2025 I Scream for Ice Cream Ride
- Stan Hecht
- Jul 10
- 9 min read
Updated: Jul 13
It is 8:05 am on Sunday morning July 5th . I am standing in the gravel parking lot at The Cyclery in Edwardsville with my sparkly purple bike. I have my phone with both the Ride with GPS and the TraqCentral 4 Participant apps Trailnet requires for each ride ready.
While I’ve looked at both apps, and the instructions a few times, I’m still unsure what to expect and how the ride will work. This is my first bike ride in years having rode The Moonlight Ramble three times many years ago.
I am both excited and nervous. Thrilled and unsure. Happy and ready.
The invite came in a text from my friend Lauren, biker extraordinaire. “This is a fun ride and there is a 10-mile option which I think you can do.” This was six weeks ago. Hmmmmmm. She had a lot of confidence in my biking abilities. Truth be told, I had been riding consistently since early May when I
purchased my sparkly purple bike.
I have ridden for as long as I can remember. I’m not a great distance rider, but I can ride, and I enjoy it. Riding my bike was a creative way to get myself outside for workouts and spend more time in nature. As Jennifer Cooper a yoga instructor reminds me, “let this be a moving meditation,” and I’m finding that it is. I listen to what’s going on around me-no music or podcasts-and enjoy the cardinals, the deer and all the other animals who live along the trial. I have also found that I use my yoga breath when pedaling gets difficult. Mostly, I love the quiet and the solitude which encourages me to think creatively.
And so, I train. Twice a week I ride ten miles.
I keep this plan to myself only sharing it with my sister and one or two other friends. I don’t want to be asked about it because, well, I just don’t.
I know I’m going to do it. I’m going to ride.
And I’m going to finish. I just want this to myself…. until I do it.
A natural curiosity presents itself, too. While I am not competitive, I am curious. About a 10-mile ride, how I feel before, during and after and I’m always up for trying new things. Saying “yes” usually brings about good change and positive energy.
On Saturday I pick up my registration and ask a few more questions of Trailnet. I’m feeling ready.
I arrive at 8am for the 8:30 10-mile ride and pull my bike with me as I ask for instructions-a new rider I know absolutely nothing about procedures. Trailnet tells me to wait in the parking lot for my ride to start so I wheel my sparkly purple bike into the lot and wait.
As I’m about to pull out my phone a woman approaches and asks, “Do you know how this Ride with GPS works?” I smile, look at her and say, “This is my first ride.” She answers, “Mine, too.” We look at each other and are immediate friends. We figure out the app and decide to ride together.
Another rider comes over to us and says, “Want me to take your photo?”
We both answer, “We just met!” and she responds, “Really? You look like old friends!”
My friend Lauren had filled me in on specifics a novice rider wouldn’t know. The first bit of knowledge: sometimes there are so many people that it gets crowded when a ride begins. Second, hang back if you can. I’m used to riding by myself so I decide that I will hang back.
However, because the day is already so hot and humid, Trailnet announces, “If you are riding the 10-mile ride, you are free to start
anytime.”
It is 8:11 am. I’m ready.
So is Katie, my new friend.
We start off with the group that’s riding and find our pace. A Trailnet person leads us onto the ride. Katie is great to talk with, and I am enjoying the ride, the breeze (warm) and the new trail. We chat and get to know one another as we follow the directions on our phones-which I find really cool-last time I
rode we printed out our route and had it displayed on our handlebars-riding among families, kids, and very fast riders. In the beginning of our ride there are volunteers pointing the right direction and pink signs with arrows directing us.
Most of our bike ride is on trails I recognize. Lauren told me later most of her ride was on the streets and she was by herself. I am not used to riding on the streets anymore, so I am trying to keep an eye on traffic, too.
We pass a mom with a trailer full of little kids, her little boy riding on his own and her partner. We hear her say to the kids, “If there is no complaining, there is ice cream at the end.”
All the adults riding around her chime in. “I’m not complaining. I want ice cream!”
Katie and I ride on. Through beautiful tree-lined trails. I am recognizing the trails and landmarks that I have been riding each week. We come to a street where I usually cross and continue on the trail, instead Trailnet directs us right onto the street.
Up a hill.
I was told this was a FLAT ride. Completely flat. NO hills.
Surprised, I realize I have only one real choice.
I’m going to ride up that hill.
While I’ve trained for this ride by riding 10 miles twice a week in the heat and humidity, I have not trained for any hills or elevation. None. At all. The trails I am riding are completely flat, which is one of the reasons I love riding them.
Many years ago, on a Backroads Biking Trip somewhere in the South of France there was a hill we had to ride. Twice.
The first time I hopped off my bike. I couldn’t make it up. Nobody said anything. Though I completed the ride that day, I thought about that hill all night.
The next day, we were riding that same trail and our group leader Frantz quietly said to me, “You can do this. You can ride up this hill.” I remember the feeling of wanting to ride up that hill. I remember the feeling of the entire group surrounding me as I rode up. I remember looking at Frantz who smiled his encouragement.
I rode up that hill.
And cried when I got to the top.
I must have said something aloud because my new friend Katie says, “You can do this,” more than once…quietly. I begin using my yoga breath. I look forward to see how far I have to go. Katie says, “Just to the stop sign.” I continue to pedal. And pedal. And breathe. And sweat. I hear Katie say again, “Just to the stop sign,” with a quiet encouragement borne from experience.
And then I’m there. At the top of the hill I didn’t know I was going to have to ride on the first bike ride I’ve ridden in years.
I turn to Katie, “Thank you. I couldn’t have done that alone.”
“Yes, you could,” she says. Already, I like her a lot.
We continue on the trail until we come to the first rest stop. The volunteers say if we aren’t stopping to continue straight on the trail. We cross the street, and we see other riders coming towards us. Since many rides are happening this morning, riders are riding in all directions. Both of our trackers are saying, “Off Course.”
We turn around and stop so we can figure out where we are, giving me time to stretch which I had been doing every 20 minutes while I trained. Nothing hurts but I stretch anyway. We head to the rest area in Miner Park which is filled with riders, snacks, volunteers, and a bathroom. I head to the bathroom and run into the mom with all the kids.
“How’s it going?” I ask.
“I haven’t heard any complaints yet,” she says.
Well, there is ice cream involved!
We seek out a volunteer trying to figure out where the trail is and she says she has no idea. We ask another volunteer, and he says, follow the sidewalk back to the trail we just rode and head back from where we came from. Our 10-mile ride is a loop.
We do that and somehow find our way with the help of our GPS tracker app, volunteers, and pink arrow signs along the way.
We make a few wrong turns but manage to find ourselves in the correct place. On the correct trail. We reach Airplane Park and see the pink arrow sign pointing left.
After crossing the street, we come to a stoplight with a group of people and have no idea which way to go. No pink arrow signs, no pink chalk on the ground.
A giant burly guy behind me huffing and sweating says to everyone, “We are riding the 24-mile ride.” Unsure what this means, everyone heads straight and Katie and I follow thinking we will find a pink arrow or a volunteer. Our GPS tracker app is saying head straight, so I feel okay about this. Luckily, this decision leads us back to a trail we’ve been on earlier. I can tell because we are riding on the opposite side of the Edwardsville water tower.
We ride on, Katie telling me about her daughters and her summertime travels-she and her husband are teachers, and they have been all over the country to numerous National Parks over the years-and the time and miles pass. Once more we miss a turn, however, Trailnet has now written in pink chalk arrows for each ride. We easily see the 10-mile this way chalk sign-and make the turn. I would suggest that more chalk directions and more pink arrow signs would make it much easier for riders to figure out where they are supposed to be!
We are about 3 miles from finishing our very first ride and Katie and I are still chatting. This has made the time go by so quickly and I’m almost wishing we had a longer time together.
Almost!
We figure out where we are on the trail and streets and can now see The Cyclery in the distance.
I am going to do it. I am going to finish this ride-my first bike ride in years-ON my bike, in one piece and feeling empowered, courageous, at peace and proud.
Katie and I ride into The Cyclery and through the Finish Line arch.
I can see my support team walking across the street taking photos. What a great guy! He’s made this easy on me, helping me to have an easy, peaceful day yesterday, dropping me at the starting line today and timing my ride so he could be at the Finish Line when I pedaled in.
As I ride through the Finish Line, I raise my hands and give myself and Katie a WHOOOOO WHOOOOO!!!!
We both get off our bikes and high five each other. We take a few photos, and I give Katie my card. I had mentioned earlier that I was going to write about this, and I would need a photo. At first, she demurred. When we rode through that Finish Line together, she gladly took a photo! And friended me
on Facebook.
We walk our bikes over to the Trailnet tents, Bobby’s Ice cream and Fitz’s root beer. Katie is going to wait for her husband who’s riding a longer ride.
Gina from Trailnet walks over with a huge smile and gives me a high five.
“You did it!”
“I knew I could!!!”
As I wait to load my bike, Katie and I say goodbye, I collect my ice cream, talk to a few other people who rode the 10-mile ride and smile to myself.
Yes, my sparkly purple bike and I completed the 10-mile (actually 11.5 miles) I Scream for Ice Cream ride on July 5th . And enjoyed it.
As Lauren texted me, “At our age, we don’t often get to try new things/experiences and feel the discomfort. It’s so fun to persevere and learn that you can do new and hard things!!!”
I know that I can do hard things. Sometimes, though, it’s easier to pass on these experiences. I didn’t want to pass. I wanted to ride-I wanted to try something that sounded fun, different, and yes, out of my comfort zone.
So, I set my sights on riding the 10-mile I Scream for Ice Cream ride, figuring it out as I went and feeling all the feelings. Once I crossed the Finish Line I couldn’t help smiling.
On my bike, I feel free. I feel strong. I feel empowered. I can feel my legs working, getting stronger. I can feel the breeze and the sunshine, and it feels like I’m flying. I’m in one of my happy places. As I ride, my sparkly purple bike and I create magic.
Expect Good. Defy Gravity! Sparkle ON. Keep calm and pedal on.
Thanks to Lauren Stewart who believed in me before I did. Thanks to Susan Kent-Arce and Staci Wilson who encouraged me through all of this. Thanks to Katie who got me up that hill. Thanks to Trailnet for offering a 10-mile ride. And thanks to Stan Hecht, the sole support team who gladly gets my bike in and out of his car whenever I need to ride. And makes sure I’m safe and taken care of.
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