To the editor:

Wow! We knew Wildlife Conservation Society’s Cycle Adirondacks bicycle tour had the potential to be special. We just weren’t sure how special. Then we started hearing the ideas Saranac Lake had to welcome and embrace this event. We started to fully understand your passion for your life in Saranac Lake. And then everyone who came to town for Cycle Adirondacks felt it firsthand.

Our guests’ smiles could not have better illustrated that feeling as they pedaled out of and then back into Saranac Lake – not to mention all the highlights in between.

What Saranac Lake and your incredible civic organizations did for Cycle Adirondacks cannot be underestimated. Because of your heartfelt reception, our riders will not only come back; they’ll tell their families and friends about how wonderful life is in Saranac Lake.

Where else in the world can you ride a carousel, take a historic walking tour, enjoy vibrant locally owned shops and art galleries, hike to a stunning vista and jump in a canoe, all within a square mile? This community is special.

It is memories like these that truly connected our guests with Saranac Lake. They will remember each conversation they had with you, each handshake and high-five, each laugh.

We could not predict how our first-year event would turn out. But now, just a few days beyond the conclusion of Cycle Adirondacks 2015, we can honestly and whole-heartedly say that our inaugural year was an instant classic. With so many folks to thank, it’s impossible to include everyone, so we’ll simply say: Our cycling helmets are off to you. All of you.

It’s our honor to have Saranac Lake forever at the center of the first Cycle Adirondacks. There can only be one original.

However, mark Aug. 20-27, 2016, on your calendar now. We’ll announce a new route later this fall, which will, of course, feature Saranac Lake, the home of the Wildlife Conservation Society Adirondack Program.

Thank you.

Zoe Smith, Wildlife Conservation Society, Cycle Adirondacks director

Jim Moore, Cycle Adirondacks event director

Doug Haney, Cycle Adirondacks event manager

Matt VanSlyke, Cycle Adirondacks event manager

Saranac Lake