OXFORD – A 300-mile ride across Nova Scotia may sound daunting to some, but a group gathered at His Place Teen Center on Friday had their bicycles ready and no reservations about their journey.
Tiffany Scaliatine, 18, admitted she hadn’t exactly trained for the excursion, but she didn’t seem concerned. “I haven’t been biking, but I’ve been running a lot,” she said.
Scaliatine added that she went on a bike ride to Rangeley with the teen center last year, and this year she was going on the Nova Scotia trip as a chaperone.
Brian Button, 17, said he spends a lot of time on his bike, probably logging 30 to 40 miles a day. When asked if he was looking forward to the trip, he nodded without hesitation. “Oh, yeah.”
Art Hladik was excited, too. He runs Agape Acres Bicycle Repair in Buckfield and helps coordinate a major trek for the teen center every year, as well as a series of smaller rides.
“This is probably the seventh trip,” he said Friday, adding that the long rides began in 1995. Hladik, teen center Executive Director Burt Rugg, several teens have in the past biked to places as far away as Cooperstown, N.Y.; Niagara Falls; and the Jersey shore.
Interest in the treks has grown, Hladik said. A total of 11 teens were on hand for the Nova Scotia trip Friday, with six adult chaperones.
The group planned to take The Cat ferry from Bar Harbor on Friday evening and stay at churches throughout Nova Scotia during their 10-day adventure.
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