The sun shone brightly on the third day of pyc—a perfect day to join dorm 2B for cycling class! I made my way over to the tower classroom (the base of cycling class operations) with photographer Tabitha Burks to see what makes dorm 2B tick (apart from their hearts, obviously). Upon arriving, we found a swarm of blue-shirted campers gathering around the bicycle rack.
2B is led by counselor Justin Goodearl, an ac sophomore, and assistant Timothy Guenther, a freshman. “It was a great honor to be put in this position, and it’s something that I did want,” Goodearl said. “I prayed for it, so I am really excited.” Regarding his 12 campers, he said: “I’m really proud of them, actually. They wake up, and they’re getting their prayer and study in. I don’t have to urge them or anything.”
Guenther said: “This is my first pyc I have ever been a part of—I couldn’t have asked for a better group of guys to work with. It seems like they have been bonding right off the bat.”
Junior Michael Benedetti instructs cycling, assisted by fellow junior Tasha Eagle. Eagle started off the 2B crew with stretches, while asking the members of the dorm to state their names, where they are from, and something weird or unusual about themselves. Setting the example, Eagle said: “I had pet Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches.” Then Daniel spoke up: “I’m 35 pounds heavier than I was last camp.” If my memory serves me, he looks about 35 pounds taller too.
Exercises over, Benedetti rounded everyone up, and we all mounted bikes, heading over to the short course—a slalom-like track that campers would race around for time. The record to beat? 46 seconds thus far. Unfortunately, the record remained unbroken, with Caleb clocking the fastest 2B time at 52 seconds.
Not willing to leave cycling without breaking a record, 2B pedaled over to the slow track. This was a straight, 50-foot stretch of road. The goal here is to take the most time possible to get to the other end without touching the ground. Several campers struggled to maintain balance going at such a slow pace along the track, but 2B finished the slow course with a camp record of 1 minute, 20 seconds, again set by Caleb. I tried my hand at the slow track (or rather, my feet), looking to maintain a higher record time, to represent the credibility of the pyc workers. Happily, this endeavor was a success (can’t have the campers beating us!).
One final turn about the short track again (while dodging to let a food-bearing semi-truck through) ended a successful day’s cycling. “Cycling seems to be going pretty well so far. All the campers seem to be pretty enthusiastic about it,” Benedetti said. “It started out a little hectic, but we got all the kinks worked out.” Ensuring all 16 bicycles are operational throughout the course of camp is notoriously difficult.
Bicycles put away, the campers gathered in a circle, drumming on their knees to herald the announcement of the ticket winners for that activity. Eagle ran into the center of the circle with a water gun, dousing down Tyrhys and Caleb—the class winners!
After a cheer for the cycling staff, 2B tanked up on a delicious lunch of grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup—just enough time to cool off before giving the sister dorm a whirl at dance class.