Summer

102 degrees on the truck thermometer last night at 6:00 as I pulled into the trail head parking lot at Magnolia. It didn't feel any hotter than 95 did the evening before at FM but the idea of riding when it's that hot that late in the day makes me wonder if I've got any sense at all.

At the TT Tuesday about half a lap in I began to think about what would happen if I had a heart attack while out there. That's not something younger riders even consider and I don't dwell on it very often but when it's that hot and I'm pushing myself the thought did creep in my mind. Let's see, I'd left my cell phone in my pack back at the start and the rider going off behind me was Rupe which didn't make me feel any better. So I backed it down a little. Still took a few seconds off my previous time but got stomped by a new old guy who stole my (imaginary) 50+ crown. It's fun to go that hard once in a while and Rupe seems to enjoy it even though he's not even breathing hard at the finish I suspect he's got a lot more in the tank that he's not using. Speaking of Rupe he bailed on two of the rides this week and the group asked about him. When I told him he was missed it made him sorry he didn't make the ride. It's hard at that age to know what to do, I remember how it was.

I can't believe it's the end of July already. Everybody complains about the heat but I know I'll miss the long daylight and the evening rides without having to use lights. The year seems to pick up speed after August and rolls fast to Christmas. Bonnie Rait has a song with the line "times seems so precious when you've got less of it to spend" or something like that. Anyway the point is to make the best of it even if it's not always comfortable.

Moonlight

The monthly full moon ride at Munson had a bigger group than last time I think we had 8 show up. The temps were in the upper 80's with a mostly clear sky so we got to see the moon rise. Some of our group were brave enough to ride without lights but I'm too old for that so Rupe and I lit up the world with our helmet lights and enjoyed a casual pace for the 8 mile loop.

The feds had just burned a portion of the forest that the trail passes through, some of the lighter stumps were still on fire so the group stopped to roast marshmallows. I couldn't quite get into standing in front of a smoky fire in the middle of July to eat black things on a stick so I just enjoyed the quiet of the woods.

With a nose as big as mine I get to enjoy the different smells of the forest at night something you don't seem to get in the heat and humidity of the day or maybe I just don't take the time. There's something about a night ride that makes you feel good. The music on the way home just sounded better.

Dumb Old Man

My plans to ride 3 days during the week seemed to have come together. Monday I hit the gym for my little old man weight routine, Tuesday I rode with Giant and Blank at Tom Brown, then Wednesday by myself (more on that later) at Forest Meadows, and Thursday with Bob Marley and friends at TB again.

On Monday Rupe had other plans and I had posted that I was riding at Tom Brown but after checking the radar and getting an email from TMBA about going to Munson I switched. On the way Giant called and said they were going to TB so I diverted again.

Giant wasn't feeling up to snuff after a weekend of moto and wanted to take it easy so we rolled at a moderate pace over to Kudzilla and around to Lobolly where we stopped for a breather in the sweltering heat. After a few minutes I needed a breeze so I suggested we roll easy and talk while we ride and for a change to keep the pace low I jumped out in front. This must have been seen as some sort of a challenge even though I had stated my intentions before I started pedaling because the chatter behind me started almost immediately. Something about me not going very fast and not wanting to be competitive which I took to mean they didn't want to roll slow and were ready to ride. Blank keeps telling me he needs a good workout so I tried my best to give him one even if I felt like puking on all the hills. Hey, it's the kind of guy I am.

When I stopped at our normal place to take off my glasses Giant was nowhere to be found and when Blank pulled up he said he had turned back. My mistake! It was just so much fun to ride hard by myself without worrying about Rupe. Yea I know that's a week excuse. So by the time Blank and got back to the truck Giant had already left. To make things even better I had ridden too hard coming back in and didn't give myself a chance to cool down so I was sweating like a pig and having trouble getting my heart rate down while we loaded up. Dumb old man!

After sending out the email for the FM Wednesday ride Blank replied he had forgotten to wash his riding clothes and Giant said he was 50/50, Clever said he might make it which we all know means no way in hell he's coming. I pulled up to the tennis courts at the appointed time to find Giants truck already there along with 3 other trucks that belonged to some very fast moto guys. I realized I had been dumped in favor of a more star studded group, sigh .

I rode our normal route and enjoyed the ride since it was the first time FM had been dry in a while. I had thought to bring my tunes just in case and that was a treat to ride with a sound track. Giant had left me a note on my truck when I finished my first loop and it seems we were riding in opposite directions so I changed gloves and headed out to finish the ride.

The flurry of emails Thursday morning left me no doubt I had been dumped even though Giant said I was pouting. Imagine that! Bob Marley emailed me about going to TB that evening along with Jwheeldeal which would have been unusual because he doesn't really like TB. When I got to the parking lot at 5:30 it was 99 degrees on my truck thermometer. We met a couple who rode with us to the lake crossing then turned around but no Jwheeldeal which I wasn't surprised. BM and I rode across to the Alford Greenway and the jungle that that trail has become and came back on Cadillac. A nice way to finish the work week.

Hanna Park

The Fam headed to Jacksonville this past weekend to visit some more family so we took the bikes along to hit Hanna Park again. Rupe and I had ridden there 6 months ago but stayed lost the whole time. Bunky was going with us this time around and we figured it would be a slower pace so maybe we would't get lost.

The trails there are directional which is nice since you don't have to worry about meeting someone coming the other way. That could easily happen since the underbrush is thick in a lot of spots and the trail is tight. You'd think being on the beach that sand would be a problem but it's not as sandy as Munson. It flows well for being so tight with only a few rooty sections but nothing as extreme as Red Bug. Bunky only had to bail a couple of times while Rupe only pushed once (I counted twice but he denies the second one).

For a city the size of Jax the trail system is short as we only had 7 miles when we finished the main loops. We may have missed a little bit as the marking is slim on some sections but we didn't miss much. It was a pleasant Saturday afternoon and there were only 3 vehicles at the trail head and only one of them was on a real off road bike. The trails didn't look hammered so I assume it doesn't get ridden near as much as Tom Brown.

You can ride out to the ocean in a couple of spots and the jungle scenery is interesting. There was a parade of vehicles going around and around a small lake in the middle of the park which made for heavy traffic when crossing the roads which you have to do to connect the loops.

Would it be worth a trip from Tally just to ride it? Probably not; there are better systems closer to home and you'd have to go all the way through Jax to get to this one but if you're in town for another reason take the bike it's worth that much effort.

Puddles

Rain every day this week. It reminds me of the scene from Forest Gump "one day it started raining and it didn't quit for 3 months" it sounds better if you say it in a real southern drawl. Along with this comes the 95 degree days with 98% humidity oh well that's just summer in Florida it's better than being snowed in for days at a time (I guess).

Our little group went to Forest Meadows Wednesday evening even though it had been flooding earlier in the day. Rupe, Giant, a newbie that Giant had met on a road bike ride, and I sloshed through the puddles of standing water on the multi use trail. It was so humid it was hard to breath both in and out!

We did the lake loop over to Overstreet and down the Silk trail which held up surprisingly well. At the power line we went across McClay and down the power line behind Ricky Carmichael's house to Timberlane, turned around and came back to Overstreet. The short section on McClay was scary I don't like cars when I'm on a bicycle.

I took a look at my totals on the Garmin 305 and so far this year it shows 507 bicycle miles and 170 run miles. That's on the low side as I haven't taken it on all my rides and it conked out on me a couple of times when I forgot to charge the battery still that's not bad mileage for an old man.

We're going to ride someplace really different this weekend I'll let you know how that goes.

BTW if you're enjoying reading this or maybe not enjoying it but just like to watch a train wreck how about a comment or two. It doesn't hurt to follow the blog. Nobodies going to steal your identity or anything.

TT Again

We hit the TT at Munson last night. Thunder rumbled and it was dark to the south but we never got a drop of rain. This was Rupe's first TT and he enjoyed it. We both set decent times at least when you factor in our general lack of skill. It won't be long before he passes me but he's not there yet.

It's a relaxed group with no attitude. Everybody is friendly and encouraging. At TC's suggestion I rode the whole lap in the big ring and did better than last time without the impending need to puke for half the lap.

On the way home at 8:30 going by the airport I pointed out the sunset to Rupe and he looked over and said "I think I like the mountain bike better than the dirt bike" for some reason I've been felling the same way lately. It was a good day.

San Felasco

I was a little concerned when we got to the meet site at 10 minutes till 6 and no one else was there. At 5 till a car pulled up next to us and asked where everybody was, not a good sign but I was looking forward to the ride and tried to remain optimistic.

I had drug Rupe out of bed at 4:30 in order to make this ride on time since it's 2.5 hours to San Felasco and I was disappointed that the person who called the ride wasn't even there. At 6 another rider showed up and we decided to wait till 6:15 to roll. I'd never been there but one of the others had so we rolled out and headed to San Felasco.

Turns out it was easy to find and we hit the trail head parking area a little after 8:30. It was already full of people but we didn't see anyone from TMBA except our little group and a father son combo from Tallahassee that had been to Santos the day before. The 2 Erics, one local, and the other from Jax joined us along with a young lady from Orlando on a relaxed ride who was friends with the other lady in our group.

I knew from looking at the map that the trail didn't loop back to the parking area and had planned to take extra water bottles in our jerseys but I didn't notice anyone else toting extra water so I assumed we were somehow going to make a loop back, this would come back to haunt me later. We rode out and the group hit the throttle pretty hard for just getting out of the truck and we immediately dropped the ladies. At our first stop it was decided someone should ride sweep and help them not get lost so we all started taking turns at the back except the boys.

The trail was fantastic! Good flow through a mixed pine hardwood hammock with a few rooty climbs it reminded me of Overstreet only with not as many roots. My rotation at the back just happen to coincide with the start of the newest and most challenging section of the trail called the Conquistador. The ladies started to struggle immediately. It was going so slow people were stopping and recommending we turn around so after one of our group came back to check on us he turned around with them and allowed me to continue. The loop went up and down the side of a ravine with bermed turns at the bottom. It was still new so the roots hadn't worked their way to the surface but the turns at the bottom were quick so all you had time to do was brake, downshift, turn, and start the climb. I missed 2 miles of this and was a little disappointed but I hope to go back again and hit the whole thing someday.

After 3 hours in the woods with the temperatures in the mid 90's and humidity that only Florida and Africa seem to have most of our group was out of water. The constant stopping and waiting was taking it's toll. As long as you're moving you can stand the heat but as soon as we stopped it wrapped around us like a wet blanket. The mosquitoes were also having lunch. There was still a lot more trail to explore but most of us were concerned about lack of water so we made the decision to head back which at our speed should have taken us an hour. I had sweep on the way out and was really glad to get to the split and drop off the "wahenees" so Rupe and I followed the father son duo who said they knew the way back to the truck. It was so nice to ride at speed that we missed the turn to the trail head and after having to consult google on an iphone we found our way out. Both the boys were looking a little sketchy, we had stopped sweating and I was afraid Rupe might get in a panic. We rode straight to the bike wash/shower and hosed down.

Lunch at Moes and we were on our way home. I could have been my usual butt head self and complained about the pace of the ride but I chose to be cool and was glad I did. Everybody was upbeat even after the tough morning we had and it was a real nice group even if it was unevenly matched.

It was an epic day and I hope we can do it again.

Rupe and I did the TMBA ride at Tom Brown Tuesday evening which turned into the Sunshine/TMBA ride as soon as we got there. This added about another 10 riders to our 6 and we slowly made our way over to Kudzilla and around Magnolia. At the MOAPG we split from the Sunshine group and did Cadillac back around to Loblolly. I was pretty blistered from my Bear ride on Monday so much to Rupe's disappointment we called it a ride after one loop.

One Wednesday we did the regular Forest Meadows ride with the Giant which is usually a good workout. The Silk Trail was even better at a faster pace and was over too soon. We climbed back up the Secret Trail and continued our regular loop dropping out of single track onto the multi-use because it was getting too dark for my glasses. The ride along the edge of the lake was beautiful as the sun was setting. It won't be long before we're running lights on this ride and leg warmers. That seems hard to believe.

We're planning on going on a Sunshine ride to San Felasco this Sunday I'll let you know how that goes.

Why?

On my recent ANF tour I slipped around a gate near the old Springhill pit. The sign just said "closed to motorized vehicles" and since my bicycle didn't have any motor except my legs I rationalized that it was ok for me to proceed. If you were riding dirt bikes in this area 10 or more years ago you know about Springhill pit. I bet I spent hundreds of Saturday and Sunday mornings out there. You could always find somebody there to ride with and we pretty much had our pick of trails to link together along with trail names that you'd only know if you'd been around awhile. When newbies would buy a bike at a local shop they'd be given directions to the pit and maybe a phone number to TTR.

I didn't think about it at the time but that system kept the number of riders to a minimum. You see if you didn't know the trails all you could do was ride around the pit and that kept the rif raf off of the good stuff. All the trails had names like, Chuck's section, the hare scrambles loop, and LL Wallace. If you left the pit without knowing where they led you'd be seriously lost in a matter of minutes. It's not that we were snobs (well maybe I was) we welcomed everybody who showed up but in hindsight this might have been a mistake. We should have kept the group exclusive but we had no idea where this was all heading until the first of the machines from hell started showing up; 4 WHEELERS!

Anybody could buy one, throw it in a truck or on a trailer, trundle out to the pit, unload it, start it, and ride. It took almost no skill or balance and would go anywhere, and they did. Donuts in the parking area, bogging in all the creeks, and flat tracking around the ponds. Those damn things did more damage in a year than we had done in 20!

Well it didn't take long for the USFS to start clamping down on all forms of motorized recreation and rightly so. Dirt bikes just got thrown in with the 4 wheelers and it progressed to the point it is today which in my opinion it's really not worth riding out there.

In the end we lost access to the pit and all the trails around it. After years of no riding you almost have to look hard to see trail. The pictures here are of the parking area and a main trail leaving it. I rode my bicycle over a path I had traveled many years before, it's kind of sad knowing Rupe won't ever get to ride these trails. The only lesson I can see in all this is if you've got something good adding more people and making it easier won't necessarily make it better. The mountain bike crew might do well to remember that.

The Bear

What an interesting holiday weekend! The weather was pleasant which for Florida in July is saying something. Breezy and 85 is almost unheard of this time of year.

It started out with the Greensboro Fl. 5k foot race Saturday morning. The unusual part of this run is the ride out to the start in an old school bus; they drop you off on the side of the road and you race back into town. Turnout was around 50 runners but some of the fast old guys from Tallahassee must have made the trip because I won my class last year and got beat by a good margin this year even after setting a better time. Rupe ran also but it seems his feet are growing so fast he's already outgrown his running shoes and at the finish he was complaining of sore feet (at least that's what he blamed his time on).

That afternoon I decided to take Clever up on his offer to join him for some quality dirt bike time at Fastrac. This was my first time on the bike in 3 months. The longest I've been off a motorcycle in 20 years except for the time I broke my wrist. The first laps felt strange but by the second session I started to get a little rhythm and enjoy the ride. The track had 4 times the number of double jumps it had last time I rode there, I think I'll go back to riding in the woods.

Sunday I took Rupe and a friend fishing and did the 4th thing.

Monday I got up early and headed for the St. Marks trail head to do my big 40 mile loop in the ANF. I really should plan better as the gray skies reminded me I hadn't brought a plastic baggie for my electronics and camera. Then after just 20 minutes my MP3 battery ran out. I did my best not to get pissed but I had really been looking forward to a soundtrack for this ride.

Most of the route was forest service roads some of which had been graded and some that were sandy and rutted. I noticed old motorcycle enduro trail that I had ridden so many times. It seems a shame they keep the bikes out of that area now.

After Silver Lake I rounded a corner on a graded road only to see a large black fury butt sashaying back and forth in the road about 50 yards in front of me. Aw crap a bear! Do I turn around? Yell? What if I yell and it gets mad? So I just stopped and took out the camera. I've worked in the woods most of my life but this was the biggest bear I'd ever seen. My hand was shaking so bad I couldn't even take the picture. It finally waddled off across the ditch and into the palmettos never even knowing I was there. As I started to ride again I hollered, whooped, and pedaled as fast as I could.

The end of the route was on 5 miles of paved road which was the worst part of the ride. I don't see how roadies stand it. I hit exactly 40 on my GPS when I got back to the truck and the bottom dropped out of the sky.

My knees and sit bones were (are) sore but I am planning another long haul before the summers over.