it didn't work.   Trying to out ride my problems -- July 2010 (Gettysburg National Park) The original intention of this blog was to highlight and celebrate the joy I experience while cycling, the bonds I form with my friends, and yes...the ice cream that I love to eat.  From the beginning, I realized that winter would come, the trails at the county parks would be closed, and the Pennsylvania roads would be covered with rock salt and gravel.  I had decided, that during my forced winter hiatus, I would go bac...

All throughout the winter of 2008/2009, Kristian and I had been getting geared up for the first race of the spring.   Our experience at Wildlands and French Creek the previous fall made us fall in love with adventure racing.  Because we had spent the entire winter mountain biking at places like Michaux State Forest and French Creek State Park , we were in great racing shape by time the 2009 Cushion Peak Adventure Race came around.  Heck...I had even bought my first pair of trail running shoes and a new mountain bike.   Gone was my 2006 Epic...replaced with the most expensive bike I had ever purchased...my 2009 Specialized Epic Carbon .  I was ready to race. Mountain biking Michaux State Forest.   Mark Lentz, Dave Raymond, Mikey Nardelli, & Kristain Hains -- February 2009 I can remember picking Kristian up that April morning in 2009.  Just a week before, I had purchased my new (well, new to me) 2004 Chevy Silverado.   My life reall...

Within days of our  Wildlands experience , Kristian Hains and I were signed up for our next adventure race.   Seems, that like me, he caught the "Adventure Race Bug" pretty bad.   Both of us had spent some time mountain bike racing....but, to the two of us, this was so much more.   We had become really good friends and we found out, that as a team, the two of us worked very well together.  We each brought to the table our own skill sets and, combined with our love of mountain biking, we figured we could possibly fair well...after all, we managed a 5th place finish at Wildlands with no experience.    Team White Squirrel (David Raymond & Kristian Hains) at the 2008 French Creek Fling -- October 12, 2008 Seems that the Wildlands race at Blue Marsh Lake wasn't the only adventure race that our new friend, Butch Ulrich, sponsored.  Exactly two weeks later, Kristain and I found ourselves at French Creek State Park for the 2008 French Cr...

The White Squirrel unexpectedly appeared almost two months after our trip to North Carolina  in a way that I could never have imagined.  Throughout the summer of 2008, Mark, Glenn, Kristian, and I participated in the Mid-Atlantic Super Series ...a string of mountain bike races predominately located in the states of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey.  That summer, the final race of the series was at Bear Creek Ski Mountain Resort in Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania.   Racing at Bear Creek Mountain Resort in the Mid-Atlantic Super Series -- September 2008 I really had anticipated this being my final race of the year...but after the race, a fellow racer, Gary Johnson, approached Mark, Glenn, Kristian, and I with very intriguing offer.  He had been looking for a group of people to form an team and enter an adventure race the following weekend.   I had never heard of adventure racing...but after hearing Gary describe it we were all curious. ...