The rain has been horrible the last few days, but I just finished installing some Axiom full fenders on the bike, and am working on finishing my DIY light setup. I lucked out, rode to work this morning, but I only rode 1 mile to my dad's house, and he gave me a ride back home after work. I've figured out how to keep everything dry on the bike, except myself... but I'm not too worried about that. Pics of the bike with fenders, lights, and bags will be up in the commuter forum soon. :)

Rain and work kept me off the bike Thursday. Bummer. We're spending the weekend (sans kids - yay! ;-) ) with the inlaws in Largo. Got out this morning for a nice long ride. Went up the trail from Taylor Lake to Clearwater, then tackled the Western Pinellas Mountains (the Causeway and Sand Key), down Gulf Blvd, with several stops to tweak the saddle and handlebar position. I also discovered an awesome croissant source on Gulf Blvd, the Cafe de France. Was gonna go clear to the Don Cesar and back through St Pete, but decided to go back across at Park instead, and headed up-trail. I *had* to hit Panera at Indian Rocks and West Bay to pad the trip to a nice even 30 miles; the cinnamon roll craving had NOTHING to do with it, honest! :-) Wind was out of the northeast and east, and pretty stiff. Got a really good workout, and I'm much happier with the new saddle and bar position - I'd been sliding down and forward a lot on the saddle, which didn't make certain anatomical oddities of the human male very happy about the resurgent interest in the bicycle! THAT's all taken care of now.

Highlight of the ride (other than that croissant) was passing a Gainesville Cycling Club jersey on the Pinellas Trail, and a Team Florida jersey on [edit not Park] Gulf Blvd. Go Gators!

Yes, finally! I think getting squirrelly after two days of no riding might be putting me in addict territory.

I did a loop through the neighborhoods on the east side of town. Then as I was headed towards home I decided to keep going and go check out the Grant Park Summer Shade Festival. It wasn't official open yet so it was easy to dodge people and ride my bike through the festival. I didn't have any more than emergency $ with me so no point in shopping. Plus I don't lack stuff.

I grabbed a couple of pictures on the bike trail. This first one is on a bridge over a creek by Candler Park Golf Course.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4077/...46feab4af3.jpg

And further west is this fountain. To me these look like big medieval boots.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4134/...e9fc5cd5f0.jpg

This ride ended up being 15.3 miles. Looks like I need to figure out some bigger loops or install that bike rack I got off of freecycle and go find me one. For these solo rides, I'm more comfortable riding in town though even though some would argue it isn't "safe." We've had some pretty high profile cases of people being attacked, even killed, on the Silver Comet Trail, etc. so I'm a little nervous about that.

abracapocus ..... As always cool pics.... Two days in a row I haven't taken my camera with me because of the rain.... . It seems every time I don't have it there is something interesting to take a picture of.... Friday..... The wild pigs/boar... And today (sat) 2 cranes walking across a busy paved highway.

Sat...... Got a 25.10 mile ride in. Looked like I was going to get rained on the whole ride but only got a little drizzle a few times. Some days I get tired of my east/west out and back ride. 90% of the time I have a headwind one way or the other. Today it was headwind on the way out..... and half way back my tail wind died and there wasn't any wind.. I got cheated I tell ya... ripped off... Great ride though... :D

Sunday 8/29/2010
23.1 miles today
405.6 miles this month
4522 miles this year
147 ride days LY vs. 146 ride days TY
2977 miles needed to hit 2010 goal (7500 miles)
I am @ 60% of my goal. I need to be @ 66.6% (5000 miles) by the end of August
95.64 miles ahead of last year at this date

Has any one seen my motivation? If you happen to come across it tell it that I am looking for it and want it back. Today was a beautiful day to ride, tons of people out and about, high 70s low 80 but a bit of a head wind on the return trip. Everything was perfect except me, I just could not get going.:notamused::mad::notamused:

Got up too late for church this morning, so I figured what the hey, let's go out and mortify the flesh some. Did twenty, just straight up the trail to the Country Club in Dunedin, then back. That darn trail's got too many stop signs! 's not all bad, 'cause I got to practice my shaky trackstand skills a lot . And I really loved how the northeasterly wind changed to southeasterly right about the time I turned 'round to head back south. Ugh. :-)

Has any one seen my motivation? .... I KNOW I used your motivation but I swear I put it back when I was done.... :P Hang in there you will be back to yourself soon, especially with the bit cooler temps coming.

zzOtherlandzz..... works on his motivation for a ride a bit later today....

The plan for the day was to go out for a long and slow (18 mph) 100. I was on mapmyride last night figuring out a loop, when I noticed that the route didn't follow the road, so I started over. With more care I traced my route down 17 into Palatka onto 100 west to Keystone. Check out the bike trail shown by mapmyride, then back up 21 through Middleberg and back to OP.

Well, the weather didn't cooperate. First it was windy, then it started raining, not pouring but, still blowing. So we headed back into Green Cove and had a cup of coffee and headed home. Almost forgot to mention the group (herd?) of manatees in Black Creek.

2:21:50
40.70 miles
17.2 avg mph

217 m this week, 33 m daily, 17.8 mph avg
1045 m this mth, 37 m daily, 17.8 mph avg
1128 m last mth, 36 m daily, 17.7 mph avg
7297 m ytd, 923 m avg mth, 212 m avg wk, 30 m daily, 17.9 mph avg
11,612 m predicted for year

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/46668971

Are you sure, cause I sure can't find it. A 500 mile month is out of the question for me this month.

droobieinop... I started a ride towards Green Cove from Palatka last week thinking the new pavement from Palatka north would be nice to ride on.... It was NOT... I cold not believe how much crap was in the bike lane even on the new pavement. And then I got to that bridge just north of Palatka and it was worse.. I don't think they have cleaned the bridge in AGES... I turned around and went back. SR100 isn't too bad, the pavement is a bit older out of town but not too bad. The trail from Grandin to where it links up east of Keystone should be finished/paved here in another few weeks or so.

I try not to worry too much about the debris in the shoulder, I am supposed to ride in the travel lane and will do so given the conditions. Perhaps holding too much trust in others but, one must have faith in something.

At a cruising speed over 20 mph, I typically stay clear of the trails. However, I did think that this time it would have fit nicely into the middle of my plan. So I guess I'll have to ride down there after its finished.

There is also supposed to be the greenway that will go from St Augustine inland through Palatka, sure would like to check that out too.

Oh hai. I has ur motivation. This morning I set out towards Decatur. After that I had no specific plan. Just to somehow loop around. And somehow my aimless riding managed to be almost exactly the 15.3 miles I did yesterday. How does that happen?

There's a trail entrance I've passed several times that I decided to take today. Looks enticing, no?

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4142/...ee42fd80c0.jpg

Well, it goes nowhere. You can see the end in the picture. What a tease! I suppose it'll eventually hook up to the rest of the trail. But this time I had to get out on Dekalb Ave. and ride up to the trail entrance, maybe a half a mile away.

As I was riding through Oakhurst, I passed by this house with mirror chunks all over the fence. Seeing little pieces of yourself in the mirrors as you ride by is pretty neat. So I looped around and came back to take a picture.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4119/...55e5318cfb.jpg

I was pointed back towards home and passed the trolley trail entrance, turned around, and hopped on it. The first part of the trail is lined with bambo.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4078/...4c34bdac88.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4138/...50d007b228.jpg

Riding the nicely paved trails on the weekends is a nice change from roads I deal with most of the time. Looks like Fall is going to bring a new hazard I hadn't thought of: nuts on the road. The kind from trees, not the ones that are always there. Some are already starting to fall. I've already rolled over a few. So far my tires have handled them as well as the glass, rocks, random sticks, etc. that I usually end up riding over.

Tomorrow the high is supposed to be 84. I pretty much have to ride to work, don't I?

abracapocus... That fence with the broken mirrors picture is really cool.... And aren't the cooler temps nice for a change :)

droobieinop...I don't have the nerve or faith to ride in the lane anymore than I absolutely have to... They paved a few miles of the old railroad just west of I-95 on SR207, it's weird it literally just dead ends with a chain link fence. Every once in awhile I'll ride down the old main street in Hastings to have a look and see if they have done anything by the old tracks.... As of about 6 months ago they had not done anything :( But it is a nice ride from I-95 to Palatka on SR207....

Yep got out for a ride today.... and had to look up how to spell "horrendous" when I got home. I had to look it up because the headwind on the "out" part of my ride was well.... Horrendous with a capital "H"... :P To make it worse I decided to ride about 3 miles west to start my ride today.... You know kind of get warmed up a bit before I hit the headwind. I ended up going almost exactly 14 miles into the headwind..... at 13mph.... That's even slow for me.. and I'm slow... On the plus side the hardware sign said 81deg when I went by on the way out.... At least this ride the tailwind was with me the whole way back, which was really nice. Ended up going 24.10 miles today.....

I remember an interview I read of Greg Lemond. He said he loved training in North Florida because no matter what direction you rode you had a headwind. :) I've often found that to be the case, like yesterday when riding first north then south I had a headwind both ways. :)

The ride to work this morning wasn't the greatest... lights malfunctioned, I fixed that, then got a flat in the middle of the ghetto. Changed the tire in a canefield, got covered in mud, and only got to work 10 minutes late. Shazam! 8.5 miles.

Well on a scale of 1-10 my motivation today was about 5 so perhaps there is hope for me yet. The morning was perfect 75-87 degrees and humidity below 90 for a change and the sky was clear. I did have to fight a 20 mph cross wind most on the way out and in. Beats a head wind though doesn't it.

Monday 8/30/2010
25.2 miles today
430.2 miles this month
4548 miles this year
147 ride days LY vs. 147 ride days TY
2952 miles needed to hit 2010 goal (7500 miles)
I am @ 60% of my goal. I need to be @ 66.6% (5000 miles) by the end of August
121 miles ahead of last year at this date

Nice uneventful ride into work this morning. Altered my route slightly based on some exploring I did Saturday. It doesn't add or subtract any distance and the hill is about the same. So it's just another option. There are two women that walk the path through Piedmont Park when I'm passing through. They stroll down the middle of the trail all spread out so you can barely get around them. And this is a very wide path the size of a street. My "on your left" might've let on that I was a little annoyed. My brain to mouth filter doesn't always function properly.

You folks down in Florida see way more interesting animal life than I do. I would've loved to see pictures of zzOtherlandzz wild pigs. And droopieinop's manatees! Dogs, cats squirrels, chipmunks, dead possums. Not exciting. There is a dog in my neighborhood that prances like a Lipizzaner stallion. I suppose that's something. Reminds me of when I went to the zoo in either Berlin or Vienna. They had raccoons. One person's common yard visitor is another's attraction.

FunkyStickman, glad to hear your flat didn't slow you down too much. I figure it'll eventually happen to me. All I can do is be prepared, which I am. I hope.

abracapocus... But my problem lately is that every time I see something interesting to take a picture of I don't have my camera with me (stupid rain).... But I do have an older picture of a baby gator laying right in the middle of the G.ville trail taking in the sunshine. I'll have to dig it up and post it.

zzOtherlandzz <---- is finding it hard to get motivated for a ride today.... <sigh>

zzOtherlandzz, pesky rain! It's often a threat here too, but I have plastic bags I can stop and toss the camera in if it starts up. Recently I was lusting after a waterproof point and shoot at Best Buy that was good to 30 ft under water and ran around $250ish. I've heard you can actually take them further under water. I'd love to be able to get nice pics when diving. And it would double for all weather bike pics!

Speaking of pics, I've been meaning to grab a shot of this for weeks. It's on my regular commute route. No bike lane, no problem! Just roll your own!

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4101/...eb97178e9d.jpg

Copied and pasted from garmin connect

Time: 01:18:47
Distance: 21.99 mi
Avg Speed: 16.7 mph
Max Speed: 23.9 mph
Elevation Gain: 193 ft
Avg HR: 122 bpm
Max HR: 176 bpm
Avg Bike Cadence: 78 rpm
Avg Temperature: 82.5 °F

My riding partner was the one with the camera and taking photos of the manatees. My cell cam is weak, card full and digi was at home. When he posts them up, I'll share them.

Okay, since I'm so proud of my ridiculously cheap bike build, and you may not troll the commuter's forum, here's a shot of my bike as it is now:

http://jeffhendricks.net/images/bikes/commuter-bike.jpg

I thought about getting an Xtracycle kit for it, but decided to just use a trailer if I ever needed to haul stuff. So far, the bike has been great, no complaints... the the price, I got nothing bad to say.

I also made my own lighting setup, and I like fabricating stuff... I guess I need to start working on a camera mount, eh? :)

FunkyStickman ... Cool looking bike.... Looks good!! LOTS of different hand positions on those bars to help avoid hand fatigue I'm thinking. The guy that cycled around the world had some similar to them. Good documentary BTW if you ever get a chance to watch it.

abracapocus... I actually had thought about looking into a waterproof camera but never got around to it. I think the cheaper route would be to buy deeper under the seat bag that would hold the camera, wallet & phone. The one I have on the mountain bike will hold all 3, the one on the road bike wont.

Had a busy day but took my bike with me just in case I had time to get a ride in though.... And I did have some time... Got dropped off in town today, skipped the headwind ride into town... YEP I CHEATED!! I ended up riding 17.74 miles. Had a nice tail wind most of the way home too... but like yesterday it kind of died out about 3/4 of the way home. Never did get hit with any rain but did ride on some wet pavement. Naturally I didn't have my camera again... but I had to stop and take a pic of this guy on the way. Used the cell phone, I'm thinking I should have wiped the lens off a bit, I looked at it when I got home and its a wonder I got a picture at all. About 6 months ago they put up new fence and signs saying it is a licensed hunting preserve... I'm guessing they stocked the area with some game??

zzOtherlandzz - "If you see me walking, my bike is busted!!" :) That was me today.

Looked to get in a nice 25 miler. Headed up 441 to Hague and looped around the IFAS Dairy Unit and back down. I was feeling pretty good and moving a bit faster than usual when it happened. Flatted at 20 miles, just as the Sun was going down. No problem, right? Patch it up and keep goin', right? WRONG! Glue was dried out in the patch kit. So rather than walk five miles in cleats, I wussed out and had the wife come and rescue me. Note to self: Buy new patch kit and MORE TUBES! :)

Well even with a flat you did better than me today..... DOH!! I wimped out and didn't ride at all :(

Just under 77 miles today. Commute in, morning ride, commute home and back again. Then accross the river for the tuesday night fast ride.

Heres my garmin connect data: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/47063309