Seth's Cycling Blog

The Meaning of "Na"

2011-11-15T06:38:00.001-05:00

Almost exactly a year after originally planned, Kathy and I finally did our overnight tandem trip to Inverness. This year we had company, our regular tandem partners, Steve and Debi.

Normally our tandem tours have been "light" organized tours, where we sign up with a bike touring company that transports our luggage from place to place, and we carry just what we need for the day on the bike. One reason for the trip was to see how Kathy and Debi might like travelling on our own, carrying our luggage. An overnight like this is barely an introduction, though, because there is no need to wash out your stuff in the sink each night, or to make peace with the idea that you are basically wearing the same outfit or two every day. For some people that adjustment can be hard.

Trip Details: November weather in Central Florida is somewhat unpredictable, but we could not have asked for much better. Temperatures while riding were between 60 and 80 degrees, making for very pleasant pedaling. There was a bit of head-wind on our return, but no big deal. Our plan was an out-and-back route of about 53 miles, according to the map. It turned out to be just a shade more than that, divided relatively evenly among rural back roads, rural highway, and paved bike trail. Even the highway riding was not bad, as the traffic was pretty light. As you can see, the route was pretty flat -- generally speaking, a good thing when on tandem.

As is appropriate for a trip of this sort, we rode at a comfortable pace, so each day we were on the bikes for about 4 hours. We made a convenience store stop in Center Hill after 20 miles, and a second stop at the shop just off the Withlacoochee Trail in Istachotta roughly 20 miles later.

As we approached Inverness, Steve suggested that we visit the trail-side Suncoast Cycles bike shop where he and Debi had purchased their tandem years back, and where we bought our previous one. The shop has changed hands since then, and everyone was curious to see whether for the better or worse. While there he picked up a very bright Serfas tail light that can be used in daylight for additional visibility. While it doesn't match up to our Dinotte 300R in visibility or battery life, it does an impressive job and costs a great deal less.

The guys at the shop recommended we try Mcleod House Bistro, just a couple of blocks away, for lunch. We all enjoyed our meals and agreed to get another meal to serve as dinner later. Our B&B for the night was located a couple of miles from the commercial part of town, so we would not have to figure out what to do about a night-time meal. We managed to strap the containers on top of our luggage, swung by Walgreens for a bottle of wine, and headed onto Gospel Island Road toward our accommodations for the night.

Upon arrival at the Magnolia Glen Bed and Breakfast, we were greeted warmly by the proprietress, Bonnie Kuntz. Spry and energetic in spite of her 80 years, Bonnie was a great hostess. We felt welcome in the cozy, pleasantly cluttered home. There was room to relax, a great view, and comfortable bedrooms with baths. Meanwhile, our bikes were safely stored in the garage. Here are some photos:

We spent the evening talking with Bonnie, having our dinner, and enjoying a game of Scrabble. Debi kicked ass, especially mine, although at the very end of the game we both made some last points through the questionable ploy of using the (apparently legal) word "NA". Symbols are not allowed, so it does not derive legitimacy by being the abbreviation for sodium. I could not find any other definition, so I hereby proclaim it to be a word meaning "bicycle trip with one overnight." I downloaded a scrabble app on my phone and found a number of other surprising two letter words as well, including "ZA" which is apparently an accepted (since 1970) short form of "pizza." Who knew?

The house has three guest rooms. The third was reserved for a young couple who were married that day, making the most of their time together before the new husband ships out on the USS Nimitz in a few weeks. They arrived after we were already getting ready for bed, so we did not actually meet them until breakfast. Speaking of which, in the morning we had a tasty, ample meal, with left-overs to pack and enjoy on our ride back home.

On our way to Inverness on Saturday, I believe all of us noted the sign in Nobleton for handmade ice cream. Around the time we were all starting to think about a place to rest a bit on our way back, Kathy suggested that we stop at the ice cream shop for our first break.

The friendly woman running the shop offered up some local history while scooping out ample portions of the delicious cold stuff, and suggested that we enjoy it near the river out back. She assured us that our bikes were perfectly safe parked out front, so we followed her advice. It was a beautiful spot, as you can see below.

The remainder of the ride was pretty uneventful, but at least three of us (all but Steve the Spartan) were squirming a bit on our saddles by the time we climbed the last little hills and coasted back to our drive way. All agreed the trip was an exceedingly good way to have spent the weekend.

Conclusions: Touring on my single, a normal day is roughly 70 miles. On the tandems, however, we all agreed that about 40 to 45 miles would be a better riding day if we were doing several consecutive days. The shorter day in the saddle would leave more time and energy for exploring. Kathy is, by no means, ready to sign up for an extended bike trip, but it seems that a trip of maybe three or four nights would not be out of the question with this kind of mileage guideline.

The weight distribution on our Softride-equipped tandem resulted in some handling issues, especially at low speed and when standing on the pedals. I have some ideas, but the ultimate solution may require mounting a front rack so that the extra weight can be re-located to the front of the bike. On the positive side, however, the additional 30 pounds or so that we were carrying did not seem to hinder us on the few short hills that we had on this route.

First Test of My Commitment

2011-10-28T19:18:00.002-04:00

In my previous post I detailed my commitment to do a hilly ride, including Sugarloaf Mountain Road (our most notorious local challenge) at least once each week for a year. I am now 18 weeks in, but today was the first time that I had to go out in weather that would normally keep me from riding. It was not really that bad, just some light rain, but I had already taken a pass on my normal Wednesday ride because the weather looked "gloomy." Today was the last day of the week, so I felt I had no choice.

The ride gave me a chance to try out the SealSkinz socks I bought after my adventure on Togwotee Pass in Wyoming last June. It was not much of a test, given that it wasn't raining very hard and it wasn't very cold, but so far the results are encouraging. The socks were comfortable and my feet stayed warm and free of rain water. Next time, though, I will wear a light pair of coolmax socks underneath for better sweat management.

OK, I agree that it wasn't much of a test. My reason for not riding on days like this has more to do with the need to clean the bike up afterwards than my comfort while riding. There are going to be days over the winter, however, that are going to be at least 25 degrees colder, and possibly wet to boot. Regardless, I am determined to ride and I've got plenty more new cold & wet weather gear to try out.

Sweet Motivation

2011-09-04T13:09:00.002-04:00

Almost always, about 15 minutes into a ride, I feel great and can't figure out why I ever have trouble getting off my ass and onto the bike. Yet, often, especially with early morning rides and when the weather is not perfect, making the decision to ride is a struggle.

I have found, however, that having a goal, such as preparing for a tour or a bike event, is enough to make the decision to ride much easier. Once the Geezer Geyser Tour ended, I was left with no motivator at all. We have a fuzzy plan to do a three or four day pannier tour in the fall with Steve and Debi on the tandems, but absolutely nothing has been decided beyond that. To stay on the bike in the meantime, I had to come up with some sort of goal.

I have no recollection how I came up with the idea, but I have committed myself (now publicly) to riding up Sugarloaf Mountain Road (arguably the most challenging climb in the area) at least once every week for a year. It is only a half-mile climb, with a gain of only 200 feet, but the grade is mostly 10%, and as high as 13%, on the way to the top.

Sugarloaf is very convenient for me, being only 4.5 miles away by the most direct route. I have worked out a more circuitous out and back route, however, that is just the right length for me to ride in the morning before work. It works out to 19 miles with 1,250 feet of climbing, total. The route is all back roads, with the exception of crossing US-27, so it also ends up safer than several other routes that I have tried since making the weekly commitment.

The year started June 29th, so I have a couple of months ticked off already. I am hoping that this goal will be sufficient motivation to keep me riding through my "slacker" months of December and January. Now that I have all the cold weather gear I accumulated leading up to, and subsequent to, this year's trip out west, there will be less reason to wimp out with the "It's too cold" excuse.

Here's hoping, anyway!

GGT Day 11: Moran, WY (Togwotee Lodge) to West Yellowstone, MT

2011-06-11T21:59:00.001-04:00

Given the excitement of the previous day, my continuing issue with my foot and shin, and the fact that another look at the route revealed it to be about 117 miles rather than the original estimate of 75, I decided not to ride. Kathy was coming into to Jackson early in the afternoon, so it was not a big deal for her to pick me up on her way to West Yellowstone. She picked me up at around 3PM and we set out, following the same route that Fred and Ray were doing by bike. The idea was that they could throw their bikes in the van and ride the rest of the way when we caught up with them.

As it turned out, Fred's wife Pat was doing the same thing and got to them a few minutes sooner. After a beautiful day of riding, they were both content to accept a ride after doing 100 miles.

So, the Geezer Geyser Tour, now also known as the Survivor Tour, is a wrap. The route covered about 700 miles (though I rode less than 600 of those). We had more than the normal amount of adventure, encountered some very challenging riding conditions, met lots of interesting people, and made some new friends. We had only one bike issue, a broken spoke that occured within walking distance of a bike shop with an available mechanic. Otherwise we did not have so much as a flat tire.

At this moment, the soft plan is to finish the rest of the cross country route next summer, doing both Colorado Springs to Little Rock, and Yellowstone to Portland. That will mean that we will have ridden from Portland, OR all the way to Key West, FL, a distance of approximately 4,200 miles.

GGT Day 10: Dubois to Moran - Beaten by Togwotee Pass

2011-06-11T00:40:00.006-04:00

STATS: 32 miles, about 3.5 hours, approximately 2500 feet or so of climbing.

First let's get it straight: I do not get along with cold weather and snow. I live in Florida, have made a solemn vow to live no farther north than Gainesville (FL), and wear the badge of Weather-Wuss among my cycling friends back home. If the thermometer dips below 47 or so, or the wind is over 15 mph, I quickly dive into my bag of lame excuses and find something other than bicycling to do.

To put it mildly, it is a mystery that I found myself pedaling toward Togwotee Pass in mid-thirties temperatures, a 20 mph headwind, and all but certain snow or freezing rain between me and the summit. My three companions were all Colorado residents who live at 6,000 feet and deal with this kind of crap weather most of the year, but this whole scene was foreign to me.

I cowered at the tail end of the line for the first 20 miles of gradual climb, at which point we pulled into the Lava Mountain Lodge and store. After a brief rest, my companions all started adding layers of clothing, gloves, shoe covers, rain gear and more. I did likewise, trying to mimic their preparations, within the limits of the stuff I had. In retrospect, I could have added another layer or two of socks and switched from my five finger gloves to the more waterproof lobster mittens at the bottom of my pannier. Maybe that would have made a difference, maybe not.

Up to now the skies had gone from clear to overcast but we were still dry. The top of the pass was 12 miles away and almost 2000 feet above us at an altitude of 9635 feet. We got back on the road and almost immediately a light snow began to fall as the road ratcheted up a couple percent. Ray quickly rode away into the distance. Fred, Mike (a new addition to our group) and I stayed pretty close together as the storm intensified by the minute.

Soon the snow was thick and accumulating on bike and body alike. It took an hour to go six miles. I could no longer feel my fingers or toes and could see through only a tiny area of the right lens of my glasses. I could not imagine another hour-plus of climb, followed by an even colder descent to our hotel on the other side. I decided to quit while I still could and told my companions I was going back down. Mike and Fred were doing considerably better than I and said that they were going to continue. I made my U turn between walls of snow flanking the road and carefully felt my way back down. I used my brakes liberally; the thought of overheating a rim was laughable. The brakes, especially the rear, made unfamiliar noises which I realized was due to a mixture of ice and accumulated road dirt on the rims and brake pads. (Later inspection showed the rear brake pads to have gotten severely worn in just that six mile descent, probably from all the sand deposited on the rim.) Nonetheless, they were still effective. After what seemed like a very long time, I finally made out what proved to be the Lava Mountain Lodge buildings through my nearly occluded glasses.

I pulled up in front of the store and somehow got off the bike without falling. I had the thought that a photo of my snow-covered bike would be great for the blog, but when I tried to fish out my phone to take a shot, I found that my fingers were not working very well and I was too cold to stay outside any longer. Take my word for it. There was snow. All over the bike.

Inside, I peeled off my saturated gloves, rain pants, and shoe covers and paced around in the store, shivering. I guess the store staff had witnessed similar scenes many times before and paid little attention to me. I did share the high points of my experience with them, and shortly one said, "Here comes one of your friends." It turned out to be Jim (our warmshowers.org host in Lander), who had agreed at breakfast to make the ride by himself rather than slow us down. Apparently he had ridden past the store, but saw me coming back down and soon made the same decision. His wife, Julia, was due to be coming up the road pretty soon to meet him, though the planned meeting place was on the other side of the pass. There was no cell phone service, so Jim moved his bike to a location that he hoped would catch Julia's eye as she drove by.

As I thawed out I realized that my best move would probably be to catch a ride to our hotel on the other side of the pass rather than go 20 miles back to Dubois. I can't exactly remember the details of how it happened, but before I knew it I was happily sharing the back seat of Billy Snoldgrass's truck with several bags of dog food, my bike equally happy in the trailer behind us.

Billy is a celebrity sled dog musher, having been the subject of TV documentaries, and a three-time Iditarod competitor. It turns out that he runs sled dog tours from the Togwotee Lodge (my destination) and was headed there to pick up some of his equipment now that his winter tour season was over. I coulda/shoulda gotten an autograph, but I didn't know who he was until it was too late. Shortly before arriving at the hotel we passed both Fred and Mike riding down toward the hotel. They didn't look happy, but I was very, very relieved to see they survived the pass.

Before leaving Jim at the store, I had the good sense to get Julia's phone number. As soon as possible after arriving at the lodge, I got off a message to her with Jim's location and got a return message confirming that she understood, so Jim and I were both saved.

Shortly after entering the lodge lobby, Ray walked up and told me that there had been a snafu with the reservation, but that he had it fixed up. I was still euphoric about being rescued and delivered to the hotel, so, "Sure, Ray, whatever you say." I let him know that I had seen the guys a short distance up the road, and sure enough, they appeared a few minutes later. We had all survived! Ray's fingertips are still numb 24 hours later. Hopefully that is not a permanent thing and nobody else has any physical injuries.

There are some photos in the previous (photos-only) post.

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GGT Day 10-11 Photos

2011-06-10T21:10:00.001-04:00

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GGT Day 9: Lander to Dubois

2011-06-09T00:09:00.002-04:00

STATS: 77 miles, 6 hours 55 minutes, 3200 feet of climbing

Again, all the action was in the last part of the ride. After a cool but sunny ride for 50 miles or more, the clouds joined together and darkened. Thunder boomed in the distance and I spotted a handful of lightning bolts flashing out of the darkest clouds. Eventually the rain started to fall, and we stopped to climb into our rain gear. Luckily the rain remained light and the road and thunderstorm went in different directions.

I had neglected to set aside some advil where I could easily get to it, so my foot and shin bothered me quite a bit during the last couple of hours, once my morning dose wore off.

The weather for tomorrow looks ominous. We have been told about snow on Togwotee Pass and it is supposed to be cold and windy even at the base of the mountain. We will see what it looks like in the morning.

For tonight, we are comfortably settled in Dubois (pronounced DEW-boys).

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GGT Day 8: Lander rest day

2011-06-08T23:49:00.002-04:00

Fred and I had the day off, having escaped from Jeffery City and its other-worldly winds last night in a pick-up truck. We spent the morning having a leisurely breakfast and packing and mailing the pottery we had purchased from Byron.

Ray arrived in Lander at about noon, after getting a lift from JC to Sweetwater Junction and being spared about 20 miles of ridiculous headwinds. He still had to forcibly pedal on 6% downgrades to make any forward progress, and from time to time would be knocked to a standstill by gusts. It was the same story with the other touring cyclists in the area. Everyone got at least some motor vehicle assistance to get to Lander.

After meeting up with Ray, we rode a few miles to the home of our warmshowers.org hosts for the night, Jim and Julia. Jim asked almost immediately if he could join us on our next two days of travel. He was eager to test out his new touring bike carrying a full set of panniers. He hopes to ride from Paris to Athens in the fall and felt that this would be a good opportunity for a shake down tour.

The remainder of the day and evening was spent in conversation with Jim and Julia, and enjoying a wonderful dinner Jim cooked up for us.

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GGT Day 7: Rawlins to Jeffrey City - Adventures in (Nobody) Home on the Range

2011-06-08T23:14:00.003-04:00

STATS: 68 miles, 4 hrs 41 mins, 1500 feet of climbing

The day started normally, even pleasantly, enough. Forty five miles of tailwind had us all in a good mood. None of us realized we were riding, blissfully unaware, straight into ... The Twi-light Zone (da da daah)

We made the turn west at Muddy Gap Junction, and for a while it was not too bad. Soon, however, the wind began to toy with us like a cat with a cockroach -- ignoring us for a few seconds, then carelessly swatting us and leaving us reeling. This was a whole new level of wind-driven suffering, even by the standards of the previous day. Finally we spotted the little settlement of Jeffrey City in the distance. When we pulled up in front of the Split Rock Cafe and saw a new banner declaring, "Bicyclists Welcome," we thought we had found our oasis. Inside we encountered a friendly enough welcome, though the decor, menu, and facilites closely matched the sparse, dry, windswept location in which the cafe rested.

After a while we decided to wander across the street to meet Byron, the owner of the Monk King Bird pottery shop, who had offered us a place to sleep for the night. I am not really sure what we expected, but what we found was a young man covered in clay dust, sanding a piece of pottery, in the midst of random assortment of vehicles, furniture, machinery parts, logs, and all manner of other artifacts spread out in a random fashion in front of his studio-gallery-home. In a previous life the building had been a service station. Byron bought it cheap a few years ago, but has since had to replace the roof and therefore is no longer sure it was such a bargain. While we were there, however, he found that he could raise up one of the ancient hydraulic auto lifts by connecting a friend's compressor. Though he has no use for the lift, he was quite excited about finding it in working order and might be re-assessing the value proposition of the property. Byron sleeps in the back of the shop, but because there is no running water he uses the bathroom in the cafe across the street.

Byron, the potter, appears to lack anything remotely like ambition. He enjoys creating pottery, but has no interest in arranging for shipping his work or tending a web site to market it. He would not object if others were to do these things for him, but he seems fine with leaving things just as they are. From time to time he takes some of his work into Lander for resale by shops there, and that provides him with enough money to get by. Regardless, I found his work to be quite attractive and purchased two pieces, a mug and a pitcher that he considered to be the best thing in the shop. It has a pattern that he has only seen in three of the thousands of pieces he has created, making it rare and special (the pitcher on the right in the photo just below).

Next door to the Split Rock Bar and Cafe across the street is Otis's defunct gas station. You don't want to poke around over there because if Otis notices, he might take a shot at you (according to Byron). Down the street a bit farther is the bowling alley. Some say there are still pins and balls inside, but others say everything is gone. The real mystery is that there is any disagreement at all. Anyone can just walk over there and take a look, but for some reason they don't.

There are something like 50 people who live in Jeffrey City, though the town appears to have no government and legally is probably extinct. Originally there was a town on the site called Granite City, later given the picturesque moniker "Home on the Range." In the 50's and 60's uranium was discovered and mined there. An important personality during those radioactive boom years was a Dr. Jeffrey, hence the renaming to "Jeffrey City."

Unfortunately for J.C., once the first wave of nuclear power plants had been built and stocked, and nuke fuel could be purchased for less from the former USSR, the town had nothing to offer, the people moved on, and the businesses closed. In short, it is a modern ghost town.

Our plan for the night was that one of us, probably Fred, would spend the night on an old sofa in the shop -- if the cat sprawled out on it was willing to share. Ray and I would sleep in the camping trailer parked out front, which is just a place to sleep out of the wind; it has no water or electricity. Standing inside was like standing on a small boat, except the rocking (provided by the wind) was far less rhythmic. It did not take much imagination to think that the trailer could actually be blown over by some of the gusts.

Considering the challenging accommodations and the predicted winds for the next day (significantly higher than the day we just finished), I decided to see if maybe I could get a lift to Lander, the next stop on our itinerary -- preferably that night. That way I could actually get a day to rest my foot and leg, which were still aching, and avoid the predicted headwinds of 30 (with gusts to 50) that would be directly into our faces. A young man named Kyle, who is Byron's roommate at present, was quite willing to drive me the 60 miles into Lander for an unspecified compensation. Fred quickly signed on as well, but Ray opted to stick it out. We later gave him $40 each and he acted like he had won the lottery.

Kyle turned out to be an interesting young guy -- kind of a free spirit who likes the solitude of rock climbing and backwoods hiking over the complexities of a traditional lifestyle. He dropped us off at a real nice Best Western at the edge of Lander. The wind was really blowing by then, and Fred and I got sand-blasted crossing the parking lot to a nearby fast food restaurant to get something to eat.

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GGT Day 6: Stats

2011-06-06T02:12:00.001-04:00

Riding time: 3 hrs 39 mins
Distance: 44.4
Avg speed: 12.1
Climb: 1220
Wind: SW 25 - 30 mph

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GGT Day 6: Saratoga to Rawlins (aka The heaven to hell ride)

2011-06-06T01:06:00.002-04:00

We started the day with our first actual sit-down breakfast. We then got on the bikes in pleasantly cool weather and fairly flew along in front of a substantial tailwind. I was frequently moving along at 25 mph with a heart rate of under 100! That was the first 20 miles, the "heaven" part of the ride. Then things got interesting.

The middle 15 miles of the route is on Interstate 80, believe it or not. It is simply the only option, and therefor perfectly legal. Well, from the moment we made the left onto the I-80 ramp until we arrived at our motel 24 miles later, we had the previously helpful wind in our faces. It was a struggle and my plan for a recovery day went out the window. High winds are predicted to continue for the next couple of days. We have been considering various plan B's for Tuesday, which is supposed to be especially bad.

We had a very good dinner tonight at Michael's Big City Bar and Grill, just a couple of doors away. Afterwards Fred rehearsed a couple of songs (using a borrowed guitar with a broken string) that he is planning to perform tomorrow night at The Split Rock Bar and Cafe in Jeffrey City.

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GGT Day 5: Walden, CO to Saratoga, WY

2011-06-05T00:39:00.002-04:00

Stats for today: 68 miles, 4 hrs 57 mins, 2000 feet of climbing.

Today we finally crossed from Colorado into Wyoming. In spite of the fact that we were being blown along at a near-effortless 25 mph, we stopped for the obligatory state line photo op.

Back on the bikes we flew the next six miles, all the while closing on a large mass of white smoke rising into the sky. The fire itself was nothing much, but there was an awful lot of smoke being blown directly at the road we had to climb to get out of the basin in which we had been riding. I knew it was going to take me quite a while to work my way up the two and a half mile climb and I did not want to be sucking all that smoke into my lungs. I ended up using my balaclava plus a couple of additional layers of stuff as a makeshift breathing mask. Ray, on the other hand, did nothing special and says that he didn't even smell any smoke! I sure as hell did. At any rate we all seem fine tonight.

A shift in wind or road direction later in the day slowed us down quite a bit. We took a rest break in front of the store in Riverside, just across the street from the famous Mangy Moose bar. While there we were joined by a young couple, Jessica and Fred (or it might have been "Chris"), on fully loaded bikes, including camping gear. They are 50 days into their cross-country trip. After talking for a while I took a photo of them, which reminded Jessica that she had not re-packed their camera when they stopped 8 miles north. Given that we were headed up that road, we promised to look for it. We traded contact info and off we went on our mission. We found the spot easily enough, but we could not find the camera. I left that sad news on Jessica's cell phone voice mail. Hopefully the camera will turn up in their gear or the camera case contained some ID that will allow it to be recovered.

We are unable to visit Saratoga's hot spring. The river has already risen so much that it has overflowed into the spring, making the latter unsafe to use. As I write this post, sandbags are being deployed to defend the low-lying property from flooding as the river continues to rise with the melting of this year's extreme snowfall in the upstream mountains. Flooding is a real danger for many of the towns on the rest of our route.

Tonight Fred initiated a change in our dinner plans after we were seated in the Wolf Hotel's restaurant. (We were staying at the Wolf Hotel for the night.) On his way back from the Kum-n-Go convenience store (no, I am not making that up, and Fred was there to buy a store logo t-shirt) Fred spied a Thai restaurant up a side street. He promised the proprietress that he would return for dinner. This behavior is similar to the time on the original Tour de Fred trip when he disappeared to have lunch with the Indian hotel-keeper.

He insisted that we were not bound by his promise, but we decided to go along with him. We were the only customers. All cooking, service, prep and cleanup was handled by the new Thai wife of a guy who talked our entire meal about his four marriages, his experiences in the military and how he learned to cook many styles in his travels around the world, though his wife does the Thai cooking (and serving and cleaning, we.noticed, in spite of their "equal" marriage).

Fred paid for all the meals and added a 40 percent tip, which clearly had nothing to do with the meals or dining experience. Ray and I agreed that it was one of the strangest restaurant experiences we have ever had. Fred, on the other hand, was happy because his mouth was burning "in a good way," which apparently made up for everything else, in his view. Oookaay then.

Tomorrow we have a short ride of about 40 miles. I am planning to do it in a very easy, rolling recovery mode. We'll see what happens.

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GGT Day 4: Kremmling to Walden

2011-06-04T17:40:00.001-04:00

A couple of things I forgot yesterday:

Jean-Paul's dinner selection was.... chicken-fried steak! I guess all his travel in the backwoods of the US caused him to go native.

The other thing is that a plump, mentally challenged young women surveyed the people in the restaurant and walked up to our table to get help setting the time on her new digital watch. Ever the knight for damsels in distress, Fred quickly volunteered his services. Apparently this is one of his special talents. He had her all set in just a few minutes.

Now for today: I took some Nyquil last night, slept well and woke feeling much better. Maybe it is allergies after all. My remaining issue is continuous pain in my right foot and shin. I can neither walk nor ride in comfort.

Anyway, we left Kremmling at about 8, when it was still chilly (low 40's). It stayed cool enough that I left my jacket on for the whole ride. We rode 61 miles in five hours, including about 2700 feet of climbing. The miles coming down from Muddy Pass were among the best I have ridden. Imagine a quiet, nearly empty road, slight downhill grade, new asphalt, lines of snow-covered mountains on both sides, and periodic sightings of elk, antelope, and hawks high above. It was spectacular. I have included.a photo but it can't really convey the experience.

There is one sort of issue. Whether related to altitude, my allergies/cold, leg pain, or inadequate fitness level, I cannot comfortably keep up with my companions. They pull over to wait for me every so often, and claim that it is 'no problem', but it is not ideal. There are some benefits to riding by myself, so I am making the best of the situation.

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GGT Day 3: Breckenridge to Kremmling

2011-06-02T23:43:00.002-04:00

Yesterday I woke with a sore throat and worsening 'allergy' symptoms that got worse through the day. As a result I got very little sleep last night. By this morning I was pretty sure that I have a cold. I am just trying to manage the symptoms in hope that it doesn't get much worse.

Today's ride was just the ticket under the circumstances -- a reasonable 60, mostly downhill miles, with a strong tailwind. In fact, there was only 1120 feet of climbing and the wind and down slope combined to give us relatively effortless speeds of up to 40 mph from time to time.

At about 21 miles we had to make an unscheduled visit to a bike shop in Silverthorne when Ray broke a drive-side rear spoke. We were very fortunate that we were in this fair-sized town and that a good shop (Mountain Sports) was in walking distance.

We are over-nighting at the historic Eastin Hotel. It is old but adequate, and very inexpensive. The town itself is one of many in this region that is just fighting to survive.

While we were waiting at the door for the proprietor to return from lunch, a French gentleman walked up with a big smile and immediately drew us into a discussion of bicycling and touring in the US and France. Jean-Paul is in the midst of a planned two month solo bike tour, including many of the places on our own tour. In fact, he was in Fairplay the night after we were there, and he is staying the night in our hotel. Of course we invited him to join us for dinner. It turns out that the cold, windy conditions in the past month have taken their toll and he has decided to cut his trip short. When we head north in the morning, he will be heading to Denver to make arrangements for his return to Marseille. If you read French you can learn more about him and his adventures at http://patacycliste.over-blog.com.

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GGT Day 2: More Fairplay photos

2011-06-02T07:15:00.001-04:00

In person, the mountains in these photos are much larger and impressive. One shot is looking down Main St from in front of our hotel. The other view is from behind the hotel.

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GGT Day 2: Fairplay to Breckenridge

2011-06-01T22:30:00.002-04:00

If you are ever in Fairplay for an overnight, check out the Hand Hotel. We were the only guests last night but we got the impression that the hospitality we were shown is typical. The property is old but nicely refurbished and maintained. Richard, the owner, recommended dinner at Millonzi's, a few doors down the street, which both Fred and I enjoyed greatly.

We rolled out of Fairplay at around 9 AM in cool but fair weather. Fairplay is at almost exactly 10,000 feet. We were headed for Breckenridge, on the other side of the 11,539 foot Hoozier Pass, the highest point on Adventure Cycling Association's Trans America Route. A couple of summers back I rode up Hoozier from the steeper Breck side, so I wasn't too concerned. Of course I didn't factor in my noodle legs and raw ass souvenirs from yesterday's ride! The climb started almost immediately at about 3 percent, but after 6 miles it pitched up to 5, and it stayed at 5 to 7 for the remaining 7 miles to the summit. My speed was stuck at 5 as well. By the top I was puffing like a steam locomotive in the thin air.

At the top the road was dry, but there was snow everywhere else up there, as you can see from the photo.

The high speed plummet down to Breck was cold, but still fun. There was one set of switchbacks that snuck up on me, requiring two fistfulls of brake to scrub enough speed to get through safely. (Sorry, Kath!)

Tomorrow is only 60 miles and downhill, so we hope to be at our destination by noon or so. The afternoon winds are supposed to include gusts up to 60 mph, so that is as good a motivation as anyone would need.

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GGT Day 1: CO Springs to Fairplay

2011-06-01T17:59:00.001-04:00

We left Fred's driveway at 7:49am. We arrived here in Fairplay eleven hours later. Actual riding time was 8 hrs and 58 minutes to ride the 87 miles (avg speed 9.7 mph). The weather was mostly great, other than a 30 mph cross-wind for about 15 miles late in the ride. Nevertheless, we climbed 5600 feet, mostly in the first 53 miles, then had to deal with that cross-wind, so there were long stretches of 5 to 6 mph. I am really, REALLY tired. Tomorrow is an easy, short day --just have to get up the 13 or so miles to the top of Hoosier Pass (11,500 feet), then coast down to Ray's cabin in Breck and relax the rest of the day.

I am also posting some photos of today's beautiful scenery and Fred with today's pass markers. The big mountain with parking lot and road in the foreground is Pikes Peak. Fairplay is right at the base of that snowy line of mountains.

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Bags arrived in Colorado Springs this morning!

2011-05-30T23:48:00.001-04:00

I was pretty concerned when I checked the airline's baggage site early this morning and there was still no indication that my stuff had been located. I decided to call, and after some digging the clerk told me that my bag was in Houston and would arrive in CS on the 10:35 flight. She had no information about a second piece of luggage.

At about 10:20 we were on our way to the airport when I got another call from baggage claim that my bag was there in the office. At first I thought that the plane had arrived early, but it appears that the first bag must have come in last night or earlier in the morning. When the 10:35 flight arrived, my second bag, the bike case, was on it. Happy day!

I got the bike assembled this afternoon, and other than the rear wheel needing a bit of truing, everything was fine.

Tonight Pat cooked up a wonderful feast for us and after dinner Luna, their sweet Malamute, treated us to a little serenade, with Fred and Pat doing backup vocals.

The weather for tomorrow actually looks pretty good. Ray is going to get a very early start (he is planning to do the entire 110 miles to Breckenridge in one shot), but Fred and I will probably start around 8. We will be riding 84 miles with about 5000 feet of climbing.

Here's a shot of Luna after her concert.

Arrival in CO Springs

2011-05-29T18:43:00.001-04:00

I am at Fred's in Colorado Springs. Unfortunately, my bike and gear apparently missed one of the connections. The folks at Continental seem pretty confident that the bags will show up soon, and they will deliver them when they do. Here's hoping!

What, me worry?

2011-05-26T23:06:00.000-04:00

For the past several years, my riding buddy, Professor Fred, has been studying, theorizing, and writing about cognitive evolution (see The Rise of Homo Sapiens, Cognitive Archaeology and Human Evolution, and How to Think Like a Neandertal). One of his theories includes the premise that the appearance of modern human cognition required a subtle genetic change that gave humanoids the ability to engage in "what if" thinking. Well, if that's the case, there is no doubt that I am a modern human, with a "what if" specialization in catastrophic fantasies.

Consider our upcoming Geezer Geyser Tour. Here is a short list of potential catastrophes (er, I mean adventures) that have come to mind:

hypothermia
flash floods
snow, rain, freezing rain, sleet, ice
unpleasant encounters with wildlife such as bison, moose, bears, packs of hungry wolves
every possible mechanical failure
all manner of crashes and nasty bicycle vs motor vehicle mishap

An advantage of such thinking is that I tend to be better prepared than most. For example, I can pretty much guarantee that neither of my companions will have any meaningful bike tools or a first aid kit (not that a few bandaids are likely to be of much use patching anyone up after being mauled by a grizzly or gored by a buffalo). More practically, the clothing I have packed should serve pretty well for most of the likely weather conditions. I couldn't figure out any packable talismans to protect us from sudden floods, unfortunately.

I quite realize that our little trips hardly measure up to REAL adventure cycling, such as that planned by my young friend Dominic (http://onebikeoneworld.com/). Still, it is a total mystery why someone like me, with my acute awareness of everything that can go wrong, would not just DO trips like this one, but absolutely LOVE doing them! I guess it just comes down to the fact that overcoming the inherent challenges, added to the fun of the thing, is worth the risks.

I leave for Colorado Springs early on Sunday morning, and we start riding on Tuesday. I can't wait!

Riders waiting for start of today's ride at GTR 2011

2011-05-21T22:35:00.001-04:00

The bar has been set a bit higher in the Road Kill Sweepstakes

2011-05-21T22:21:00.001-04:00

This weekend Kathy and I, along with a bunch of our tandem-riding buds, are in Macon, GA for the 2011 Georgia Tandem Rally (http://www.georgiatandemrally.com). This event is our favorite of the year. and one we have attended for the past eight years. We have enjoyed great riding in the rolling terrain in this area... except for the part where we rode past a dog happily tearing vennison steaks off a small deer carcass lying just off the road. OK, yeah, yeah -- circle of life and all that, but it was still pretty unnerving to see man's best friend chowing down on Bambi.

So, after two 45 mile-ish rides through the hills, we expect to do a short finale of about 28 miles in the morning before stuffing our tandem into the back of our Prius and heading home. The rest of the week I will probably do a couple of easy rides near home, but the training is done for the Geezer Geyser Tour. Next Sunday I will be on my way to Colorado. I am still hoping for Spring to hit the Rockies by the time I arrive!

One month until the Geezer Geyser Tour

2011-05-01T20:46:00.001-04:00

Training has gone pretty well this month in spite of two weekends that other commitments prevented me from riding at all. I rode most weekday mornings, usually 17 to 20 miles over the hills on Cherry Lake and Villa City Roads. These hills are not terribly steep, but approximate the grades that I will be riding between Colorado Springs and Yellowstone, starting on May 31. I did 20 rides in April, totalling more than 450 miles and including one 75 mile day. I did another 75 miler today, May 1.

Next weekend I will be able to do my own thing and I plan to do at least one more long ride. The two weekends after that, however, will be taken by the MS ride (two 50 mile rides on the tandem) and the Georgia Tandem Rally (another 100 or more tandem miles). I have this idea that I will increase the level of my weekday rides during the month by strapping on the panniers and putting ten pounds of gear in each one.

My buds in Colorado are still dealing with very cold weather and even snow! They have been gleefully reminding me that it is going to be pretty cold on this tour, at least in the morning hours. The result is that I have been obsessing about the clothing I should take on the bike. I will be taking just my little 7 inch Archos android tablet, a little folding bluetooth keyboard (on which I am writing this post), and my android phone, rather than a "real" computer. That should work out fine for blogging, internet access, and photos, and should reduce the weight of my electronics by about two and a half pounds, but it looks like the additional clothes will eat up that weight savings.

Within the next week I plan to finalize my packing list and I will share the list and weight here.

Bicycle Science Friday

2011-04-18T21:10:00.000-04:00

Look what showed up on one of my favorite podcasts, Science Friday, this week:

A new look at bicycle physics and how even very unlikely looking bikes, without riders, can stay upright and steer themselves.

CO Springs to West Yellowstone in 9... er, 11 days

2011-03-20T22:01:00.000-04:00

Last night, in response to an email from Ray, I purchased my second plane ticket to Colorado Springs for this summer's tour! Somehow or another, I thought the trip was going to be 9 days on the bike, so I bought non-refundable tickets for May 31. Well, Ray pointed out that the itinerary calls for 11, not 9, days on the road. In fact, reviewing the route, that was absolutely correct. After a couple of hours of research and talk with people at United Airways, the cheapest alternative turned out to be simply purchasing a second ticket, this time for May 29th. Jeez! To make matters worse, the lowest fare also means two plane changes and an extreme early morning departure. Hopefully my bike will make the plane changes along with me.

This experience convinced me that it is past-time that I start attending more closely to the details of the trip. This evening I carefully put the route into my GPS mapping software, exported to GPX, converted to Google Earth (KML) format, and displayed the elevation profile (below):

The tick-marks are our planned overnight stops. That high peak on the second day is Hoosier Pass, approximately 11,500 feet. Having ridden it from the other, steeper, side two summers ago, I know it is not quite as bad as it looks. Regardless, the first two days will, clearly, be the most challenging, especially lugging 20 pounds of gear, and with little opportunity to acclimate to the altitude. The next six days look great, though, and we should all be in fine shape by the time we tackle the long climb into the Jackson/Yellowstone region at the right end of the figure.

I have gotten a decent start on my training, having ridden frequently over the past few weeks. So far so good.

Visitors from the Euro-Tourist Zone

2011-02-04T22:58:00.001-05:00

Say hello to Kleis and his daughter, Ina. Kleis is from the Netherlands and Ina just graduated her studies of theater in Belgium. They decided to spend a month touring the US and picked the Adventure Cycling route most likely to be warm this time of year (people after my own heart). WIth that in mind, they flew into Houston and have been roughly following the Southern Tier route across the southeast. Their destination is Miami.

Ina found me listed on WarmShowers.org and sent me a message asking if I would be willing to put them up for a night or two. This was the first time that we have hosted anyone through WarmShowers, and I admit that I was a little uneasy. The web site provides members the ability to leave "recommendations" for one another, but Ina had little information about herself in her own listing, and there were no recommendations. I asked her for more information and she told me more about herself, her father, and their trip. After talking it over with Kathy, we decided to take a chance. One look at them when they arrived was enough to put my mind at ease. We had a wonderful visit, and they seemed to appreciate the hospitality that we were able to provide. The next morning I rode out with them and guided them out of town.

It was the next best thing to being on tour myself. If you are a cyclist who enjoys touring, check out warmshowers and consider joining.

Ina's hand-drawn "Thank You" card:

Just checked and all the bikes are still there!

2011-01-22T11:49:00.000-05:00

Yes, here they are, all snug in their allocated places in the garage.

Last year I logged fewer miles than any other year since returning to bicycling in 1999. I might not have hit even 3,000 miles, but I am not sure of the actual total because I was not even LOGGING my rides reliably! In 2010 Fred and I exchanged an episode of our cross-country ride for a fantastic, but low mileage, week of riding in Provence, France, so I did not spend the early part of the year training. In addition, I spent a bunch of time in Miami with my family when my dad was hospitalized in the late spring. There was a little burst of regular hill training for a few weeks prior to going to Colorado for the Copper Triangle in August, but my motivation has been low all through the fall. Kathy and I had an overnight tour planned for a weekend in early November, but that very morning her aunt died, so that did not happen either. Cold weather moved in that same weekend -- pretty early this year, which has spawned all sorts of excuses to avoid riding. Then there has also been an explosion of stuff at work that now has me spending a good portion of every weekend at the office.

This new year has started out very slowly bike-wise as well, but the calendar is full of spring events, and the basic plans have been laid for the next portion of our cross-country ride. This year Fred, Ray and I (the original trio) plan to ride from Colorado Springs to West Yellowstone, through some of the most beautiful landscape the US has to offer. Although this section is only 9 days of riding and less than 700 miles, it will probably be the most mountainous and challenging stage of the tour. I am very excited about riding through Teton and Yellowstone parks! Kathy and Pat will fly out and meet us at the end of the ride, at which point we will spend another week sightseeing in the Yellowstone and Jackson Hole areas. The first three of those days will be with Fred and Pat, followed by another four on our own. At any rate, I expect to start laying down significant base miles by the beginning of March, and to be doing exclusively hill training rides by May. I have reservations to fly to Colorado on May 31. No firm plan has been set, but we also expect to spend a week riding with Steve and Debi later in the summer at a location in the southeast, reachable by car.

As the saying goes, "Man plans and God laughs." We'll see what the future holds.

Copper Triangle Ride – Gold in the Colorado High Lands

2010-08-10T00:27:00.001-04:00

I am sitting in the Dallas airport, waiting for my connecting flight home after a weekend in Colorado with my bike-touring buds, Fred and Ray (see my posts documenting the Tour de Fred in 2008). Back in early July I decided to join them for Colorado Cyclist’s third annual Copper Triangle ride.

Fred has done the two prior Copper Triangle rides, and Ray rode it last year as well. When I have asked them about it in the past, 90% of what I heard was how cold their hands were. A visit to the Copper Triangle web site filled in the details: three high passes (Fremont Pass: 11,300 feet -- the ascent being the first 12 miles of the ride; Tennessee Pass: 10,500 feet – interrupting the plunge from the Fremont high; and Vail Pass: 10,600 -- from the decidedly evil side). The route is about 80 miles and climbs a total of 6,000 feet. It also warns that the ride start (at 5:45 AM, if you please) would likely see temperatures in the low 40’s, paired with highs in the 80’s by the end of the ride.

I arrived in Colorado Springs, where Fred, Ray, and their lovely wives live, at about 4 PM. My bike case unexpectedly appeared on the carousel as I walked up. I spent the quarter-hour until Fred arrived sitting in front of the delightfully small, modern, and un-crowded CS airport, enjoying the hazy view of the Rockies to the west (photo above). It had only been a bit more than a month since I had last seen Fred (during our fantastic week in Provence, France) so it was like we just picked up our conversation where we left off a few weeks earlier. Upon pulling up to Chez Coolidge, we immediately headed next door to say hi to Ray and his wife, Jeanne. As it turns out, Jeanne answered the door and I probably spent twenty minutes or more catching up with her and her adventures with the health-care system (which have ultimately turned out very well) before paying any attention to Ray, but he didn’t seem to mind.

The afternoon thunderstorms moved in and we jogged back next door to Fred’s garage. I set to work re-assembling my bike, while Fred inexplicably decided it would be a grand time to climb up on the roof to search and destroy a wasp nest that had been reported by his wife Pat. Ray supervised both activities while appreciating a bottle from Fred’s garage beer bin. Jeanne soon showed up as well, offering Fred a golf club and a kite with a key to take up on the roof with him, given his apparent belief that the current thunderstorm should in no way interfere with his planned activities.

This was my first trip with my touring bike since retro-fitting it with S&S couplers. The couplers allow me to break the frame into two sections and pack the entire bike in a case that meets all current airline regulations and avoids special bike, oversize, and overweight luggage fees. Our tandem has a coupled frame as well, but my experience packing the big bike didn’t really help much in packing this one. Having ruined a wheel rim on a previous trip with the tandem, I agonized over the best way to pack the touring bike to avoid similar damage. Much to my dismay, when I got the bike back together in Colorado, I discovered that both wheels had been knocked badly out of true, particularly the front one. Closer inspection revealed a spoke with a nasty, angular bend about 4 centimeters from the rim. I was pretty sure that the rear could be re-trued, but I was less confident about the front. Fred and I agreed to take both wheels to the local pros in the morning in the hope that they could be salvaged. If that was not possible, Performance Bike has a store in CS and had several adequate wheels and wheel sets on sale.

There was nothing more to do about that problem for the rest of the day, so we turned our attention to the pressing and important matters of:

What Chef Patricia was preparing for dinner (Shrimp in Crazy Water), and
Fred’s basement band practice, to follow immediately after dinner.

The two other permanent members of Fred’s band, Chris and Scotty, soon appeared, joined by an auditioning drummer, Bob. We all took our places at the dinner table. To explain, Pat’s dinners are an important part of the compensation earned by members of Fred’s bands. Indeed, the food, drink, and inherent joy of music-making are often the only compensation, but they all seem quite ok with that.

This band has a long history of “hiring” a series of drummers with fatal defects of one sort or another, but they had auditioned a talented drummer the previous week, and the signs were favorable for Bob, as well. His social skills, general worldliness, sense of humor, and unpretentious knowledge of red wine impressed all of us even before the first impact of wood on skin in the basement.

Dinner was, of course, great. Afterward, the guys headed downstairs to get set up, and I broke out my laptop to see if anything important had appeared in my email during the day. Over the years, I have lost hearing ability (to the point that I now wear hearing aids to compensate for high frequency losses) and simultaneously have become hypersensitive to loud, live music. I was therefore a bit concerned about whether I would be able to deal with the practice session in comfort. Upstairs, the drums and bass seemed pretty loud, but even with my hearing aids, I couldn’t hear much of the vocals or guitar. After a while I decided to chance it and was pleasantly surprised. While I still couldn’t hear the vocals very well (probably because of the way the speakers were pointed), it sounded much better down there than it did upstairs, and I enjoyed being the entire audience. They were still at it when I finally headed up to bed.

We were at Old Town BIke Shop, Fred’s favorite local bike shop, when it opened on Friday morning. The young mechanic on duty proved to be very competent and he methodically worked his way around the front wheel. Pretty soon he had it both round, and very acceptably true, if not perfectly so. As expected, the rear wheel posed no problems and quickly joined its mate in a road-ready condition. The cost – just ten bucks, plus another five that I left as a tip. I felt like it was the bargain of the century. We headed back home to pack the truck for the drive into the mountains.

Ray has a luxo-cabin in Breckinridge, which is only a half-hour from the ride start at the Copper Mountain resort (familiar to many who ski in the Rockies). Colorado Springs, on the other hand, is almost three hours from Copper Mountain. Ray kindly put us up at for the night at the cabin, which was pretty damn good considering the ride’s early start time! We were joined by Ray’s delightful daughter Megan, who apparently has inherited her father’s athletic drive.

Ray was very keen on getting on the bikes by 6 so that we could be done before the typical afternoon rain. Ray did his packet pickup by mail, and Fred and I got our stuff in the afternoon after driving up, so we were at Copper and ready to ride right on schedule.

The temperature in the morning was probably in the mid-forties, but all of us wore plenty of layers, so the weather wasn’t a problem. It also helped that almost immediately we started the 12 mile climb up Fremont Pass, a gain of about 1,500 feet. Ray and Megan dropped us almost immediately, which wasn’t really saying much, given the speed I was going. I was determined to do the whole turtle, slow-but-steady thing, having been warned that the fun doesn’t REALLY begin until the final climb of the day. Fred was a good sport and stayed pretty close, stopping every so often to let me catch up. Meanwhile an endless river of riders, of all shapes and sizes, rode past me, including portly women and a handful of couples on tandems. There were something like 3,500 riders, though, so there were always plenty behind me as well as ahead. There were lots of aid stations along the way, but we passed up all but two, where we refreshed our water, got some snacks and I caught my breath. The ride profile tells the story pretty well:

There were only a handful of short, steep sections, but even a five percent grade can be a challenge when it continues for mile after mile. The beautiful scenery was a very pleasant distraction, but there were times when the only thing I had on my mind was turning the pedals over and over and over and over. It was pretty sobering to realize at mile 55 that almost 3,000 feet of climbing remained, and there were less than 20 miles in which to do it. Nonetheless, I am happy to report that while many of the people who passed us earlier were walking portions of that last climb, we continued to pedal our way to the top of Vail Pass.

Was it hard? Oh, yeah. Am I glad that I did it? Absolutely. The fact that I could do this many miles in the high, thin air, without acclimation and in relatively poor condition, gives me a great deal of confidence for next summer’s continuation of our cross country trip. That segment is going to start in Colorado Springs, make its way through the northern Colorado mountains and diagonally across Wyoming to Yellowstone. I can’t wait!

Villages Perches

2010-06-25T17:54:00.001-04:00

Our friends back home are going to be amazed that we could find ourselves completely satisfied – no, DELIGHTED with a ride of 12 miles, but we were. A bit of today’s ride was over roads we have travelled before, but most of it was not. We did a few kilometers on a beautiful little farm road close to our villa, then up to St. Didier before curving to the south and working our way up toward La Rocque sur-Pernes, Le Beaucet, and up to Venasque from the south. There was lots of steep climbing along the way. At the end of the ride we hung out in our home village of Venasque, exploring more than we had all week. It is a lovely little place and well worth visiting.

Although we have ridden relatively few miles this week, we have climbed like goats, enjoyed incredible scenery, weather, food, and friendship. It is hard to imagine a better week of vacation or of bicycling.

Tomorrow we will part ways with Fred and Pat. They will enjoy another couple of days in Provence, while Kathy and I drive north with the Katzmans, with a planned short stop in Burgundy, then on the Giverny (Monet’s garden) and Paris.

I will close this portion of the trip report with a short, tragic fable:

Jean-Fred and Juliette-Patrice were lovers in ancient times in the village of Venasque, France. One day Jean-Fred spotted some berry-like fruit that he did not recognize hanging from a tree in the garden. Known to be something of an impulsive young fellow with a taste for anything remotely resembling a grape, he plucked several berries, tossed them high in the air, caught them in his mouth, and gobbled them down.

He attempted to interest Juliette-Patrice in the berries, but she proclaimed that nothing would pass her lips that had not been featured at one time or another as the secret ingredient on Iron Chef. An hour later, poor Jean-Fred was not feeling so well. He staggered over to the town’s boulangerie where he bought and ate a piece of pie (pizza pie), but alas, he became even more ill and passed on to his next life as a digger of prehistoric artifacts in India. Juliette-Patrice, overwhelmed with sorrow, found herself back under the very fruit tree from which the deadly berries had been plucked. Only then did she see the warnings scattered nearby:

The moral of the story is that one should always check for dead birds prior to eating strange berries, no matter how sweet. (Important safety tip!) If you happen to ignore this advice, try mass quantities of pasta, fresh garlic, and wine. It seems to be an antidote.

Fontaine de Vaucluse, Take 3

2010-06-24T17:01:00.001-04:00

The intention today was to do a relatively short and less hilly ride – an out-and-back to the nearby town of Fontaine de Vaucluse, which Kathy and I have visited on both of our prior trips to Provence.

Well, the ride was SHORT, at least mileage-wise (45.8 km or 28.5 miles), but it most definitely was not FLAT.

Ride from Venasque to Fontaine…

Ride back to the villa in Venasque, using an alternate route we cooked up over lunch…

The second profile still may look pretty extreme, but it is a cake-walk by comparison to the first one. The last few kilometers of the second profile represent the climb up to our villa in Venasque. The road gains a bit less than 400 feet of altitude over a distance of 2.8 km. That works out to be about 4 to 5%, which, when it goes on for almost 3 km, might not be fun, exactly, but it is not too bad.

Anyway, back to Fontaine. This little village is noted for its prolific spring, which spews out a literal river (The Sorgue) of crystal clear water.

In spite of the fact that it is a popular tourist destination, I have always found the place to be charming. That beautiful little river makes up for the dozens of merchants selling souvenirs a few feet away. That’s true for me, at least. Kathy is sure that three visits is more than enough.

Tomorrow is our last full day here. Our plan is for just a short ride in the morning, as Fred and Pat’s bikes must be returned to the shop in Sault, and the rest of us must disassemble and pack our tandems. We are supposed to be out of the villa no later than 10 AM on Saturday.

We came to Provence, we saw Ventoux, and we KICKED ITS ASS!

2010-06-23T17:53:00.003-04:00

OK, perhaps there was no actual kicking involved, but we (Steve, Fred, and I) did climb to the very top and are exceptionally proud of ourselves.

Climbing the Ventoux was a great experience. It was most definitely a challenge, even from the “easy” Sault side.

The route has two distinctly different parts. From Sault to the Chalet Reynard restaurant is 20 km (12.5 miles) of what felt like a pretty constant five to seven percent grade through mostly wooded terrain. The approach from both Sault and Bedoin converge at the parking lot for the Chalet Reynard restaurant at 4,650 feet. From that point to the top (6,230 feet) you ride 6 km (3.7 miles) at a much steeper 9 or 10 percent grade, clinging to the edge of a barren, rocky “moonscape”.

All the way up the second part of the ride you have a demoralizing view of what appear to be endless, steep switchbacks. The white tower that marks the summit always seems so far up, and so far away. The photo below was taken about a mile from the top, so 70% of the steep section is already behind us. If you look carefully below the tower you can see the faint lines of the distant roadway angling up toward the peak.

The solution, for me at least, was to keep my eyes on the road immediately ahead and my mind on the slow, labored rotation of the pedals. From time to time we stopped for a brief rest, as when we reached the Tom Simpson memorial about a mile from the summit.

This photo reminds me that our Take-a-Look rear-view cycling mirrors were the subject of constant inquiry by Europeans who encountered us while riding and even while walking in the markets. Someone could clean up by marketing them over here.

Back on topic, the views from the top of the mountain are just breathtaking. The weather was absolutely perfect – sunny and clear, with temperatures about 80 in Sault and maybe 60 or so at the summit. The jacket in the picture below was preparation for the descent, and turned out to be just the right amount of protection.

The climb up from Sault took us 2 hours and 40 minutes of ride time, with another 39 minutes of rest, photo, and nature breaks. The trip back to Sault was, of course, much faster (1 hour and 2 minutes) and, at times, scarier. On the steep, upper portion, we had to carefully work our brakes to keep our speed under control while also keeping the brakes from overheating the rims. That was not a problem on the lower section, where we could brake to scrub off some speed going into the more severe turns, and otherwise just let the bikes go.

Some stats:

Entire ride: 32.4 miles, 3.7 hours, average speed 8.8 mph.
Ride up: average speed 6 mph.
Ride down: average speed 15.7 mph, including the climb back into Sault. The mountain descent portion of the ride back was right about 20 mph average, with a high speed of about 32.
Ascent: 3,800 feet, with almost continuous climbing for 16.2 miles.

On our arrival back at the villa in Venasque, our wives burst out of the house, cheering! Luckily, their confidence in us was not misplaced. It was a terrific welcome home.

Oh, if you are lucky enough to do this ride some time, and want to commemorate the event with a Mont Ventoux jersey, we found them for sale in the gift shop at the summit for 55 Euros. A couple of days earlier Steve had purchased a similar jersey in Bedoin for 60 Euros. I would have expected the prices to be higher on the mountain, but there you have it.

Provence, France: 2010

2010-06-22T17:42:00.001-04:00

Here it is, Tuesday June 22, technically the SIXTH(!) day of this trip, and my first chance to post. Let me see if I can catch up.

We left home on Thursday, June 17th, grabbed a quick visit with my parents, and got a ride to the airport from my sister, Claudia (thanks again!) We flew Swiss Air to Paris, via Zurich. Happily, we had no issue at all checking the bike in its pair of cases. (This trip is on our coupled, Co-Motion tandem.) The clerk barely glanced at the luggage. The most remarkable thing about the flight itself was the fact that the unfortunate young woman in the seat in front of us had an enormous, panting hulk overflowing the seat next to her. We talked to her after landing in Zurich and somehow she managed to take it all philosophically. It was painful to witness. I can’t imagine enduring it personally, but the plane was full, so I guess she had no option.

We arrived in Paris on Friday afternoon, caught a shuttle bus to the Marriott near the airport, caught our breath, went for a long walk, had some dinner, and went to sleep at around 9 or so. This jet-lag management approach has worked for us in the past, and did so again. We were functional on Saturday and fine on Sunday.

We took the wonderful TGV “bullet train” (a really great way to travel) from the airport station in Paris to Avignon, in the heart of Provence, arriving at 11:45 AM on Saturday. Fred was there, in a not-so-hard-to-spot Hawaiian shirt, waiting for us, and Steve and Debi were in the rental car in front of the station.

Fred and Pat followed us in their car to find lunch on our way to the villa we rented for the week in Venasque (some info here about Venasque), nestled in the hills at the base of Mt. Ventoux, the famous climb often included in the Tour de France. The villa’s caretaker, Laetitia, was there waiting for us when we arrived at around 2PM. She gave us the tour, collected our damage deposit, and left us to settle in. There is a beautiful view of the Ventoux from the villa.

Steve, Fred, and I then drove up to Albion Cycles in Sault to pick up rental bikes for Fred and Pat, and to reserve bikes for Steve and me to use for our planned Ventoux climb in the middle of the week. While we were doing that, the women drove to the nearby village of St. Didier to pick up some groceries.

Prior to leaving home, we had made plans to meet up with Gary and Lise of Adventure Travel Group on Sunday. Two thirds of our group have had the great pleasure of touring with Gary and Lise in the past. They are wonderful people and do a fantastic job with their bike tours. By coincidence they were going to be in the vicinity of our villa on Sunday and invited us to ride with them that day. In return, we offered to treat them to dinner. Unfortunately, Provence’s famous mistral was blowing on Sunday, with expected gusts up to 100 km per hour during the day. The end result was that we spent the day at the market in L’ Isle sur la Sorge and sightseeing in St. Remy de Provence instead of riding. Gary, Lise, and their tour riders were at the market as well (though we didn’t see them -- it was PACKED!). As it turned out, they went for a ride later in the day, but they got back too late and too tired to join us for dinner. We would have loved to have seen them again, but it was not to be.

By the time we got back to the villa, Steve was jonesing pretty badly for a ride, so he and Debi got on their bike for a quick ride down and back up the hill on the D4 that runs past our house. They declared the climb to be no big deal. It is, in fact, only a five percent climb, but it is two miles long!

Monday, we were determined to ride, mistral or no mistral. Before we left home I had adapted a ride from the first Provence bike trip that Kathy and I did back in 1999. I called it “Robbin’s Le Barroux Ride”, to give credit to the source, Robbin McKinney of Great Explorations. Robbin and his company provided our first and second experiences with bike touring in Provence. Gary and Lise were contract tour guides for Robbin when we did our second tour with his company in 2004, before they started their own Adventure Travel Group.

Our “Le Barroux” ride started at our door in Venasque, then went north toward Ventoux (absolutely MAGICAL views – see photo), through Malemorte, Mormoiron, Bedoin, over (the other?) Col de la Madeleine, Le Barroux, Caromb, and back to Venasque. The loop was about 34 miles, with 2,600 feet of climbing, and is now on my list of all-time favorite rides. It was challenging without being punishing (especially at our casual pace), and went through some of the most beautiful countryside you can imagine, as well as some of the prettiest little villages. We stopped for the market in Bedoin, which is a traditional Tour starting point for the ascent of Ventoux. Steve, in anticipation of a successful climb later in the week, bought himself a Mt. Ventoux jersey, not to mention some special undergarments.

That night we decided to dine in a Venasque restaurant and selected Les Rampartes. The food was good, they had a vegetarian menu, and the service was typically French and relaxed (our four course dinner lasted about two and a half hours), but the experience was marred by the very noisy environment, ramped up by a large table of birthday-celebrating Americans, including one or two screeching children, that were on the same dinner timetable as we. Their sound effects lasted for our entire time there. Too bad, really.

We had a hard time figuring out a ride for today. Last night and this morning, I worked up a route that included L'Abbaye de Sénanque, and the popular villages of Gordes and Fontaine de Vaucluse. I was unsure about the route, however, especially given our plans to do Ventoux tomorrow. We decided to do a recon by car to get a better feel for it. Initially I got turned around and directed poor Steve, our driver, in the completely wrong direction, but soon we were on the route, drove the whole thing, and got the needed info. Turns out that you can only go through on the road past the Abbey if you drive/ride south to north –- the opposite of our route. South of the Abbey the road is one way. There is an alternate road that runs parallel to it, though, so it was not a big problem, especially because the Abbey’s lavender field is not in good form at the moment anyway.

Back at the house, Fred suggested that we do something relatively less demanding so that we have reserve for the Ventoux ride tomorrow. Even Steve thought the idea had merit, so we settled on doing an out-and-back to Gordes, the first part of the ride I had worked up.

Leaving our villa, heading south on D4 for just a couple of kilometers, we turned onto the D177 toward Gordes. Almost immediately we were climbing through a rustically beautiful gorge for a couple more K. The climb continued with grades of 2 to 10% for about 7 K, gaining about 900 feet of altitude, cresting at the intersection with the road to the Abby. From that point it was mostly a descent into Gordes. We hung out there for maybe an hour, snacking on pastry, and in Fred’s case, “Pie. Pizza pie!” and enjoying the incredible view of the valley below.

The climb back out of Gordes seemed to go on forever, but we just put it in low and spun away. The ride back was a mirror image of the way out, so the last part through the gorge became a descent instead of a climb. The cost of a misjudgment could have been a free-fall into the gorge, especially given the narrow roads and switch-backs, so Kathy and I tempered our normal style, keeping our speed pretty low. In addition, something is going on with our front brakes (bump, bump, bump), so caution seemed extra-advisable. Although a short ride, it was physically and aesthetically satisfying. Everyone enjoyed it. We are now two for two with our rides.

The wind, by the way, has not been that much of a problem. It was blowing pretty strongly yesterday, but today was not too bad, and tomorrow the winds are forecast to be mild, which should be appreciated for our ride up the Giant of Provence.

St. Johns Tour: Final Day, Deltona to New Smyrna

2009-12-31T18:57:00.001-05:00

The original plan for the last day (12/29) was to work our way southeast to Titusville, then head north back to New Smyrna. That would have been close to 80 miles.

We woke to a sparkling clear day, but with temperatures in the 30’s and a forecast of north winds. I was pretty beat, and everyone agreed that a late start and a shorter route was a good idea. We therefore took the Maytown road east to the coast, 30 miles, had some lunch, then rode directly into the head-wind back to Harris’ house in New Smyrna.

It was cold, and I was tired, so whenever I could not hide in someone’s draft, I went at a slow, easy pace. At times Harris and Steve charged ahead; at other times they stayed pretty close. For the most part Fred rode with me. The ride turned out to be a shade over 46 miles, taking 3 hours and 25 minutes.

All in all, the trip was fun in spite of periods of challenging weather. We ate well and enjoyed each other’s company, had no bike or mechanical issues of consequence, and no injuries. In retrospect, it went a bit too smoothly for any really good stories, but sometimes that’s ok, too. I consider it a success in that I got Steve to come along, and he pronounced it fun and something he would consider doing again, given the right route.

Here are some more photos:

Above: Top of the bridge leaving Palatka, with Fred and Steve in the foreground, and me, breathing heavily, in the back. Harris is behind the camera.

Above: Me, Fred, and Steve at the turn north into the wind on the last day. I am thinking at this point, “OK, Harris, where the hell is the warm restaurant you promised me?” Turns out it was just a mile or so up the road, complete with life-saving mugs of hot chocolate.

This will be the last picture of my touring bike prior to sending it off to be retrofit with S&S couplers and repainted. Once I get it back I will be able to pack it into an airline-compatible suitcase for easy transport to and from remote tour locations, just the way we do with our tandem. Over several years that should end up saving money and adding considerable convenience.

[Once I get the photos from Fred and Steve, I’ll post the best of them here.]

St. John’s Mini-Tour Day Three: Palatka to Deltona

2009-12-28T22:25:00.001-05:00

My concerns about conditions today (both my condition and the weather conditions) turned out to be unnecessary.

At breakfast I warned my friends that I would have to stay within my comfort zone and therefore would probably fall behind almost immediately, and they should just go on without me, and I’d catch up at planned stops in Crescent City and Deleon Springs, and blah, blah, blah… Well, I was able to ride better than I expected, and they were content to ride a little slower, so in the end we rode together almost the entire way. That is, except for Harris, who had periodic attacks of second-childhood exuberance that put him out front by a quarter mile or so.

In addition, we actually had a tail-wind for the first 25 miles or so, and we had a good windbreak of vegetation to our right that shielded us from the west winds once they cranked up. By 11 AM or so the earlier “partly cloudy” turned into plain old “sunny” just as Weather Underground said it would. The difference that sunshine makes is most remarkable, especially after two days of riding in cloudy, not-quite-raining conditions.

Another thing that undoubtedly helped me is that I ate and drank regularly and amply throughout the day – before, during, and after the ride. Today’s ride was significantly longer than yesterdays, but seemed much easier and was far more enjoyable.

We met for post-shower drinks and dinner at 5:30 but didn’t head back to our rooms until four hours later! We had lots of fun and even took time for Harris’ powerpoint presentation regarding the old Spanish fort in New Smyrna. Fred sent back a couple of glasses of after-dinner wine that tasted like “swill” to him, even though our oh-so-tolerant waitress assured him that both glasses were from different, freshly opened bottles. Harris ultimately offered a theory about how seafood contains a protein that basically spoils red wine, at which point Fred decided to give a glass of white a shot. Bingo! All of the above was done in good spirits (pun only half-intended) and there was nobody left in the restaurant for us to annoy by that time anyway.

A couple of small downers today: I realized that somewhere along the way I lost a nice titanium earring that Kathy just gave me. Also, the Multiple Sclerosis rubber bracelet that I have been wearing constantly for the past four years finally gave way. I have more reason than ever to support MS research, services, and awareness, so I’ll definitely replace it.

We had our first minor road repair today, a flat tire offered up to the bicycling gods by Harris at the very end of the ride. Today’s mileage was 71.8, in about 5 hours, for an average speed of 14.4. We rode on some pretty roads that caused all of us to slow down and enjoy. On the other hand, the last bit was on busy 17-92 and Enterprise Blvd between Deland and Deltona, which nobody enjoyed. That said, we all had a great time today.

First flat: Five miles from our Deltona hotel

2009-12-28T21:53:00.000-05:00

Okay, okay, so maybe I should’ve trained!

2009-12-27T21:52:00.001-05:00

My three tour-mates are kicking my rear. I got through today, but it most definitely wasn’t easy. The final half-mile was the bridge over the St. Johns into Palatka, The three of them took off, attacking the climb for the fun of it, while the best I could do was search for a gear that would allow me to keep turning the pedals.

We left Flagler Beach, headed north on A1A at around 10 AM into a head wind of around 10 mph, gloomy skies, and chilly temperatures in the low 50’s. Those conditions held constant the whole way to St. Augustine --approximately 30 miles. Fred yelled, “Go Gators!” as we passed by the Alligator Farm tourist attraction in town. Any excuse. We stopped in town for a nice warm lunch, then bundled up for what we expected to be another 45 miles or so to Palatka, located to the southeast. This leg was definitely easier because there was no more head wind, but I was already bushed.

One truth I have discovered about bike touring is that weather conditions always trump scenery. As a result, we ended up taking a more direct route, ending up with 65 rather than the 75 miles on the planned route. I wasn’t about to complain!

When we arrived at the hotel, we found that the hotel’s bar and restaurant, both of which overlook the river, were closed. Given that they were the reason that Fred and I wanted to return to the Quality Inn, this was distressing news. We got a beer in a bar a couple of blocks from the hotel, then took a way-overpriced taxi ride to a restaurant near the OTHER hotel that Harris had originally set up for us. My brain is too addled to remember the name of the restaurant at the moment, but it seems to be the most recommended seafood place in Palatka. After dinner, we briskly walked the mile and a half back to the hotel. It was chilly, but not too cold. I am hoping that the walk may have served to loosen up my legs for tomorrow.

Tomorrow is now forecast to be strong (15 to 20, with gusts to 30!) west side-wind rather than the tail-wind that had been forecast for the past few days. This is potentially very bad news, especially for me and my already wasted legs. A side wind does not permit effective drafting of the rider in front of you unless there is no traffic so that you can use a technique called echelon. It is unlikely that we will have no traffic, so it may prove to be a very, very hard day.

Today was, by the way, 61.5 miles that took us 4 hours and 54 minutes (average speed, 13.3 mph). I didn’t take any photos. Steve took a few at the restaurant tonight, but I don’t have access to them right now.

St. Johns Mini Tour: Day 1

2009-12-26T22:27:00.000-05:00

We left Harris' house at around noon, as planned (surprise!!). It was cool, almost but not quite cool enough to request a stop to put on some warmer stuff. All of us were just wearing shorts and short sleeve jerseys. I assumed that I would warm up after a bit, but that did not actually happen -- at least not for me.

We stopped for lunch at an Irish pub in Daytona after about an hour on the road. Lunch was slow in coming, but pretty tasty.

Fred and I both put on light jackets before getting back on the bikes; Harris and Steve, being "real" men, or perhaps just insane, continued with bare arms and legs. After dinner I asked and both claimed that they were comfortable. Well, more power to 'em. Tomorrow will be similar to today, with some possibility of a little rain, so I plan to be dressed WARMLY.

Tonight we are at the world famous "Si, Como No" motel (see photo). All of us noticed the For Sale sign out front when we pulled up. I figured that was, literally, not a good sign, but we were immediately greeted by a pair of large, friendly dogs, and the proprietress was equally friendly and solicitous. Apparently this place is noted for welcoming visitors with pets. The rooms are clean and more than satisfactory.

Dinner was at The Turtle Shack Cafe. As usual, Fred found common ground with the staff, especially the manager, in approximately 30 seconds. Turns out they went to rival high schools in Miami back in the day. The manager was funny in that everything Fred said resulted in the promise of a surcharge to his bill. In the end, the bills were a bit of a fiasco, but not for that reason. Everything we ordered was on the bills, just not on the right bills. We got it sorted out and nobody went New York over it.

Oh, yes, today's stats: about 41.5 miles in 2 hours and 55 minutes. That comes to an average speed of a hair over 15 mph into a mild headwind. It looks like the wind will be out of the north for the entire trip, which will be great once we make the turn in St Augustine and head south. Tomorrow we do a full day -- somewhere between 75 and 80 miles. I hope my current lack of fitness won't be an issue. We'll see.

The first photo is the view from the bridge coming into Flagler Beach. The second one is our motel's sign.

Second Annual Mini-Tour - St. Johns Loop

2009-12-24T22:27:00.002-05:00

The day after Christmas, two days from now, Fred and I will embark on our second annual winter mini-tour. This time we will be accompanied by regular riding buddy Steve Katzman, and Harris Samuels, who, with his wife Debbi, often comes along with us for our tandem trips.

This trip is based on Bike Florida's St. Johns River-to-Sea Loop tour. We'll be doing it over three and a half days, starting at Harris' house in New Smyrna and heading north. Our plan is to go through St. Augustine, Palatka, Crescent City, Deltona, and Titusville before returning to New Smyrna. The weather outlook at this point is very favorable, with temperatures in the 50's and little chance of rain. Of course, this is Florida, so anything can happen.

Stay tuned for daily posts and photos!

Playbike Centerfold

2009-09-20T17:33:00.004-04:00

I was listening to the current episode of David Bernstein’s Fredcast podcast earlier today. It starts with an interview with the owner and chief engineer at Renovo Bikes. An hour later I had changed the wallpaper on my computer to a photo of a Renovo bicycle and had announced to Kathy that I had found my next bike!

Of course, that’s just lust talking. I have road and touring bikes that I like very much and that have many years of service left in them. Assuming our office Powerball pool is not going to pay off any time soon, I don’t see any new bikes for me in the foreseeable future. Nevertheless, if I were shopping for something now, there is no doubt that I would start at Renovo. After exploring the Renovo web site, check out this Social Biking blog entry about a Renovo test ride. There is a nice photo of the right and left halves of a Renovo frame before they are bonded together. There is also an interesting discussion of how the bottom bracket is handled on these bikes.

Based on the everything I have found on these bikes, the performance-oriented frames yield 16 to 20 pound road bikes that perform extremely well and feel great on the road. Not to mention that they are drop-dead gorgeous!

Hoosier Pass: August 23, 2009

2009-08-24T13:26:00.001-04:00

In spite of my best efforts to the contrary, yet again I was the last one ready to roll. At least I was only a couple of minutes behind the other guys this time. We left the cabin at 8:40, all three of us dressed for cooler riding.

When we reached the main road, we turned left toward Hoosier instead of right toward Breckenridge. Although the gradient was shallow, we were climbing immediately, and kept climbing all the way to the top of the pass. After about five miles we pulled off the road to remove our outerwear and take a good slug of water. From this point to the top, roughly four miles, the road would be significantly steeper, especially when going through the four switchbacks.

Back on the road, I told the others that I was going to take it as easy as possible, so they should not worry if I fell back. Fred immediately volunteered to stay with me. I found a satisfactory pace and, with the exception of one short stretch where I slowed down even more to take in a particularly pretty vista, we stayed close together for the rest of the climb. Based on my internal effort-meter I would estimate that the grade was between five and eight percent, though when we drove it later on the way back to Colorado Springs, it looked steeper than that. At about 11,000 feet my breathing, cadence, and effort fell into perfect equilibrium; I felt like I could keep going like that all day if I had to.

All too soon, Fred announced that we were about to do the final switchback. When we rounded the last curve, I still had plenty of energy. On impulse, I upshifted, got up and sprinted the last hundred yards or so. I swear it was not something planned, or intended to mess with Fred, but it took him by surprise. Of course, he responded in kind, and we hit the parking lot at the top at virtually the same time. I was winded from the effort, but once again, I recovered very quickly. I am still amazed at how much difference the interval training has made.

We lounged around up there for twenty minutes or so, chatting with another cyclist who was at the top when we arrived, and taking turns taking pictures for groups of tourists who were stopping for photo ops.

Hoosier Pass is 11,540 feet above sea level. I took some photos to insert right here, showing the view and the sign, but sometime between leaving Breckenridge and now (the next morning) I managed to lose the camera! I know I had it with me in the truck – we stopped to take a picture on the road while driving back. It is possible, I guess, that it was in my lap and fell out of the vehicle on one of our two stops on the way back to Fred’s house. It has a stuffback.com sticker on it, so perhaps I will still get it back. We’ll see. In the meantime, Fred has promised to send me the photos he took with his phone while we were up there. I’ll post them when they arrive.

Our Hoosier ride was 8.9 miles up and 8.9 miles back down, with 1,700 feet of climbing, almost all on the way up. Elapsed time was roughly 90 minutes. I greatly enjoyed the challenge of the climb, and Ray and I had a ball on the descent. Fred rode down very conservatively in accordance with a promise he made to his wife Pat. This weekend is the anniversary of her first husband’s death in a motorcycle accident, some 27 or so years ago.

So ends a fantastic weekend of cycling fun, laughs, amazing scenery, and delicious dinners (prepared by Pat, who loves cooking at least as much as I love cycling). I no longer have any anxiety about doing the mountains on our tour next summer, so the trip was, most definitely, a success.

(Fred sent me his photos. Here they are:)

Excellent cell phone coverage. Called Kathy and Steve to share my joy, and pass along a heartfelt “I wish you were here.”

Breckenridge to Vail Pass (and Back): Aug 22, 2009

2009-08-23T18:15:00.001-04:00

Before I get to today’s account, I want to share some dramatic views of the high plains as we drove from Colorado Springs to Breckenridge at sunset yesterday.

Fred says that you can frequently see buffalo and antelope grazing in the fields. We did not see any buffalo, but I believe that I saw a handful of antelope.

We arrived at Ray’s beautiful cabin in Breckenridge just before 9. It sits on a hillside just above the Blue River, which can be seen and heard through the trees behind the cabin. We sat around telling stories, drinking beer, and laughing until around midnight. It was great to see Ray again.

Here is the thermometer on the deck as it looked at 7AM this morning:

Actually, it did not feel that cold, but we had already decided to wait until 9 or so to leave. When we rolled out at around 9:15, it was already in the 60’s and none of us even bothered with arm warmers.

From Ray’s place, which is at about 9,800 feet, we coasted down a couple hundred feet to the town of Breckenridge. I followed the other guys through town to the starting point of the bike path that we would be taking all the way to Vail Pass (except for a little section in the Copper Mountain complex).

This being Saturday, the path had plenty of bikes, walkers, and runners on it. Given that we were not in any particular hurry, that was not really much of a problem. The first portion was downhill, and as a result, very easy. That was followed by a relatively flat middle section that continued until we got through the Copper Mountain area, at which point the path starts climbing and keeps going up until finishing with a short, steeper section right before arriving at Vail Pass.

Entrance to Copper Mountain, which was hosting a half-marathon today, adding to the traffic on the path:

Top of Vail Pass:

Trail-side mountain walls on the way back to Breckenridge:

As might be expected, a narrow, curvy trail with a great many users, combined with some downhill sections that invite faster speeds, inevitably results in accidents. Here we wait with other cyclists for an ambulance to come back down the path after picking up a casualty:

The guy in the center of the photo is an older, very fit, German rider. Fred and Ray got out in front of me right after this picture. I grabbed the German’s wheel and had a good deal of fun catching and passing my friends. After a little while, though, I started to feel my lack of high-altitude hemoglobin, and dropped back. By that time we were only five miles or so from Breckenridge. When we reached town I was pretty well wrung out. I settled into my lowest gear and slowly ground my way back up to the cabin, trailing Fred and Ray by several hundred yards.

All in all, I am very satisfied with how I did today, less than 48 hours after arriving in Colorado. I have not had headaches or any significant altitude-related issues, beyond feeling slightly out of breath. Obviously, I am unable to ride the way I do at sea level, but I did well enough. So far, it looks like it will be sufficient to fly out here a day or two before we start our tour next summer. Tomorrow we will ride up Hoosier Pass, which is almost 1,000 feet higher than Vail Pass and on our route on the second day of the tour next summer. Stay tuned!

Today we rode 48 miles in 3 hrs 42 minutes on the bike (average speed just under 13 mph) and climbed 2400 feet.

Greetings from Colorado Springs

2009-08-21T18:43:00.001-04:00

After my arrival yesterday, I went to work on Fred’s mountain bike, switching tires, pedals, seat, and seat height. Uh, oh. At full extension, the seat was still about 3 cm too low for me. We hopped in the car and headed to Fred’s favorite bike shop, Old Town Bike Shop in Colorado Springs. The kind folks there searched around and came up with a suitable seat post, but the price was about $54. Adding that to the money I spent on tires and tubes, the total would be more than what Criterium (another bike shop in town) had quoted me a couple of months ago for renting a nice Specialized Roubaix Elite for the three days here. We called, and they still had one available in my size. I decided that’s what I would prefer. I’ll send the tires and tubes back to Performance when I get back to Florida. We jumped back into the truck and headed down the street to the other shop to pick up the Roubaix.

This morning I got the bike set up and we headed out for a short ride. After a few miles warming up, we headed up to the Zoo, one of Fred’s favored training rides because it is close to his house and offers a challenging climb. Given the new bike which is not geared as low as my triple crank bikes at home (this model features a compact crank and an 11- 28 SRAM cassette), and my cautions regarding altitude, I took it easy. The climb is approximately a half-mile with an altitude gain of around 300 feet. Theoretically that should be harder than Sugarloaf back home, but I found it significantly easier. I am guessing that it probably is a constant eight percent or so for the entire distance. By contrast, Sugarloaf’s center section is 10 to 13 percent, but has a less severe grade at the bottom and top. Below is a shot in the parking lot at the top of the climb up to the zoo. The enclosure in the center is the Orangutan habitat.

Looking the other direction, you can see down to town, where we started. Kansas and the American Great Plains are on the horizon. Colorado Springs sits right at the Eastern edge of the Rockies. Look East and it is flat; look West and the jagged peaks of the Rocky Mountains are RIGHT THERE!

After admiring the view, I told Fred that I was feeling fine. “I feel good. Let’s do the real climb.” The optional climb on this jaunt was Old Stage Road, which my Delorme Topo maps at home showed with grades over 30%. Fred is in good shape, but I could not believe that the grade could be anything like 30%. I figured it might be 20% though, and I wanted to have a look for myself. Stage is actually a spur off the road we had just taken. We glided down to the turn-off, geared back down, and started grinding up the road. No question that it was steeper than the climb we had just done, and perhaps longer. Fred figured that it climbs about 100 feet more, in about the same distance. I did not have any way to measure the grade accurately, but based on effort, I don’t think it was more than 15%. I was a bit winded at the top, but not badly, and my pulse and breathing were back to normal very quickly. I was very pleased, to put it mildly. Fred says that Hoosier Pass has nothing that is any worse than the climb up Old Stage Road, so my only concern is, of course, the altitude.

Today we rode 15 miles, with 1300 feet of climbing – a nice prelude to the remainder of the weekend.

Fred will be back from his meeting at the University in 90 minutes or so, at which time we will drive up to Breckinridge. Tomorrow we are planning to do a 50 mile ride including Vail Pass!

Here are a few more photos from Colorado Springs:

Away and Up, Up

2009-08-16T23:00:00.001-04:00

Thursday morning I leave for a weekend of riding in the thin, thin air of the Colorado mountains. I’ll spend Thursday night at Fred’s house in Colorado Springs. On Friday night we’ll drive up to Breckinridge, where Ray (of Tour de Fred fame) and his wife, Jeanne, have a very nice place.

The plan is for Fred, Ray, and me to ride from there to Vail (10,600 feet) and back on Saturday. That’s approximately 50 miles and purported to be one of the most beautiful rides in the universe. I plan to take plenty of photos. On Sunday, assuming I am able to handle the altitude, we will ride up Hoosier Pass, 11,500 feet (!!!).

I’ll be on a borrowed mountain bike, so I’ll have the gearing to go as slowly as I want/need. I am in optimal condition, but the altitude is still a big question mark. I am VERY excited about this little trip!

Accidental Horrible Hundred Preview

2009-08-08T12:22:00.002-04:00

Every year in November our bicycle club, The Florida Freewheelers, puts on a great ride called the Horrible Hundred, offering a challenging collection of the Central Florida hills near our home in Clermont. There are generally three route options, ranging from 35 to 105 miles. Shortly after Kathy and I got our first tandem back in 1999, we did the short route, which was about all we could handle at the time. In the five or six years after that, I rode the 70 or 100 mile route every year on my road bike. Since that time Kathy and I have been managing one of the rest stops for the event rather than riding.

Yesterday we met Steve and Debi Katzman for what we expected to be an easy 30 to 35 mile ride. Instead, we let Tom Bargnesi, the Horrible Hundred event director for 2009, talk us into doing a test ride of the 35 mile route, which incorporates a couple of new route changes. Off we went, our two tandems and three very strong guys on singles. Consistent with our last two weekend rides, Kathy and I rode a brisk pace on the flats and handled all the climbs without any difficulty at all. We may be ten years older than the last time we rode this route on tandem, but we found it to be a great deal easier. I would stop short of calling it an easy ride, but it certainly was not very hard.

We are, without doubt, suddenly riding on a different level than we have for the past ten years. It is very, very nice to be able to do these rides, stay with the group, even on hills, and not feel totally wasted at the end.

Crank Phase Change Followup

2009-08-01T19:10:00.002-04:00

We have done two “regular” rides now on the tandem after configuring the cranks in phase (front and back pedals fully sychronized). IP = “In Phase”; OOP = “Out Of Phase”. For most of the past ten years we have ridden in various OOP configurations, mostly 90 degrees out of phase, in order to provide some power to the drive train pretty much all the time. Note that more than 90% of tandem bikes are set up with the pedals IP.

It has been shown that even pros, the riders with the smoothest pedal strokes, still provide most power to the pedal on the down-stroke. Pedaling circles is certainly helpful, but nobody can pull up with the same force as they push down.

Now, when you have two people turning the cranks, as you do on a tandem, the theory is that with the cranks in phase, you end up with an exaggerated surge twice each revolution (right leg, left leg). The last time Kathy and I tried IP, we tried to pedal up our first hill while standing on the pedals, and experienced this surge big-time. By the time we reached the top of the hill, we both wanted to immediately change back to OOP.

In a recent post I explained that we decided to give IP a serious trial because an initial test resulted in much decreased upper body movement for Kathy. We were concerned that her rocking back and forth was exacerbating lower back pain she was experiencing.

On our two rides since going back to IP, we have found ourselves riding significantly faster. During this same period of time, I have been training hard, but I cannot believe that I suddenly became so much stronger; it has to be the phase change. I am very surprised, and can’t quite explain it, but there it is.

Tandem Tour 2009 Is a Wrap

2009-07-19T00:07:00.001-04:00

Friday we did our final ride of the trip, a 32 mile roller-coaster loop to the north and west of Monticello. It was a pretty ride – all our rides in North Florida have been – but the humidity the last couple of days has been off the scale, so even a short ride like this one left us pretty wrung out.

I forgot to mention: toward the end of Thursday’s ride, Kathy decided to see if setting our pedals in phase, the way most tandems are configured, might help control her rocking upper body. Steve and I were both skeptical, but lo and behold, it really seemed to have a significant effect! Friday we did the entire ride with the pedals in phase and it really seemed to help. On the other hand, standing is more difficult for us with the in-phase setup, so we will have to unlearn/relearn our standing technique. We are committed to staying in phase for at least a couple of months to give it a fair try. At the end of that test period, we will weigh the pros and cons and decide to stay IP or return to OOP, as we have been for the past nine years or so.

Well, we are now back home after another fine bike vacation. Both locations, Apalachicola and Monticello, have unique attractions for cyclists. The contrast between the two is quite dramatic, so it made for a week that had it all. Either place might have gotten old if we had stayed an entire week, but a half-week in each location worked out perfectly.

After a day of relaxing (if you can call two and a half acres of mowing relaxation) I will begin several weeks of serious training for my next bike event: a long August weekend climbing high mountains with Fred in Colorado. That will be an entirely new experience for me. I am looking forward to it.

The Spoke Curse Strikes Again

2009-07-16T21:47:00.001-04:00

After a great breakfast at our wonderful B&B (Avera-Clarke House in Monticello), we set out for what we expected to be a 40-ish mile loop ride up toward Quitman, Georgia. It turned out to be a 49 miler, the last hour or so being too hot for comfort. I was pretty much wrung out by the time we finished up.

Maybe eight miles or so into the ride, I decided to drop back to see if maybe Steve and Debi were having a problem holding air in their rear tire. (They had a flat on yesterday’s ride and the tire was flat again this morning.) They were lagging way back, and Kathy and I were not riding hard. Something had to be wrong. As soon as we fell in behind them, it was obvious that they had a problem with the rear wheel; it was way out of true. Steve quickly identified the problem as a bad spoke. It was not broken, however. This time it was the nipple that had cracked! In short order, he did a great job of securing the spoke and truing the wheel. In my opinion it ended up more true than many intact wheels I have seen. There were no further problems and we completed the ride without further incident.

After lunch at a little coffee place called Starducks (really), Steve repaired the wheel. Below he re-inflates the tire after the repair. The location pictured is the breakfast room of our B&B.

Dinner tonight at Three Sisters was our best in Monticello.

In our down-time I have been reading Ghost Trails by Jill Homer, available through Lulu.com in either paper or ebook form, about her adventure riding her bike in the Iditirod in 2008. I found this 188 page account to be very compelling and I highly recommend it. She also has a blog here on blogspot called “Up in Alaska”. You can also find Jill’s book, and the Kindle version, on Amazon.

Wacissa Spring Loop

2009-07-15T21:42:00.001-04:00

Kathy was back on the bike today for a 42 mile loop south from Monticello to Wacissa Spring. This was a real nice rural route with rolling terrain and lots of five to eight percent grades. At the end of the ride, she felt pretty good. In fact, her back felt better than it did yesterday, when she did not ride at all.

A couple of days ago Steve pointed out that Kathy has a great deal of motion in her upper body and wondered if maybe that was contributing to her back troubles. It seems a bit unlikely, as that is a pretty established habit and she does not normally have back pain after riding. At best, however, it is wasted energy that we would like to put to better use, so today we made some adjustments to her position to try to minimize the extra movement. Nothing we did made much of a difference, however. We’ll try a couple of other things over the next few days, but we may well go for a professional bike fitting for her after we get home.

Wacissa Spring itself was beautiful. We spent 30 minutes or so admiring the crystal-clear water and pretty setting. There was a group of young girls swinging from a tree or jumping from a high platform into the spring. Apparently the water over there must have been pretty deep, because nobody got hurt and they seemed to be having a great time.

We had a delicious, if not ample, lunch at Tupelo’s Cafe on our way back from our ride. Later in the afternoon we toured the two Dollar Stores in town, a bike tour tradition. The best deal, hands down, was a Steve Martin DVD that featured a photo of Steve and a dog on a tandem bicycle on its cover. The Katzmans paid 50 cents for it!

In keeping with the bargain theme of the day, we gobbled down two 18 inch pizzas for $18 at the pizza place in town. This was certainly our least expensive dinner of the trip, but it was pretty good.

Leaving Antalachicola

2009-07-14T22:46:00.001-04:00

As expected, yesterday Kathy was in too much discomfort to ride. Instead, we (Kathy and I) spent the day at CVS, the massage therapist, and in the car traveling to and fro a bedding store in Panama City where we bought a memory foam mattress topper. When we got back, the remaining three couples (Linda and Neil having already left for home) had dinner at Up the Creek Raw Bar, which is the place at which we ate on last year’s stay in Apalach. Was just as good this time around.

Today she woke feeling much better, but still not ready to ride. Debi was ready for a day off, so Steve and I went out for a fast 27 miles on the Katzmans’ tandem. The rear compartment is pretty cramped for me, but I was able to hang in there for the short ride. With the two of us on board we clipped along at 20 to 25 mph for virtually the entire ride.

I’ve neglected to mention that, at least currently, Apalachicola is overrun with ants. Everywhere you look there are huge armies of six-legged soldiers on the move. They are inside, outside, in the bathroom, in the dresser, in the streets, in the grass, in the gardens, on the trees, and IN THE CAR!!!

Today we left Apalachicola for phase two of our trip. When we arrived in Monticello, Florida, about 120 miles northeast, we got out of the car… and Debi cried out in horror! Around every door seal of the van there were thousands upon thousands of Apalachicola ants rushing back and forth! We were in front of a supermarket, so we hustled inside and bought a can of insecticide. Steve assumed the role of Terminator and systematically drenched all visible ants and all the door seals. When we got back into the car all four of us were swatting and scratching at now-imaginary ants.

Steve makes the traditional Victory salute.

We Swerve For Gators

2009-07-13T20:25:00.002-04:00

Sunday, July 12

Today we rode a loop from Apalachicola to Port St. Joe and back. For whatever reason we ended up riding the 53 miles at a pretty brisk pace, right up to the time that Kathy’s back went from aching to spasm. She seems to be a bit better now and claims that she’ll be able to ride in the morning. We’ll see.

Highway 98 outside of Apalachicola

Highway 30A along the coast

We were on the road shortly after 8AM as planned. We headed west on 98 then took the long way to Port St. Joe on 30A. Route 98 has nice wide shoulders but 30 has none at all. It hardly mattered because there was barely any traffic until we got close to Port St. Joe… unless you count the five foot alligator who was cutting a perpendicular path across our lane of the highway as our train approached. It was pretty funny to see him suddenly switch into reverse and start backing up into the grass. Kathy and I were at the front, but word from the rear was that our prehistoric friend was hissing at them by the time the last bike went by. Linda was careful to point out to Neil that there would be no stopping to fix any flats if they were to get one! (I wish we had gotten some photos, or even better, some video.)

The plan was to find a cafe or little local place in Port St. Joe to take a break and get something to eat. We didn’t factor in the fact that it is Sunday and Port St. Joe does not have the tourist orientation of Apalachicola. The only places that were open were McDonalds and Burger King. Now, you would have to look pretty hard to find a group of eight people who are more antagonistic toward fast food that this one, so this was not a happy turn of events. In desperation, however, we pulled into Burger King. Harris was first into the buiding, but emerged quickly, declaring that the interior literally smelled like shit and that he could not eat in that environment. The others who had gone in followed shortly thereafter, and we moved next door to a convenient convenience store, where we took a short break.

Back on the bikes, we picked up where we left off, heading back to Apalachicola at around 18 mph – a straight shot on Highway 98. Just outside of town we stopped for lunch at the Red Top Cafe, across from the Best Western where the Tour de Fred crew spent the night last year. Once inside I remembered that I had found the food to be just fair and expensive. I will say that they are consistent, as this year the food remained just fair and expensive. So far it has been the only meal we have had that was not very good or better. I should be more positive than that. The food in the restaurants in town has been remarkable in taste and creativity. Everyone has been very happy with their meals.

By the end of lunch, Kathy’s back was significantly worse. Earlier, Neil had passed on lunch and had ridden back to the house, promising to return in the car to pick up Linda. Kathy caught a ride back to the house with them and I rode back solo.

Tonight we had dinner at the pub in the Gibson Inn. We had a great waiter/screenplay writer, and wonderful food (again), this time along a primarily Japanese theme. Most of our group had sushi-style dishes of one sort or another, but I opted for a goat cheese and carmelized onion “pizza” and garlic fries. The fries were good, but the pizza, which was more like a round flatbread kind of thing, was really excellent. Many of us finished the meal with ginger ice cream, also wonderful. To top it off, it was very reasonably priced.

On the short walk back to the house, Kathy was clearly uncomfortable, so I am prepared to forgo riding in the morning if it should be necessary. Tomorrow we are planning to go back to St. George Island. We enjoyed that ride and want to share it with the Samuels.

Apalachicola: Day 1

2009-07-12T20:23:00.001-04:00

Saturday, July 11

We arrived at around 7:30 last evening at the Raney Guest Cottage, where we are staying here in Apalachicola. It is a charming two bedroom house that we are sharing with our friends Steve and Debi Katzman. It is just a block from the downtown area where all the shops and restaurants are located, and two blocks from the river.

[Unfortunately, there is no internet here in the cottage, so my entries here will probably be posted a day late.]

We attempted to have dinner at The Seafood Grill, but all we got there was attitude in lieu of a table and food. We finally gave up and went a block away to That Place in Appalach, which was very good. I had by first taste of Sweetwater Blue beer, from a microbrewery in Atlanta, and enjoyed it very much. Then I enjoyed a second bottle very much.

(Last year Fred, Ray, Mike and I overnighted here during the Tour de Fred. We ate at Up the Creek Raw Bar, a few blocks from here. Fred and Ray enjoyed dozens of fresh-off-the- boat oysters there, but we did not explore the town to any significant degree. It still made an impression, though, so I suggested we do a few days of tandem touring here this year.)

As usual, I had trouble getting to sleep last night, so I finally took an antihistamine, which did the trick and then some. Kathy had to pull me out of bed around 7am. She had the opposite problem, falling asleep easily, but waking early. By the time I started moving around, she had already prepared coffee and oatmeal. I finally shook out the mental fog after about 20 minutes and swallowing a large cup of coffee.

We had hoped to be riding by 8, but actually rolled at around 8:30, which wasn’t too bad, considering we had to put the front sections back on the tandems, reconnect the cables, pump tires, etc. (Both tandems have S&S couplers to break down the frames for travel. By removing the front section of each bike we are able to put both tandems, plus four people and all our luggage in the back of the van. It works really well.)

Our destination for the day was St. George Island, about 11 miles from Apalachicola. Of the 11 miles, approximately 9 are on long bridges! We had a little headwind on the way out, so we were not going very fast. The island has one main road that runs the length of the public part of the island. There is a nice bike path that runs right alongside it, except within the state park on the eastern end. We rode the path as far as we could to the west, about three miles, then doubled back and went all the way to east, and into the park. The park is all sand dunes, sea oats, and bird sactuary. A good deal of it is marked as nesting area, with signs warning people to stay out. It was really very nice. A slight overcast and the breeze, which continued to freshen, kept it quite comfortable.

View from one of the bridges between Apalachicola and St George Island.

Steve and Debi riding along the dunes in the St George State Park.

Once we turned around, the wind was behind us, so we suddenly found ourselves going 19 or 20 mph with little or no effort. In no time we were back at the main intersection with the road back across the bridges. We stopped for lunch at Harry A’s on St. George. The food was good, and there was a musician playing excellent light jazz arrangements of familiar tunes while we enjoyed our meal. There were only a few occupied tables, so we made a point of clapping. It seemed like he was playing mostly for his own enjoyment, though, and would have played just as well if there were no people there at all.

A few of the many beach houses on the Gulf side of St. George Island. Our tax dollars subsidize the insurance on these homes that are regularly destoyed by hurricanes.

St George Lighthouse

Harry A’s features a very large menu.

We were blown back into Apalachicola in no time. After getting cleaned up and resting a little bit we headed into town to do some more exploring. Actually the exploring was done primarily by Kathy and Debi. Steve and I located a shady spot, poached some wi-fi bandwidth to check our email, then sipped a couple of beers and talked for a while before wandering into a book store, where we located our women-folk. Kathy presented me with a carved wood figurine in memory of the successful Pirate Tour.

Complete with peg-leg and hand-hook

Our friends Linda and Neil Samuels and Debbi and Harris Samuels (who put us up the second night of the Tour de Seth/Pirate Tour) decided to join us for a few days of this trip and showed up this afternoon. They are staying next door at the House of Tartts. We all had dinner together tonight at Veranda’s. Another wonderful meal. Very creative menu, and our server, Rick, did a terrific job. I tried another microbrew, this one called Orange Blossom Pilsner, which was very bland. I followed up with Abita Turbodog from Louisiana, one of my favorites – a very tasty dark beer that I discovered last year on the Tour de Fred.

Yield for Tractors

2009-06-20T15:00:00.001-04:00

It’s funny the kind of stuff you miss once it is gone. Just up the hill from our house is Cherry Lake Road, a favored weekday ride, or part thereof, as it includes nice scenery, very little traffic, and rollers that make for modest climbs that allow you to feel like you are not a total slacker, but aren’t real challenging either.

At any rate, I have been going up and down Cherry Lake Road ever since I started riding again about ten years ago. I would estimate that I have done that ride at least a couple hundred times. Although I don’t think I ever said anything about it to Kathy or any of my riding buddies, a special feature of the road on the return trip back home was a mysterious five foot groove in the surface, parallel to the direction of travel, on the right third of the lane, and just wide enough to trap a standard 23 mm road tire. Mind you, I have never heard of anyone catching a tire in it or taking a spill on its account, nor have I noticed any blood stains or helmet fragments in the area, but long ago I took careful note of its location (at the bottom of the hill, just before the tractor caution sign as you approach the tree farm offices) and I have always taken due care to avoid getting too close to it. As with venomous snakes and spiders, as long as you give these road menaces a respectful amount of space they won’t hurt you.

Well, when I wasn’t watching, the county slipped in and re-surfaced most of Cherry Lake Road, burying the groove under a few inches of fresh asphalt! Who would have thought that anyone would miss a potentially murderous road hazard? I have to admit that I do. It contributed to the road’s unique character. Cherry Lake Road is now a blemish-free, fast-rolling ribbon of smooth blackness, with crisp yellow center lines, like so many others. It will be a good match for the subdivision that will replace the lovely tree farm once the economy picks up. Ah, well…

Speaking of venomous snakes, last weekend we visited the Reptile World Serpentarium near Kissimmee. The facility is supported by the sale of venom milked from many, many common and exotic poisonous snakes on the premises. Worth the trip!

A Pirate’s Retrospective

2009-06-12T21:24:00.001-04:00

Here’s the final GPS track of the 590 mile Gainesville to Key West tour:

I had a great time, even with the wheel problems, the heat, the headwinds, and what was mostly an unpleasant route. A further note on the last of these. The route from Gainesville to Palatka and on to New Smyrna, and the first couple of hours from New Smyrna toward Palm Bay were delightful. With the exception of some brief interludes here and there (including a magical morning riding A1A in the rain from Boca to Fort Lauderdale), the rest of the way to Key West left a good deal to be desired. Mostly it was on high traffic roads. Although I never felt particularly unsafe, the constant sound of cars passing by, and the need for heightened awareness and vigilance in those conditions, was quite fatiguing. Admittedly, if we had been willing to take a longer route we would have spent more time on A1A and less on US1, making some sections a bit more pleasant, perhaps.

The bottom line, however, is that I would not recommend riding the lower East Coast of Florida if other tour options are available. As an example, in a few weeks Kathy and I will join several other tandem-riding couples for a week of riding in the area around Apalachicola and Monticello in North Florida. Between the two, they represent wonderful options for rural, Florida riding. The former offers the Gulf waters, beach, and quaint fishing towns; the latter offers beautiful, rolling, wooded terrain with lots of canopied country roads. I am very much looking forward to it.

Fred and I have already started thinking and talking about the mountains waiting for us early next summer! It is sure to be another adventure, and quite different from the past two tours. Ray, our companion on the Tour de Fred (Little Rock to Gainesville), has already promised to rejoin us. It will be great to have him back!

I have been off the bike since last Saturday. Tomorrow morning we’ll be back on the tandem doing one of our regular local rides with our friends Steve and Debi. It was fun being away on an adventure, but it also makes me appreciate all the more the “regular” activities, people, and comforts of home.

Marathon to Key West

2009-06-06T22:31:00.001-04:00

Ride Statistics
Distance: 55.3 miles
Duration: 4 hrs 44 mins
Average speed: 11.7 mph

I started the day by being startled awake by Fred’s pounding on the door at 6AM. There he was, in my doorway, with his (Kathy’s) bike in hand, telling me about how he found his tire flat this morning. Gradually my wits began to assemble into a useful pattern, and we quickly got the flat repaired. Fred went back to his room to finish getting ready and I did the same. We were on the road by 7:15, headed for Seven Mile Bridge, a mile or so south. In spite of overnight thunderstorms, the sky was clear.

Even before we got to the bridge, it was obvious that we were not going to enjoy the relatively still early morning air of the previous day. In fact, with the exception of maybe 15 minutes, we rode into a stiff head or side wind, which is why our average speed was so low today. In addition, I was being particularly gentle with my rear wheel in hopes of avoiding yet another broken spoke. There were no rapid accelerations or exaggerated rocking of the bike when I stood to give my rear end a break. Whether for this reason or just plain luck, the wheel held up and there were no additional incidents today, thank heaven.

Both of us got to see our first Key Deer! There were two of the little guys standing in the open just as we crossed onto the island set aside for their preservation.

When we finally reached our hotel, some 17 miles north of Key West, we checked in so that we would be able to leave our baggage behind while we completed the ride to our destination. Riding into the wind was hard enough without the extra weight and wind resistance of the panniers, though, to tell the truth, neither of us felt a huge difference without them.

When we got into Key West we stopped for a photo:

… then we headed toward the airport, which is where we thought the car rental company was. Turns out they are on the other side of the island, so we continued down US1 to get a photo at mile marker zero:

That done, I programmed the address of the car rental place into the GPS and off we went. For once, it took us exactly where we wanted to go, without any extra side trips. As we made our way through downtown, neither of us saw anything that we particularly wanted to checkout later. We loaded the bikes in the rental car and headed back to our hotel on Sugarloaf Key.

Fred owns a lot on Sugarloaf on which he may or may not ever build a house. He has therefore visited the Key several times, stayed at our current hotel, and eaten at a nearby restaurant called Mangrove Mama’s. After cleaning up and changing into civilian clothes, we headed to the latter for lunch. Fred had a fried grouper sandwich, that he declared to be “the best sandwich I have ever eaten.” I had a salad topped with perfectly seared slabs of yellowfin tuna, which might just have been “the best salad I have ever eaten.” It was really, really good.

So, the Tour de Seth, aka the Pirate Tour, comes to a conclusion. It met all my expectations, including lots of laughter and my hope to have just enough adventure/adversity to make it unique and memorable without anyone getting hurt. (I do have some mysterious scratches on the outside of my right leg that Fred believes will result in some righteous scars, but I am guessing there will be no trace of them in a few months.)

We rode 590.5 miles and spent 41.92 hours in the saddle over the course of nine days. Including last year’s Tour de Fred, we have now covered approximately 1,800 miles of our goal to ride from one side of the US to the other (and then some). Our current plan is to continue next year with the Mountain Goat Tour of the Rockies, riding half of the 1,600 miles between Colorado Springs and San Francisco. We’ll finish that section in 2011, then do the final, middle section (Colorado Springs to Little Rock) in 2012. The whole thing will be something like 4,600 miles when we are done.

I had a vivid fantasy as we started across the bridge into Key West this afternoon: It is 2012 and Fred and I wheel up to the Comfort Inn at the airport in Little Rock. We enter the lobby and find Cathy, the wonderful clerk who helped us get this thing started by bending the rules to accept our shipped bikes, standing at the desk to welcome us at the end of the long road. Stranger things have happened.

Fred Says: I was imagining ahead of time, back in Colorado, all the wonderful bridges we’d cross and all the clear water. Surprise! 7 mile bridge was a bear! The water was white capped and often murky. But at many points, the water was wonderfully clear, and I saw another bigger shark cruising the shallows. It was at least 5 or 6 ft long. Seemed to be another bull shark. I’ve been to Key West a bunch, even recently, and it’s lost its soul. Just crazy crowded touristas, me included, so I had no desire to stay and go to Jimmy Buffet’s bar. Even Jimmy Buffet in his prime, way back when, would NEVER have gone to a bar like that. There are no dives left. At $2 million a commercial building, who can afford a dive? I did get to visit my property with 200 ft of water on the corner of two canals. It’s a real jungle with Australian pines and Jamaican poison pepper trees. I did get jabbed, cut, and bit but it’s a pirate’s tour …. arrghhh. But all the anticipation, planning, preparing, training, and riding is now over. It was great, tough, and manly (personly?). It was a great adventure. And probably the best thing is, it continues. We’re already talking about next year and the Colorado mountains.

Key Largo to Marathon

2009-06-05T22:19:00.002-04:00

Ride Stats
Distance: 57.3 miles
Duration: 4 hrs 29 mins
Avg Speed: 12.8 mph
Temp: low 75; average 86; high 128 (probably when bikes were sitting out in the sun while we were eating the first of the “worst sandwiches in the world.”)

Today’s ride followed an annoyingly familiar, though not unexpected pattern: headwinds and wheel trouble. We did not, however, spend the day dodging thunderstorms, as predicted by last night’s Weather Channel forecast. It was clear and hot all day.

We left Key Largo at 7 at a good pace, covering 32 miles in the first two hours. We expected to stop within those first two hours for a hearty, sit-down breakfast. Our best hope for that was the Little Italy restaurant south of Islamorada, but when we pulled up in front, we found it closed for remodeling. We stopped for some emergency rations but continued to look for something better. We never found it. Yours truly tends to get a wee bit cranky when hot, tired, and deprived of breakfast.

When I broke yet another spoke at about 42 miles of our 50 mile ride, I just stopped, removed the broken spoke and got back on the bike. There was nowhere to attempt a roadside repair in any comfort, and I figured the rim was already so screwed up that it wasn’t worth the effort. We finally got into Marathon and found a place to cool off, and get some cold liquid and a lunch of sorts, though Fred declared his to be “the worst sandwich I have ever tasted.” I had the same thing, but I didn’t think it was that terrible.

While at the restaurant, we got directions to a bike shop approximately 60 blocks down the road that might be able to help with the wheel. We had no trouble finding it, and after a bit of stalling, the fellow minding the store decided to help us. I wasn’t very impressed with his approach to the task and sure enough, I noticed later that he did not lace the new spoke correctly. I called my bicycle authority, Steve Katzman, who offered the opinion that it was not worth trying to correct the error for the one short ride I had left. If the wheel is going to fail again, it will do so whether or not I go to the trouble to fix the spoke. I am not at all keen on doing Seven Mile Bridge with the compromised wheel, but I don’t really have much choice. If they had had a wheel of the proper size at the shop, I would have rented or even purchased it, but they did not. The best shop in the keys is, of course, about 15 miles from here, on the other side of the big bridge. If we make it that far, we’ll just keep going. I do have a plan B, which is that Fred would finish the ride by himself, pick up the van in Key West, and come back to get me. I hope it won’t come to that!

I mentioned earlier that Fred had his worst sandwich ever at this little place when we first got to Marathon. Well, that was only until he took a taste of the Cuban sandwich he ordered at the restaurant across the street from our hotel, The Blue Waters Resort. After one bite he traded it in for some black beans and rice. At the moment he is out behind the hotel trying to catch some fish. The proprietress hooked him up with bait and a proper fishing rod and reel, but when I last checked he was not having any luck. Earlier this afternoon we watched as pelicans, terns, and a big tarpon shared the bounty as a couple of fisherman cleaned and filleted the day’s catch and tossed the refuse into the water.

Egret watching closely from a safe perch:

Below is a photo of the back of hotel. Almost everyone here is here to fish. From what I gather, a good number of them come back to this hotel regularly. This place really takes me back to Krieger family trips to the keys.

Oh, Jim will like this: I finally saw another touring cyclist, the only one I’ve seen so far. He was riding a recumbent trike! From where I was standing, it looked like he had some kind of mask across his face. Maybe a shield to protect him from flying road debris! If there is anything you can say about the keys, it is that there is litter EVERYWHERE!

Fred Le Gourmand: It’s been three days of memories. Bad sandwiches aside, Miami Beach, Miami, South Miami, Homestead, and the Keys just flood me with memories of growing up (age 0 to 18) in South Florida. This afternoon, I went behind the hotel on the Gulf side, and used a borrowed fishing pole and my drop line to almost catch a 2 pound barracuda. The first time he took my bait and cut the line surgically. The second time, I lifted him from the water, but again the line snapped. This time there were jagged cuts just before where the hook used to be. I was fishing behind some hurricane damaged docks. It was like ghost docks. Quite eerie. And then to make it more weird, I saw two big, 3 ft long iguanas roaming the docks like prehistoric creatures. Wait, they ARE prehistoric creatures. And I saw another large one last night while fishing under the Adams Canal bridge. For months, I have been picturing riding my bike along the many Keys bridges. It was as beautiful as I imagined, but it was hotter than my imagination could picture. It is great, though, to be in such good shape, such that we can crank, mile after mile, hour after hour. I kept getting distracted by the clear waters. I was always looking over the sides of the bridges for places to fish. One final fish story: As I was fishing off the end of the coral rocks behind the hotel, a 4 ft plus, bull shark came swimming right through my bait along the rocky shore. He must have weighed 100 pounds or more. That was exciting, and then just as quickly, he swam away.

Marathon sunset:

South Miami to Key Largo

2009-06-04T22:42:00.001-04:00

We broke with tradition and left this morning at 9 instead of before 7. I wanted to spend a little more time with my parents and maybe get a little more sleep. I figured that with only 50 miles or so to cover, we could afford to sleep in, for once. Fred was agreeable, so that’s what we did.

Given the simplicity of today’s route, I did not expect much in the way of GPS challenges, but never underestimate Mr. Garmin! He tried to route us on several non-existent and dirt roads, and refused to accept our Card Sound Road route. The latter was my fault for having checked the setting “Avoid toll roads”. Apparently the presence of the toll for the Card Sound Bridge (irrelevant for bicycles anyway) qualified the road to be avoided, so the GPS kept trying to get us to turn around and go back to US1. Once I realized the problem and changed the setting, it was happy.

Here is the view from the top of Card Sound Bridge, looking east during a very brief moment of relief as a cloud passed above us:

So, the ride was pretty tough, in spite of the relatively short distance, because we had headwind most of the way. Normal cruising effort generally produced no more than 14 mph, and sometimes only 12. In addition, the clouds and rain, which would have been welcome, stayed either in front of us or behind us, so it was sunny and hot. We were hit by no more than a few dozen drops all day.

We were therefore pretty bushed by the time we made it to the populated part of Key Largo at around 1 PM. I was hungry and thirsty, so when I noticed an inviting seafood place (Captain Shon’s), I pulled in. The food was good, but pricey. Fred liked it so much that he wants to go back tonight. I’m not that hungry, so I think I’ll just get an appetizer or something.

Our waitress suggested lodging at a mom and pop place across the street as a good, budget alternative. It turned out to be just barely acceptable, but we decided to stay anyway. The proprietor is quite a character and he and Fred traded quips while we took care of business. We asked about a bike shop (the last rear wheel fix yesterday left me with a bump-bump-bump on every revolution, and inspection showed the wheel to be most definitely out of round). We were directed to a pawn shop a mile up the road which is run by a man who had a bike shop for 20 years before deciding a pawn shop would be easier. The shop is still at least half bicycles, but almost exclusively cruiser type stuff. The gent was pretty good with a spoke wrench, though, and when he was done, the wheel was considerably better than before. The rim is probably toast, though. I just hope it gets me through the last 100 miles of this trip.

Fred’s Addendum: It was like homecoming staying with my best friend Kevin from high school. As I pulled in yesterday evening, after a 70 mile ride and living through Miami downtown traffic, Kevin had his camera ready in his driveway! His wife Dolores made me arroz con pollo and flan, all from scratch. She said it was her father’s recipe. I had thirds. But before dinner, Kevin and I wandered his backyard, gathering mangoes from his four big trees. He said one tree provided the juiciest and tastiest fruit. I ate a warm one from another tree anyway but Kevin went in the house and got a chilled one from the good tree. Dang! It was like mango sorbet! After I peeled it and cut in into pieces and ate everything but the nut, I sucked every bit of pulp from the center nut. Kevin sat there laughing at me saying he had never seen anyone enjoy and attack a mango like that. After dinner, Kevin asked me if I wanted to take a little drive. Sure, I said! Let’s go to Hot Shoppes on US1. That’s what we used to do 43 years ago in high school! He laughed. I asked to go the Matheson Hammock. That was truly one of my fondest memories of early Miami with my family growing up. We’d go outside the lagoon, north, at low tide, when a mile long sand bar would develop. My dad would take me and my brother and we would walk and examine every little tidal pool. As my wife so astutely observed, my parents weren’t wealthy, but they took advantage of all of Miami’s beautiful bounty. In the morning, Dolores made me scrambled eggs and hash browns and toast and orange marmalade and orange juice. Kevin had cheerios. He says he is proud to say he takes no medications whatsoever (despite his high cholesterol), and he is trying to control this problem with cheerios. I kiddingly told him, I’d mention it at his funeral (god, I hope not). Here’s Kevin: No medications! We talked old stuff and new stuff. Old hopes, new hopes and dreams. We walked around the entire lagoon. And we passed the old coral rock building, now housing the Red Fish Grill, where we’d buy Eskimo Pies as kids. This trip has been a thousand memories for me. Street signs even triggered memories: Ludlam, Red Road, Bird Road, Galloway, 64th avenue, 57th avenue. I knew a few years ago, when I conceived of biking back to Miami, that it was somehow appropriate to go back to where I was born and raised. With my mother’s passing in February, eight days short of her 93rd birthday, I never conceived of how meaningful this would all be for me. I am moved beyond belief. It makes me appreciate how wonderful it was for me growing up in Miami. It makes me appreciate my family, tough times, good times. It really makes me appreciate my friends, old and new. And Seth, a ‘new’ buddy, only going on 34 years now. You are a gift. We’ve now biked 1,800 miles together, 5 broken spokes, a few flats, and some great great times. And it makes me really appreciate my wife Pat, who puts up with me, encourages me, and takes drum lessons. When I get home, Last Dance with Mary Jane! Me on guitar, Patty on drums!

Today’s ride stats

Distance: 57 miles
Time: 4 hours
Avg speed: 14.25 mph
Temperature: low 78; average 91; high 100

Boca Raton to South Miami

2009-06-03T21:44:00.003-04:00

Today was supposed to be a shorter, easier day. With respect to pedaling effort, I suppose it might have been, but it was not shorter, either in distance traveled or duration. In fact, I did not reach my parents house (where I am spending the night) until around 3:30 this afternoon, in spite of a 6:53 AM start. Part of that was because of a visit with a friend in Hollywood, but mostly it was the result of more spoke problems! Here is how it went…
When we came down for breakfast this morning at 6, it was raining steadily. From the satellite imagery on the Weather Channel, it looked pretty localized, and sure enough, by 6:45 it was barely raining at all. It started raining lightly again shortly after we got underway. During the first hour or so there were periods of real rain, but nothing torrential. In fact, as we rode down A1A, I was very much enjoying the comfortable temperatures, the still air, and the absence of traffic. A1A was like a ghost town! I felt great, my tush was enjoying the new saddle I had installed the night before, and we were moving at that perfect, all-day pace that seems almost effortless. At one point I even had a momentary sense of bicycling-nirvana, in spite of, or maybe because of, the rain.
We stopped for a rest just before crossing over the bridge into Fort Lauderdale. Back on the bikes we turned onto Eisenhower immediately after the bridge. Jill and Marc had suggested that as an East-of-US1 alternative to bypass the Hollywood-Ft Lauderdale Airport mess. Unfortunately, we were turned back by a guard who informed us that we could not go into the port under any circumstances. Fred and I decided that we would just try going straight down US1. It turns out that there is no shoulder and the traffic pattern is such that you have to be willing to bicycle assertively, but we have honed those skills and did not really have much anxiety about proceeding.
A bit before reaching the airport entrance area I heard the all too familiar twang of a spoke breaking and saw the tell-tale loss of true in Fred’s rear wheel. We pulled over as soon as there was a safe place to do so, I twisted the broken spoke around its neighbor to keep it out of the way, made sure that the brake calipers were wide open, and confirmed that the wheel would revolve satisfactorily to ride the bike to a better place to work on it. It was exactly the same kind of break as mine from a couple of days ago.
Pretty soon we came to a shaded picnic table, where we got to use the Stein cassette removal tool and the FiberFix spoke yet again. While I was working on the bike, Fred went to ask a guy he saw nearby about a local bike shop. Turns out that there was one in Hollywood a mile or two from where we were. I wouldn’t have even bothered with the fix if we had known that, but there was no point un-doing what was already done.
Shortly thereafter, we were in Lee’s Bike Shop on Federal Highway in Hollywood, having the temporary spoke replaced with a real one of the proper size. This place was BUSY! I counted five mechanics who were all working one job after another. Luckily, someone was able to take care of us right away. They were very interested in the kevlar spoke.
After about 30 minutes, we were again on the road. We were right around the corner from the law office of a good friend that Fred also knew from our State Hospital days in the mid-70’s. We looked around, but could not find the office, so we decided to stop by the house, which was on our way back to A1A anyway. Larry wasn’t home, of course, but his wife Janet (a very special friend, as well) was, and we spent a very nice half-hour with her before resuming our ride.
We were only a few blocks away when I heard the now familiar sound of spokes breaking on my rear wheel! What the heck! (The actual words I used were somewhat more graphic.) I stopped and found two broken spokes – one from each side of the wheel, plus one of the spare spokes that should have been locked onto the chain stay was also mangled. It looks like the spare spoke came loose and drifted into the wheel, taking out two of the good ones. Back to Lee’s Bike Shop, where we got a special quantity discount!
The rest of the ride went pretty much according to plan. In spite of a bunch of signs saying that the Venetian Causeway was out, it wasn’t. We rode across without encountering any obstacles at all. We made our way through downtown and finally to Old Cutler Road. It was after two at this point and I was very hungry. Fred had not had enough to eat either, but mostly he was thirsty. There really was no place to stop, so we rode on, splitting up toward the end toward our respective destinations for the night. I assume that Fred made it, but he didn’t answer when I called earlier tonight. The plan is to go out later tomorrow for our 50 miler to Key Largo. We will be meeting at a designated corner at 9 AM.
Day’s Statistics
Start: 6:58 AM
Finish: 3:30 PM
Distance: 70.5 miles
Riding Time: 5 hrs 30 min
Avg Speed: 12.8

Fred’s photo at Matheson Hammock later in the day:

Stuart to Boca Raton

2009-06-02T20:52:00.001-04:00

Early start (6:30), no mechanical issues, hot, some headwind, plenty of traffic.

Today was pretty much about getting from one place to another. We arrived at our hotel in Boca at 12:15. We spent 4 hours and 13 minutes on our bikes, covering 64.6 miles at an average speed of 15.3. In spite of the early start, the temperature was a very humid 74 degrees. Moving through the damp early-morning air quickly left us dripping, even though we weren’t working hard enough to produce that much sweat. In fact, for the first 15 minutes or so, we hit red light after red light. Finally out of the commercial area, we cranked up the speed, cruising easily at about 19 mph. I thought we must have caught a bit of tailwind, but the flags we passed were all slack. Both of us are experiencing some leg soreness, but clearly we are picking up condition as well. We covered over 17 miles in the first hour, in spite of the start and stop in the first quarter-hour.

The honeymoon ended around 9 when the southeast wind woke and got about its business of inflicting hardship on cyclists headed south. It is not the first time, nor will it be the last, that I utter a silent prayer of thanks to Al Gore for inventing aero-bars. The difference they make when riding in a head or side wind is near-miraculous. Nobody will ever convince me that they are not worth the extra 500 grams. I go about 2 mph faster, with less effort, than riding with my hands on the brake hoods. Down in the drops you can get maybe half the speed advantage, but not the comfort of aeros. In spite of the fact that Fred is riding bare-bar, he took the lead quite a few times over the course of the day, but with my aero-bars, it was much easier for me, so I was content to do most of the time at the front.

Today’s ride stats:
Total elapsed time: approximately 5 hrs, 45 mins
Moving time: 4 hrs, 13 mins
Distance: 64.6 miles
Average Speed: 15.3
Temperature: low-74; high-95; average 84.

Miles to date: 350.5
(red track in image shows today’s ride)

Except for a few miles we spent riding through the Palm Beach area, with the Intra-coastal to our left and the old-money “shacks” to our right, there was not much scenery to admire on our route. We repeatedly opted for the efficiency of US1’s more direct path and faster pavement. Fred did snap this Bird of Paradise at one of our rest stops, though:

Fred Adds: Some of the old moneyed houses in the Palm Beaches were amazing. I did notice when we rode through those neighborhoods and along the waterways, we kind of dillydallied. And we rode along a series of majestic Royal palms, at least 40 feet high or more. Ah, scenic old Florida. But I agree with Seth: mostly we just cranked. About 50+ miles and a short break during which Seth took some Aleve, he started moving about 17+ mph. Ah, I said to him, I hate it when your aspirin kicks in this late in the day. Seth said, “Am I going too fast?” No, I said, I am just teasing. That’s again when I appreciated being in such good shape. I would have preferred going at 15 mph, but I still had the resources to kick it. And we did. This was an easy 65 miles! As per my tradition, I went in the hotel pool, and then for a neighborhood walk. We’re about 2 blocks from the waterway, and I spied about a 5 pound barracuda hanging out under some docks. They always seem so menacing. But I could not find a public place to fish. That would have completely destroyed my little fishing pole anyway, and barracuda require heavy metal leaders. Ah, but for five-prong gig (when I was younger). Now, it’s live and let live. Ahimsa!

Palm Bay to Stuart

2009-06-01T21:28:00.002-04:00

What a long, tiring day! We were rolling today before 6:30, but we did not get to the hotel until 2:00.

Statistics: 5 hours, 4 minutes riding time; 72.9 miles; average speed 14.5 mph; temperature range was 70 degrees to 100 degrees with an average of 85.

At around 8AM one of my spokes broke, right at the “J” bend at the top. Needless to say, it was a rear spoke, on the drive side. Any other spoke can be changed or replaced with a Kevlar temporary spoke in five minutes or so. A rear, drive side spoke repair requires the removal of the rear gear cluster (aka “cassette”) and is virtually impossible without the correct tools. As it happens, a while back I started carrying a Stein cassette removal tool, which is not as convenient to use as shop tools, but weighs maybe 75 grams and fits in a closed fist. I also had a Fiberfix emergency spoke and a couple of real spokes. I had never used the Stein tool or Fiberfix spoke before.

I first tried the latter, but without removing the cassette I could not use the emergency spoke to return to wheel to some semblance of true. Giving up on the soft spoke, I pulled out the Stein tool and read the brief, but adequate instructions. It took a little while, and some cooperation from Fred to hold and lift the bike, but I was able to remove the cassette, replace the spoke with a spare, and get the wheel reasonably true. I was concerned that the spoke was the wrong size, though, and that I had torqued it during the installation to the point that it might fail later in the ride, so I resolved to stop at a bike shop along our route to get the wheel properly checked out. This roadside repair, although successful, cost us an hour or maybe a bit more. When we finally saw a bike shop in Port St. Lucie, just 9 miles from the hotel, we stopped and spent another 30 or 40 minutes there while the spoke was replaced with a fresh one and the wheel was expertly trued.

Let me put in a good word for Chris and the Village Bike Shop in Port St. Lucie (http://www.villagebike.com). He was terrific and did a fine job on the wheel. If you are ever in the area and need some work done, he’s your man. From what I heard while he was handling a phone call from a prospective customer, he can give you extremely good pricing on a new bike, as well.

Once we had showered up, we hit the Chinese buffet a block from the hotel and consumed mass quantities. I was still full when we went to dinner, so I just had a side salad.

Tomorrow’s route is just a bit shorter than today’s, and a whole lot of it is down A1A, which probably means wind. Well, whatever it is, it is. When we get to the hotel in the afternoon, a replacement saddle from my home stock (the one on this bike is overdue for replacement) and a refreshed supply of Chamois Butt’r should be waiting, thanks to my dearest Kathy. My rear end will be most thankful for both!

Oh, a wildlife note: We stopped for a little rest in some shade across the street from a pole with an Osprey nest at the top. One bird was home and kept talking the entire 10 minutes of so we were beneath it. I thought it might be a young bird calling for its breakfast; Fred just thought it was telling us to move along. At any rate, it walked around up there, but made no attempt to fly.

Fred Notes: Dang, it was a very hard 73 miles. The heat was beastly. I could feel my body core reach fever pitch, and I just had to stop. Seth was good about it, and I’d go into 7-11 in the air-conditioning and drink 32 ounces of Gatorade and be refreshed, at least for another hour or so. Still the scenery is often beautiful and typical Florida: blue and green expanses of ocean, coconut trees, and a 1,000 kinds of palm trees. I saw one of the most beautiful light blue cabbage-like palms. I grew up in the this stuff so elephant ears (monstera deliciosa), and oaks, and pines, all seem so appropriate. But then suddenly, the wind changes, and it brings me out of my reveries and back to a lower gear and grinding against the wind. When we finally made it to Stuart’s Howard Johnsons, I immediately jumped in the pool, with all my biking clothes on. Just what I needed: more time in the sun. I kept my ball cap on (the one I bought in Franklinton (sic), MS last year on the Tour de Fred for $5 that looks exactly like Seth’s $25 Columbia) and my sunglasses, and removed all my clothes in the clorinated water, except for my Exofficio underwear, that looks exactly like some French guy’s bathing suit. But hell, no one was in the pool at 3 PM except for me! I had a seared tuna sandwich at dinner at Flannigan’s. Excellent! And I must say, Seth was absolutely amazing changing his broken spoke out! He evened trued his wheel! All in the minor shade of an oleander. He has not missed his calling: he just has a lot of them.

New Smyrna to Palm Bay

2009-05-31T22:00:00.001-04:00

Today’s ride was shorter than we had expected because we decided to take a more direct route, which saved us five miles at the cost of spending the last part of the ride on fairly busy streets as we made our way to our hotel. The stats: 80 miles in 5 hours and 12 minutes of riding (15.5 mph average speed). We got started today just as the sun was coming up in a nice cool 65 degrees. On the road the temp reached 98; the average was a tolerable 83.

Harris did our lead-out this morning, pulling us at 17 or better through some real pretty scenery until finally bidding us farewell at around mile 13. I spotted a deer crossing the road a hundred yards up, but other than a rabbit or two, that was it for wildlife.

We had two route options today. We could go through the Merritt Island Preserve and Kennedy Space Center area on the east side of the intra-coastal, or take the more direct route down US1. The former would be less traffic and more scenic; the latter would be more direct and have plenty of convenience stores. We decided on the latter, figuring that traffic would not be an issue until 10 or even later on Sunday morning. That turned out to be the case. We had US1 pretty much to ourselves for at least the first 40 miles.

We took a rest stop at about that point, but when I dropped my bike off the kickstand to get back on the road, I realized that the rear tire was flat. Prior to our stop it had seemed like it was taking more effort than usual to keep pace, and I had meant to check the tires but had forgotten. Fred helped for a bit, including finding a pin-hole in the tube, but he also took advantage of the delay to spend some more time in the convenience store’s AC. I carefully inspected the tire, inside and out, but didn’t find any cause for the puncture. While I worked I had some company for a while, as a young man (a heavy-weight boxing hopeful, as it turned out) came over to ask about our trip and equipment. It later struck me that this kind of discussion was a regular feature of our stops last year in Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama, but very rare in Florida. You can draw your own conclusions.

South of Cocoa, US1 was under construction and rather unpleasant. Our GPS route diverted a few block east at that point, to a small road running right alongside the intracoastal. This 6 miles or so was a real treat. The pictures below tell the story:

When we emerged from this idyllic little diversion, we were back at US1. A passing local bicyclista kindly stopped to offer suggestions on a route south, which corresponded closely to that shown on the GPS. The remaining 23 miles were on gradually busier and busier roads, particularly the last 15 or so. At any rate we made it to our hotel, a Quality Inn in Palm Bay, without further incident or delay, other than a little bit of head wind. The hotel is interesting in that the rooms – indeed, the whole hotel – is really rather nice, especially considering the $50 room rate. As near as we can tell, there are only a handful of people staying here at the moment.

We had dinner in a little restaurant that offered a variety of Greek, Italian, and other Middle Eastern and Mediterranean fare. During the time we were there, only two other tables were occupied. The owner explained that they are about to move. Between the road construction outside and the loitering patrons of the pool hall next door, they simply can’t attract the clientele that the want, and deserve, based on the quality of the food.

The hotel’s breakfast is at 6:30. We want to be riding shortly after six, so we picked up some basics at the local 7-11 to provide enough energy to get us a couple of hours up the road. In Kathy’s honor, I also picked up a chocolate-on-chocolate ice cream bar.

In the first three days we have covered over 206 miles, shown on the map below. (Click the image to see the whole thing.) We are finally south of the Orlando area!

Fred Adds: It was a relatively easy 80 miler despite the heat. I think it part it was because we got an early start, it was cool in the morning for the first hour or so, and Harris broke the wind for us. I never thought I’d thank someone for breaking wind. As we entered Melbourne and drove along Wickham road, I couldn’t help but get wistful. My parents moved to Melbourne Beach (actually Indialantic) in 1974, and spent over 20 years there until my dad passed away in 1994, and my mom moved to Colorado in 1998. So I knew so many of the roads, and names, and street signs. We were always fond of Uranus Street. One of my mom’s favorite jokes was telling us what if you lived on Uranus and ordered pizza. Where do you want your pizza delivered, lady? Up Uranus! Oh well, a joke a minute at the Coolidge House, 153 Coral Way, North Indialantic. When we finally arrived at the Quality Inn, Palm Bay, I went fishing across the street in a retention pond. There were brim and some larger fish with red fan tails. I got only one real bite on a piece of Slim Jim. I could not find worms for the life of me, and I am quite a worm whisperer. I then bought a hotdog and bun at 7-11, but the fish ignored that too. My hooks will be good for Keys fish but too are too big for brim. My dinner was excellent: seafood pescatore, mussels, clams, and squid in a red sauce over pasta. At 4,000 calories expended daily, I can afford it!

Palatka to New Smyrna Beach

2009-05-30T23:15:00.001-04:00

Today’s ride consisted of two very different segments. The first was from Palatka to the coast (Flagler Beach, to be precise). We enjoyed a following wind and cruised along at 17 to 19 mph with very low effort in the cooler morning temperatures. The second phase, the remaining half of the 76 miles, headed South with a significant West wind and higher temperatures. Our pace was slower, and parts of the route were on US1, which was less than scenic. I would hasten to add, however, that other stretches on the John Anderson road were exceptionally pretty, and we did a few miles on A1A, right along the ocean, which is always a treat.

The ride statistics: 76.9 miles in 5 hrs and 3 minutes on the bike (15.2 mph pace). Average temperature on the road was 84 and the high temperature was 97. It didn’t really feel too hot to me, but Colorado Boy was suffering a bit.

The day was made by the reception we got at “Camp Samuels”. Harris and Debbi have a lovely home on the intracoastal waterway and provided us with spectacular accommodations, dinner, and company. At dinner we had the pleasure of not just Harris and Debbi, but also Linda and Neil Samuels (no relation) as well! Kathy and I have tandem-vacationed several times with both of the Samuels couples. As usual, Fred quickly fit in and we had a super-enjoyable dinner conversation that addressed, if not solved, many pressing global issues. I especially enjoyed hearing more from Neil, who tends to keep to himself a bit in the larger groups in which we normally see him.

Below is a photo of Harris and Debbi’s 23 pound mega-feline, Nick.

Chez Samuels from the rear:

Fred quickly landed a little stingray from the Samuels’ dock with his collapsible mini-fishing rod.

Here he prepares to go the Survivor route with just the line, a hook, and a bit of shrimp.

Tomorrow will be our longest day of this tour at approximately 85 miles. I am hoping to actually get some sleep tonight before our planned departure shortly after six, so good night!

Fred Retorts: A little stingray? One of these things killed Steve Irwin! That dock is over six feet long. Of course, that section of the dock is about 12 inches long … nonetheless, I was careful not to get barbed, and I released the “big” guy right after I took his picture. I was feeling the heat today after the ride. I did, however, go stand out in the sun for another hour fishing. Could not resist. As Larry McMurtry wrote: I don’t fish for fish, I fish for peace. When I’m alone on the end of a dock, a line in the water, and it’s just me, the puffy white Florida clouds, blue skies, and diamond-reflecting water, I am in Zen-land, fishing for peace (and fish).

Gainesville to Palatka

2009-05-29T21:15:00.001-04:00

We had a very nice day. Today’s ride was a bit over 56 miles, which we covered in about 3 hours 40 minutes, with an average speed of 15.1.

We actually got going at around 6:35 or so. It was extremely humid and semi-foggy, so within minutes our glasses were fogged up. We pedaled easily from the hotel (Days Inn on 13th Street – adequate and cheap, but certainly not “nice”) to the head of the Gainesville – Hawthorne Trail. At that point I removed my sunglasses. Even with my nearsightedness, I could see better without them. The sign in the photo below marks the start of the trail, which we followed all the way to the far end, some 15 or so miles.

The trail is almost completely canopied with old oaks and other vegetation. We saw a variety of wildlife and several other early morning riders, about half of whom were friendly enough to return our greetings.

Although we made a couple of brief photo stops like this one, we did not take a rest stop until we got to Melrose, about 30 miles and two hours into the ride. By Florida standards, the weather was quite pleasant – warm, but not uncomfortably so.

Unfortunately, the situation at work that I had hoped was resolved, caught up with me again while we were stopped in Melrose. I had to spend some time on the phone with the customer and with Kathy during our little intermission, and again after we arrived in Palatka.

Back on the road after our break, the GPS showed that we had over 30 miles to go. It wasn’t until we were within a few miles of our destination that it finally started giving accurate “distance to destination” readings. The original calculated route was over the road, so we knew that taking the trail would result in different numbers, but I was surprised that the actual route was over five miles less than the distance on the road.

After showering and doing our daily bike-wear laundry, we walked a couple of blocks to a recommended diner (I think it was called the City Cafe), where we had a leisurely lunch. We then walked the rest of the downtown area, ending up on a dock, sharing a covered, shaded area with a fisher-couple. For once, I was the one who struck up a conversation with the locals! Like Kathy and I, they are refugees from farther south, from which they fled as it developed past the tipping point. She endorsed our choice of lodgings and told us that the buffet at our hotel “should not be missed.”

Our hotel here in Palatka, the Quality Inn Riverside, is definitely a step up from last night. As implied by the name, it is located right on the St. Johns River. The rooms are fine and we took the advice to dine at the on-site restaurant, which was really quite good.

I am pretty tired, especially after three beers tonight, so that’s it for now. Fred may have some additions to this post tomorrow, so be sure to check back.

Fred’s Thoughts: I really liked the Hawthorne Trail. Cool, shaded, misty, and far away from traffic. We’d come upon open fields, and jungles of oaks, and lakes and swamps …. everything I liked about Old Gainesville. It almost seemed we arrived in Palatka too quickly. On the Tour de Fred, every time we got to the 55 mile mark, I felt like we were goofing off if we ever stopped there (we never did). But today, it was kind of perfect: a short day for our first day. Then three beers at dinner and soft-shelled crabs at the seafood buffet. I couldn’t go fishing because I’ve yet to buy a license. But I brought a small pocket-like fisherman rod and reel that Christa gave me, and after catching (and releasing) a baby bass on Seth’s lake, I am determined to catch saltwater fish with it.

Anchors Aweigh!

2009-05-28T20:24:00.002-04:00

At long last the Pirate Tour is under way. Kathy drove us up to Gainesville this afternoon, not a moment too soon. I had a busy morning at the office dealing with an unhappy customer, which makes me anxious and unhappy as well. Anyway, with a little luck I’ll be able to put that behind me once we are actually pedaling toward our first port of call, Palatka.

The first chapter in our cross-country adventure was the Tour de Fred, at just about this time last year. It started in Little Rock Arkansas and finished up here, 1,200 miles later, in Gainesville -- about a half-mile south of where I am sitting right now. We therefore pick up where we left off, stopping at Palatka, New Smyrna Beach, Palm Bay, Stuart, Boca Raton, South Miami, Key Largo, Marathon Key, and finally, our destination, Key West. The trip will be around 600 miles (just shy of 1,000 kilometers for our French followers). Our days will range between 50 and 85 or so miles.

I picked up Fred at the Orlando Airport yesterday. It is great fun spending time with him again. A little background: Like many of the world’s great idea’s, it is difficult to trace exactly how this year’s Pirate theme came to be, and how pierced ears with skull and cross-bones earrings came to be a central feature, but it is so. According to plan, I dutifully presented my lobe at a local mall’s Piercing Pagoda, where a nice young woman whipped out a nail-gun (adhering to all appropriate health and safety codes) and drove home a little blue titanium stud. In preparation for this trip, I replaced the stylish little stud with the fore-mentioned silver skull and bones a couple of weeks ago.

Fred, on the other hand, waffled and procrastinated, and finally quit discussing the matter at all about a month ago, which is the requisite healing time for a new lobe-piercing. I figured he had chickened out – a whole year having passed since his manly Tour de Fred (see previous posts), and with it the resolve to face pain and suffering head-on, or in this case, lobe-on.

Imagine my suprise when he settled into the car at the airport and I see none other than Jolly Roger himself winking at me from Fred’s left year. Suddenly I remembered a passing comment about superglue and I grabbed for his ear to check for a post protruding from the rear. Aaargggh! Sure enough, no post! The poser had actually cut off the post and SUPERGLUED the earring to his ear!!! Of course he has a hair-raising tale of a visit to a tattoo parlor with the best of intentions a few weeks ago, but jeeez, SUPERGLUE! By this morning the little skull had fallen off, but by the afternoon he had it glued back in place! I suspect he will tire of this shortly. On the other hand, hardly a half-hour passes without him emitting a most pirately “Aaarghh!”

Georgia Tandem Rally, Athens, 2009

2009-05-23T21:29:00.001-04:00

We came up here on Thursday, pretty much resigned to a weekend of short rides in the rain, but we have remained dry for the two main days of riding. There is a short ride scheduled for tomorrow morning, but the forecast is favoring thunderstorms (70% probability). If we have to scrap that one it won’t be a disaster.

The rally has been a great success. The terrain is quite hilly, but primarily rollers, with nothing very steep or terribly long. Although this is our sixth GTR, it is the first one that we have done much socializing outside our Orlando group. Perhaps that is in part because some of our friends (Mitch and Allison and Earle and Laura) are not here. On the other hand, Brian and Carol Miller drove up, and the Vermeulens, Thompsons, and Ullmanns are all here, so there are plenty of friends to whom we could restrict ourselves, if we wanted.

Friday and Saturday we had good rides, both approximately 50 miles. Today we did the first 22 miles in a fast pace line that was lots of fun. I say pace line, but the reality is that three or four bikes, including a triple and a tandem towing a youngster in a trailer (!) did all the pulling. Neither we nor the Katzmans did any time at the front. The rest of the ride we ended up with just the Katzmans, at a much more casual pace. The hills took their toll on my right knee, but a half hour after taking some aspirin, I felt fine again.

So this weekend completes my preparation for the Tour de Seth, which starts next Friday. Fred is flying to Orlando on Wednesday, and Kathy will drive us up to Gainesville on Thursday afternoon. I am confident that I am physically ready, but there is still some bike prep to do, and I have not even started putting stuff aside to pack. Luckily, we are off on Monday (Memorial Day) so I should be able to finish most all preparations then.

Days to Go: 26. Three Days of Solid Rides

2009-05-03T19:10:00.002-04:00

I think I am already in adequate shape for the tour, and I still have three more weekends prior to the start. Friday Steve and I did a hilly (approximately 2,000 feet of climbing) 55 mile ride at a good pace, even though we were intentionally trying to take it easy on the climbs. Saturday Kathy and I rode the Boogie ride with Georgie, Roger, Rod, and Karen from the Florida ReCyclers. It is a flat route (400 feet) and although I started out with heavy legs from the previous day, after a few miles I felt pretty good and stayed that way for the remainder of the 50 mile ride. Pretty much the same story today. Kathy and I rode a 48 mile version of the Taco Bell ride with Steve and Debi, at a comfortable pace. I felt fine at the end of the ride and certainly could have done more. So, three longish rides back to back, and I feel good.

I’ll be doing the normal short rides during the week, and next weekend we’ll do another pair of 50 milers in preparation for the MS-150 the following weekend.

I have to somehow find the time to do some maintenance on the bikes. The tandem is probably due for a new drive chain and sprocket set, plus fresh bar tape. Fred will be riding Kathy’s road bike again on this leg of the tour, and I plan to re-do her handlebars with Specialized’s Bar Phat padding and new tape. Hopefully that will help Fred’s issues with his hands. The LHT needs a top-to-bottom cleaning and the normal maintenance, but also I want to resolve the front brake squealing, which is really appalling. I’ll have to do the tandem stuff before next weekend so we can make sure all is well before the MS-150 ride.

Thirty Three Days Until The Pirate Tour Sets Sail

2009-04-26T16:03:00.002-04:00

The Pirate Tour, aka the Tour de Seth, gets underway on May 29 in Gainesville. If all goes according to plan we will reach our destination port in Key West on Saturday, June 6. It is not entirely clear how this became the Pirate Tour, but it has something to do with our destination, tattoos, earrings, and the manly exclamation, “Aaaargh!”

At any rate, in keeping with the motivation for our first long, carry-your-own-stuff bike tour last year, the Tour de Fred (which was a celebration of Fred’s 60th birthday), this one is a celebration of my 60th. Officially, therefore, the trip is the Tour de Seth. It is the second of what will be, probably, five annual bike trips that will together represent a significant geezer achievement: bicycling from the one side of the US to the other, and then some. If you read the blog posts from last year, you already know that Fred and I cycled 1,200 miles from Little Rock, Arkansas to Gainesville, Florida in 2008. The original plan was to go from Colorado Springs to Key West, but that turned out, for various reasons, to be impossible (though one of our co-travelers, Ray, did most of it, half by himself).

This year it looks like Fred and I will be pedaling the 600 miles of intense solar radiation and headwinds by ourselves. Regarding the latter, I had a moment of weakness a few days ago and suggested to Fred that we might consider reversing our course to convert the expected southeast winds from foe to friend. He set my mind right, however, and the trip remains north to south. It is already a short ride, and pancake flat to boot, so without the wind in our faces it would hardly be manly at all! The whole point is to prove to ourselves that we may be sixty, but we’ve still got the RIGHT STUFF! I’m not entirely certain what the RIGHT STUFF is, but one thing for sure – it involves suffering and laughing in the face of it. The sun and wind offer many possibilities in the suffering department, and last year’s experience all but guarantees plenty of laughter, so all is well with our plan.

Aaaarrg!

Tour de Seth Route Change

2009-03-12T20:10:00.001-04:00

Fred and I are only 78 days from the second installment of our cross-country bicycle tour. This year the plan is to finish what we started last year by riding 600 miles or so from Gainesville, FL to Key West. We had been planning to head down the center of the state as far as we could go, then heading across Tamiami Trail to the outskirts of Miami before finally heading south again to the Keys.

After discussing our planned route with others who know better, we have decided to take their advice and head down the East Coast instead. Apparently, it is far too dangerous to bike on Tamiami Trail. So, we are now thinking we’ll head east from Gainesville and pick up the Adventure Cycling route in St. Augustine, or maybe Crescent Beach, and pretty much stay on that all the way to Key West.

Jan '09 Mini-Tour: Day 3

2009-01-13T18:04:00.003-05:00

(Monday, Jan 12) 60.3 miles; 4 hrs, 9 mins.

Mitch was late again, and the weather was not getting any better, so Fred and I took off from the hotel in Ocala at around 9:45. As on the night before, the GPS seemed pretty much clueless about the roads in the area. It repeatedly directed us to non-existent roads. I guess it is possible that the roads were there before the area south of SR200 was converted to residential enclaves and shopping malls. We continued back west on 200 until the GPS routing matched up with a significant highway. We did all right for the next 20 miles or so, but it was chilly and rain was threatening, so after a rest stop at a convenience store we decided to take our chances on US-27 -- the shortest way home. We left the safety of the local roads just north of The Villages and Lady Lake. We carefully made our way through that very congested area and finally broke out onto decent shoulder with a decent tailwind, allowing us to make many miles at 16 to over 20 mph.

The only other problematic area was Leesburg. To get through while remaining on 27 we had to ride slowly on the sidewalk. Riding on the shoulder-less, crowded roadway was out of the question. Past that we were able to drop the hammer once again, making very good time until stopping for lunch at Beef O'Grady's, just south of Leesburg. As usual, Fred struck up a conversation with the people at the next table, a very nice older couple who have a daughter with very advanced MS.

After lunch we resumed our tempo for the final leg. We slowed down a bit as we got close to home. By that time I was pretty tired. Fred still had some pep, though, and attacked the last hill, but he faded about half-way up. The tortoise (me) caught up with him right at the top and we did the last mile together at an easy pace.

Wrap-up: This trip was meant as a shake-down cruise for the 600 miler to Key West that we have planned for the end of May. In that regard it was most worthwhile. I got to test out carrying my panniers on a front rack and write these blog entries using my Palm and bluetooth mini-keyboard. (Of course, I was still foiled by lack of internet access. The best solution would be to carry a little netbook computer.)

Fred had more significant benefits. Firstly, he did this trip on my wife Kathy's aluminum Giant OCR road bike. The geometry and fit is almost identical to Fred's own carbon Giant, so he was completely comfortable on the borrowed bike needing only to swap pedals and seat. He will therefore probably just do the same thing for the Key West trip. I like that idea because I can personally service the bike to be sure that it is in condition for the tour. Perhaps even more satisfying for him was the fact that he was more than physically capable of doing the long rides. He credits the past two months of daily workouts on his Kreitler rollers with his success in that department. There is no question that his riding is far ahead of where it was last summer.

The last thing we discovered is that Mitch is not a compatible touring partner for us. We may well decide to just do the trip without any additional people at all.

Lows and Highs

2009-01-12T21:42:00.000-05:00

Sunday, January 11: Inverness to Ocala, 66 miles, 5 hours, 22 minutes riding time.

After checking the weather forecast, wind in particular, we switched back to the original plan. Again, the ride start was delayed, and again Mitch was the culprit. We had agreed to meet at the restaurant in front of the motel at 8am, but Mitch fell back into a very deep sleep after waking up for a couple of minutes at 6:30. Fred eventually roused him by pounding on his door at 8:45. It was probably close to an hour before we were under way.

A few miles up the trail we helped an older woman who had gotten a flat, then continued to the north end of the Withlacoochee trail. The gps had us routed onto non-existent roads, but after a few minutes we figured out an alternate and before long we were moving north on SR 41, a busy two lane highway that took us into Dunellin. At 22 miles we stopped at an Italian place for lunch. Apparently they were seriously short-staffed in the kitchen, so it was at least 90 minutes before we were back on our bikes. At this point it was already 2:00 PM, so we figured there was no way we could do the planned 70 miles.

We came up with what we thought would be an alternate route that would save us about 15 miles. It was actually quite beautiful and meandered through non-stop horse farms for 25 miles or more. I am sure that it was at least as good as the route I had originally planned.

The problem arose when we could not find the B&B where we expected to spend the night. In retrospect, it was probably set back off the road and we rode right past it, but it was quickly heading toward dark and raining lightly so I began to get pretty concerned that we were going to end up riding in the dark with just rear flashers and no headlights (except for Mitch). After a brief roadside discussion we decided to make for a Courtyard hotel at SR 200 and I-75. We were doing OK, until again the GPS tried to route us on non-existent roads. A local gave us general directions about how to get to SR200. His faith in the GPS still intact, Mitch took a left down a dirt track while Fred and I followed the directions, returning to GPS guidance only after it was clear that it was safe to do so. It was now quickly getting dark so we picked up the pace, pushing along at 18 to 22 mph, and pulling up to the hotel doors at 5:59, just as the day's last light disappeared.

The high point of the day was completely unexpected. At the lobby bar we met Carol, a lovely woman in town to check on some race horses that are being boarded in the area. We ended up talking for a good hour -- a little about horses, but mostly about her 19 year old daughter, who has Aspergher's Syndrome but went undiagnosed until relatively recently. We encouraged her to read Temple Grandin's books, as Dr. Grandin's descriptions match her daughter's experiences precisely. I also learned that the masks that we see over the eyes of horses from time to time are used to prevent fly infestations! I have been wondering about that for 20 years or so, and finally have an answer. Anyway, it was a wonderful exchange and a great end to a day that was less than ideal in other respects.

January '09 Mini-Tour Day 1

2009-01-12T21:26:00.000-05:00

Saturday, Jan 10: First day of the mini-tour with Fred and Mitch got off to a slow start as Mitch misjudged the time it would take him to get ready. Instead of rolling at 9:00 as planned, we finally got on the road at around 11.

Mitch WAY overpacked, with his rear rack piled high with panniers stuffed to bursting, plus the fold-out panniers of his rack trunk also packed full. He wisely decided to leave his jeans behind, but that hardly made a dent. Propelling all this weight eventually took its toll, especially in light of the fact that he really has not done any significant riding in quite a while.

We rode from Clermont to Inverness, taking a somewhat circuitous route that added around 10 miles to what the direct route might have been. This route of about 60 miles took us approximately five hours. The weather was spectacular and the last 15 miles or so on the Withlacoochee trail were particularly nice. I have ridden that trail many times before but almost always in the summer. The pleasant temperatures and the thinner winter foliage allowed me to see things along the trail that are hidden in the summer, such as the camel sharing a fenced in field with some goats!

Fred's back, specifically sciatica, was troubling him by the end of the ride, and Mitch had a rare set of matching cramps in this thighs. We found our hotel in Inverness without any difficulty at all. The clerk in the office was less than hospitable -- almost rude, barking out the rules, which included no bikes in the rooms. That was not so bad because they have a covered locked area specifically for bikes, but the deliverary of the information was off-putting, at the least. Mitch ignored the bike rule, but Fred and I did as we were told, locking our bikes in the provided bike-jail overnight.

After getting cleaned up we walked up the road to an all-you-can-eat Chinese place called Evergreen that was actually quite good.

We have decided that we will head south tomorrow, scrapping our original plan to tour the horse farm country up near Ocala.

January MiniTour

2008-12-26T19:49:00.000-05:00

It is now official. We will get to do a short, local 3 day tour of around 200 miles in January, starting the year on the right pedal! Accompanying me will be Fred (flying in from Colorado for the occasion!), Mitch, and Steve. Actually, Steve is not a sure thing, but I am hopeful. Our tentative schedule is January 10 - 12, but we have some leeway in case the weather is especially nasty. You never know this time of year.

The plan is to start here in Clermont and head west and north, finishing the first day in Ocala after approximately 75 miles on the bike. The second day we will do a loop north through the horse farms before turning to the southwest and overnighting in Inverness. That should be around 70 miles. The final day we will continue down the Withlacoochee trail for 10 or 15 miles before turning back toward home. That should be a day of 60 miles or so.

This trip will allow me to try out my new panniers -- Orlieb Back-Roller Plus bags -- which will be hanging on a new low-rider front rack. On the Tour de Fred last summer, I ended up using a Walmart shaving kit bag strapped to my rear rack as a place to keep snacks and other stuff I needed to get to on the road. With the panniers on the front rack instead of the rear, I can use one of our rack trunks on the rear to carry a camera, food, sunscreen, and what have you. From what I have read, the bike should handle even better with the panniers in front, though I did not have any issues with them on the back (other than what I just mentioned) last summer.

Next summer we hope to continue where we left off in Gainesville and ride 600 miles or so to Key West. We will spend a night in Inverness on that trip as well, so we can explore places to stay and eat when we are there in a couple of weeks.

Horrible Hundred 2008

2008-12-06T16:05:00.001-05:00

Exactly one week ago Kathy and I were playing host to approximately 1000 cyclists participating in our bike club's annual Horrible Hundred ride.

------
Seth Krieger

Mobile Blogging

2008-12-06T15:29:00.001-05:00

On the Tour de Fred earlier this year I posted using my Palm T3, my cell phone, a borrowed computer, and various hotel lobby computers. Posting using the mobile devices was, to put it mildly, painful. Entering text is just too cumbersome.

I am planning a little three-day tour in a couple of weeks and would like to be able to post blog entries while on the road. I could schlep along the smallest and lightest of my laptops, but that computer is still five pounds or so, and would take up more room in my pannier than I would like. As much as I would like to add one of the new micro units to my collection, there is no way to justify it right now. Instead, I am testing the feasibility of using my Palm TX along with a little foldable bluetooth keyboard I found on eBay for about $35.

I am using that setup to write this entry. So far it is turning out to be workable, but I do have to type more slowly and deliberately than I normally do on my regular keyboards. I am not sure if it is the speed or the keyboard pressure that makes the difference, but if I don't pay attention, there are pretty frequent dropped characters. The keyboard, by the way, is a discontinued item that used to be marketed by iGo. OK, with that adjustment of my typing technique, this does seem tolerable, if not ideal.

Back in the saddle again

2008-10-14T18:16:00.004-04:00

During the first seven months of 2008 I rode almost 4,500 miles (around 640 miles per month). In the next two months I rode only 320 miles because of travel, illness, weather, and a variety of other conflicts and responsibilities. Things have finally sorted themselves out, so for the past three weeks I have been riding four times each week. For the most part these rides have not been long or hard, but I am grateful to be back on the bike and to be re-establishing my schedule.

The change in routine has been accompanied by a better mood and a huge appetite. Unfortunately, my sleep patterns are no better, in spite of being pretty tired a good deal of the time. Last night I started my end-of-day routine at 9pm instead of the usual 10 or 11, and probably fell asleep around an hour earlier than usual as a result. I was out of bed at 6:30 this morning, and squeezed in a 90 minute ride before work. I am looking forward to the time change in a couple of weeks so dawn will come earlier and it will be easier to get out of bed at 6 or so.

Kathy and I have a soft plan to drive up to Ocala early next Sunday to ride the Gainesville club's Horse Farm ride. It might be two years or more since we did it last, which is kinda weird, given that it is one of our favorite rides in the area. If we actually do it, I will post some photos.

Drip, sniffle, sneeze

2008-09-06T15:03:00.002-04:00

By Friday morning, I had come down with a cold, so along with Dad's sinus infection, which still has him in misery, we are quite the pair. The ride back to Anchorage from Homer was uneventful. There were some periods in which sunlight lit up the mountains around us, but it was mostly overcast with periods of light rain.

At one point the two vehicles in front of us slowed almost to a stop. At the last second I saw the rear end of a black bear disappear into the brush alongside the road up ahead. Dad missed it, but earlier in the week saw a couple of eagles that I missed. I am not sure of the conversion factor, but perhaps one bear butt equals two eagles.

Today, given that we are both feeling relatively crappy, we will probably just kill time until our flight this evening. Perhaps we'll go down to the Botanical Gardens or sit in one of Anchorage's many parks for a while.

I am not looking forward to this long flight...

Sept 4, 2008: Unexpected images

2008-09-05T02:28:00.002-04:00

The Augustine Volcano, shot from 75 miles away! There is a speck at around 2 o'clock that looks like it is probably a plane or helicopter (Double-click for an enlarged image).

CV Global Sentinel

The reason for this trip is actually to provide my father and me with time and a setting that would provide us with a good opportunity to share personal stuff with one another. In that regard, today was very successful. On the other hand, there was not much action on the secondary front, wildlife photography. My father was not feeling well enough for us to pursue a whale watching expedition today. We did see an eagle or two, but no photos. Nevertheless, there was a surprising, yet dramatic photo op that appeared suddenly this afternoon.

I walked out on the terrace behind my room late this afternoon to take in the view and saw something very strange on the Southwest horizon. Further inspection with binoculars and camera revealed a perfect conical shape, sitting by itself on the water line in the far distance, with "smoke" coming from its peak. It looked just like a volcano! Well, a minute or two of googling established the feature to be nothing other than an uninhabited, volcanic island called "Augustine" at the mouth of Cook Inlet, 75 miles from our hotel. It turns out that there is a chain of dozens of volcanos that make up the Aleutian archipelego and continue into the Alaskan mainland. Augustine is one of these volcanos, and has been active as recently as 2006. It is of particular concern in this area because when pieces of the island fall into the sea during seismic activity, they often cause tsunamis. Portions of Homer, the town in which I am currently sitting, are barely above sea level and would be washed clean within an hour of a large mountain fragment hitting the water.

Possibly related to the local volcanos, for the past 24 hours the cable-laying ship Global Sentinel has been slowly moving back and forth in the inlet near our position. I cannot find any information about her current activity on the web, but in 2007 she was used to install an array of seismic instruments and sensors on the ocean floor near San Francisco. It seems quite possible that she is doing something similar here in the Cook Inlet. Not that I know a whit about laying communication cables, but her pattern seems unlikely if she were just installing fiber-optic comm cable. At any rate, it has been interesting to watch.

Tomorrow we head back to Anchorage, a five to six hour drive. Hopefully, my father will be feeling significantly better.

Sunlight peeks through

2008-09-04T01:03:00.000-04:00

For the first time since we arrived in Alaska, we saw some sunshine today!

Today we left Seward and drove around to Homer on the other (North) side of the Kenai Peninsula. There was some sun and dry road for around an hour, but as we approached our destination, the temperature dropped 12 degrees or so (from a high of 61) and it started raining again. In fact, the visibility was even worse than in Seward. That was pretty much in keeping with my father's state of health. Since we got up here, he has increasingly bad nasal congestion, which he has been attributing to allergies. It has gotten very bad - to the point that he cannot breath through his nose and can barely hear. His trouble breathing makes it impossible for him to even get the few hours sleep that he normally gets. I was ready to pack it in and head home this morning, but he insisted that we continue to Homer, saying he would see a doctor there if it was no better. Well, it did not get any better, so we went directly to a local physician as soon as we got here. She spent a long time with him and diagnosed the problem as a an infection in his nasal passages. She gave him some a prescription and instructions, both of which had an immediate psychological, if not physical effect. We checked into the hotel and then went out to look around and find somewhere to eat. He is so tired that he could not stay awake for more than a couple of minutes at a time in the car. It is now a few hours later and we have some reason to be guardedly optimistic. For the moment he is able to breath through one nostril.

We will just have to wait and see how he feels tomorrow. It is quite possible that we will cut the trip short. In the meantime, the views out the back of our motel are simply incredible. The photo does not come close to showing the beauty of this spot. As you can see in the photo, the sun broke through here in Homer. Maybe it will be at least partly sunny tomorrow as well -- that would sure be nice.

Sept. 2, 2008: Humpbacks, Stellar Sea Lions, Bald Eagles, Puffins, Mountain Goats

2008-09-02T23:03:00.000-04:00

We started the day observing a bald eagle sitting on a stump just the other side of the road from our hotel. Over an hour later, when we had our cameras with us, he was still there, so we got some decent shots. Later we saw several more from the water, but we were nowhere near as close.

Today was our last chance to do a marine wildlife tour in Seward, so we did so, in spite of the weather (rainy and windy). Turned out that we ended up with "the best humpback sighting of the season," according to the crew on our tour boat. The final encounter was very close to the boat, as the larger of the two whales we were following sounded right next to us. She was so close that I could not get the whole scene with my telephoto zoomed in as it was (see close up photo of humpback's humped back)! We also saw a good assortment of other wildlife during the five hour trip, but mostly from inside the cabin. During the time the whales were nearby, the water was quite rough, it was raining, and the wind was blowing close to 50 mph. Outdoor photography would have required an underwater camera and safety straps! Anyway, I am certainly not complaining. In addition to the whales, we saw a large group of huge stellar sea lions resting on an improbable rocky hill protruding from the ocean, eagles (as mentioned above), many puffin, and a couple of mountain goats way up a sheer cliff.

Exit Glacier: Monday, Sept 1, 2008

2008-09-02T12:02:00.003-04:00

Moose poop. Each nugget is about thumb-size:

Exit Galcier

Puffins:

The rain continues, but that didn't prevent us from having a pretty good day. After breakfast we drove up the road to Exit Glacier, the only glacier in Alaska that you can walk up to (well, within 30 feet or so). My father wasn't up for it, but I took advantage of a half-mile walk up toward the glacier led by a park ranger, who shared a good bit of information about the glacier, local floral, and local fauna, including more than you want to know about moose poop (see photo).

Once I dried out, we got some lunch and headed to the Alaska Sea Life Center, a small aquarium that focuses on -- you guessed it -- Alaskan sea life. There were very interesting and informative exhibits in addition to the important quality of it being primarily an indoor activity. I cheated a bit and took a couple of photos of incarcerated puffins. Cute little devils, though. We then headed down a previously unexplored road along the coast, carefully threading our way through the potholes. This turned out to be an excellent idea because we ran across a group of four sea otters that were within observation distance from shore. These guys are non-stop eating machines and didn't much mind being watched. Video of the action is here: http://www.sethkrieger.com/videos/seaotters.avi

We had a moment of real excitement as we were returning to our room. Trotting along toward us in the middle of the road was what we both initially mistook for a timber wolf! Turned out to be a tallish sled dog, but it sure had us going there for a few seconds!

Anchorage to Seward, Aug 31, 2008

2008-09-01T02:02:00.007-04:00

The thriving Seward commercial district

The small boat marina in Seward. There is a BIG boat, a Holland America cruise ship in the background.

Resurrection Bay

A loose piece of glacier, floating in the water near Girdwood

August 31, 2008: Cycling content after all!

2008-09-01T00:29:00.010-04:00

Beluga Point on the Seward Hwy

Today we met one of my customers and his wife for breakfast. Both are delightful, interesting people and as a result both Dad and I had a very enjoyable morning. We returned to the hotel, finished loading the car and started our drive toward Seward under heavy, gray skies. We stopped briefly at Beluga Point on the Turnagain Arm to take a few photos. The wind was blowing at about 30 mph, which made the 52 degree temperature feel far colder. I asked a couple of bicycle tourists which direction they were headed. Luckily, the were headed downwind. Within a few minutes it started raining, and it has been raining, at least lightly, ever since.

Every so often we passed signs saying, "Caution - Bicycle Race", and soon we begain to pass cyclists wearing numbers, pushing along into the wind and rain. Apparently there was a road race today over the same 115 mile route that we were driving. To our surprise, the finish line was literally in the parking lot of our hotel just outside of Seward! This event was close to the complete cycling nightmare: extreme wind, temperatures hovering around 50 degrees, and almost constant rain over a very long, hilly course. I will say, however, that there was a decent shoulder almost the whole route. We saw nobody wearing rain gear, but quite a few wearing just shorts and a short-sleeve jersey! Amazing! I mean, it was COLD! Whenever we left the car, appropriately dressed, we hurried back to shelter as soon as we could; it was most uncomfortable out. Part of me envied the riders, but there is no way I would have been out there without good rain gear.

The rain was unfortunate because it limited our enjoyment of the scenery the photos hint at. I was hoping to take the Alyeska Tramway near Girdwood up into the mountains for a better view, but with such limited visibility, it would have been pointless. Hopefully the weather will be clear when we drive back up the highway on Friday. We didn't bother with any more stops and just continued straight to our hotel, The Seward Windsong Lodge, taking care to give the cyclists plenty of room so that we did not add to their misery.

After settling in, we went for a ride to look around Seward to find somewhere for an early dinner. Seward is a small town -- about half the population of my own little town of Clermont.

There is, however, an active waterfront area. The picture above shows the small boat marina. You can see a large Holland-America cruise ship in the background.

The photos also include a view of Resurrection Bay. You can make out the mountains across the bay.

We checked with a couple of the companies that run boats that do wildlife tours in the bay and area fjords. It was no surprise to learn that the tours were running alternate, less desirable routes today and tomorrow because of the weather. In order to get from the bay to the fjords, it is necessary to get out into the open water for a little while, but the waves are currently ten feet or better. None of the operators will go out there under those conditions. There is a chance that things will be better on Tuesday, so our plan at this point is to stay on land tomorrow and try for a full-day cruise the next day.

Not cycling, but worth sharing - Alaska Kenai 2008

2008-08-31T02:34:00.005-04:00

August 30, 2008: Flying into Anchorage

My father and I have arrived in Anchorage after a long day of flying -- Orlando to Dallas (a bit over two hours), then Dallas to Anchorage (about six hours). Given that it is way late, this will be a short post, but I hope to have lots to share over the next week. We will be spending several days in Seward, which is on the south side of the Kenai Peninsula, then a couple of days in Homer on the north side. We expect to see and photograph lots of wildlife, from birds to whales.

As on my previous visit to Alaska with Kathy years ago, I was knocked out by the awesome nature of this place before we even touched down. This photo gives you a glimpse of what is visible for the last several hundred miles of the flight. Snow-covered mountains and glaciers as far as you can see. It is just incredible.

Well, duh!

2008-08-06T22:11:00.002-04:00

For the past nine years I have been putting up with sweat-obscured vision during summer rides. At rest stops, I have routinely rinsed the sweat off my sunglasses, providing a brief period of clear vision. Today a little light bulb lit up -- what if I took a mouthful of water from my Camelback and basically spit-sprayed it out onto the sweaty lens? This would be an easy one-handed operation that I could do almost any time. Well, waddayouknow! As they say in TV infomercials, "It really, really works!"

Some time soon, hopefully, I will have the time to post a report of our recent trip to Lake Champlain.

True Fans

2008-07-08T22:18:00.002-04:00

I REALLY enjoyed this book. There were many descriptions and experiences that strongly reminded me of our own recent trip, in spite of the significant superficial differences between the two tours. I don't know whether it would be as moving for someone who had not done something similar, but it sure did it for me.

On a recent tandem ride with Kathy I found myself fantasizing about taking another tour and rolling down another perfect road. Suddenly I became aware that I was riding on such a road at that very moment! Kathy and I are fortunate that we live in a relatively rural area with many beautiful roads within an easy ride from our driveway. My cycling mantra is now: "Be here now."

Here's the Amazon link for True Fans:

http://tinyurl.com/truefansbook

Pilgrim's Nirvana, aka Elysium

2008-07-06T16:54:00.003-04:00

I have started reading True Fans by Dan Austin. The subtitle is "A Basketball Odyssey". I have no particular interest in basketball, but this book is a chronicle of a 4500 mile, three month bike trip, and that I do find interesting. I just read a paragraph that strongly put me in mind of Elysium, aka Hwy 15. Here is the quote:

Pilgrim's Nirvana happens like that. It comes unexpectedly: in a flash, in an instant, the pilgrim is lost to the road. What does it mean to be lost to the raod? It means the world has no hold upon you. No physical hold, because you are everywhere and howhere; no spiritual hold, because your identity is no longer bound by comparison; rather, it crystalizes into a perfect, incomparable Truth.

You are free. You are in the zone.

Motivated by the above, I queued up Gladiator (one of the dozen or so DVD's we actually own) and wrote down the words of Russell Crowe's "Elysium" speech. I actually remembered it pretty well for my post during the Tour de Fred, but here's the whole thing. The context is that Crowe is addressing his cavalry just before a battle. This scene is within the first five minutes of the movie. Although pretty gory, the battle is a great bit of film, with a phenomenal sound track... ah, but I digress:

If you find yourself alone, riding in green fields with the sun in your face, do not be troubled, for you are in Elysium and are already dead. But what you do in life echoes in eternity.

Question: Does a long tour make you a stronger rider?

2008-06-18T22:09:00.003-04:00

This morning I only had about an hour an a quarter to ride, so I decided to do one of my regular shorter training rides, a ride I have done many, many times over the years. It is a 20 mile, out and back with some little hills that amount to around 800 feet of climbing. I didn't really start out with the idea of testing myself, but I felt pretty good on the hill right out of my driveway, so after a little while I figured I'd see how fast I could do the route.

I didn't go all out, but I was pushing pretty hard and ended up finishing with an average speed of 18.1. I looked back through my log, which is pretty complete back to 2002, and the next best pace I could find was 17.7 for that route, back in 2002. So here I am six years older, picking up the pace by 4/10ths of an MPH! The only explanation is improved fitness as a result of the tour. The result is pretty surprising when you consider that most of the riding on the tour was at a pretty easy pace, and there was hardly any climbing, other than an occasional bridge, during the last week or ten days. Average heart rate averages were usually around 120. Normally I would consider anything that low to be a "recovery" ride -- certainly not a ride with any meaningful training potential. My reading on the subject would suggest that this kind of riding will make you better at low speed, long distance riding, but that's about it. The normally accepted rule is that you have to do speed work (intervals and time trials) to get faster.

So how do you explain my increased speed today? Could it be that all those hours on that heavy bike improved my general cardiovascular and/or respiratory fitness, even when riding at WAY below lactic acid threshold? I mean, there were periods (like the pumpkin man day, and the early headwind day) when I was riding hard for extended periods, but there were many more days where I was doing an easy pace from beginning to end.

I wish I had complete heart rate records for the entire tour, but I was able to save the complete data on only a few days. I had hopes of being able to dump every ride to my Palm PDA, but the software was very unreliable. Some days I was able to transfer from the Polar wrist unit to the Palm and other days, nothing I did would make the transfer work. When I get a chance I'll bring it up with the software publisher (VidaOne - My Sport Training), but that won't bring back all the data I have lost. [Oct 19 addendum: The problem turned out to be with my Palm T3. Since upgrading to a Palm T/X, I have had no problem at all uploading workouts from the Polar to the Palm.]

On a related topic, today I received a foldable bluetooth keyboard that I bought on eBay. These ThinkOutside keyboards work with Palm and Windows PDA's, as well as many smart phones. It would have been GREAT to have had this thing with me on the tour! You have no idea how much time and effort went into some of those posts, entering them using Palm's Graffiti symbols. Anyway, these keyboards originally retailed for some ridiculous amount, like $150. Now that they are discontinued products, they are available for $30 - $50. I had meant to buy it before I left but I got distracted and never got around to it. Here's a CNet link that shows the keyboard, which is available on Amazon, but if you should want one, be sure to check eBay:
http://reviews.cnet.com/keyboards/think-outside-stowaway-universal/4505-3134_7-31125478.html

Recovery

2008-06-16T17:48:00.003-04:00

Here it is, five days after we finished the Tour de Fred, and I am finally beginning to feel normal again. Today is the first day that I have not had to fight to stay awake during the day. I didn't ride on Thursday or Friday, but on Saturday I went for a moderately hilly 50 mile ride (Up & Down Lake County) with my bud Steve Katzman at a pretty brisk pace. He later commented that I was climbing better than before the tour, but maybe I was pushing harder. It is pretty difficult to partial out all the variables. The ride was no cakewalk, that's for sure. Saturday afternoon I actually took a nap -- an extremely rare event for me. On Sunday Kathy and I did our usual 35 miler on the South Lake/West Orange Trail to Winter Garden and back. This time the pace was relaxed, but I still dozed a bit in the afternoon, which I believe indicated that I was still recovering from the tour.

Saturday I rode my Colnago, which had been pretty much ignored since February when I started training in earnest. Initially I found it nearly impossible to control! After so many hours on the longer, heavier, and more stable Surley LHT, the road bike felt a bit cramped and positively twitchy. It responds instantly to any input, so I had to work harder to keep the bike upright and going the right direction, especially when standing. I was used to it again by the end of the ride, but the difference is HUGE! The tandem is somewhere in the middle, but closer to the touring bike in handling.

Pushing on the hills on Saturday left my lower back aching. Now that I don't have to put in so many hours training, I plan to work on strengthening my core. I'm going to try to return to stretching and doing some exercises before bed in the evening. Contrary to the commonly held belief, exercising before bed tends to help me fall asleep. We'll see.

* * * * *

Steve left a comment to one of the tour posts to the effect that I am always the last one to be ready to ride when we do our regular group rides. I was completely unaware that this was the case, but Kathy confirmed it, so it must be true. I also have a reputation for fiddling with one thing or another on the bike when we stop, which might contribute to the problem. Anyway, I will make a deliberate effort to turn that crown over to someone else. (On our Saturday ride I left my helmet and gloves on, and I was the one to say, "Ready?")

Final Route

2008-06-12T22:14:00.003-04:00

Here is the Tour d' Fred route with all revisions. Ultimately we ended up changing the stops on the first portion of our tour and significantly changing the route for the last five days. This is the way it ultimately turned out.

Gainesville, at last

2008-06-12T14:33:00.005-04:00

(Above: We arrive in Gainesville, our final destination)

Wednesday, June 11 (Posted on June 12):

Our last day started with several stops to get Mike's rear tire to hold air. We finally succeeded, with the help of some duct tape to supplement the well-worn rim tape on that wheel. From that point on, the ride went very well. Fred, Ray, and I rotated 10 mile turns at the front, arranged so that Fred would be leading us into Gainesville. We even did 10 of the 71 miles on a bike path that showed up unexpectedly along highway 27 near High Springs. Another pleasant surprise was that the last 20 miles into Gainesville on 232 and Millhopper Road was largely under a cool oak canopy. Finally, we finished about 30 minutes before a rather energetic thunderstorm descended on Gainesville. Again, our pace was a brisk 15.4 or so, at least until we slowed down to work our way through Gainesville and take Fred's campus tour.

Fred lived, loved, and learned at U of F in Gainesville for 10 years, and is, let us say, ENTHUSIASTIC about his alma mater. Mike had split off earlier toward the home of his ex-wife, Pam, but Fred insisted that Ray and I ride through campus with him. It was worth it, as he entertained us with a constant running commentary about his youthful exploits at appropriate points along the way. We stopped at Lake Alice for a photo, and again at the bell tower and at the Psychology building. A young woman had just finished defending her dissertation as we walked into the latter. While Fred talked over the future with her, I sprinted up to the second floor to see if anyone I knew was around. I figured I could give them a good scare, fully done out in lycra, helmet, and sweat. Alas, the few people who might recognize me were nowhere to be seen.

Kathy arrived at Fred and Ray's hotel at around three. In the 35 years we have been together, this trip was the longest period we have spent apart. I was so very happy to see her! Mike and Pam joined us for an end of tour celebratory dinner at Harry's (New Orleans-style seafood) in the center of town. Fred picked up the tab, and proved once again that he is a world-class tipper. He would have tipped too much anyway, but when he learned that our waitress is studying toward a doctorate in statistics (one of Fred's specialty areas), the sky was the limit!

Depending on whether you count incidental, off-route miles or not, the Tour d' Fred covered somewhere between 1,130 and 1,180 miles through Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. The closest thing to an injury or accident was at the fish camp in St. Marks when I was too tired to get my foot unclipped in time to avoid dropping my bike and scraping the back of my calf. There were no mechanical (not counting ferries, of course) or weather problems of significance. Our one day of rain was a blessed respite from the heat. We met many friendly and interesting people. We got along with one another exceedingly well, with lots of laughter and hardly a cross word in 18 days. In short, we had a great deal of fun. Fred feels that he accomplished his goal of doing something "manly" in celebration of his 60 years. I am thrilled to have been there to share the experience with him.

St. Marks, FL to Mayo, FL

2008-06-10T15:47:00.002-04:00

After maybe six days, we are finally off highway 98 and heading inland. Looking back on the trip, we spent much more time on highways that I had expected: 61, 65, 98, and currently 27. If I recall correctly, I think there was a 51 in there as well during the first week. We may be able to divert to the Adventure Cycling route for part of the remaining 65 miles, unless we decide that finishing up is more important than a more scenic route.

We left this morning at first light but there were lots of trucks on the road in spite of the early hour. It seems that they were going to and from a sand or rock mine because once we got past a particular point the truck traffic dropped off considerably.

What differentiated today from other days was the fact that we never got any breakfast. Even 25 miles into the ride, I felt like I could easily go back to bed if there were one readily available. Nonetheless, we managed a pretty good pace, doing almost 71 miles in four and a half hours (average speed 15.7). Mostly Ray and I shared the lead, but Fred stepped up and pulled several times, once for about five miles. I was just told that Mike tried to take the lead once but someone with a beard (he's not naming names) undermined his place. The bearded guy pointed out that he had not completed his 10 mile stint at the front, so he just resumed where he left off after catching up with the other three, who never wait for him to be ready after convenience store stops (so there!). At any rate, no matter how many times you stop at convenience stores, it does not make up for a missed breakfast. The other guys don't agree with me on this point, but that's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.

We were all kinda concerned about tonight's lodging in Mayo at "Cindy's Motel", but we were delighted to find that it is a major step up from last night at the fish camp in St. Marks. In addition, there is a cafe right in front of the motel, and a Dollar General store just across the street. The cafe opens at 5 AM, so we'll even be able to have a sit-down breakfast before leaving tomorrow morning. We are in bike touring heaven! Ray, Fred, and I did, however, get trapped at the Dollar store for about an hour because a nasty thunderstorm moved in while we were inside. The locals are delighted to have the rain, however, and we are delighted for them.

Today Ray passed 2,000 miles on the road, and Fred and I passed 1,000.

Apalachicola to St. Marks

2008-06-09T18:52:00.001-04:00

Not much going on in the sleepy little town of St. Marks. Today's 70 mile, 4 and a half hour ride (15.4 mph) from Apalachicola was uneventful. My knee was not too bad but I was careful not to overdo it.

Panama City to Apalachicola: Smashing Pumpkin-man

2008-06-08T20:17:00.005-04:00

We were on the road at first light after an unexciting breakfast at Omelet-World or some such. The gps wanted to route us on a multi-turn shortcut, but given the early Sunday hour and relative lack of traffic, we all agreed to take the easier option of just sticking to US-98 out of town. We had gone only a couple of miles when I noticed that Mike's rear tire looked low. I suggested he check it at our first stop, but Fred thought it best to stop right away. The tire was, in fact, very soft, but not flat. Ray and Mike got it inflated properly and we had no more problems with it today. In fact, as you might expect, the bike rode so much faster that Mike was happily cruising along at speeds considerably higher than his proclaimed comfort zone. I don't think I mentioned that his bike computer was rendered non-functional during transport from Colorado, so he never knows speed or distance unless he asks someone else.

Just before getting to the bridge out of Panama City, we spotted a cyclist ahead of us, wearing a bright orange safety vest thing. We were all feeling a little frisky, so we all blew past him on the bridge. Normally Mike takes it easy on the bridges, but in this instance he hung with the group. As we came off the other side of the bridge, however, I noticed that the other rider had latched onto our line. Pumpkin-Man (PM), as he came to be known, quickly worked his way up the line, exchanging a few words but not showing appropriate interest or respect for our undertaking. Most local riders we have encountered have been friendly and make us feel good with their wishes of good fortune or expressions of amazement or something of the sort. PM continued past us and we settled back into a 16 mph pace for the ride ahead. At this time Ray was at the front and he made a comical, exaggerated motion as if he were going to run down PM again, when he started moving off ahead of us. The guy got maybe three to five hundred yards ahead of us but that's where the gap stayed.

By this time Ray had been up front for around 15 miles, so I moved up to lead position to give him a break. Ray was focused on the rabbit up the road and noticed him looking back to see where we were. "Oh, he's dead meat. He's done for! We've got him now! NEVER look back!" snarled Ray, apparently detecting the smell of blood in the water. Almost immediately thereafter, he relayed the message, "Mike says to pick it up one mile per hour."

"Really?" I replied. "OK." I picked up the pace to maybe 16.5 or 17, which was enough to slowly close the gap.

A minute later I hear, "Mike wants to pick it up another notch."

"REALLY??" Mike is generally requesting to slow down, not speed up, but I took this as permission -- nay, a COMMAND -- to shut down the disrepectful Pumpkin Man. Now on the aero-bars, I reached down and clicked into the next higher gear and started shoveling coal into the furnace. The boys did the same, and the predator theme from "Jaws" began to throb from the trees on each side as we took on the hunt in earnest. It did not take long before we came up behind and then alongside our prey. Like the spider to the fly, I turned and said conversationally, not at all out of breath, "So, how far are you going?"

Flushed and panting, aware that his destiny (pumpkin pie) was sealed, he choked out, "Just to the next turnaround."

"Oh. OK. Well, see ya'. Feel free to jump on the back, if you want." Hee, hee. Like there's any chance you could!

We surged on past, licking the pumpkin juice off our lips, as poor little pumpkin boy diminished to a dot and then disappeared completely in our rear-views. We continued pumping away at 18 mph for about 10 miles before I gave up the front, someone realized that we were overdue for a break, and we found a shady spot. Ray's claws and fangs were still red -- or should I say, orange -- from the kill and he was still high from the thrill of the chase and the result. I believe he has missed having the chance to humiliate his running challengers while preparing for and participating in the TdF, so today's experience was a special treat for him. (For those who don't know, Ray is a top competitor in his age group in long distance running races, especially the gruelling Pike's Peak Marathon. He is relatively new to bicycling, and it is not his main sport, but his extreme fitness makes him a very strong cyclist nonetheless.)

Back on the road, we kept up a decent pace for the remainder of the 62 mile ride, finishing with an average speed of 15.2 or something like that. There was a price to be paid, however, as my right knee started aching for the first time during the entire tour. I have been dosing NSAIDs and icing it; hopefully it will not be a problem for the remaining three days.

Apalachicola has developed pretty nicely in the decades since my last visit. There are a couple of blocks of nice little shops, some pretty B&B's, and, of course, some wonderful places to gorge on oysters, if that is your thing. We got in pretty early, so our rooms were not ready. We proceeded into town, and found a seafood restaurant on the waterfront to have lunch. Both Fred and Ray wolfed down two dozen oysters ($3.99/dozen) that were literally brought in from the boat after the orders were placed. Both declared them to be exceptional. My salad with grilled shrimp was less so, but we had a heap of fun over our beers, reliving the demise of the pumpkin.

Tonight we are staying at a very new and nice Best Western at the edge of town. It is a welcome change after last night's dreary Motel 6. We are also, at long last, on Eastern time. The end of journey is truly drawing near.

Fred's new best friend, Bob & family

2008-06-07T18:54:00.001-04:00

June 7: Destin to Panama City

2008-06-07T17:43:00.001-04:00

Today's plan was to get on the road at first light so that we could get out of Destin before the traffic started up. Our hotel did not have a breakfast of any kind, so we were rolling at 5:38. I was in front about an hour later when I spotted an open restaurant called 'The Donut Hole' and pulled into the parking lot.

It was great to have a full breakfast -- or, in my case, two breakfasts. I ordered an omelet but when I saw Fred & Ray's pancakes, I ordered those, too.

A couple of miles later we diverted off US98 onto the scenic beachfront route. This turned out real well. Unlike Destin, the beach communities we rode through for the next couple of hours were quiet, upscale towns and we took advantage of the bike path that stretched nearly the whole way. We saw lots of other cyclists but no others touring.

Today's 53 mile ride took 3 hrs 55 mins (13.5 avg) with a brisk headwind most of the way.

Fred met an old fellow this afternoon who invited us to come by this evening to toast the anniversary of the Normandy Invasion, which he survived and many of his friends did not.

More hard times on the road

2008-06-06T19:54:00.001-04:00

Unlucky flats 1 & 2 on the way to Destin

2008-06-06T17:13:00.003-04:00

Today was Mike's first day on the Tour d' Fred. Around 10 miles in, before we had gotten out of Pensacola, he flatted on the approach to the first bridge. A mile or so later, he flatted again. Fred found a hole in the sidewall of the tire that we had missed when fixing the first one. With a new tire on the rear, there were no further issues.

This stretch from Pensacola to Destin might have been the worst so far in terms of traffic and riding conditions. It appears that everyone in the area who owns an RV or a boat on a trailer was on 98 headed to Destin. In addition there were areas with no shoulder and the many of the drivers have no patience with bicyclists who are delaying their weekend recreation by 30 seconds. Our early departure tomorrow morning will, hopefully, get us out of this area before the traffic starts building up again. We will undoubtedly hit some more congestion around Panama City, but there the weekend may work in our favor, and once we get past Panama City the following day, we will still be on 98, but out of the resort area, so it should be ok.

Today we rode almost exactly 60 miles, but it took 4 hours and 26 minutes of pedalling. Our average speed was 13.6. It may pick back up a little as Mike get's acclimated, but he is used to touring at a slower pace than we have been going recently, so we will probably end up back around 14 mph, as we were doing during our first week. Slow or fast doesn't really matter to me one way or the other, but I want to be out of this traffic -- it is no fun at all.

The sun was relentless today. Even getting in at around 12, and starting out with a heavier application of SPF 50 sun-block, I caught much more sun than I would prefer, especially on my shoulders. I am going to change back from the sleeveless jersey I have been wearing to the short sleeve one, at least for a day or two.

We had a very good lunch nearby, with an excellent waitress. Fred went through his regular stand-up routine ("Perhaps you have heard of the Tour d' Fred? No? I decided I needed to do something manly for my 60th birthday. My wife suggested that I work in the garden [makes face and pauses for laugh] . Instead, I decided to bicycle across the country... ") He loves telling the story of how the TdF came to be, even if much of it -- like Pat's telling him to work in the garden -- isn't true, and we all enjoy hearing him tell it.

We were going to try to get a proper replacement for Mike's tire this afternoon, but none is available in the area. Our next leg is short (51 miles) and there will probably be a good bike shop in Panama City, so we'll try again tomorrow. For now, he is doing fine with his spare. We have nothing else planned for the afternoon. I might even see if I can catch a nap!

Sunset in Pensacola

2008-06-05T21:09:00.001-04:00

Wednesday Addendum

2008-06-05T14:54:00.003-04:00

Once at Sonny's place in Pensacola we were able to check to see what went wrong with Paul Walker's directions. He was using MapQuest and unless you zoom in past a certain point, it looks like Route 180 turns north and intersects 98, when in fact it just continues straight as a two lane road and dead-ends. We therefore officially hold Paul blameless for the faulty directions into Pensacola.

I also neglected to mention that approximately one foot inside the Florida border Fred managed to get into an argument with a guy passing us on the bridge. The passing motorist was unhappy about Fred riding on the left edge of the shoulder. (I am unhappy about the same thing, but have learned to live with it.) Maybe 15 minutes later we were stopped at a convenience store when a young woman, chatting with a friend in a running car parked in front of the store, opened her window and dropped her cigarette butt on the ground. Fred turned to Ray and said, "Watch this." He then dramatically walked over, picked up her discarded cigarette, put it out, and dropped it into the trash can. He then walked around to the back of her car and pretended to note her tag number while placing a phone call (actually to his brother, but it looked like he was reporting her to some authority). The end result was a protracted name-calling fest, that rapidly involved Ray as well, whom she instructed to perform a sex act involving extreme flexibility. In return, Ray wished her "a good, short life," having little patience for smokers. He and Fred then mounted up and started down the road while I finished the last swig of my Powerade and donned my helmet. Before I could escape, however, the offended smoker returned and started in on ME! Apparently I deserved it for being "dressed like them." Up to this point I had been an innocent bystander. I refused to reciprocate, dusted off some old crisis intervention skills, and tried to calm her down. She was still upset, though, because she was convinced that Fred had reported her to the police for littering. I assured her that this was not the case, but I don't think she believed me.

It's great to be back in Florida! Bring on the yahoos, and let the beer bottles fly!

Rest day, Lucky Flat #3, Final Section Itinerary

2008-06-05T13:41:00.004-04:00

I forgot to mention yesterday that Ray's rear tire was flat when we passed the bike on our way out to dinner (several hours after our arrival in Pensacola). It is a mystery flat on the inner (rim) surface of the tube, about six inches from the valve. The rim itself is clean and the rim tape is intact. We replaced the tube and cleaned the inside of the tire and rim. We'll be watching it.

We went to a bike shop and I got a used jocky pulley: free, but in just slightly better shape than mine. Hopefully I won't need it anyway. Sonny is putting together a crabmeat quiche for lunch and shrimp stew for dinner. Life on the road sure is tough!

Mike, the last of the "Four Bicycleman of the Preposterous" is supposed to show up this afternoon -- bicycling from the Pensacola airport. This should give him a good taste of Florida afternoon riding. We expect no argument about leaving tomorrow at sunrise.

Here's what's left:

Pensacola to Destin (60 miles)
Destin to Panama City (56.0 miles)
Panama City to Apalachiacola (58.9 miles)
Apalachiacola to St Marks (66.1 miles)
St Marks to Mayo (69.8 miles)
Mayo to Gainesville (64.4 miles)

Ferry well done

2008-06-04T22:16:00.001-04:00

This morning we slept in (6:30) so that we could enjoy the Cajun breakfast plus pancakes promised by the proprietor of our b&b yesterday. It ended up being a regular breakfast of eggs, grits, bacon, sausage, biscuits and so forth, but it was still a cut above what we had been getting in our hotels.

Our ferry was scheduled to depart at 9:30, so we were there well in advance. Nonetheless, 9:30 came and went with no sign of the ferry. We soon learned that it was out of action with a steering problem. The word was that it would be there ASAP if they could fix it, otherwise ferry number two would go at 11:00, as scheduled. We decided to go up the road to have a look at Fort Gaines, a Confederate installation at the tip of the island. We looked around the exterior but decided to pass on a closer inspection. That was a good call because at around 10 the ferry appeared in the bay headed for the dock. Happily, we made it to the other side of the bay without further delay.

The problem, however, was that we were now just starting a 50 mile ride under an intense sun with neither clouds nor shade to be seen anywhere. Our pattern was to be close to finished by this time, not just starting out. By the end of the ride I was 'well done'. The usual amount of sunscreen just could not hold up to today's radiation.

At about the halfway point the gps pointed the way, but it was a way contrary to the directions given by Paul Walker (Fred's friend, my statistics instructor from 37 years ago, and the brother of our host Sonny in Pensacola). Fred insisted we follow the latter. We were headed in the right direction but the gps was very unhappy about the route and kept suggesting turns or u-turns. That usually stops after a little while when you take a legitimate alternative, so I became increasingly suspicious. We eventually stopped for a little break and I asked a local for some guidance. He told me that the road dead-ends in a few miles and would definitely not get us to our destination. Fred had already taken off down the road, but we knew he'd be back, so Ray and I broke out the map. We quickly determined that the gps's last ignored instruction was the way to go. Fred finally showed up and the remainder of the ride went smoothly, guided by the gps. Not counting a couple of miles before the ferry ride, we rode 51 miles in 3 hours, 13 minutes, at a pace of 15.9 mph. Not bad considering the wind and tall bridges we had to climb.

Fred had prepared us for a 'rustic' concrete block shelter. Instead, Sonny has a very nicely decorated three bedroom house and gave us a very warm welcome. Paul showed up a little later with Uncle Buck, an 87 year old WWII ace who just lost his wife of 66 years.

We all went to dinner at a local place where Sonny is a favored regular, so we got great service.

We are looking forward to our first real day of relaxation tomorrow. I plan to do laundry and to try to find a bike shop to get a jockey pulley to have in reserve. (When cleaning the bike after our rainy day last week, I noticed a missing tooth on one of mine. For now it is still working fine, but bike shops are rare on this route so I want to be prepared.)