50 hot and hilly miles in Bartholomew and Brown counties today.

25 miles with Latitude65 yesterday

30 miles early today - started at about 60F, up to near 90F.

62+ miles and 6400' of climbing on the BRP with NealH this morning. Very nice, cool ride today. Could have used arm warmers a few times.

7/17 35 miles today.

390.5 miles this month
3870 miles this year
122 ride days LY vs 123 ride days TY
3629 miles needed to hit 2010 goal (7500 miles)
I am @ 51.6% of my goal. I need to be @ 66.6% (5000 miles) by the end of August
325 miles ahead of last year at this date

Today’s ride thru the eyes of my bike…
I got out a little late today and the temp was already on its way to 85*. About a mile north of the SR 434 tunnel 3 deer jumped across the trail about 30 yards in front of me. I tried to get a picture of them but I think I had screwed the camera too far down on the mount and the bolt was interfering with the electronics inside the camera. I figured I had ruined the camera but when I took my break at Panera Bread I remounted it and it seems to be working fine.
Those deer sure would have made a nice photo.

I continued north on the International Parkway to the Rinehart bike bridge over I 4 then turned south at Rinehart Rd to the Cross Seminole Trail. This took me over to The Big Tree Park the home of The Senator and Lady Liberty.

The Senator is the largest Bald Cypress tree in the United States, located in Big Tree Park, Longwood, Florida. It is 125 feet (38 m) tall, with a trunk diameter of 17.5 feet (5.3 m).
The Seminole Indians and other

Native American Indians who lived throughout Central Florida used this tree as a landmark. In the late 1800s, the tree attracted visitors even though much of the surrounding land was swamp; reaching the tree was done by leaping from log to log. A walkway was later constructed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). In 1925, a hurricane destroyed the top of the tree, reducing its original height of 165 feet (50 m) to its present height. The Senator is named for Senator M.O. Overstreet, who donated the tree and surrounding land to Seminole County for a park in 1927. In 1929, former president Calvin Coolidge visited The Senator and dedicated the site with a commemorative bronze plaque. The plaque and portions of an iron fence were stolen by vandals in 1945 and never recovered. Because of its unusual size, considerable controversy as to The Senator's true species has existed. In the 1950s, the tree was reclassified as a Pond Cypress, only to be reverted back to the classification of Bald Cypress some thirty years later.

Located 40 feet (12 m) from The Senator is another old cypress in the same Big Tree Park named Lady Liberty. It is 89 feet (27 m) high 10 feet (3.0 m) in diameter, and is estimated to be 2000 years old and one of the oldest tree's in the world.

After a stop to see The Senator and Lady Liberty I headed on out the CST to another of our fine bridges that crosses SR 17/92. I can get up to about 35 mph on the down ramp but you need to have both hands on the bars so I opted to slow down and take a picture or two. If you try real hard you can visualize yourself in the yellow jersey screaming down some of the switch backs in France. (well that may be a stretch)

The photo with all of the high power poles shows good use of the power Company right of way but it is not the most photogenic area. For some reason this is a good area to see armadillos but none were out today for some reason.

Photo #4is what I see as I exit my favorite tunnel under SR 434.
I hope you enjoyed my ride.

I did a club ride century today. 100 miles on a 100 degree day was my way of celebrating this week's scans. I've now been cancer free for 2 1/2 years.

WOW!!!!!

That's just GREAT news.

very good!

Here is to many more cancer free years....Attachment 160263

No HTFU today. Just an easy 35 miles in two hours on my 1978 Trek Sports/Touring bike.

Bud Bent..congratulations!
I just finished 70 miles starting in 76° 74% humidity morning. I took two bottles knowing where I was going to stop and refuel. I got there making sure the two were empty so I could refill 100% and the store was closed! wtf? It has never been closed before , anyway now where to go to get some water? Off I went and 10 miles later I stopped at a gas station and then headed on back home but I stopped once again at Micky Dee's for a egg and cheese biscuit, coke and a bottle of water about 10 miles from home. All is well.
This was the longest ride on the "Demo Fizik Antares" saddle too. I think it is a good saddle and I may end up riding on one. It is more firm than the Airone I ride now but it is comfortable firm.

Purely Outstanding!!!

39 miles and 4600' of climbing this morning with NealH. We had an 11,000' climbing weekend.

A little over 50 miles in a little over 2.5 hr of Z2/3 riding. The first half was pulling my son back to his home for the 2nd part of his ride, then I soloed back to my home into the windy oven.

7/18 42.4 miles today.

432.9 miles this month
3912 miles this year
122 ride days LY vs 124 ride days TY
3587 miles needed to hit 2010 goal (7500 miles)
I am @ 52% of my goal. I need to be @ 66.6% (5000 miles) by the end of August
367 miles ahead of last year at this date

Today’s ride as seen thru the eyes of my bike:

Although I got a late start (9:00 am) this morning and the temp was well on its way to 90+ degrees again today but I felt great and pretty strong. I felt good enough to pass my usual stop at Panera Bread for coffee and a bagel (mistake # 1). My destination and goal was to do about 45 miles and visit a small war memorial park on Lake Monroe in Sanford FL. They have been restoring the downtown area of Sanford as well so I thought this would be a good way to see the progress. I went north on the SWT (Seminole Wekiva Trail) for about 10 miles then jumped over on International Parkway for about 5 more miles then took Wilson Road to SR 17/92. Once on 17/92 as it is called here in Orlando I started east with Sanford about 5/6 miles away.

About a mile down the road I passed the Central FL Zoo, and since I had never been to this zoo (I have lived in this area for over 15 years) I decided to just ride in and take a look.

It is called The Central Florida Zoo & Botanical Gardens and they have opened The Zoom Air Adventure Park at the Zoo. Zoom Air Adventures is an aerial adventure course that will allow you to explore the tree tops from an animal’s perspective. Families can “Zoom” from tree to tree using rope bridges, zip lines, suspended disks and a variety of unique systems for this exciting addition to the Zoo. Guests will immerse themselves in the canopy of the forest, much like an animal would pass through the trees and view the world.

From there it was on down 17/92 with the lake on my left, the view was beautiful. I was still feeling great when I got to the War Memorial Park so I peddled around and read the markers and took a few pictures. The restored area is only a couple of blocks away so it was off to see what had been done in that area.

At this point I was still feeling good so I headed for home (temp was now in the mid to high 90 degree area). I stopped at a 7-11 and got a couple of snacks and refilled my camelback but that turned out to not be enough. I was about .5 miles from my favorite Panera Bread and I bonked completely. My legs were cramping really bad and I thought I was going to have to call the wife to come and pick me up. I struggled on to Panera and got inside to cool off and get some liquid and call my daughter to see how many miles she had rode in the morning. I sat there for a while to get my body temp a little cooler and I thought I could make it home (another mistake). I got about a mile down the trail and the legs were so tight I could not turn the crank over. For the next 9 miles it was ride a half a mile walk a half a mile. With about 6 miles to go I gave up and called the wife but she was out and didn’t get the message, so I had to bit the bullet and forged ahead (that was one looooong 9 miles ride/walk).

About the time that I got a mile from the house the wife got my message and started frantically calling me to see what was wrong. I assured her that I was going to make it, after all I had gone this far another mile could not kill me. At least I hopped it wouldn’t. I hope you enjoy what my bike saw today as I really paid a price for them.

Note to self: Don’t plan a bike ride tomorrow.

Part one Photos
Photo #1 Central Fl Zoo entrance
Photo #2 An accident waiting to happen on a narrow 2 lane road. Cars were moving into my lane to get passed this gentleman.
Photo #3 People on the Air Zoom
Photo #4 When the zoo abandons this RR line it will be converted to a Rail Trail

Part two photos:

Photo # 1 View along Lake Monroe
Photo # 2 War Memorial Park
Photo # 3 This use to be the Sanford fire dept.
Photo # 4 Park area in the center of town
Photo # 5 More War Memorial Park
Photo # 6 Bike path along the Lake shore

Saturday: 75 miles of the Civil War Century route in Md
Sunday: 110 miles on Skyline Drive from Elk Wallow to Loft Mountain and back, 8500 ft of climbing.

During my holidays in the French Alpes I had a phantasic expierince. of course i climbed all the famous cols of the Toer the France, the Alpe d'huez, the Col du Glandon and Croix de Fer, the col de Sarenne, the col the Telegraph and the col de Galibier. the col de Galibier was my last col , after that I should return back home. I climbed the 2650 m col from the northside, together with my daughter. When we were at the col we enjoyed the sublime landscape and of course made some pictures. when we were making pictures, from the south side of the col came up two persons a few minutes later finished on the top. It proved to be an English couple. Nothing particular, but amazing if you can see clearly they were at least 70 years old, think even older. And more amazing they came with old Mercian steel bikes (modernized with Campa triple). Unbelievable: more than 70 years old, old Mercian steelbikes, climbing the Col de Galibier. Seeing this couple on the col de Galibier, it gave me an enourmous optimistic feeling: so it can last long, very long this phantastic cycling sport!

63 on Saturday (46 with the club and a few extra to make a metric) @ 14.5
33.6 yesterday @ 17.0.

the temps for both in the 90's, and the dew point was over 55 both days.

52 miles today, had not been on the bike since the 14th. Felt much better and rested. First 10 miles at 19.1mph, then 21 miles into a steady 8 to 15 mph head wind. Lunch at Seal beach (3pm, left late from home) 14.5 miles downwind at 23 to 24 mph(whee!) then 5.5 miles cool down. 78 degrees. sunny and just a great day.

36 after work- 94° 62% humidity. Did a simple out and back on the 13 mile Rail Trail that is 5 miles away from my house. Rode there, did the trail and rode back.

60.5 miles today. I haven't posted a few rides lately. Today's ride was mostly cloudy with the sun sneaking at times, temp at start in the upper 70's and mid 80's when I quit. I hope tomorrow's forecast would be better, mostly sunny, but hot and humid in the low 90's.

12.2 @ 19.9 ave this morning. Best average of the summer ... so far

Got out for a little loop this afternoon while my daughter played in her friend's pool. 19 miles, 1200' of climbing in 1:06 ride time. It was a very warm 86º.

took it easy and put in 28 miles in 92° weather. Humid too but not too bad really.
Wish I had a pool to play in.

After over a week off the bike fighting my second bout in a month with a nasty stomach virus, it felt great to get out on the road today. I took Ribby out for a 32 mile ride in the country near home. It was fairly hot and humid, but I kept it at a reasonable pace and felt pretty good despite the layoff. When it started hurting a little, I thought about how the tour riders must have felt today doing four major climbs starting with an attack on a big one at mile zero. That made my little hurt seem pretty insignificant.