I get down and ride the Suncoast and Withlachoochee two or three times a year. Daughter lives in Wesley Chapel. I start at Hwy 54 (I think it is) on the Suncoast. Almost every time I have ridden the Suncoast, I start out with a headwind heading north and then near my turn around (hwy 50 I think) it turns into a side wind and a few miles after turning around it is a head wind again. Not sure how it seems to be so predictable.

Maybe I should drive north to Hwy 50 and ride the opposite way?

The weather was awesome today, even with the wind which wasn't too bad, so did 56.4 miles on the Withlacoochee Trail.

Yep...... Got out for a ride. AND conned one friend into riding with me. One of the friends that was riding with me some last summer.

We took off and parked at the entrance to Etoniah Forest. I wanted to show him some of the trails that I had been exploring. I dunno how I managed it but with 3 printed maps and GPS on the phone I still got us turned around.. LOL We didn't end up were we expected to go.. but it didn't matter we were out having fun exploring. Wow some of the trails were tough... some horses had messed up some of the better trails. And really messed up some of the trails that weren't so good in the first place. Then we actually came upon the people and the horses.... they were camped at one of the primitive sites. Anyway.. Got turned round and ended up on the Florida Trail (a section I had never been on). So it was lots of fun... LOTS of sand, LOTS of huffing and puffing getting through some of the sand... GREAT RIDE!!!! 13.85 miles and 2hrs 1 mins on the bike (or pushing a few times). On the way back we took part of the Palatka Lake Butler trail that isn't paved yet. Right in the middle of the trail there is a crew drilling taking samples. Gives me HOPE that there are plans in the future for more paving.... :D :D

Picture of the locks on the gate on part of the Florida Trail.... We thought next time just bring some cutters and our own lock.... Nobody would know if we added one of our own.... hahahah

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=238300

went 15 miles today and planned for 25.. Bought a new saddle and lets just say its not for me.


I cringed all the way back to the car.

Been there.. Done that... Got about 15 miles into a ride.. Called the nephew who lived close to where I was riding.. Got a ride home LOL

What saddle did you get?
My last two saddles are from Specialized. I have a Phenom on the Litespeed :thumb: and a Toupé on the Felt. :thumb: Both very comfy.

I got a cheap origin 8 saddle from amazon(about $30) not really relevant as I have a wide pelvis and the skinny roadie seats get right between my sit bones.

I'll get measured and invest some money later on but the only reason I changed seats was because I wanted a white one to match bar tape.

Yep.... Dusted off the road bike... No I mean I really literally dusted it off and took it for a ride.. :D I have been riding the Mountain Bike for quite awhile now. I am glad I went but i have had more enjoyable rides for sure. Every little thing was nagging me today. I rode about 12 miles out to pay my electric bill. And the ride home was going to be all into the wind. I had a slightly loose spoke that was creaking a bit (didn't have my spoke wrench in the saddle bag... grrr). Then for some odd reason my right glove started rubbing my hand weird and it started hurting. By the time I got home it was a red raw spot... NO clue what happened there.. Same gloves I use all of the time. Ended up riding 21 miles.... about 9 of them into the wind.. Was home about 15 minutes and it started raining.... So I guess the ride could have been worse.. :P

I like the Specialized method of measuring sit bone width. See any Specialized dealer to get measured.

I was planning on riding from the condo/apt in Hernando to Ridge Manor trailhead and back but the dark clouds started gathering when I still had about 5 miles to go. I decided to turn around and head for home. But I did take a few minutes to stop for some carbs at Sandy's House of Sweets bakery in Floral City. I had a piece of gingerbread cake and a raisin/something turnover. Yum. Then it was back on the bike for the 15 mile ride to the apt. I got home a few minutes before the sky opened up. :) Did a total of 55.1 miles.

Rode 15miles and crashed while testing the corning limits of my new road bike(and me).. Guess you dont know your limits until you try... lol

Nasty road rash but otherwise unhurt.

:eek: Sounds painful. I always thought tires were the limiting factor for cornering on a road bike. Shows what I know. :rolleyes:
Glad you're ok. Pics are not required. ;)

turns out its a patch of gravel..

Watch out for sand, gravel, leaves, and pine straw.


My wife told me to do an "easy ride" today. Since I have been riding hard and more miles than my usual Atlanta rides, she said 25 miles would be plenty. I guess she thinks I'm over doing it. :rolleyes: I rode from the apt in Hernando to the top of the trail and back to Hernando. Didn't feel like enough miles so I rode back up to the Holder trailhead/crossing and then back to the apt, for a total of 37.3 miles. The wind was really blowing today so I got a good workout. :)

Anyone heard from SloSpokeJim? He hasn't posted in this thread since January.

Hey Ron, I am still around but riding has been a little difficult this year. My wife has some serious health issues so I am chief cook and bottle washer( I am getting dishpan hands). I am -10 riding days this year compared to last year at this time but I did manage to get in a nice 35 miler yesterday with 2 of my riding buddies. They took me out to Thrill Hill to do a little climbing (my first time on THrill Hill). It is no Sugarloaf but it will get your heart rate up. The wind was out of the South East at 25/30 mph so the return was pretty rough, still it was a gtert ride.

Do you have plans to do the Clean Air Ride on the Withlacoochee March 31?

Hi SloSpokeJim. Good to hear from you. Sorry to hear the news about your wife.
I registered for the ride in January. I'm looking forward to seeing and meeting some of the BF folks at the ride.

I plan to be their if nothing comes up. I will be riding with the group that I ride with localy. Perhaps we can meet up with each other and put a face to all of these BF posts. It would be nice if others from the SE that post here could all meet.

Mileage update

02/25/2012

• Miles today: 51+
• Mileage this month ( February): 578
• Mileage this year 2012: 1246+
• Over/under riding days 2012 vs. 2011: -10 days
• Over/under riding days Feb. 2012 vs. Feb. 2011: -6 day
• Over/under miles 2012 TD vs. 2011 TD: +42 miles
• Average miles per ride this month: 44+
• Average miles per ride this year: 44+
• Average ride miles per month through January 2012: 667 miles
• Number of rides over 50 miles this month/total ride days this mo.7/13 Over 50 miles this year 11
• Metric Centuries this month: 1 ( Metric Century = 100km = 62.62 miles) This year: 3
• I have ridden 13 days out of a possible 25 days this month.
• Miles needed to hit 2012 goal of 8,500 miles. 7254 to go
• Tomorrows plan: Rest day. I will try to ride Monday and Tuesday

I was tired today. I guess the wind has really been giving me a workout lately. Only did 26 miles. :o

53 today 632 for the month so far. Dr appointment tomorrow so I hope to get out after that even for a short ride. I am falling behind my last years miles so I have some catching up to do.

The rain on Sunday and Monday kept me inside so I got lots of "rest". Today was beautiful so headed south from Hernando. Rode my age. :) First time I've done that in quite a while. Did 67.3 miles. :beer:

Took the mountain bike to the PLB trail, rode about 4 miles of paved trail then hit the forest for about 6 miles of none paved trails.. Then about another 4 miles back the van. A bit over 14 miles total. Only had to walk about 100ft today because of sugar sand. Lost momentum in the middle of a patch & had to bale. Great ride.. LOTS of people out on the paved part.

This is probably as close as i'll ever get to riding a hard packed logging trail here in Florida. You know like the ones I see on YouTube, the ones where I'm really jealous because they get to ride on hard pack ... :cry:

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=239347

Yep.... Took the mountain bike to the post office and beyond.... Well not that far beyond... but a little bit.. Went and did a few laps on the small state forest trail near me (just down from the post office). The map says the trail is about 1.5 miles. The first lap was really slow.... had to clear some downed trees off of the trail. All dead pine that must have fallen a week ago when it was really windy. Ended up doing 3 laps on the trail. About 1hr 5 min of riding for a total of about 12 miles.

Nothing really to take pictures of... But I had fun!!

Yep... Rode Friday... Let it be known ... Sand is NO LONGER a friend of mine. I am un friending sand on Facebook, Un following sand on twitter ... and so on... :lol: Decided to ride from the south entrance of Etoniah Creek State forest to the north entrance. I have ridden most of the way before but never in one stretch. It ended up being 15.55 miles total (out and back). Some tough miles in the mix too. Quite a bit of sand in some of the areas. I think it took me about 1hr 50mins of ride time. I had fun.. was a good work out and some cool trails (that weren't sand)..

An actual picture of Etoniah Creek. A couple of years ago the water was higher and it was a clear running stream without all of that vegetation. Had a sandy bottom and everything. I remember at the time thinking... man that would be nice to just "sit in" on a HOT summer day in the middle of a bike ride... Not so much now...
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=239773

One of the many sandy stretches today. This one was about 1/3 mile long and slightly uphill.
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=239772

Just a picture of the northern trail head. Actually part of the Florida trail & forest trail for about 3 miles I think..
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=239771

43 miles today with 10/28 mph head wind on the trip home.