kjc9640

03/20/2011
My solo ride today was great except for the 16 to 24 mph wind.
37 miles today
Mileage this month 442
Mileage this year 1747
Over/under riding days this year vs. last year +2 days
Over/under miles this year vs. last year +175 miles
33.6 miles average per ride this year
40 miles average per ride this month (best ever)
5253 miles needed to hit my 2011 goal of 7,000

Great weather today, 66⁰F when I left home and 82⁰F when I got back. Rode the length of the Seminole Wekiva Trail (26 miles) and back plus some road riding up to Deer Path. Today’s ride was solo I still have a shot at my goal of 700 miles this month but 600 miles would be a more realistic goal and I will need some cooperation from the weatherman. The wind was not friend today, it was 16 to 24 mph on the return trip. Here are some pictures from today’s ride to Deer Path.

1. The long lonely road
2-3. mounted soldiers at the entrance of one of the horse farms

zzOtherlandzz

Cool pictures slospoke.... I cant even imagine how much statues like that would cost....

Yep, got out for a ride today. One of the 2 friends that said they would go ended up going..... Sooo that was cool. Of course he kind of had to go because we were meeting somebody that was buying a laptop he had.

We decided to ride the non paved part of the Palatka Lake Butler trail north of Keystone Heights. The first non paved mile was tough... we were riding on a bed of railroad rocks. They were right on the surface and really loose. Wow what a bumpy ride that is (even with a full suspension bike). Slow going too. Most of the trail is grassy or at least has a layer just above the rocks. We ended up riding about 12 miles, 6 miles out and back. Took us about an hour and 20 minutes. We did ride the last 2 miles back to the van on the pavement. I think the last 2 miles was the hardest part of the ride though. The wind was blowing about 15mph right into our faces. GREAT ride...... I really like exploring someplace I have never been...

I had planned on more pictures but the camera mount got really loose going over all the rocks....

1st pic..... The end of the paved trail and the start of our ride..
2nd & 3rd pic.... One of the leftover railroad bridges over a small creek. Actually more sturdy than it looks...

zzOtherlandzz

Yep, I went solo today... 26.62 miles to the post office & then to pay house insurance... The ride home was lighter having spent all my money LOL... A bit of a headwind for about 12 miles to the insurance place.. A bit of a tailwind on the way back... Great ride.. Nothing really to take pics of... Rode the road bike...

kjc9640

My ride today was great.
53 miles today
Mileage this month 495
Mileage this year 1800
Over/under riding days this year vs. last year 0 days
Over/under miles this year vs. last year +177 miles
34 miles average per ride this year
41 miles average per ride this month (best ever)
5200 miles needed to hit my 2011 goal of 7,000

Great weather today, 65⁰F when I left home and 82⁰F when I got back. Rode the length of the Seminole Wekiva Trail (26 miles) and back plus some road riding up to Deer Path. Today’s ride was with a friend that I enjoy riding with. I still have a shot at my goal of 700 miles this month but 650 miles would be a more realistic goal and I will need some cooperation from the weatherman. The wind was very cooperative today only 5/7 mph from the ESE. I will probably get in another 25 with my daughter tonight and perhaps 35 tomorrow.

kjc9640

My ride today was great.
53 miles today
Mileage this month 495
Mileage this year 1800
Over/under riding days this year vs. last year 0 days
Over/under miles this year vs. last year +177 miles
34 miles average per ride this year
41 miles average per ride this month (best ever)
5200 miles needed to hit my 2011 goal of 7,000

Great weather today, 65⁰F when I left home and 82⁰F when I got back. Rode the length of the Seminole Wekiva Trail (26 miles) and back plus some road riding up to Deer Path. Today’s ride was with a friend that I enjoy riding with. I still have a shot at my goal of 700 miles this month but 650 miles would be a more realistic goal and I will need some cooperation from the weatherman. The wind was very cooperative today only 5/7 mph from the ESE. I will probably get in another 25 with my daughter tonight and perhaps 35 tomorrow.

zzOtherlandzz

Yep, A short ride to the auto parts store. Friend got the wrong oil filter. So on the way we took a little detour through the Carl Duval State Forest trail. Its not really all that much of a trail but I would say 95% of the people that live in my little town have NO idea its even there. The trail is only 1.25 miles long. Plus another 1.5 miles to the trail head and back. So 2.75 miles total on the dirt part of the ride today. Ended up riding 8.75 miles all together... A short ride is better than no ride.. We did push it pretty hard into the wind for 3 or 4 miles though.

kjc9640

03/23/2011
My ride today was great.
42.5 miles today
Mileage this month 537
Mileage this year 1842
Over/under riding days this year vs. last year +1 day
Over/under miles this year vs. last year +220 miles
34 miles average per ride this year
41 miles average per ride this month (best ever)
5157 miles needed to hit my 2011 goal of 7,000

Great weather today, 62⁰F when I left home and 84F when I got back. Rode the length of the Seminole Wekiva Trail (26 miles) and back plus some road riding up to Deer Path with my daughter. I still have a shot at my goal of 700 miles this month but 650 miles would be a more realistic goal and I will need some cooperation from the weatherman. The wind was a bit UN cooperative today 11/20 mph from the WSW. Here are a few photos of today’s ride.

Photos left to right:
My daughter and favorite riding partner at the horse farms in Deer Path
A mother Sand Hill Crane and her baby chick. (first baby chick that I have seen)
Some fancy homes across Lake Sylvan
The first of 2 3 million dollar tunnels on our trail
The team slospoke at Lake Sylvan

zzOtherlandzz

Cool pictures slospoke....

Camera mount busted on the mountain bike.... Sooo no on the fly pictures for a while on the mtb.

Yep made it out for a ride today. We went to the Etoniah Creek State Forest to ride part of the Florida trail and the Etoniah Creek trail. I had rode this a little bit about 6 years ago.. The trail was much better marked now than it was then. About 200 yards into the trail we passed a hiker going the other way. That was a first, I had never seen anybody on any part of the trail that I have ridden in this area.

It was a pretty cool ride... Some nice trails through the woods with lots of up hills and down hills. Some logging roads that were not too sandy. Don't get me wrong there were a few spots where I had to do a FAST un-clip .... or fall over lol.

We only rode about 8.5 miles ... but it took us about 1hr 45 min (of ride time). It was a lot of fun!!!!

1st pic.. Big ole sink hole ... It went down quite a bit.
2nd pic.. The map said this was a sink hole too.
3rd pic.. Very cool part of the trail through the woods. It was all downhill for about 3/4 of a mile. Of course it was 3/4 of a mile up hill the other way ... LOL
4th & 5th pic... We decided to turn around here after riding out into the logged area for about 1/4 of a mile. It was kind of sandy with grass... Not real easy to ride on... but not super hard either. But the tree line had to be at least a mile away where the trail went back into the woods. NEXT TIME!!

zzOtherlandzz

Yep.... 19.54 miles on the road bike with friend... Awhile back I got an old mid 90's (I think) giant bike. I'm pretty sure I would call it a hybrid. We pulled it out of the shed and messed with it enough to get it ride-able. The frame is way to big for me I only bought it thinking one of my friends could ride it. Both guys that ride with me are about 6'2'' . Looks like a road bike with MTB handlebars on it. He said he liked the way it rode.... but we need to repack the bottom bracket bearings (has the kind you can repack). The rims are pretty straight and both roll pretty nice. Also need to get a saddle with longer rails on it so he can move it back a bit more. Anyway had a nice ride.....

kjc9640

03/25/2011
My ride today was short but great.
30.6 miles today
Mileage this month 568
Mileage this year 1872
Over/under riding days this year vs. last year 0 days
Over/under miles this year vs. last year +176 miles
34 miles average per ride this year
41 miles average per ride this month (best ever)
5127 miles needed to hit my 2011 goal of 7,000

Great weather today, 64⁰F when I left home and 82⁰F when I got back. Rode out the Seminole Wekiva Trail until I ran onto a friend that was headed the other way so I turned around and rode with him to Apopka to get a new bottom bracket installed in his bike. Most of our riding was on a very busy SR 436 but it has a bike lane all of the way so traffic gave us a break for the most part. I still have a shot at my goal of 700 miles this month but 650 miles would be a more realistic goal and I will need some cooperation from the weatherman. The wind was a bit UN cooperative today at 12 mph from the W.

zzOtherlandzz

So far a short ride to the post office. My knee is bothering me a lil bit. Felt pretty good after the short easy ride... So there is talk of a longer ride with friend later today.. 6 miles or so to the post office and back on the MTB so far....

bikethom

Excellent decision to ride the Silver Comet this morning - cool, a little breezy, but not a drop of rain in 65 miles! Now sitting at home watching the rain fall - and rain is expected through tomorrow.

kjc9640

03/26/2011
My ride today was long, hot and great.
58 miles today
Mileage this month 626
Mileage this year 1930
Over/under riding days this year vs. last year 0 days
Over/under miles this year vs. last year +200 miles
34.5 miles average per ride this year
41.7 miles average per ride this month (best ever)
5069 miles needed to hit my 2011 goal of 7,000

Great weather today, 58⁰F when I left home and 83⁰F when I got back. I met one of my riding friends at the Altamonte Springs Trail Head and rode out the Seminole Wekiva Trail to Orange Blvd then on to Deer Path. We took some side rides through Mandarin Estates and Wing Field Reserve to get some extra mileage in. I still have a shot at my goal of 700 miles this month. I will need some cooperation from the weatherman. The wind was very cooperative today at only 8/9 mph from the WNW. The pollen is everywhere and everything has a green cast to it. Tomorrow is supposed to be very windy so it may be a shorter ride day.

cyclist5

Yep. Rode out to campus 12 miles to study. But I overdressed and so went significantly slower and it felt a lot harder than usual. That and there was headwind. Overall I feel great. Night ride home should be better

kjc9640

03/29/2011
My ride today was dirty, hot and great.
Miles today: 40
Mileage this month: 666
Mileage this year: 1971
Over/under riding days this year vs. last year: 0 days
Over/under miles this year vs. last year: +175 miles
Miles average per ride this year: 34.4
Miles average per ride this month (best ever): 41
Miles needed to hit my 2011 goal of 7,000: 5028

Great weather today, 65⁰F when I left home and 77⁰F when I got back. I met one of my riding friends at the Altamonte Springs Trail Head and rode out the Seminole Wekiva Trail (which was a mess due to yesterdays rain) to Panera Bread in Lake Mary. We took some side rides through Mandarin Estates and Wing Field Reserve and Springs Landing Estates to get some extra mileage in. I still have a shot at my goal of 700 miles this month, if I can get 34 miles in over the next 2 days. I will need some cooperation from the weatherman and he is calling for rain Wed. and Thur. We will see.

zzOtherlandzz

Mileage this month: 666

Slo Spoke... I think I would have rounded up or down on this one...... lol Congrats on the mileage though!!

zzOtherlandzz

Yep.... 11.65 miles on the mountain bike. Was going to be just a ride to the post office but turned into a bit more. Friend took me to this state owned property just outside of the little town I live in. I guess it used to be a sand pit/mine or whatever back in the 20's. But now it's almost like real mountain bike riding. LOTS of ups & downs and trails going in and out of trees. It is really cool. I have NO clue why I didn't take a few pictures, cus I sure stopped enough to catch my breath lol ... Friend got into some sand at the bottom of one of the hills and crashed a bit. Not too bad, he bruised his calf a bit. The bruise was caused by hitting the bike... not anything on the ground... No rain but HUMID..... really HUMID..... Even with the crash we had fun.... (he says he had fun)...

kjc9640

03/30/2011
My ride today was hot and great.
Miles today: 37
Mileage this month: 703
Mileage this year: 2008
Over/under riding days this year vs. last year: 0 days
Over/under miles this year vs. last year: +191 miles
Miles average per ride this year: 34.6
Miles average per ride this month (best ever): 41
Miles needed to hit my 2011 goal of 7,000: 4991

Great weather this morning, 70⁰F when I left home and 81⁰F when I got back. The weatherman is calling for some seriously bad weather today but I chanced it anyway and it paid off. I got home just before the serious stuff moved in. I rode out the Seminole Wekiva Trail (which was pretty clean due to the cleanup crews blowing away the debris from Monday’s rain) to Panera Bread in Lake Mary and had a bagel and iced tea. From their I headed out to Deer Path. The return trip was a little slower due to a 12 mph head wind

Two great accomplishments today:
1.Surpassed the 2,000 mile mark for this year
2.Surpassed the 700 mile mark this month

NealH

I will be in Ormond Be the third week in April. PM or email me if you would like to meet up for a casual ride during this week (17-24th). I usually like to get over to the Clermont or Mt. Dora area at least once while there for a 40-60 mile jaunt.

zzOtherlandzz

Yep got out for a ride on Friday.... The plan was to ride about half of the Gainesville Hawthorne trail to G.ville and then on to the bike shop to test ride some 29'ers. Both friends went with me today. So woke up this morning and was checking Craigslist for 29'ers... I checked the Daytona Beach list (which i NEVER do cus it kind of too far away). A guy had just listed a 2006 Gary Fisher Tassajara 26 inch bike with disk brakes and front lockout shocks. 3 years newer than my Tassajara. NO info really on the bike in the listing... But he only wanted $200 for it. I didn't care what size it was I KNEW i wanted the bike.. If it was too big for me my 2 taller buddies could fight it out for who got the bike. He called us in the middle of the ride today said I was the first person out of about 20 emails that he had called. I told him we were an hour into our ride and 2hrs from him. Initially he said he could not really hold the bike for me... But we talked for 10 minutes while i was on the side of the trail and by the time we were done talking he said he would hold the bike for me. Got to Daytona about 9pm... Met the guy... OMG the bike is barely used .... Still looks awesome NO scratches on the frame and only some minor ones on the forks.... FOR 200 bucks.... Ohhhh and the frame was my size... Sooo no 29'er for me for now...

Ohhhhhh yeah rode 24.86 miles... plus another couple miles on the test ride bikes... Toooooo tired to post pics... but have a few for tomorrow errrrrr today

RonH

I think (and hope) winter may finally be over so did 29 miles today. Had a strong cross wind at several places in the ride and a strong head wind all the way home.

kjc9640

04/02/2011
My ride today was hot and great.
Miles today: 55
Mileage this month: 55
Mileage this year: 2063
Over/under riding days this year vs. last year: -1 day
Over/under miles this year vs. last year: +197 miles
Average miles per ride this year: 35
Average miles per ride this month: 55
Miles needed to hit my 2011 goal of 7,000: 4936

Great weather this morning, 57⁰F when I left home and 79⁰F when I got back. Met my friend at the San Sebastian Trail Head at 9:30 this morning and we rode out the Seminole Wekiva Trail (which was pretty clean due to the cleanup crews blowing away the debris from Wednesday’s rain and 60 mph wind gusts. We stopped at Panera Bread in Lake Mary and had a bagel and coffee. From there we rode north through Heathrow which is a beautiful ride then headed on out to Deer Path (horse farm country). The return trip was very nice with a slight tail wind most of the way. I am off to a good start this month but I will need all of the help that I can get. My mileage in April 2010 was 786 miles.
The beautiful day brought out a lot of people today.

zzOtherlandzz

Got a couple of short test rides in on the new bike.. Messed with the bike for part of the day.. The guy I got it from said he had in storage for over a year and there was a light coating of rust on the rotors. Got that off, changed seats and posts. Put my clipless pedals on. Changed the spacers around on the headset.... Stuff like that. Took it for a short ride.... changed more stuff .. Then took it for im guessing about an 8 mile ride, some roads some trails. Feels pretty good, getting close. Tried to put the bike PC on but the zip ties i have are not long enough to go around the stem Had fun...... think its a keeper....

kjc9640

04/03/2011
My ride today was very hot but nature was at its best today
Miles today: 50.5
Mileage this month: 105.5
Mileage this year: 2113
Percent of goal achieved: 30%
Over/under riding days this year vs. last year: -1 day
Over/under miles this year vs. last year: +206 miles
Average miles per ride this year: 35
Average miles per ride this month: 52.7
Miles needed to hit my 2011 goal of 7,000: 4886

Great weather this morning, 63⁰F when I left home and 81⁰F when I got back this afternoon. Did my usual ride out the Seminole Wekiva Trail and stopped at Panera Bread in Lake Mary and had my usual bagel and coffee. From there I rode north on International Blvd to 46A then west to Orange then out to Deer Path (horse farm country). All of the ranches seemed to have all of the little colts out today. Today I saw 1 deer 2 bald eagles 4 adult Sand Hill Cranes and 2 babies, about 6 buzzards (boy was the air quality bad around them). The return trip was back down Orange Blvd to Sylvan Lake road then west to the trail head. Had a very slight tail wind most of the way home. I am off to a good start this month with a 105 miles done already but I will need all of the help that I can get. My mileage in April 2010 was 786miles.

The beautiful day brought out a lot of people to the trail but once I hit the horse farm country I was all by myself. Today would have been a good day to take the camera with all of the wild life.

Earlier this week while sitting at Panera Bread a young girl with a Team USA cycling kit and a very expensive bike sat down about two tables from me and was taking a break. I recognized her from some photos on the USA Team web site so as I was leaving I stopped to talk with her about her racing career. Her name was on her bike so I made note of it then promptly forgot it (old age I think). Today as I was sitting at Panera a woman and her husband that I know casually from the Free Wheelers Bike Club walked passed my table and we made some small conversation. As they were leaving I asked them if they knew the girls name on the USA Team, turns out it is their daughter. Not only is she a good cyclist and representing the USA all over the globe but she only has one more year to complete her engineering degree at The University of Florida. Her mother and father were very proud of her and justly so.

zzOtherlandzz

SloSpoke ... Cool story..... Seems like your always seeing some famous or well known person. Also, I live out in the sticks and you see more wild life than I do....

Yep got out for a short ride Sunday... Not really sure how far though.... Forgot to get zip ties for the bike computer... Me and "the 2" friends hit the Florida trail south of SR20. We got about 3 miles out and the one friend went to shift gears and somehow the chain slipped and the rear derailer ended up bent. After that he could not ride in the lower gears (for the sand) ... So he was having NO fun. Two of us turned around and headed back to the van said we would pick him back up at one of the roads that the trail crosses. On the way back to the van friend and I are just chatting and riding and I'm looking towards him talking... And all of a sudden he is yelling and freaking out... I had NO clue about what but he stops and I stop.... He says holy "fire truck" you almost got bit by a huge water moccasin. I guess as I was riding by it, it reared up to strike.. But I was already passed. I only got a glimpse of it... It was a big a$$ snake!! This part of the trail is more like a logging road, where we were able to ride side by side.... Was not even in the woods or anything... More like a back road. Anyway I'm guessing we rode 7 or 8 miles... well 2 of us did anyway...

On the plus side... Really liking the new mountain bike...