Sticky

Hard to breathe. My clothes are soaked after just minutes. The air seems heavy with moisture with almost a fog hanging off the ground. Even though the suns not blazing yet it is still HOT!

Rupe and I ran a 5k/5 mile run in the Wakulla State Forest Saturday morning. The trail was sandy across palmetto roots and even ran down to a spring and back. For a description of how it felt see above but I still enjoyed the run. It was a tough 5 miles and reminded me of the enduros I used to do in the Ocala National Forest where I thought my brain was going to fry. Rupe downed a whole bag of energy jelly beans and didn't stretch before the run so naturally he had side cramps and pain in his hip which forced him to walk part of the 5k. He wasn't into it that morning and I appreciate him going along anyway. Once we got home we didn't leave the house until we all went to eat Mexican in Bainbridge that night.

Sunday dawned much the same as Saturday as we headed to Forest Meadows for a group ride. And what a group it was. It felt like a road bike pelaton (sp?). My guess was 20 riders of all skill levels. It was enjoyable to ride and talk. After the big group ride Rupe and I did the lake loop for a good 16 miles total. For the first time in a long time by lunch I'd had enough.

Now here it is Monday and I'm ready to go again. Man I must be sick.

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.