Space Coast Invaders

Larry & Sheila from New Smyrna Beach and Rick & Myhra from Cocoa Beach brought their recumbent trikes along on a visit to the Nature Coast State Trail in Trenton, FL in honor of Larry's birthday. We were joined at the trailhead by local recumbent residents Don & Mei and John & Jeanne brought out their new tandem from Gainesville for its first rail trail experience.

Ride Start

A gentle breeze from the east coaxed us readily on to the bridge over the Suwannee River where we paused to talk with some fishermen in a boat below. They replied they weren't doing all that well as Larry reminded them, "...that's why they don't call it 'catching'!"



Just then, Rick pointed toward a large splash downstream where a huge sturgeon, "...nearly five feet, cleared the water like a Marlin!" We mounted up and back-tracked a little to turn south down to Fanning Springs and took the small detour through the shade of the north side of town over to the Fort Fanning Park on the river and crossed over to the wayside park across the highway for a break.

Back across town to the trail we resumed our trek south via the completely canopied tunnel of shade on down to Chiefland. Having started after 9 AM, it was really warming up by now and we were beginning to seriously target some cooler plans. We settled on hastening back to the origin where air conditioning might be available with menus.

A nearly overheated troupe repaired to the Cracker Box in Trenton for some very friendly and generous servings of fresh salads, Reubens, fried shrimp and the like. All in all a quite enjoyable, and certainly warm, forty mile outing.

O\vo~

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~