Something To Do

 

Nah, I'm not going to talk about the weather.  But it does make for some extra time inside, something we here in this part of good old Fla. are not used to.  So I'll just ramble here for a little bit.

Last Weekend

It was partly cloudy and in the upper 50's on Sunday afternoon when we rode my Calvary Dirt/Paved route (for the second Sunday in a row for me).  I was surprised I had as many on the ride as I did.  Calvary Ga. must seem like the middle of no where to folks that rarely leave their zip code to ride so I appreciated the company.  The Garmin 800 is a great tool for navigating this type of route and we didn't make one wrong turn.  We got buzzed once and chased by the fastest German Shepard I've ever seen, but other than that, it was a great ride.

I've got a couple more rides laid out and loaded in the Garmin.  All of them originating in some small town within 30 minutes of Beautiful Downtown Havana.  I love riding roads (especially dirt roads) that I haven't ridden before. 

This Weekend

The Urban Gorilla is this Sunday.  It's been a couple of years since I did this ride.  Too many people on the trail at one time for me.  We'll see how the deal shapes up.  There is a Gentleman's Team TT near Lake City that looks like fun.  80 miles of paved and dirt roads.  There was some interest earlier but once again no commitments.  I figure I'd be the slowest rider, and since it's a team event I don't want to be the boat anchor.  We'll see.

I like having my weekends planned by Thursday, unfortunately nobody else does.  I want to look forward to a certain event, plus the Lovely Wife likes to know what's going on.  Anyhoo.

Sometime in the Distant Future

Since I've spent so much time on the trainer lately I've been able to watch a lot of You Tube videos about mountain bike races to help pass the time.  While pedaling away in my cold garage, my loyal old dog watching my feet go round and round, I got the inspiration to commit to doing the Breck Epic the year I turn 60.  A 6 day stage race, almost all above 9,000 feet, what could go wrong? 


The really scary thing is I'll turn 60 in 2016.

Looking Back

That reminds me, I was cruising Facebook the other evening, and came across a page that listed the people who graduated from high school with me.  Holy crap what happened to them?  Lots of pictures of grandkids (nothing wrong here), some are retired already (my classmates, not the grandkids).  Then I looked at my picture, yea, I do look like an old man on a bicycle.  Somehow I thought I was special.

Calvary

The Tour De Felasco went off without a hitch.  The forecasted storms held off till the drive home.  The Kid and I got up at 4:30 to get an early start and beat the weather.  We just happened to roll out the same time as our local crew.  For some reason this year seemed like it was more single track and less roads.  Lots of fun, only a little hate.

Calvary/Dirt/Paved

My new Garmin has the ability to download a course, then give me directions while on the bike, so I can follow it.  Fun.  My trial run was this past Sunday on a route I laid out from the big metropolis of Calvary Ga..  I tried to include as many dirt roads as I could and ended up with 41 miles.  Perfect distance to get in the 3 hours the OMTP prescribed.

It's hard to see but this field was covered in sea gulls.

It was a perfect winter day, clear and not too cold.  Rain in the morning had the clay a little soft in spots and the wind was blowing pretty hard, but still a great day to be on the bike.  I love riding roads I've never ridden.  Only got buzzed  once and chased by 2 dogs.

This old place had a detached kitchen and a dog trot.

I'm going to layout other routes from Whigham, Cairo, Climax, and Chattahoochee.  Being able to drive and unload the bike gives me access to different roads without the grind of riding from Havana.


I got some weird stares from the locals as I rode by.  Most waved and smiled when they figured out what I was.

I used to see these all the time.  Not so often anymore.

Once back at the house I built a fire, opened a Sam Adams Winter Lager, put in Call of Duty, and settled down on the couch.  It's good to be me.

I'm Baaaaaaaaaack

Ric climbing the run-up at Dade City CX

 

 

Sorry to be gone so long.  I know you've been waiting for me to continue this amazing little blog.  Just been on the edge of your seat haven't ya?




I've done sooooo many interesting things since we last were together.  I'll avoid the usual Christmas stuff (you're welcome) and just cover the 2 wheel adventures.  Which started with:

Golf Bike

Five of us met at the Greater Havana Golf and Country Club to demo the new Golf Bike Higher Ground is making.  We got a lot of stares and questions as we unloaded and headed for the first tee.


It took a little getting used to.  The frames are step through and the clubs sit in a rack behind you.  But on the second fairway, headed downhill after we left the tee box, I looked over at Tim Shank, The Kid, Todd, and Kenny, to see big goofy grins all around as we rolled down the fairway. 


I wasn't very well prepared and had only brought one six pack which we went through rather quickly.  Todd hadn't put the cup holders on ("I would have put them on if I'd known we were going to drink beer" duh) so holding the bottle while pedaling became part of the challenge.  Thank goodness they have small coolers on them.




Tim and I lost.  But it was sure fun.  I was tired, when you shoot in the 90's you end up getting on and off the bike a lot.  I foresee a golf bike tournament sometime in the future.




Then there was the:

Hangover Hare Scrambles

Held annually for at least 17 years this is a moto event.  The local off road moto club, Tallahassee Trail Riders, picks a spot and holds impromptu "races" on New Years day.  This year they were back at Southern Raceway in Bainbridge Ga. and I had decided to grace them with my presence.

As I dug my riding gear out of the shed and brushed the dust and cobwebs off, I realized it had been at least 3 years since I'd put this stuff on.  I planned to borrow a bike from some poor soul to take a couple of easy laps.  Unfortunately it was raining and 55 degrees, not very conducive to a ride on Georgia clay.  I went anyway.


The crowd was small but I got to see some familiar faces.  I happen to be an icon (although retired) in the local off road scene and it caused quite a stir when I showed up in the pits.  While putting on my gear I was reminded how heavy and bulky moto gear is.  In my rush to leave I had inadvertently picked up The Kid's helmet which is 2 sizes too small so I looked like a chipmunk with my cheeks poking out.




A rider much older than I let me borrow his KTM 350 for my return to moto.  To say I was nervous would be an understatement.  These bikes are BIG.  I could barely touch the ground when seated.  Good thing for electric start cause I never could have kicked it over.  I had trouble even getting it into gear as I wasn't used to the thick boots and it kept stalling.  This seemed to provide much amusement to those in attendance.




When I finally got it underway it all came back to me.  To be able to just twist the throttle and have it jump, to be able to take my feet off the pegs and stick my leg out to turn, to lean it over and roll on the gas, to grab the front brake and forget it's not the back brake like on my MTB.  Damn the brake was sensitive.  I almost stood it on the front wheel.  Thank goodness I was still on the grass when I did it.




I took a partial lap of the single track, almost got stuck on a root, had the back end slide around a couple of times, and resisted the urge to jump a small table top.  I had a blast.  No, I'm not headed for Craigslist to get one.  But I can picture getting back into a form of moto sometime in the future.




Then I went bicycle racing:

Dade City Cyclocross

Tim, Ric and I got up at 3:30 Saturday morning and drove the 4 hours down to Dade City Fl.  That was definatly the hard part of the weekend.  Getting up that early, eating on the road, plus many cups of coffee caused much gastric distress in our group.  Finding proper facilities became a challenge.  I won't go into anymore detail than to say when having a conversation from the stall,  make sure you know it's your buddy that you're talking to.  It makes it a little uncomfortable when you exit only to find the room is full of total strangers that have been waiting for you to finish and you've just let them in on the details of the job you just completed.

Another picture of me with my big goofy "Hey I'm racing CX" grin

Anyhoo, the track was great, very technical, for me anyway.  I love CX racing.  They had a run-up up a dirt hill which they'd built crude steps into.  You had to climb with your bike on your shoulder.  Much fun was had.

Ric in the sand section at Dade City

I got second in class on Saturday and after dropping a chain through the barriers, fourth on Sunday.


After Ric finished his race Tim commented on some dirt on his arm. 


Tim: "Did you crash?"
Ric: "Nah that's just from shouldering the bike"
Tony: Rides up and says "Man Ric, did you eat shit in the barriers!"
Ric: With a puzzled look on his face "Yea, I guess I did, I didn't remember it till you said something"


That must be what it's like to be fast, crash and not even notice.

Finish

Sorry that was so long, I'm really surprised you got this far, I usually don't read long blogs.  Anyway, San Felasco is this weekend, as of right now they've got an 80 percent chance of rain.  We'll see how it looks Saturday morning.  Then there's the State CX Championships the following weekend.  I'm tempted about going.


 I started the second phase of the OMTP 2.0 and with my new Garmin to beep at me all the time I'm enjoying it.  I can't believe the Georgia State Series starts again in March.  Man time flies.