Nice pictures. Looks like a quiet and pleasant place to ride.

It was a subtropical 58 degrees :eek: when I left the house this morning. Rode out to Stone Mtn and did a lap. Did a total of 27 miles. The temperature was almost roasting when I got home. It was all the way up to 68 degrees. :rolleyes:

Got in about 8 miles or so. Part of my getting back to riding is getting my wife to feel safe and joining me in riding. Living half way between UCF and Oviedo means the traffic is a nightmare on the streets. While I hate riding on sidewalks, we used them to get past bad traffic and reach the Cross Seminole Trail....where she loosened up and enjoyed the ride. Got lights on both the bikes for the ride this evening, and that made things better also. Chatted with a father with a young son who didn't know about the trail and saw them riding it later. Traffic was great and overall it was a great ride.

Just a step at a time. My goal is the Tour de Cure event for this area in March (I think it is...), in addition to just feeling good again! Enjoy the rides out there!

Another harrowing ride today. Too much traffic and too many idiots that don't know how to use a turn signal. :notamused: Glad we're getting out of dodge. The movers will be here 3 weeks from today. :)
Rode to Stone Mtn (gotta remember to take my camera next time) and did 2 laps. Total of 32.6 miles.

I forget the camera so no pics. :o
Took the Litespeed and did my usual ride to Stone Mtn.
Did one lap and it seemed tougher than usual. I hate getting old. :notamused: I guess I'll be ready for the flatlands of Florida. :rolleyes:
Did a total of 27 miles.

Looks like I'll get some use out of my cool/cold weather clothes before we get outta here. :o
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3 days vacation days from work this week, meant I had time to get out on the rail with my buddy.

We rode half of the Van Fleet on Wednesday, starting at the South end from Polk City, and riding just over 16 miles north, before riding back again.

Today (Friday) we toodled up to the Withlacoochie State Trail , and rode from the trailhead on 50 up your Nobleton where we got some lunch, before riding back. We rode back south down to Trilby, and then back up to the 50 trailhead where we had parked the car. It was interesting to be riding against the wind on the northward legs of the ride, and definitely made a difference to the speed. I only managed a max of 23 when I "went for the burn" on the return leg of our last section. I wasn't even able to get up into top gear. I didn't try it for too long as I was literally running out of steam, and being blown around on the bike. In fairness, my friend was egging me on to do it, and I suspect that it was just for his entertainment, as he watched my effort.
Even more interesting to meet a Michigan rider who is down here with a trailer in tow, and is doing a 1500 mile tour of this part of Florida. Kudos, and the best of luck to him.

Pics of the alligators taken from the bridge on the Van Fleet, to follow tomorrow, when I can get organised enough to post them.

Keep forgetting to update this. Last week I was up in Maryland. Hit the Mount Vernon Trail; I was wearing the Ben & Jerry's jersey, and the B & J's in Old Town Alexandria gave me a free scoop of ice cream. :) In retrospect, the Saturday ride should've stayed off of Spencerville Road - two narrow lanes, no shoulders, heavy traffic moving at 45-50MPH; it's amazing how much additional speed the adrenaline spike gives you under those traffic conditions!

Today was day one of the Gainesville Cycling Festival. Did the 55 mile Santa Fe ride. Who the heck arranged for the hurricane?!?! MURDEROUS headwinds heading out north (but AWESOME 15mph TAILwind coming back in!) Flatted at mile 10. Attacked by a dog at mile 32 (Dog came pelting out into the road to chase a car; when he couldn't catch the car he noticed me and came after me. I stopped , yelled "No! Bad dog!" and he stopped, looked at me funny. "Go home pooch!" and he took off back up his driveway :) ). After the last rest stop I was running better than 20mph for most of th last 9 or 10 miles. Finished feeling REALLY good.

Next up, the Rotary Ride in Bartow on November 10. Anyone up for 60 miles at a slow pace? :)

Yep... I have been riding some, just not posting much :(

Last Sunday I rode the next portion of the Palatka Lake Butler trail that is going to be paved (took a video for before and after when they get it paved). And then went off into the Etoniah Creek State Forest to continue the ride. About 26 miles on the mountain bike, 16 of which were on the dirt. The next 4.5 miles to be paved on the Palatka Lake Butler trail is slated to start soon and supposed to be finished in early 2013. That will make about 19 continuous miles paved from west of Keystone Heights to the east towards Palatka. Got back to the parking area and then rode 11 miles on the road bike with other friends.

Wednesday I got volunteered into helping pass out flyers in Palatka for the ground breaking of the Urban part of the trail that passes through Palatka (part of the planned St. Augustine to Lake City trail). This 4 mile section will actually go over the Memorial Bridge in Palatka. They are already working on the dedicated MUP over the bridge. The groundbreaking is Tuesday, October 30, 2012 from 4:30pm until 6:30pm Near the House of God Church Corner of 19th st. & Dunham. We rode about 6 miles doing that and then put on our headlights and went for an evening ride (FUN). One friend got heckled by a passing car because his bike light was TOO bright LOL... I think we rode about 12 miles on the night ride..

Friday... Tried out my new saddle... Rode 18 miles on the Palatka Lake Butler trail. No pains or weirdness with the new saddle so I think it is going to work just fine!!

Sat ... Rode in a local MS event.... I seemed to have got volunteered for this one too, by Putnam Bicycles... But it was fun and it was for a good cause. WOW was it windy though... Rode up to Gold Head State Park from Keystone Heights. It was challenging to ride the hills into the wind, especially for my friend who went with me that does not ride all that much. Only rode 13 miles, I would have rode further but my friend was pretty much done after the hills and wind... ALL FUN THOUGH!!

Yep.. got out for the Sunday evening ride on the PLB trail. Awesome weather for riding, still a bit windy but not near as bad as it was Sat. Rode almost exactly 20 miles. I was warm the whole way until I got off the bike and started the BS session...

I took the Felt out today and had a great ride to Stone Mtn -- maybe my last . :(
The weather was warm. :thumb: Did 2 laps with no problems for a total of 32.6 miles.
I take the bikes to Intown Bicycles on Thursday (Nov 8) to get a quick checkover and boxed for the movers.

Now back to packing. There are boxes everywhere. I can hardly move around the LR and DR area. :eek:

We did a night ride on Halloween on the PLB trail. There were 7 of of us with LOTS of lights... It was really fun!! Today hung out at Dunns Creek State Park, its a state park but only open for special events a few times a year. No funding as of yet to keep it open all of the time. Did some mountain bike riding, a bit of road riding, pig roast & later bonfire. There was also paddling on the creek, hay rides, and horse rides... PERFECT weather.... Great day!!! No bike polo though... LOL@2 people who forgot to load their front tires to their bikes!!

Yep, got out for a ride on Sunday.. Got to the trail a bit early and rode with a few people... Met up with Dana at 5 (usual time we ride) and rode some more. Met up with this little guy on the way back. It was already pretty dark and from a distance had NO clue what was standing by the edge of the trail. The lil guy was hanging around his bigger friends that were on the other side of the fence that runs along the trail.

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Yep... Just got back from another night ride on the Palatka Lake Butler trail. My toes got a lil cold but other than that I was nice and warm the whole way. No strange sightings on the trail this time. We did get a little bit of drizzle on the way back though. Not enough to soak through our coats though.... Nice ride... about 20 miles.

Yep, Rode the Putnam Blueways & Trails bike and eat ride yesterday morning. I'm not usually a morning ride kind of person but, they moved the ride to 9am instead of 7am. Met at the clock tower in Palatka ended at Angels for the eat part of the ride. 19 riders showed up which is I think the most so far for one of these rides. I ended up riding 25 miles on the mountain bike (new tire for road bike Tuesday). AWESOME weather ... I mean almost PERFECT!! Great ride with great BS session after at Angels & the bike shop!!

Here is a short video of the ride of Memorial Bridge in Palatka... http://youtu.be/g5qzWfc9L34 (change the quality to HD if you watch the video, looks better).

Rode the Suwanee Creek Greenway from end to end (9 miles) in just over 40 mins. Great weather and plenty humans out there!

The Wife and I rode the Cross Seminole Trail today. We started about 3 miles from UCF near Chapman Road and picked it up in Oviedo. We managed to make it all the way to Ronald Reagan and back. We got rained on, a crazy guy threatened my wife, got lost trying to figure out where the trail went where a connecting section has yet to be built and the wife fell twice trying to get out of her clips to stop. Overall, we made just under 27 miles- which is a record for the two of us, and a record for me coming back into things recently...I am so going to feel this tomorrow...hurts so good!

A crazy guy threatened your wife?? That doesn't sound like any fun at all... Sounds like you guys had an adventure for sure... Do you still count that as a good ride when all of those things happen?

Yep... Got out for the Sunday afternoon/evening ride on the Palatka Lake Butler trail. Including our group there was the MOST cars that I have ever seen parked at the trail head in Grandin. I think we had about 8 or 9 cars and then there must have been another 12-14 cars there also. It's great seeing people out using and enjoying the trail. AWESOME weather again.. Ended up riding I think about 26 miles....

It was a GREAT ride...otherwise, we would have been sitting at home, feeling bad and she would probaby been grumpy at me. As it was, she was able to simply ride away from the nutcase without a problem...and the rest was an adventure in how different Florida is compared to California where she grew up.....every pedal stroke inspires her towards the new road bike we are making payments on...and gets my fitness better as I work to control my diabetes. Recovered today, ride tomorrow...! We have a half-century planned in March..:thumb:

Yep... Got out for a ride yesterday (thrs) on the PLB trail.... For some reason could not get comfortable on the bike... Glad I went though got 22 miles in...

Yep... Got out for the Sunday evening ride. About 10 or 11 people showed up but we never really got together as a "group" ride. Some got there early, some got to the trail a bit late. So it was more like a group ride with 3 smaller groups... Still fun.... Good ride. I rode fast (for me) for about 10 miles, rode slower (for me) for about 5 or 6 miles. And then rode at a good pace for me for about 9 miles... All with different people.... lol It was dark and a bit chilly when we finished the ride at about 7:15pm or so.

Ohh ... On the Thrs ride I broke a spoke but didn't realize it until later. It was dark and I was in a hurry to get home, didn't even realize I had broken a spoke. I almost lost my bike riding license when I took it in to the shop to get fixed. Seems that I never took the bike back in to have the spokes checked when I got the new wheels awhile back. I was told to bring it back in at the time so he could check them....

Finally got chance to ride today. Finished putting the Felt together and loaded it in the car and headed to Inverness.
Rode from Inverness to the top end of the trail and back. Stopped a few miles north of Hernando to help a guy who had a flat and was working on installing tube #2. He didn't have a pump and had used his CO2 cartridge He finally got a good tube and used my pump to inflate the tire enough to get him home.
Rode a sunny warm :) 32.5 miles.

Yep... Rode last night (tuesday) on the PLB trail. I forgot anything with long sleeves.... So ended up a bit cold by the time we got back to the parking area. Didn't really feel the cold until we stopped to load up.... so it was all good. Ended up riding 26 miles or so, most of which was in the dark. Actually enjoying the night riding (on the trail no traffic). Not sure I would like it too much by myself on the trail at night... but with somebody its pretty cool.

Yep... rode today too.. Decided to load up the mountain bike and go check out Caravelle Ranch Conservation area again. The trails were AWESOME this time.. nothing technical like Santos or San Felasco.. But well maintained trails to be sure. A lot of double track, hardly any sand which is a plus in Florida. Most of them were either hard pack or grassy with a good solid base (not too mushy). And some of the service roads were crushed limestone hard packed stuff. I really enjoyed the 16 miles in the woods today!!! Perfect temp, NO bugs.. and hardly any sand!!

Happy turkey day to everyone...

Congrats on your first.... Living in Florida ride....