kjc9640

04/04/2011
My ride today was very hot; summer is here in Central Florida, humidity is starting to creep up.
Miles today: 35+
Mileage this month: 140+
Mileage this year: 2148+
Percent of goal achieved: 30.7%
Over/under riding days this year vs. last year: -1 day
Over/under miles this year vs. last year: +205 miles
Average miles per ride this year: 35+
Average miles per ride this month: 45+
Miles needed to hit my 2011 goal of 7,000: 4851

Great weather this morning, 70⁰F 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, only this time I had a cinnamon walnut twist and lemonade. This Panera Bread is right on the Seminole Wekiva Trail and is always crowded with cyclist on weekends you can’t get a table without waiting. From there I rode north on International Blvd to Wilson Road then west to Orange then to Sylvan Lake Road. The return trip was back was really tough as I was fighting a 20 mph head wind all the way. Tomorrow we are supposed to have some serious storms. I hope I can get may ride in before they show up.

zzOtherlandzz

Stated out with intentions of riding to the post office and a bit further..... But about half way to the post office I realized I have a couple of loose spokes.. Spoke tool is on the road bike... The noise drives me NUTZ... I just got the bike so still working out the kinks.... Hmmm could be that lil plastic ring on the inside of the cassette making the noise.. Anyway gonna go check that out in a bit here. But I did get the bike computer mounted so that's a plus.. About 6.5 miles... I'll try again tomorrow

Lindaosm

Hubby had another fall last week at Santos. This time he'd already been out and back and was crossing the bridge on his way back to the truck. He started to stop, hit a rock and went head first over the bike (again). He's still pretty sore and thinks he might have cracked a rib but after a few days of taking it easy, was ready to ride this weekend.

On Saturday I wanted to go back down to Half Moom Wildlife Preserve east of Inverness but just as we were leaving I decided to check the Hunt Calendar. It was spring turkey season so that was out. So, we headed out to Pruitt Trailhead which is just west of us. It's usually pretty sandy but with the rain earlier in the week it wasn't bad. Rode about 8 miles out and back in a little over an hour. Only had to stop one time for the sand and one time for some folks on horses.

On Sunday we decided to try a new Preserve north of Ocala and east of Citra. We rode the White, Red and Yellow trails at the Orange Creek Restoration area. I took a few pictures. It was a beautiful day and we started early so it wasn't really hot. Great breeze too. We got in about 8 miles. Here's a few pictures. This is the observation tower that looks out over Orange Lake.



This is hubby coming up one of the hills out near the end of the yellow trail.

It was pretty dry in most areas except this one.


We found this old well out in the middle of one of the trails. Hubby says it had 2 dates on it. One date was 1920 somthing. It had a grate over it and was about 3 foot high. I think at one time there had been a house in the same vicinity because we found some old pieces of wood that looked like they came from a building.


map at trailhead

loading up the bikes. After he took off his helmet he realized that it was cracked from the last fall. So, looks like he'll be looking for a new one.
Overall, great weekend of mountain biking.

zzOtherlandzz

On Sunday we decided to try a new Preserve north of Ocala and east of Citra.

Hmmmmmmmm That is pretty close to me.... I'll have to check that out one of these days...

Just looked I know right where its at... I remember when the trial was first opened years ago, about when I started riding. I never went and checked it out... totally forgot it was there.

Ok..... 3rd edit..... LOL...... You got me.... Imma go there as soon as I can con one of the 2 friends into going with me...

Great pictures BTW ....

<thinks to self.. must get new camera mount for mountain bike>....

zzOtherlandzz

Got a short ride in today.... To the post office, bank & grocery store. With the one friend... Took the mountain bikes... quite a workout on the muddy roads before we got to the pavement. We had just got off sidewalk that we ride on for about 500 feet before we usually go into the bike lane and all of a sudden my friend crashes. We were only going about 12mph because we were just getting into the bike lane. He was laying in the bike lane all tangled up with the bike. I had to un-tangle him. Seems his foot slipped off the pedal on the down stroke. Both wrists are hurting him pretty bad (nothing broken). And the pedal got him pretty good in the calf. I have those flip pedals on the bike he was riding... clipless one side and platform on the other. Says he is going to buy bike shoes today.... Then I had to tell him he had to look forward to a few low speed falls when he does that..... He really didn't think that was funny .... DOH!!

Anyway about an 8 mile ride..... avoided the rain....

kjc9640

04/06/2011
My ride today was fantastic, rode with two friends north to Deer Path.
Miles today: 58+
Mileage this month: 199+
Mileage this year: 2208+
Percent of goal achieved: 31.5%
Over/under riding days this year vs. last year: -2 day
Over/under miles this year vs. last year: +202 miles
Average miles per ride this year: 36+
Average miles per ride this month: 50+
Miles needed to hit my 2011 goal of 7,000: 4792, this could turn out to be a 8,000 mile year

Great weather this morning, 54⁰F when I left home and 78⁰F when I got back this afternoon. Connected with two friends at the Sebastian Trail Head and rode north to the Lake Mary Panera on the Seminole Wekiva Trail and stopped for the usual bagel and coffee. This Panera Bread is right on the Seminole Wekiva Trail and is always crowded with cyclist on weekends you can’t get a table without waiting. From there we rode north through Heathrow to Orange Blvd. Our plan was to ride to The DeBarry mansion and back. Just before we got to SR 17/92 the bridge was under construction with no way around it except SR 46. Now even on a quiet day SR 46 can be very dangerous so we opted to turn around and do the Deer Path ride. DeBarry mansion will have to wait for another day. We rode back down Orange then to Sylvan Lake Road to the trail head. The return trip back was really tough as we were fighting an 11/20 mph head wind most of the way. Tomorrow we are supposed to have some more good weather so I will do a solo ride probably about 35 miles. My daughter and I and a friend plan to do a metric on the Cycle Flagler on Sunday

Today’s wild life count:
Two Red Tail Hawks, several Sand Hill Cranes, and one Sand Hill Crane chick. This is probably the same group that I saw last week but one of the chicks was missing.

zzOtherlandzz

Rode about 8.5 miles on the mountain bike... Did a loop through the subdivision back to the house. Almost all on the pavement today.

zzOtherlandzz

Yep, seems like all I can find time for right now are short rides. Went to the post office and was going to go further but a customer wanted some work done on a PC... So turned around came back home. Ended up riding a bit over 7 miles.

kjc9640

04/08/2011
My ride today was fantastic and hot, rode with a friend north to Deer Path.
Miles today: 57+
Mileage this month: 256+
Mileage this year: 2264+
Percent of goal achieved: 32.3%
Over/under riding days this year vs. last year: -2 days
Over/under miles this year vs. last year: +221 miles
Average miles per ride this year: 36+
Average miles per ride this month: 51+
Miles needed to hit my 2011 goal of 7,000: 4735, this could turn out to be an 8,000 mile year

Great weather this morning, 71⁰F when I left home and 84⁰F and very hot when I got back this afternoon. Connected with one of my riding friends at the Sebastian Trail Head and rode north to the Lake Mary Panera on the Seminole Wekiva Trail and stopped for the usual bagel and iced tea. From there we rode north through Heathrow to Orange Blvd. Heathrow is a beautiful ride but today there seemed to be a lot of traffic and the road for the most part is 2 lanes and a lot of blind curves and cars were stacking up behind us, it was a little touchy today. After we exited Heathrow we rode down Orange to Deer Path then back to Sylvan Lake Road west to the trail head. The return trip was a little tough as we were riding into the wind most of the way and my friend was getting a little too much sun and was running out of energy so we stopped at Panera again for some more iced tea. Tomorrow we are supposed to have some good weather so I will do a solo ride probably about 35miles. My daughter and I and a friend plan to do a metric century on the Cycle Flagler Ride on Sunday

Today’s wild life count:
One Red Tail Hawks, several Sand Hill Cranes, and one deer. It’s a little unusual to see deer out this late in the day.

kjc9640

04/10/2011
My ride today was fantastic but very hot, My daughter and I and a friend and his son did the Cycle Flagler ride.
Miles today: 50+
Mileage this month: 306+
Mileage this year: 2314+
Percent of goal achieved: 33%
Over/under riding days this year vs. last year: -3 days
Over/under miles this year vs. last year: 190+ miles
Average miles per ride this year: 36+
Average miles per ride this month: 51+
Miles needed to hit my 2011 goal of 7,000: 4685, this could turn out to be an 8,000 mile year

Great weather this morning, 71⁰F when I left home at 6:00 AM and 89⁰F and very hot when I got back this afternoon. My daughter and I left home this morning and drove to Palm Coast Florida to do the Cycle Flagler Ride sponsored by the PC Rotary Club. We met one of the guys that I have been riding with and his son that had driven up this morning as well. We arrived at the starting point at about 7:15 for the 8:00 start. We checked in at the registration desk and picked up our goodie bag the hit the breakfast table. Love those muffins.

We had a police escort for about 3 miles from the Chamber of Commerce building starting point then over the Moody Blvd Bridge to Highway A1A. It was a mass start with about 485 riders so we were able to take both lanes of the 4 lane east bound highway. At A1A we made a turn south along the ocean and things started to stretch out and we were on our own. My friend’s son had decided to ride with the rocket ships up front so we did not see him again until we got back for the BBQ at about 1:00 PM.

The three of us rode the first 20 miles to the first SAG at about a 16+ mph rate. The weather was starting to get warm but we had a good breeze off of the ocean and lots of shade when we turned inland and rode along the intercostal waterway. Lots of very expensive homes with big boats at the dock out back.

As soon as we left the SAG #1 we had to climb the Granada Blvd. Bridge. Now for you people that live in mountain states these bridges would just be a hick up for you, but for us flatlanders these bridges can tax our legs and this was the second high bridge of the day. The bad part was having to brake on the downhill side of this bridge due to a sharp right turn at the bottom.

The 16 miles to the next SAG #2 was not as pleasant as the first 20 due to increased traffic and no shade and a some head wind. We were still averaging almost 16 mph to this point which is a good average for this old boy. We took a quick break and then rode to the 40 mile mark where we had to make a decision.

Go right to do the 62 mile ride or left one mile back to the start. My friend decided to head back to the starting point and call it a day. My daughter and I opted for the 62 mile route which proved to be a bit of a mistake.

Shortly after leaving my friend we turned north into a stronger head wind and my computer was telling me that it was a 100 degrees in the sun. In the pure sun light it reads about 10 degrees higher than the actual temp so we had to be riding in about 90 degree weather with no shade in sight. We did about another 5 miles and we were out of water so we decided that we had had enough and turned around and headed back. When we got back to the main road we stopped at the first gas station for some Gatorade and some air conditioning. Even though we slowed down a great deal for the last 10 or 11 miles we still averaged about 15 mph.

This was a great ride and we will do it again next year, I just wish they would do it in a cooler month.

Lindaosm

Great pictures, SloSpoke! Love to read about these rides. Maybe one day this old lady might just try one. Unfortunately I don't think I will ever hit the 15 mph average.
Today Hubby and I left early with the mountain bikes and road a portion of Santos. We left from the Land Bridge Trailhead and headed east. I still am very uneasy on the single track stuff especially when it's really closed in and you can't see much in front of you but I'm getting better. It was pretty crowded and I did have to stop a few times to let others by. We rode about 5 miles east to one of the rest areas that has a covered bench. Beautiful area and not so hot since the majority of the ride is under the trees. Rested for a few minutes and then headed back. There was a horse event also going on but we never really ran into any on the trails even though they do cross over.
Overall, nice day and glad we rode early.

zzOtherlandzz

Great pictures and narrative SloSpoke... Like Linda.... Maybe one day I'll ride in one of those big rides. Better chance now that I have 2 friends conned into riding with me. They have actually talked about it already... Soooo maybe this fall? The one friend is still on the mend from his crash a few days ago. His right wrist is still a bit sore, but the left one is doing pretty good.

kjc9640

04/12/2011
My ride today was very hot and very windy, I rode with my friend Richard.
Miles today: 60
Mileage this month: 366+
Mileage this year: 2374+
Percent of goal achieved: 34%
Over/under riding days this year vs. last year: -3 days
Over/under miles this year vs. last year: 208+ miles
Average miles per ride this year: 36+
Average miles per ride this month: 52+
Miles needed to hit my 2011 goal of 7,000: 4625, this could turn out to be an 8,000 mile year

Great weather this morning, 71⁰F when I left home at 9:00 AM and 83⁰F and very hot when I got back this afternoon. Did the usual ride to Panera for bagels and iced tea, then north through Heathrow to Orange then on to Deer Path. We took a water break at Deer Path then headed south into an 8 to 25 mph head wind. We stopped at Panera again to refill our water bottles then headed home. Good ride today.

kjc9640

04/14/2011
My ride today was very good not to hot and not very windy, I rode with my friend Richard.
Miles today: 48
Mileage this month: 414+
Mileage this year: 2422+
Percent of goal achieved: 34.6%
Over/under riding days this year vs. last year: -4 days
Over/under miles this year vs. last year: 186+ miles
Average miles per ride this year: 36+ (best ever)
Average miles per ride this month: 51+ (best ever)
Miles needed to hit my 2011 goal of 7,000: 4577, this could very well be an 800 mile month and an 8,000 mile year is not out of reach.

We had great weather this morning, 68⁰F when I left home at 9:00 AM and 80⁰F and very hot when I got back this afternoon. Did the usual ride on the Seminole Wekiva Trail to Panera Bread for bagels and iced tea, then north through Heathrow to Orange Blvd. then to Sylvan Lake Rd. west to the trail head. We took a water break at the trail head then retraced our tracks back to the house. Good ride today.
Today’s wildlife count: 6 Sand Hill Cranes and 1 baby chick. This little guy has more than doubled his size in the last 3 weeks.

RonH

The wind finally subsided so had to get out today. Did 34 miles.
My leg muscles are really needing me to ride more often but life has been getting in the way too much lately.

zzOtherlandzz

I know what you mean Ron.... I had not rode for about 6 days until today... (and before that not a lot of longer rides)... And today into a 12-15mph headwind (on the mountain bike) for 4 miles about killed me.. DOH! Life has been getting in the way a lot here too lately... that and both friends are hurting from crashes and not riding with me.... But got out for a lil 8 mile ride today... The ride back with the wind was nice..... 20mph the whole way lol

kjc9640

04/15/2011
My ride today was very good not to hot but very windy, I rode solo today.
Miles today: 49+
Mileage this month APRIL: 464+
Mileage this year: 2472+
Percent of 2011 goal achieved: 35.3%
Over/under riding days 2011 vs. 2010: -3 days
Over/under miles 2011 vs. 2010: 184+ miles
Average miles per ride this year: 36+ (best ever)
Average miles per ride this month: 51+ (best ever)
Miles needed to hit my 2011 goal of 7,000: 4527, this could very well be an 800 mile month (best ever) and an 8,000 mile year (best ever) is not out of reach.

We had great weather this morning, 70⁰F when I left home at 8:00 AM and 79⁰F and very humid when I got back this afternoon. Did the usual ride on the Seminole Wekiva Trail with a loop through Mandarin to Panera Bread for a bagel and coffee, then north through Heathrow to Orange Blvd. then north of SR 46 to Deer Path. The return trip was pretty tough with an East wind with 19 mph gusts. The wind was either in my face or a cross wind but still a good ride today.

Today’s wildlife count: 5 Sand Hill Cranes and 1 baby chick.

kjc9640

04/16/2011
My ride today was very good very hot and very windy, I rode with a friend and his son today.
Miles today: 43+
Mileage this month APRIL: 507+
Mileage this year: 2515+
Percent of 2011 goal achieved: 35.9%
Over/under riding days 2011 vs. 2010: -3 days
Over/under miles 2011 vs. 2010: 205+ miles
Average miles per ride this year: 36+ (best ever)
Average miles per ride this month: 50+
Miles needed to hit my 2011 goal of 7,000: 4484, this could very well be an 800 mile month (best ever) and an 8,000 mile year (best ever) is not out of reach.

We had great weather this morning, 70⁰F when I left home at 8:00 AM and 86⁰F with wind gusts up to 23 mph and very humid when I got back this afternoon. Met my friend and his son at the Buddhist Temple and rode the West Orange Trail. Rode south around Lake Apopka to Kilarney then took the South Lake Trail west to almost Rt. 27 before turning around. Hundreds of cyclist out on the trail today. In my rush to get going this morning I left my 2 water bottles and camel back on the patio so I had to stop at the local 7-11 and buy some water.

Today’s wildlife count: 2 peacocks and one ostrich.

zzOtherlandzz

I rode 21+ miles on the Gainesville Hawthorne trail today. Wildlife count.... about 75 hogs..... ohhh wait those were motorcycles going to a bike meet near by... Seriously though the police blocked the intersection on the trail to let them pass... VERY WINDY..... But a nice ride...

Lindaosm

Went down to the Half Moon Wildlife area between Wildwood and Inverness


We rode north to one of the Tram trails. From the map I thought we could find "Gum Slough" which looked like it ran to the Withlachochee River. Never found it but did have a nice ride. Some sand...but not real bad.

most of the trail was either grass or shell rock road

We did run into a few downed trees but we easily got around them.

We also came across a historical marker out in the middle of nowhere. Also saw remnants of some warehouses and loading areas used back when there was a farm there.

There were a few grates we had to go over in some areas. Had to be careful not to stop on top of them or the tires might get caught. This area looked out over a pond.

Nice ride overall. About 12 miles. Very warm but also very windy. In fact, on the way back we were headed into it.
I think we might ride this one again as there were several other trails that we didn't take that we might want to try. Although we did see quite a few that were very sandy. I'm starting to really hate sugar sand!

LindaN

zzOtherlandzz

Linda....... Your only just starting to hate sugar sand? LOL I have hated it for a long time now My 2 friends that have been riding trails with me have went AWOL for about a week now. So haven't been on any trails.
Have you guys rode any of the trails in Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park on 441 South of Gainesville. I rode there a few years ago and there was some nice trails. I could have continued on the trail right down into the Preserve but didn't because I was by myself. NO shade in the preserve part though if you do go ride it. At the time there was one patch of sugar sand on the way out I KNEW i could make it through it.... NOPE.... Got half way through could NOT get un-clipped fast enough and over I went. SLOOOOW motion fall in to sugar sand. Naturally it was 100 deg out and I was covered in sweet so all of the sand STUCK to me... On the way back I just KNEW I could make it through the same spot..... NOPE.... half way through slow fall into the sugar sand again...

Cooool pictures BTW.... Makes me want to go ride all these trails you and your husband ride on.....

zzOtherlandzz

Yep... Got out for another morning ride.. 2 morning rides in a row.. Rode to Palatka to take my nephew something he needed. The 10 miles into Palatka was into a slight head wind / head wind cross wind. My legs just felt like crap today... Like led weights with feet on the end... Figured I would have a nice lil tail wind for the ride home. Sure enough about half way home the wind changed direction (just like they said it would on the internet). Sooo had a slight headwind for the last half of the ride home. Glad I went now.. but at the time I wasn't so sure.. Good ride over all.. 22 miles total..

RonH

Did my usual 34 miles today. I'm really tired of riding my route but here in Atlanta most other places I could ride I just don't feel safe by myself. We're seriously considering moving to or at least renting for half the year in the Inverness area. More miles and more days on the bike.

zzOtherlandzz

Yep..... Legs still feeling like led with feet on the end though.... Did the post office ride (with friend who crashed and hurt his wrists last week, his first time back on the bike). We added a couple more miles for a total of 8.56mi ... on the mountain bikes. Says his wrist still hurt a bit but didn't feel any worse after riding today... so that's a good sign I think. That is morning rides for me in a row.. MUST be some kind of record ... LOL

kjc9640

04/18/2011
My ride today was very good very hot and no wind to speak of, I rode with a couple of friends today.
Miles today: 48+
Mileage this month APRIL: 555+
Mileage this year: 2563+
Percent of 2011 goal achieved: 36.6%
Over/under riding days 2011 vs. 2010: -3 days
Over/under miles 2011 vs. 2010: 210+ miles
Average miles per ride this year: 36+ (best ever)
Average miles per ride this month: 50+
Miles needed to hit my 2011 goal of 7,000: 4436, this could very well be an 800 mile month (best ever) and an 8,000 mile year (best ever) is not out of reach.

We had great weather this morning, 63⁰F when I left home at 8:00 AM and 85⁰F with no wind when I got back. Met my friend JOBO at the trail head and we rode north on the trail to Wing Field Reserve. I was telling JOBO about the deer that I had seen in their a few weeks ago and low and behold we looked up and their stood the deer. We stopped and watched them for a while before the moved off into the woods (should have taken the camera). From their it was back on the trail to Lake Mary, didn’t stop at Panera today. From there we rode through Heathrow to Orange then west on Sylvan Lake road to the trail head. We took a water break and while doing so another friend rode in and joined us. The three of us rode back to Altamonte Springs together. It was a perfect day.

Wildlife count today: 3 deer



Forgot to mention that I rode by Orlando Magic Star Dwight Howard's $8M Lakefront Home today. At 23 he is set for life.