Gorilla

I was too tired to even lift the massive burrito I'd ordered at Moe's. Perry Mason was talking but I wasn't able to follow the conversation. I didn't even order a post ride beer and that's really rare. We'd just finished the Urban Gorilla ride which started from the Tallahassee City Hall and hit most of the single track in the area before returning to downtown. A little over 55 miles at a pretty steady pace with very little stopping. In fact I got left behind every time I stopped for nature's call or needed to grab something to eat. These guys just don't understand what it's like to be 55. Yea I could'a gone with a more sedate group but I wanted to ride with Perry and the rest of the crew. I think we were the first to finish at the actual start and do the whole route, yea, we're bad.











The day started off with driving around trying to find a place to park near City Hall. Being from Havana I'm really not familiar with downtown Tallahassee, so I parked at the Civic Center and rode up the hill. I estimated the number of riders at around 20 when we rolled out at 8:00 and we collected more as we went through town. It was quite a site from the back of the pack as we weaved down side streets on our way to the first single track section of Fern.











I was surprised at the pace and it wasn't long before riders were on the side of the trail waiting for another group who would ride at more comfortable speed. I kept my customary position at the end of the conga line which worked well until we go into a little more technical stuff in Cadillac and the riders in front of me failed to clear so we had to push some. Then we'd peddle like hell to catch the pack. Once in Alford we managed to stay together pretty good until someone in the front took a wrong turn, BW hit the brakes, Perry Mason hit BW, and the chain reaction started. I used the stop to take off my winter gloves and a layer of clothes which was my mistake because by the time I was ready to roll most of the pack was gone. Fortunately a couple of guys had stayed behind so we all began a chase that didn't end until we caught the main group at the Miccosukee Greenway. Where I once again tried to grab a bite to eat. No sooner had I opened my pack of Shot Blocks than we were rolling again.









Along the way we had started to drop a few who were not feeling it that day and we continued to loose riders until we got to Forest Meadows. Here the leaders had planned to do torture loops around Phipps, some decided they'd had enough and turned back, so only three of us headed out on the lake loop. Someone had made a call to the slower paced group and they were at least an hour behind us. Three of us made the loop and started back towards downtown. Somewhere on Thomasville Rd. Jason cut out and headed for home hoping to get in a metric century. That left Perry Mason and me to climb the mountains that seemed to make up the paved ride back to City Hall. We were so blown that we resorted to pushing our bikes across the streets that had uphill stop signs. I didn't take my camera which was a good thing because I would have never had a chance to use it. I had to change in the Civic Center parking lot to the amazement of a throng of people all dressed up in their Sunday best and headed for some kind of event.









That's how we ended up at Moe's. I went home, took a shower, and fell asleep. Perry Mason was having second thoughts about doing the 12 hour solo at Santos since we had just done 5.5 hours and we were both cooked. Well he may say he wasn't but I know better.

Amsterdam Tour

I trimmed a lot of trail and put up flagging to mark the route. I'll wait until a couple of weeks before the ride to put up the arrows. I found some more interesting trail we didn't ride when we did the Big Jim tour. Even with all the rain I can lay out a course that will be enjoyable. I've collected some good prizes from our local bike shops for the poker run so now all I need is for somebody to show up and ride.