I got to ride yesterday and today for a total of around 44 miles. As Ron mentioned, it has been raining here for what seemed like days on end. It was really nice to have what really amounts to springtime weather (including the thunderstorms and tornado watches) in the middle of what is supposed to be winter here. Great to catch up on some of my mileage I have missed the past few weeks.

44 miles today with beautiful weather. Should get in 50 tomorrow.

53 miles today in a tough head wind. Thank goodness it is going to rain tomorrow, I need a day off.

Just finished watching Bicycle Dreams a DVD of the 2005 Race Across America. It will give you a whole new perspective on bike riding.

The weather was great -- for Georgia (53F when I left home) -- so I headed out to Stone Mtn. Did 28 miles. This cold and/or rainy weather is really taking a toll on my climbing muscles. It was a struggle doing a lap around the mtn today. :notamused:

Was able to get out and do 21 miles today on the Suncoast Trail. Seems there was a headwind no matter which direction i was going.

Was about 45F when I left this morning, did 20 miles with the local club. Nothing fancy to report, just had a nice ride.

I hosted an Introduction to road cycling class at my LBS yesterday. It was the first class in a program we are going to be offering for new riders to help them get a good start in the sport. We did just over 4 miles yesterday.
Today my son and I went out for what was to be around 30 miles. Another cyclist passed by the neighborhood just as we turned off our street. I laid the hammer down, doing my best to catch the fellow but it simply wasn't happening. He stopped at the store up on the corner and we caught him there, talked for a few moments, and decided to ride together. He happens to be one of the regulars in the A pace group rides out of the LBS I am now working for and is WAY faster than my son or I are. I ended up overdoing it before I got fully warmed up and pulled a muscle in my bad leg. Now I can hardly walk and am concerned that I will not be able to ride for a few days which is a real bummer given what the weather report is calling for in the next few days. I ended up with about 16 miles before the pain made me stop. I am just over 200 miles for the month. According to what my leg feels like tomorrow I may try to squeeze a few more in for the month.

I don't know about you guys in the rest of the world but it has been unseasonable warm this winter (in the north east) - not complaining mind you!!!!

Very warm, hurt foot, no riding, SUCKS!!! But your right has been warm down here in Florida too. Like high 60's to mid 70's .. Its killing me not riding...

It's been pretty warm here too, haven't gotten a freeze yet. Did my usual 10-ish miles this morning. Pushed a little, averaged 15 MPH. Still nowhere close to what the roadies here can do, they cruise around 20MPH. Oh well.

Did my first ride of the month on the Withlacoochee Trail. Awesome. :beer: No need for arm or knee warmers or base layer undershirt. :D
I'm not used to riding virtually non-stop for many miles (in Atlanta I have to stop for a light or cross traffic every few blocks :notamused: so I get to "rest") so only did 32 miles, with the head wind and crosswind we had today. :o

Another awesome ride on the Withlacoochee Trail today. Yesterday I went north so today I rode south. FYI: We've rented a place in Hernando, about 1.5 miles from the Hernando trailhead.
Still getting used to this flatland riding with infrequent stops. Love it. :beer: Did 36.6 miles.
Tomorrow looks like rain so I'll take a day off and the wife and I may do the tourist thing.

I spoke to soon I just saw that over 220 europeans have died in a cold snap there...still warmer than average in NYC

Another awesome ride on the Withlacoochee. :beer:
Did 31.9 miles today. It started sprinkling at my turnaround point but no rain. Had to get home because we're meeting some friends who have a home in *****assa for an early supper.

I came across a group of older-than-me cyclists (about 20 riders) just south of the Citrus Springs trailhead. They were spread out all over the place. I was riding a few inches from the edge and they kept coming toward me. :eek: At the last moment some of them moved slightly toward their side of the trail so there was no collision. :o I guess they missed the signs saying to keep to the right.

I know what you mean, I've had that happen before. You keep thinking are they going to scoot over, now? Yet? Now? I start thinking maybe I need my mountain bike sometimes. The worst though is when your being approached by a family with small kids on bikes. I LOVE seeing kids out on bikes.. but what I really dislike is the parents that don't teach the kids anything about riding on a MUP trail. Don't get me wrong I try to be VERY careful when this situation arises I will stop or go off the trail rather than hit a kid!! But it makes me mad when the parents do NOTHING when they see oncoming riders. They don't tell the kids to scoot over or anything. .... Rant done.... :P

I got out today for the first time since my toe/foot injury... My plans were just to take a short ride and see how my foot feels later. Ended up riding about 8 miles... about 5 on the pavement and 3 on the trails in the woods. Foot feels pretty good now... Crossing my finger that there is no pain later...

Another great ride on the Withlacoochee yesterday. Did 38.9 miles.
I came across a couple of cyclists riding south and could hear them talking about the headwind being more than the weather folks had predicted. I was riding north and thought I too had a headwind. These Florida winds are strange. You get a headwind from the north and the south at the same time. :rolleyes:

Yep... got out for a ride today. I have only rode one day since having the flu and hurting my toe/foot. So I decided to go check out the progress on section of trail they are paving on the Palatka Lake Butler trail. Well it is all but done since I rode it last a few weeks ago. Signs are up, lines are painted on the trail and grass is planted. I took the mountain bike and rode the 4 miles to the end of the pavement and then did a loop on some state forest trails. Ended up riding about 8 miles on the pavement and 6 on the trails. Great ride perfect temps... and so far (knock on wood) no pain in the foot or toe. They put up a few new signs in the forest..

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Looks like they officially added more trails... The roads / trails have always been there but none of them were really marked that well. I'm excited more trails to go check out!!!

Nope,Took a knee recovery day, Cold and stiff after a riding every day this month , the weather here has been amazing but I fear its gettin read to turn.

Glad you finally got out for a ride. :thumb:



I did 44.1 miles today. I went south to Lake "something or other" road?? where the sign reads Nobleton 0.5 miles and points east. I decided to turn around there because I was hungry and only had 4 gels with me. :o
It was rather lonely down that way.
I headed north but had to stop after a few miles to gulp down a gel. Luckily I filled my water bottles in Floral City on the way down. Stopped in Floral City on the way back and had 2 more gels and refilled one of my bottles. I gulped down the last gel at the park across from Suncoast Cycles.
It started clouding up as soon as I left Inverness but the sun came out again as I crossed US41 in Hernando to head back to the condo/apt.

After I got home and cleaned up and changed, my wife said she wanted an ice cream from Sabin'a diner in Hernando. That's three days in a row we've had ice cream. :eek: It's very tasty but not good for my "manly physique". :o

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Did 23 today, the wind was HORRIBLE and the temps were in the 30's... had a great time! :)

YEP..... I got out for a ride today.... Went to check out the some of the new trails I found in the Etoniah Creek State Forest. It was about 67deg when I started and about 58deg when I got back to the van. VERY windy here too, although a lot of it was blocked by trees on most of the trails. Decided to ride in the trails party for that reason. Took the mountain bike and rode all dirt/sand/gravel/packed trails & what they call unimproved roads in the forest. I had LOTS of fun!!! All pretty well marked trails/roads, and over half of them aren't on any maps that I have looked at. The ride didn't start off very well.. I got on the bike and it was in a pretty high gear from the road riding on the last ride. So I was putting around on the pavement before I hit the trails and down shifted while going too slow and wrapped the chain around the chain ring up front. Wedged the chain in the front derailer.... Ugggggg first bad scratch on the new bike, bound to happen but sucks....... Had to get a screw driver out of the van to un-wedge it.... But other than that AWESOME RIDE!!!!

About 14 miles on the dirt.... about 1hr 40 min ride...

1st pic... End of pavement ...... Start of ride..

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We went to Floral City this morning for some kind of artsy event my wife saw in the local paper. While we were there we stopped at the new bakery that has a sign on the bike trail, just a few feet south of the trailhead in Floral City. Everything looked DELICIOUS. :) We HAD to get a loaf of fresh baked bread, some cinnamon rolls, and two pie-lettes. Then we headed back to Hernando so I could ride.
The wind was brutal!! I rode up to the top end of the trail and back. Total of 25.5 cool miles. What a workout!!! :eek:

Yep... More exploring in the Etoniah State Forest on da mountain bike. Right from the get go it was uphill in a bit of loose sand. Both knees didn't like that so much and were complaining util I got warmed up a bit. By the time I got warmed up a bit.... I really hit a trail/path that had lots of sand.... I think it was a steady incline in sand for about 3/4 of a mile... Good workout I must say. After a couple more miles of the sand I was kind of getting tired of it.... Got to this one spot slight uphill lots of sand... going slow... hit more sand.. Fell down.... LOL .... A sweaty fall into sand means that stuff sticks on you for the rest of the ride... DOH!! Eventually found some nice trails and forest roads... Had a GREAT ride.. 1hr 57 mins ... 15.2 miles.. Sand is slow going... That included about 1/2 mile of walking....

Good spot for a rest...
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I was watching the raccoons watch me. They were kind of hard to capture with the camera... kind of far away.
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The weather was perfect so got out for 36.5 miles. My body could tell I've been semi-sick and haven't ridden for 7 days.
I was supposed to meet my wife at Sandy's House of Sweets bakery in Floral City. I rode to the north end of the trail and then headed south toward Floral City. My wife (who drove the car) called as I was getting near the north side of Inverness. I told her my speed was down and I'd be there in 30-40 minutes. She didn't want to wait so bought lots of goodies and headed back to the condo/apt.
When I got home I found 8 pie-lettes, a loaf of french bread, and a bag of rolls. I had to taste one of the pie-lettes (apple). YUM!!!

Not sure if I'll be out tomorrow. The weather folks are saying the winds will be 20-30 mph. Sounds like a repeat of last Saturday. :o