Patch and Go

I was enjoying my first ride in a week and things are going beautifully, until my seat actually broke as I crossed the Santa Fe River.



It looked to me as though I was going to have to "phone a friend", since "poll the audience" appeared to be disabled at the time and "50/50" had unacceptable odds, until I spied a telephone terminal post and things began to look more promising. There, buried behind a fallen tree and guarded by a small army of carpenter ants, was a discarded traffic cone.

The cone was torn and revealed a very useful thickness that seemed just sturdy enough to me to be useful, so I broke out my Swiss Army knife and got myself back on the road in minutes.

Forty-one miles, exciting repair job, and lots of traffic as city folk headed to the rivers and parks in our area.

Photos are in the gallery.

O\vo~

Nature Coast Trail

Coming into Trenton this morning, I was greeted by a road block and then permitted limited access to the area near the trail head where it seemed most of the town was gathering for a Quilt Festival. The most activity I can remember seeing in Trenton. There were quilts on display everywhere, lots of vendor tents set up, live music performed on stage in the station house, flags flying in the breeze, and the festivities were getting busier by the minute.

A couple of gentlemen had been admiring our recumbents and asking lots of questions, when one of them, gesturing toward the rest of the surroundings smiled and said, "There's not a lot of 'guy stuff' going on around here."

He kindly snapped a photo of the three of us and they looked on as Mark, Gary, and I rode out of the crowd and on down the trail toward the Suwannee River. The breeze steadily grew into a respectable head wind so we enjoyed standing down from it for a snack in Old Town.

The ride back was at least 50% quicker and much easier to understand conversation, as the wind sailed us back to the Quilt Festival.

Photos are in the gallery.

Twenty miles and smiles
O\vo~

Hawthorne Trail

Here are some shots from today's outing




Photos are in the gallery.

O\vo~

Happy Birthday, Sheila!

What a lovely day to get blown up and down the West Orange Trail!

Myhra, Rick, Sheila, Larry, Deanne and I celebrated Sheila's birthday today with a wonderful ride up and down wind and finished it off with lunch at the new Thai restaurant in the ole Winter Garden Hotel.



Happy Birthday, Sheila!

Photos are in the gallery.

O\vo~

Withlacoochee Invasion II

Once again, for the second time this year, recumbents from all over descended upon Inverness and filled up the parking lot at the Central Motel. Better weather was simply not to be found and bright colors where everywhere as folks assembled for group photos before the mass start.



There was a particularly unusual, nearly magical feeling to behold when a certain specially equipped, tandem recumbent passed us and lit off a bubble machine, scattering hundreds of bubbles along and filling the trail. What a Hoot!

Withlacoochee Rally 11-14-09 from Bob Emmerich on Vimeo.

Must have been the combination of great weather and great friends that spurred us on to ride all the way to the southern trailhead. After a brief rest, we turned into the wind and sailed back up to Inverness.

Photos are in the Gallery.

65 miles and smiles
O\vo~

350 PPM - It's Your Planet!

Let's do what we can to honor the International Day of Climate Action by meeting up at the Nature Coast State Trail, Trenton Trailhead on October 24th at 9:00 AM.

We'll ride 350 deci-miles (35 miles) and call attention to the significance of the number as a goal for everyone, everywhere.

Hope to see you there!

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As it happened, ride time in Trenton this morning found Mark and I staring out into the rain from the old railroad platform. Sandra called to say she was on her way, but I advised her to turn back... Penny had SMS'd she wasn't up to it... just wasn't a good morning to launch.

After we called it "a wash", I sneaked in a nap and then pedaled my 350 deci-miles this afternoon over to Branford and back. Not exactly what I had planned, but a bad day riding trumps a good day at work every time. I had really hoped to make a little more of a statement or contribute a little more to the cause of Climate Action. Alas! At least my television was off the whole time I was riding.

O\vo~

Withlacoochee State Trail

Even though rain was virtually assured, our group rode grinning into a very light breeze, just enough to make it comfortable and watched almost cloudless skies switch our focus. We became more concerned about exposure and heat than any possibility of rain, but it was easy to press on having been advised there was iced watermelon waiting for us.

Sheila, Larry, Myhra, Rick, Sandra, Phil and I started south just about on schedule after making a few hardware adjustments. Larry took over my trike and Rick and Myhra have new Trice Ts. Mark joined us about four miles into the ride and then we began the deviation. Guided more or less by whim, there were three side steps made where we examined or used facilities and just looked about.



We managed to get by the grazing gopher tortoise and the law enforcement vehicles and enjoyed a fairly quick ride down to Inverness where I heard shouts from the shade that sound like, "Where WHERE you?!" To my surprise Mei, Don, Bobbie, and Ron had completed the same trip, looking for us all the while, and must have passed while we were "off trail"! They had gotten off to a little later start and just missed us.

With the entire group together now, Don and Mei tell us about the watermelon they have brought. That generated its own mental tailwind and we sailed back to the north end. Discussing lunch, Mark says there is a Coach's Pub in Dunnellon, so that was settled and the entire group retired to the pub for a real nice lunch.

Photos are in the Gallery.

34 miles and smiles
O\vo~