#ridewithgratitude

By Michy Lemay

I love riding bikes. I have always felt that way. Each time I get out on a ride, it improves the joy in my day and makes me feel more connected to my mind, body, and soul.

But over the past few years, I have developed an even greater appreciation for the beautiful playground that we have here in Stowe, for the power of positive thought, and for the importance of doing things I love.

I recently went through systemic cancer treatment. But through this, biking represented a place of normalcy for me.

A place where I could just be me.

Sweat it out, feel alive, feel connected to nature, smile, fly through the air, accomplish personal achievements and connect with friends.

Stowe Trails Partnership (STP) has continued to create and build an amazing network of trails for all abilities and ages – and for adventures. At the end of the 2022 riding season, I took on a personal challenge on the STP trails that has been my greatest endeavor yet! My goal was to mountain bike 2,000 single-track miles in one riding season. As the 2022 season came to a close, I realized I had 226 miles left to complete in 4 days. I knew this was a lofty goal, but one that I was committed to executing.

The farthest I had ever ridden in one day was 53 miles, so I knew if I rode from sun up to sun down I could cover some good ground. On my first day, I ate a big breakfast, packed all my supplies, and chose refuel spots. I covered about 25 miles in Cady Hill, headed over to Adams Camp via Strawberry Hill Farm and Pipeline, up to the Trapps Cabin, and did the full Adam’s Camp Loop a couple of times. With 45ish miles accomplished, I knew I could put more time in at the Trapps trails and then head back to Cady. I finished up this first day as the sun was setting and achieved my new personal record of 61 miles ridden in a single day.

For the next two days, I continued to push myself every minute of the daylight hours and succeeded in riding 62 miles on both days. I have never felt more exhausted mentally and physically in my life, but after three hard days and only 41 miles to go, the goal was in sight!

Even though it was 20 miles less than the first three days, I think I spent those last 20 on day four in tears… tears of exhaustion and joy. This feat was one that had multiple meanings for me. It was a true personal goal – one to prove to myself that I was healthy, strong, and back from a year of systemic cancer treatment.

Biking was one of the greatest healing modalities I had through chemo and radiation. In fact, on my last round of chemo, I completed another one of my personal quests, the Sweaty Bald Eagle Chemo Bike Challenge where I biked every single day through my last round.

There were days that I was scared to drive to the trailhead, but I did anyway and I biked and it was the best I felt all day. Riding on the Stowe Trails was my healing space and is where I feel most alive, most myself, and in true joy and peace! Thank you to all the Stowe Trails Partnership team and volunteers! This community is so lucky to have this in our backyard! So much gratitude! ~ Michy 🙂