The Road Les Pedaled

Saturday
February 13, 2010

It's funny how pretty much year-round I'm wishing I were in some other climate, yearning for seasons instead of just downright hot and humid every day.  Well, right now I'd pay some cash for some heat and humidity. 

I actually woke up early this morning.  I had decided not to set the alarm so I could get the amount of sleep my body was craving.  If I missed the organized ride, I'd just do a solo from the house.  I leaned over to look at the blue glow of the clock and it told me 4:45.  WHAT???  I normally get up at 5:00 so I guess my body clock was on auto pilot.  Needless to say, I had plenty of time to get to Lake Mills Park for the 8:00 FFW ride.

I've really only been riding once a week since starting back up, which isn't nearly enough, but it's what I can do right now with work schedule, weather, and physical limitations.  The only problem with that is I need to get to a point where I can do 60 miles, and FAST.  Tour de Cure is coming up in two weeks and my longest ride since my re-herniation has been 30 miles.

So two pairs of socks, two pairs of pants, two heavy-duty shirts, two pairs of gloves, a jacket, and a delicious pre-ride breakfast of Scottish oats, banana, walnuts and raisins later, I loaded up the truck and hit the road.  Remember the Michelin man?  You get the picture.

Upon arrival I was worried nobody else was going to show, but sure enough there were a few cars in the parking lot.  Joanne, friend and ride leader, was there with her husband Ron.  As I pulled up they were in debate over what they were going to do.  They both wanted to go home, but Joanne felt obligated to stay.  So Ron woosied out of the ride, claiming he'd just returned from snow country, and bailed, promising to pick up his wife upon her return.  Also in attendance were fellow Flamingo Elaine and newbie Scott.


As we were all standing there getting ready to go, I contemplated briefly just going out and grabbing a hot drink, but then I remembered the upcoming Tour.  I had driven all the way out to Chuluota, so I was riding.

In a nutshell, it was COLD and WINDY.  Because there were only four of us I had a chance to ride with Joanne and gab so we could catch up, but it was hard to talk because my face was frozen.  You've seen weathermen on TV in the midst of snowstorms and it's so freakin' cold that they can't articulate to report the weather?  That's exactly how I felt.  It sounded like I was slurving my speech.  My lips couldn't make contact to form B's and P's and M's.  Brrrrr!

At our rest stop halfway there were other diehards that braved the conditions to get a ride in.



Unfortunately the hardest of the work was on the way back.  Right before the rest stop I jinxed it by making the comment that it's not so cold anymore...that blood was actually starting to circulate in my feet.  Well, false sense of warmth, thy name is tailwind.  The party was over once we turned around.  Fortunately it was a short 25-miler and the self-dubbed Diehards Under Duress ended up making good time...probably because we were so frozen that the main objective was just finish.

Do you know there's no Starbucks between Lake Mills Park and my house?  All I wanted was HOT beverage on the way home, but I was SOL.  So instead I just plodded home and stood under a hot, hot shower for about 30 minutes until I had blood flowing into my hands and feet.  I know how that sounds being that I'm in Florida and this is probably one of the warmest places in the country, but I'm ready for spring!

Saturday,
February 6, 2010

I keep waiting for the weather conditions to improve for rides, but I can't wait forever!  So this morning I decided to brave the windy conditions and do my first touring ride with the FFW, a 30-miler stopping at Bikes, Beans & Bordeaux during the ride to have some breakfast.  This particular ride starts on the Little Econ Trail, then moves to the road and eventually connects up with the Cady Way Trail, and then off-trail once again to get to the restaurant.

The temperature was in the upper 40s and low 50s, but the WIND was ridiculous!  It was blowing in the 30s and probably had gusts higher than that.  The good thing was that we had most of our headwinds on the way out to B3, so we did most of our hard work at the beginning of the ride.

Here's the crew that turned up to slash through the wind.


I love going to B3.  I meant to take pictures, but once I got there it was all about the food and I totally spaced the pictures.  I had a delicious bowl of oatmeal for breakfast, throwing in there banana, walnuts, and raisins.  A lot of people had B3's famous zucchini bread, which comes highly recommended if you ever drop in.  I also couldn't help myself and bought a pair of B3 cycling socks.  Support your local cycling-related establishments!


The rest of the ride was pleasant and uneventful.  We had a nice tailwind, so we didn't have to work so hard.  The nice thing is my back survived even though I had to push and pull pretty hard to slice through the wind.  That makes me hopeful that I really am finally on the mend and can start looking forward to future events, which better not have this wicked wind!

Sunday
January 24, 2010

For my second comeback ride I decided to do a group ride with my buddy Martha.  She's always so supportive of me every time I have to start over.  She's patient with me when I'm going soooo slow and sacrifices great long rides to do shorter distances so I don't have to ride alone...even though I always tell her that she's welcome to fly on ahead, that if I can handle 350 miles solo on back roads in Georgia, I can certainly make my sluggish way back to my car and get my little self home.  What a sweetheart she is.

Saturday,
January 16, 2010

Well, it's time to get moving.  After a longer-than-usual recuperation period from another back episode, it was time to get back out on the road, time to start to build.  Not only was I waiting until my back was ready, but it's been COLD outside.  We've hit record lows here in Florida and had, for here, a drastic cold spell.

Today is really the first mild day, so I loaded up the bike and accoutrement into the truck and headed over to the Cross Seminole Trail, very close to my house, for my 2010 maiden voyage.

Here are a few looks at one of our lovely local trails:


I typically don't do trail rides too often anymore, but my first ride back was going to be limited mileage and I knew I'd be traveling pretty slowly, so it was a perfect choice of rides, with a couple of exceptions. 

There's one bridge that crosses over 434 which under normal circumstances wouldn't be too big of a deal.  But after a two-month hiatus and my back not having a lot of strength, climbing really shouldn't have been part of my agenda.



By the way, all these pictures were taken with my new Nikon Coolpix camera, a tiny little thing that takes pictures and videos that Steve got me for Christmas.  After shipping back my old digital camera to rid my bags of all possible extra weight on my tour, he knew I needed something different.  Now I have a wee camera to take on all future rides/trips, and that makes me so happy!

Anyway, over that bridge I did go, which was no picnic, but also no biggie.  And I had to cross it again on the way back! 

The other weird part about my ride was as I was on my way back and riding through Winter Springs, I passed through Central Winds Park where the annual Highland Games was going on.  There were thousands of people that were arriving and had parked in a soccer field next to the park and they were ALL walking to the park on the trail.  They were coming at me!  It was really dangerous.  The trail was obliterated by throngs of kilt-wearing tartan-clad revelers.  Seriously, no space whatsoever.  I've never experienced the sensation before, but I imagined this was just what it felt like when cyclists in the Tour de France are climbing and far enough from the finish line where the barricades aren't up and they're just swallowed up by specatators who are having to part like the Red Sea as the cyclists try to climb through.  So instead of getting upset by the intrusion, I just became...you guessed it...Lance (Lancelee?)!  I just planted myself smack dab in the middle of the trail and pedaled.  I can't imagine how strange that must have looked!  Here's this chick on this recumbent plowing through the crowds with her game face on using every last ounce of strength climbing eight miles at a 9% incline after putting 120 miles under her belt and all her spent teammates have dropped off and left her on her own to capture the stage victory.  And she does it!!  AND THE CROWD GOES WILD!!!!

Well, back to reality.  The actual ride statistics were something like 12 flat miles at something like 12 miles per hour and limping home to put my back on ice.  Woo-hoo!  The really great thing about it all is I finally was able to get back on the bike and start anew.  Renaissance!

Saturday
December 12, 2009

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted.  I've been on a bit of a medical hiatus.  I haven't been able to ride for about a month now, so it's been difficult for me to focus on future events and plans.  I'm also having some issues with Blogger right now, so my goal is to refocus on the customization of my site.

My plan for my next event is to participate in the Downtown Holiday Lights Ride on December 20th.  What a great chance to deck the roads with festive lights!  Hopefully I'll be able to get back in the saddle for a few short rides before that.

I have quite a few ideas for the pedaling direction I want to take down the road next year.  I look forward to updating you on all that when my plan of action becomes more concrete.  Until then, have a safe holiday season out on the road.

November 7, 2009

I have been in the biggest funk all week.  I'm not sure why.  Maybe some post-trip letdown or something.  I haven't been able to snap out of it yet.  I'm going for my first ride since the tour tomorrow morning, so maybe that'll help clear my mind and get me back down to earth.

In looking back on my first tour experience, here are a few things I've been reflecting on.

The people in the small towns of Georgia are amazing.  I've never in my life been so accepted with wide open arms by people I'd never met.  Even though I was alone, it seemed like I had a support system because everywhere I went I had people offer to help me, to drive me, to save me, to give me a place to stay.  That experience really made me ask myself...would I do the same?  If I met a woman in a restaurant who basically said to me I'm traveling here for the first time, tell me about where you live, would I ask her to sit down at my table and join me for a meal?  Would I offer her a ride to a location 60 miles away?  Would I tell her to call me if she had any sort of trouble whatsoever?  Would I invite her to stay in my house for as long as she needed?  Sadly, even though I'm a bit ashamed to admit it, I think the answers are all a resounding no.  I don't really buy into all the fear that's being dealt to everyone all the time...I never would have gone on this trip if I had...but I'm also not nearly as giving and selfless as these people I met.  I attribute it to the small town mentality.  There's just something that exists there that I haven't been around in a long time, and it's like a breath of fresh air.  I hope that I can grab ahold of some of that mentality and never let go.

Even though I successfully completed this tour, I was so fortunate that nothing went mechanically wrong with The Ranger.  If it had I would have been forced to adopt the Blanche Dubois strategy of relying on the kindness of strangers.  I really need to spend more time educating myself on bike maintenance before I do this again, particularly if it's solo.

And speaking of solo, I've asked myself several times this past week if I would go solo again.  I'm not exactly sure of the answer to that.  I'm so glad I did it for my first trip though.  It was almost like a rite of passage.  It was just something I had to do to prove to myself that I could.  It got a bit tiresome, all the people asking me why I would do that or how could my husband let me do that, etc.  My blanket response to why I am I doing this pretty quickly became "because I can".  For the most part being alone didn't bother me.  I really enjoyed being self-sufficient and structuring my days and nights so that I could take care of business.  The part where I started craving companionship was when I was actually on the road.  I don't listen to music or anything while I'm riding because I personally think it's a safety hazard.  So when you're by yourself on backroads time really can go by slowly.  It's hard to not look at your computer to see what mile you're on or how much time has elapsed. 

It's hard for me to imagine doing a self-supported tour and camping instead of the credit card style.  That's more gear that I'd have to carry!  I can't imagine doing without some of the amenities that hotel/motel life provide.  Some of the best parts of my trip were just relaxing in the tub or enjoying the continental breakfast or watching the Weather Channel...not to mention just the isolation of solo camping.

One of my fantasies has been to do a cross-country tour.  I've asked myself since I've been back after having a week-long tour do I think I could do it for ten or twelve weeks.  One of my problems on the tour was that with having to carry a load, this trip was probably a bit beyond my physical capabilities, and because of that it became more of a focus on completing each day's ride.  I really wasn't able to stop and smell the roses, so to speak.  It was all about survival.  I made the mistake of doing absolutely zero training carrying a load.  I would have to make sure if I did an extended tour of multiple weeks that I devoted the proper amount of time to training and nutrition so that I'd be physically prepared.  That way I'd be able to enjoy the tour for what it is meant to be...sightseeing!  So if I were to do a cross-country tour, I think I'd spend the big bucks for a fully supported tour where the goal is comfort and companionship, lower daily mileages, more rest days, etc.  I'm thinking about it for the year I turn 50, which is right around the corner!

I wish I had rigged some sort of microphone hooked up to a recorder while I was riding.  I would think of so many different things I wanted to include in the blog, but then never could remember any of them later.  Someone needs to come up with some kind of system for no-handed note-taking/recording so that someone like me with a crappy memory can track of all the crazy noteworthy thoughts that cross my mind when I'm riding.

So when is the next one?  Good question.  I'm contemplating a fundraising ride from December 12-17.  I have the vacation days and all systems are go...it's just SO soon and I'd have to raise a lot of money in such a short time and it's a lot of miles each day.  Of course it would be supported, so no loads!  Sometimes I think I'm just going to continue procrastinate until it really is too late, and I'm not sure why.  I really do think it's all part of my post-ride blues.  I'm hoping that will evaporate tomorrow morning as I gather with some friends for a flat 42-mile ride and I'll get off the fence one way or another about it.  I'll keep you posted.

October 31, 2009

Well, I couldn't handle it.  It just seemed so anticlimactic sitting in the hotel room last night.  Steve was discouraging me from riding today, that he didn't want me to hurt myself, that I'd gone far enough.  I just didn't want to have any regrets.  I didn't want to succumb (as Shayna put it) to the security offered to me.  So for the first time during the entire trip I set the alarm so that I could take off at sunrise and head toward St. Augustine.

I'm SOOOOOOOOO glad I did!  It was 30 miles of sheer bliss.

Mr. S&R took these pictures of me at dawn just before starting.

 
And then this one right after I took off.

It's kind of hard to see, but it had those shaker singles on the front and was just beautiful.  And for the benefit of Mr. S&R, an early morning golf course shot.


And here's my contribution to the morning pictures after stopping at a home construction site to use the porto-potty.



I had left absolutely everything behind except my water.  I didn't even carry spare tubes or anything today.  Red and I were flying high.  My hotel didn't have a continental breakfast...only brunch later in the day...so I had eaten a few bites of trail mix before leaving and was getting pretty hungry, but I just kept on pedaling.  At around 26 miles I see a black Prius pass me by and then pull in front of me.  Guess who!  He snapped this.


And he brought me Krispy Kremes and chocolate milk.  Breakfast of champions!  So for the first time this trip I made it 26 miles before breaking.  It's amazing what not carrying a load can do!  What I didn't know was that I was almost done.  Steve took off after the break and I continued on my way.  In just a couple of minutes I saw this.