When you mix bicycles, sun, 70+ degree temperatures, and chocolate, the result is epic Bike Fun. Thirty-nine (!) Poky Pedalers enjoyed a superlative afternoon on yesterday’s Chocolate Ride.

Poky Pedalers arriving at Bukolt Park for the Chocolate Ride

Our starting location was Bukolt Park, where a veritable swarm of people riding bicycles converged. After the usual review of bicycle laws and safe riding tips, we headed south towards downtown Stevens Point.

Our first stop was Sugar Doll on Strongs Ave just south of Shopko. Sugar Doll specializes in chocolate (including irresistible truffles from Moonstruck), quirky greeting cards, and other delightful gifts. I had informed Mary, the owner of Sugar Doll, that we would be coming, yet our extraordinarily large group still overwhelmed her small shop.

The chocolate frenzy inside Sugar Doll

Poky Pedalers were all cooperative while awaiting their opportunity to purchase a delicious chocolate delicacy, and Mary was gracious in accommodating all questions and requests from our throng of Poky Pedalers. As an unexpected treat, Mary kindly provided free chocolate samples for us. While the last of our Poky Pedalers made their choices among the abundant options, a grassy area across the street proved to be a comfortable place for the remainder to relax and blissfully eat chocolate.

I want to thank Mary for welcoming all our Poky Pedalers into her shop. We all enjoyed our visit, and I suspect many Poky Pedalers will drawn back to Sugar Doll regularly.

Parking our bikes at Copps in anticipation of Death by Chocolate Cake

Although we were already bursting with Bike Fun, the Chocolate Ride was only getting started.

Next, we headed east to the Copps grocery store near Park Ridge. We locked our mass of bicycles up and headed in towards their bakery section and the nearby seating area.

Death by Chocolate Cake was our next treat. The wonderful folks in the bakery department enhanced our Bike Fun by spelling out ‘Poky Pedaling Stevens Point’ in icing upon our cake squares.

The great folks at Copps welcomed us (photo: K. Hoffman)

As its name implies, Death by Chocolate Cake is potent. We sliced the cake squares into bite-sized pieces to let all Poky Pedalers sample it without overdosing. As we savored our chocolate cake, our horde of Poky Pedalers drew curious looks from customers and employees. This just goes to show that no matter what folks are doing, they would rather be having Bike Fun.

I appreciate the help and friendly cooperation we received from all the staff in the bakery department at Copps.

It’s labeled dairy fudge, but it’s really chocolate cheese

Back upon our bikes, we headed north to Atwell Park. Upon arrival, I revealed a small block of chocolate cheese that I had been carrying with me in a freezer pack. I had picked the chocolate cheese up a few days before at the remarkable Wisconsin Dairy State Cheese Company in Rudolph, about 13 miles west of Stevens Point. As much as I would have liked the Rudolph cheese shop to have been a destination for our Poky Pedal, that would have been a bit out of the way for us.

I didn’t really know what chocolate cheese would taste like. The ingredients list includes cheddar cheese, cocoa, and walnuts. Event though the Rudolph cheese shop calls it dairy fudge, chocolate cheese is just as apt a description.

Our swarm of Poky Pedalers sampling chocolate cheese at Atwell Park (photo: K. Hoffman)

We cut our block of chocolate cheese into sample-sized pieces and passed it around. It turned out to be a big hit with Poky Pedalers. It is very much like fudge, and the few leftover samples were quickly consumed by those given the opportunity for seconds.

Even though a sense of euphoria filled our small army of Poky Pedalers, the Chocolate Ride was not over yet. We rode northwest to our final chocolate-dispensing destination, the new Culvers on Division St.

Culvers was our final destination for the Chocolate Ride (photo: K. Hoffman)

The friendly folks at Culvers hand-packed a couple of quarts of chocolate frozen custard, an innocent temptation Poky Pedalers could hardly withstand. Armed with custard sharing gear (i.e., washable cups and spoons I brought along), each of us enjoyed a few heaping spoonfuls of yummy custard as the chocolate exclamation point upon our spectacular afternoon of Bike Fun.

Our short ride back to Bukolt Park brought an end to the Chocolate Ride. Yet this was a Poky Pedal for the ages.

Even after a day filled with chocolate consumption, there’s always room for Culvers

Poky Pedalers enjoyed a 9-mile bicycle ride under gloriously warm sunny skies while sharing chocolate truffles, chocolate cake, chocolate cheese, and chocolate frozen custard. The Chocolate Ride will undoubtedly be the standard against which all future Bike Fun is measured.

As thrilled as I was to share so much Bike Fun with Poky Pedalers yesterday, we should turn our attention to future Bike Fun. You can visit the Upcoming Poky Pedals page to learn of all the Bike Fun scheduled for June. And the full slate continuing into October can be found on the 2014 Bike Fun Calendar. As Chief Bike Fun Officer, I assure all Poky Pedalers that you won’t want to miss a single one of these upcoming Poky Pedals.

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