Catrike Rally
Have a look at my journal post of the 2012 Catrike Rally in Winter Garden.
CRABS on the Suwannee
It was my distinct pleasure today to host a visit to our area by the C.R.A.B.S. (Crusty Retired All Bent Society) as they joined me for a somewhat breezy spin on the Nature Coast State Trail. We all met up at the Fanning Springs State Park and shivered about for several minutes while an overcast sky had shrouded a bright sunny beginning.
Shortly after we started riding, the clouds cleared away and once again let the sun brighten our visions of brilliant jasmine blossoms, bluebirds, and a phoebe.
While our visitors had plenty to talk about, they seemed delightfully taken with the natural setting and openness of the area.
We fancied ourselves struggling upwind into Cross City, confident that upon turning around, we'd have a very supportive tailwind and a bright sun on our chest. We were not disappointed. The 20 miles to Trenton sailed by effortlessly even though we stopped in Old Town for brief relief each way.
The last leg returning to Fanning Springs included more frequent sightings of other riders as the day continued to warm up even in the wind. Occasional reference to dining plans were also on the rise while the fuel gauges dimmed.
Bill's Barbeque in Chiefland had been seen to have a full lot at breakfast, so we all agreed this might be a good choice for refueling. We were once again ...NOT disappointed.
A great ride, beautiful day, terrific food and fine friends. My thanks to Phil, Debbie, Bill, Mary, John, Colleen, and Charlie for traveling north to join me on the Nature Coast State Trail.
slide show of the ride
Sheila's Birthday Ride
On the east coast of north Florida, the Flagler Beach Marineland Trail provides a terrific seashore view and lots of varied scenic opportunities. Rick, Myhra, Al, Larry, Kathleen, Sheila, Bob, Carol, Deanne, John, Jeanne, Shelton and I made a baker's dozen. Our group replaced a tube and shared hugs at Moody Park in downtown Flagler Beach before setting out on a downwind spree up to Bing's Landing.
After posing for our group shot, we made our way back down to the overpass bridge to enter the Palm Coast Linear Park on the west side of the Intercoastal Waterway. This very attractive little trail offers not only great restroom facilities and trailheads but also lots of shade and interesting twists, turns, bridges and other riding fun. We enjoyed a sampling of the park and decided it was time to make haste in our return to Flagler Beach for our planned lunch event. Even though we now had a headwind, the allure of lunch made it seem mild.
Additional friends joined us for a fantastic visit to the very special Flagler Fish Company for a birthday lunch. We then relocated the party to New Smyrna Beach for the remainder of a great weekend. Thanks, Sheila!
Here's a link to the slide show.
Veterans Day with veteran Feet First Members
Original, founding members Gary Kirkland, Jim Wilson, and Jim Ossa joined Rick Jacobsen, Thelma Richards and I for what we thought would be a quick outing to Chiefland on a nice cool morning. It was certainly cool enough but it quickly became nice enough that we lost control of our flight plan. On our way back from Chiefland, we stopped in to the barbeque place in Fanning Springs where all the veggies are fried and I enjoyed my very first fried dill pickle spears. To my surprise they were much more enjoyable than the rest of the vegetables!
Full and fearless we conceded we should at least visit Old Town so we could cross the bridge over the Suwannee River (pictured) and then we found ourselves unable to avoid the temptation to go on and include Cross City. Of course, this would inevitably involve stopping in at the Dairy Queen for additional "fuel" to help us survive our over extended trip.
A very lovely day and 36 miles morphed into 100 km end to end to end.
Wellborn Bimble
Joe joined me in Fort White this morning for a bimble (see urban dictionary) up to Wellborn, FL. There were lots of runners out braving the 50 degree weather in their shorts for a 5k sponsored run. We moved on west to met up with Thelma at the entrance to 3 Rivers Estates and then doubled back to head north on Junction Road where we expected to find Rick on his way to meet us. He was right on time so we made our introductions and continued north taking Ichetucknee Avenue up to CR 240. Standing down for a breather at 240 & 247, it was already time to shed our sleeves and warmers... This was shaping up to be an outstanding morning.
Just a few miles north and east, pushing against the wind that would be our dear friend when we began our return, we left the highway and fell back in time into the quiet, rural peace of an older reference. Now a dog might bark, even move toward the road, but quickly paused to ponder our passing. You could hear the birds sing once more and take the time to guess which one it might be, imagine yourself able to actually watch an old leaning barn slowly slide into the earth, admire classic specimen vehicles in various states of restoration, storage or disrepair and blissfully slip in and out of the morning shade while quietly gliding along a nearly abandoned corridor.
Hey! Wait just a minute... I've got to wake myself back up. We were nearly thirty miles out and had that and more to go. Well, anyway, it was a real nice change of pace. I managed to recover from my dream state as we arrived in Wellborn and took in the sites that showed me just how long it had been since I rode through. The Suwannee Swifty that had formerly been our ride destination had not only closed some time ago but had grass growing up though the asphalt parking lot so we made a quick tour and turned back toward the highway, the Dollar General, and the B&B, standing down at the latter. Taking on refreshments in the shade of the building, we were approached by several locals with an interest in learning more about recumbents and trikes. Of course, it is always fun to pass the whole thing off as a playful refusal to grow up. That philosophy seems to have a somewhat universal appeal.
Probably because none of us had particularly "trained" for this long a ride recently and because our previously mentioned dear friend (now a respectable tailwind) was helping us along, we slowly quieted down and began to focus on getting the trip behind us. Still a freshly painted purple Studebaker Hawk is difficult to ignore as was the only other cyclist we encountered and some of the fence work along CR 137 is tough to remain silent about, but most importantly we were all in good spirits and finally, it was NOT 90 degrees outside any more!
75 miles and smiles
O\vo~
Lulu Loop
Tropical storm Lee managed to pull enough bad weather together along the gulf coast to net Fort White a cool morning with a gentle easterly breeze. Thelma and Joe met me at the Train Depot on time at 7:30 and we started right in on our trip north and then east of Fort White. Light traffic on 47 was still heavier than we expected but as soon as we made our turn to the east above the Interstate, those woes were behind us. We covered some new ground this morning east of Tustenuggee Road as we worked our way over to Country Club Road and then on to Price Creek Road.
The sleepy town of Lulu remained undisturbed as we slipped in from the south and crossed Florida 100 to stand down for a few restful moments at The Lulu General Store. Heading back to the south, our light headwind became a more pronounced crosswind but seemed to occasionally get behind our efforts to at least want to turn westward and we rolled through beautiful rural vistas over hills and newly replaced bridges into an unusually quiet Providence. Lacking some of the bustling one would ordinarily find on a Saturday morning, Providence passed quickly as we now had a secure tailwind. The group indulged me as I detoured us slightly north once more to ease through the Feagle farms of southern Columbia County, then we returned to Tustenuggee Road to bring us back to the O'Leno to Ichetucknee Trail into Fort White.
Just over 57 miles of smiling at some mighty peaceful scenery.
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