Lazer and Carr Crush Quarantine on the Silver Comet!

If you’ve been feeling restless or a bit confined during the “shelter in place” spring or socially-distanced summer, you are not alone. Now, imagine that you are an eleven-year-old boy with energy to burn! What’s a bored kid to do when meeting on the cul-de-sac and staring down a long summer? Well, Lazer Itzler and Carr Easterlin found a fun and challenging activity to crush quarantine boredom last June.

Lazer and Carr were enjoying riding bikes more and more in April and May when the “stay at home” order kicked into gear. They both enjoyed mountain biking and also riding the PATH loop at Chastain Park. It felt good to get outside, ride trails and take the occasional jump. Inspiration to “level up” their game hit when Carr’s mom and Lazer’s dad were talking about a running challenge they had completed called “the calendar club.” Carr suggested to Lazer, “Hey, we can do the calendar club challenge on our bikes,” and the duo were on to their epic June challenge.

Here’s how the calendar club challenge works – every day of the month, you achieve the same number of miles as the date of the month. June 1 requires one mile of the challenge activity. June 2 requires two miles… and so on… until June 30th when you achieve 30 miles on that one day. Distances escalate quickly, and the monthly total is 465 miles! That’s like riding from New York City to Cleveland, Ohio! #Calendarclub has many first-hand accounts and diaries on-line, and Lazer and Carr jumped on the idea.

Going into this challenge, the boys felt that it was, “almost impossible, but barely possible.” The farthest that they had been riding in a day previously was somewhere between 7 and 10 miles. The boys started off riding around their neighborhood for the early days, but around day 15, the boys felt the challenge heating up! They soon found themselves going for a daily special destination ride: the Silver Comet Trail. Lazer reported, “Without the Silver Comet trail, we would not have been able to do it. We really appreciated the flat path, the shade and no cars.” Carr explained, “We were able to average around 14 mph, which helped us get our rides done and then go do something fun after a hard challenge.”

They say that their parents were very encouraging and helped them gear up. For example, biking shorts, water bottles and odometers were essential. The entire last ten days were really taxing, as each day was over a 20-mile ride. On the last day, it took the boys three hours to complete the 30-mile ride. They celebrated with some free time on the bike going for “tricks and jumps and then a celebration cake with family.”

Recently, PATH’s executive director, Greta deMayo, connected with the boys via Zoom to congratulate them on their accomplishment. She shared with the boys that the Silver Comet Trail will be extended in the next few years into downtown Atlanta and riders will be able to go 100 miles from Alabama down to the Georgia Aquarium. Carr quickly affirmed, “That would be fun, I’m looking for a challenge.” Lazer thanked deMayo, saying, “Thank you so much for making all the PATHs in Atlanta.”

Lazer and Carr are already making plans for next June to complete the calendar club challenge again, and this time they plan to share their journey on-line so that other kids can take the challenge. In the meantime, they’ll both be enjoying time on their mountain bike teams and riding for fun.

We look forward to seeing Lazer and Carr and their friends out on the trails every month of the year!