About four years ago Marc Dufour went looking for the perfect location for his Centrifuge road cycling training camp, and he found us.  None of our staff at the time were road cyclists, so we were totally unaware that our facility was smack dab in the middle of the perfect training ground.  The challenging terrain, beautiful scenery, well maintained roads, and an early spring has made our facility an oasis for Canadian cyclists.  They can come to us and ride when they wouldn’t otherwise be able to.  Did I mention that we are really fun to hang out with too?

Throughout their time here, the Canadians have attracted a lot of attention from both motorists and the media.  The Roanoke Times did a piece on the cyclists a couple years back and made this video:  Wheeling in Virginia. The second voice you hear is the head of Centrifuge, Marc Dufour, explaining why cycling is better in  large doses.  Most of the shots you see were filmed at our facility, either on the Main Lodge porch or in front of our Sneaky Cabin.   Click here to view their photo albums of the good times here at Wilderness Adventure that the cyclists have recorded and posted on their site.  If this looks like an amazing experience to you, don’t just dream, you could join them next year and represent Virginia as one of the first bike camp participants.   If you would like to contact Groupe Centrifuge about joining them in the future or just to get more information about what they do click here.

For questions about Wilderness Adventure and our year round programs email us or call toll free 800-782-0779.

Keeping you Posted!

Julia Bradford, Director of Programs

Contributor #1: Yours truly…Julia Bradford for those of you who don’t know that I am working on updating all the content and pictures for the new site.  That’s me and the best dog in the world up at McAfees Knob this past fall.  That hike has become a fall tradition for me and my little family (my fiance and my furry dog baby), and I would definitely recommend making it one for your family too.  If you have any suggestions about the site or for the blog I am mostly open to them, unless it’s something I’ve already dwelled over for days on end.  Then I might mutter things about you under my breath, but it won’t really be your fault.  Here at camp I am the Group Program Director which basically means that I book groups for day trips and into our lodges year round.  I also get to make brochures, coordinate marketing when we have the resources to do so, respond to general email inquiries and oh so much more.  You can expect my blogs to cover a potpurri of topics such as snowboarding & rock climbing trips, upcoming events at camp such as the New Years Eve Party blog soon to come, and detailed accounts of the awesome things that happen around basecamp.  If you would like to make suggestions or even contribute to our blog please email me and keep those comments coming!

Contributor #2: Dan Lucas who is our Base Camp Director and mountian bike guru did a great job of blogging before we had the big switch over and we hope he will keep them coming.  This picture was taken of Dan at the Devil’s Marbleyard on one of our summer youth trips near the Natural Bridge.  Nice product placement too with the Colonel’s Four Principles of Success shirt on.  Dan spends more hours of the day then you would ever dream possible, researching bike parts and the ins and outs of the biking industry.  If you ever have questions about what kind of bike is best for you, mountain biking with Wilderness Adventure, or 101 ways to spend your hard earned money on biking contact Dan.  So he might have some input for a baby blog seeing as his wife Ashley will be having their first baby girl in February 2010.  Watch out, biker chick in the making.

Contributor #3: None other than Steve Allen, our activities director, which is just another term for guy that is good at everything. The picture here shows him during our summer youth program instructing at the Lignite Site on Bald Mountain.  Steve is more than proficient in anything from mountain biking to piano playing/tuning, rock climbing to wood carving, and even chain mail making.  We never know what trick Steve will be pulling out of his bag so while you may never know what to expect from Steve’s next blog, one this is for sure it will be highly entertaining and amazingly informative.  If you have any questions regarding our wide array of activities or impeccable safety record he is the guy to talk to and to thank for keeping us safe.  He also has all the used gear sale information memorized and ready to give to any potential buyer at a moments notice so feel free to email Steve anytime.

Contributor #4: Although this saying is a little played out it still needs to be said that Patrick Boas, our Director of Operations, is last but certainly not least.  The picture featured here show Patrick giving instruction during our swift water rescue class that is given to all our white water trips on the beautiful New River.  We should all feel especially lucky that he will be taking a moment out of his busy day to contribute to our little ole’ blog.  Typically Patrick is working on all the tedious yet extremley important everyday tasks that allow a business to run.  Patrick is in charge of our finances, managing and hiring our crazy staff, paying the bills, and all the other behind the scenes stuff that never gets fully appreciated.  If you feel sorry for him because he doesn’t get to do any of the fun stuff anymore, don’t.  His alter ego, “the ruckus”, creeps out pretty regularly and shreds up the mountains and rivers whether it be on a bike, snowboard, kayak, or his personal favorite extreme hiking.  Regardless of whether he is just regular Patrick or the ruckus he has a lot of valuable information rattling around up in that brain of his that he will be sharing with us once a month on the blog, and that you cannot miss.  Click here for questions or to contact Patrick.

So everyone stayed tuned to learn more about our contributors and the crazy stunts they pull.  Now that you’ve been sitting around on the computer for a while Go Find Your Adventure!