Balm Boyette Scrub Park Ride

Today's ride Recap:

Todays group met up around 8:30 at Boyette Scrub park. This jewel is about 10 minutes closer to most of us than Alafia, and would be even more popular if there was not a 2 mile ride (some of which is full of wonderful florida sugar sand) to get out to the beginning of the trails.

We started out by taking the fire road thorough the creek crossing and up towards Vista Ridge. This area must have had a ton of rain drop at once - most of the creek crossing was washed out, and the bike path on the fire road was pretty washed out as well. We headed up the hill to Vista Ridge - which was a pretty good description of this trail. One misguided slip to the right was likely to send you rolling for a long while - but the view spectacular. At the end of Vista Ridge we kept going on down West Meadow, a meandering trail that winds through the upper western end of the park. When we got to Randy's Trail (Randy is a member of the SWAMP club) we road it over to spider Berm. I am not sure if Randy likes super easy trails, but, this is one of the easier and shorter trails out here.

Spider Berm...
I am not really sure why they call it this (I see very few spiders here) but it does indeed ride along a berm. The lower section has some really nice drops and relatively easy climbs (as long as you keep pace). It was nice to ride this trail and not end up on my ass this time (the first time I rode this was the day I got my bike, and I caught some loose leaves at the edge and ended up sliding off the bike). When you hit the end of lower spider berm, you take a quick u turn and head back down the actual berm. The funny thing about this part of the trail is that it is more like a rock garden than Rock Garden on the alafia trail system. What we weren't expecting was a tree that had fallen in the way of the trail, its a good 8-10" in diameter, or in other words, too tall for me to hop! A quick hop off the bike, lifting it over and we are out of the trail and on towards Gator Pit and Golf Cart.

Gator Bait is pretty rough to start down - the trail is hollowed out of the ground and catches a pretty nasty tree and roots about 6 feet down the drop, followed by some roots a few feet further. The real fun is the sugar sand at the bottom and the huge climb back out the other side. We finished this portion of the trail and headed back out to where we could pick up Golf Cart, at which point we decided to take a break. It was about this time our nameless friend and his lady friend came ripping past us on his high $$ Ellsworth (which is apparantly the cats meow of bikes).

While we are on break, my latest take on nutrition on the ride...Today I really felt energized. I started the day with a Muscle Milk, 2 eggs, 1 Bagel Thin (with a touch of butter) and just before we headed out, a cup of blueberry coffee with cream and splenda. By the time we took this break, we were riding close to an hour, and had climbed and rode nearly 4 miles already. I wasn't the least bit hungry and my energy levels were still good. At this point I had drank about 1.5 bottles of water from the Camelbak, 1/2 of a 32oz Powerade, and it was time for some food energy, which I satisfied by eating about 7 dried apricot pieces. Shawn had mentioned these things on our ride last weekend - great for energy (29g of Carbs) and loads of potassium. This keeps down cramping, and the carbs keep the energy levels up. Anyway, back to the ride...

Golf Cart...
This is arguably now my most favorite trail of all the local trails. Its a good long ride, has enough technical parts to keep you busy, changes in elevation, some small rock garden sections, and just a few roots. Good fun! When we reached the end of Golf Cart, we stopped and talked to another rider about Mt. Boyette and Canyon (we noticed the sign for these trails when we stopped here). He said that Mt. Boyette was one of the steepest climbs, and the canyon trail was just a simple intermediate trail. We took off down the trail and found the climb, the other rider wasn't kidding, most of us rode up the climb as far as possible, then walked the rest of the way up. Knowing how hot it was, we all had also previously agreed that we weren't going to be going out of our way to pedal hard up these trails and waste our energy. From Mount Boyette (which did offer some pretty nice views of the park) we headed down the canyon trail. This trail was a more difficult intermediate trail, in that there are a few sections that if you dont make the turn, you're gonna fall a long way. The next part of the challenge was a couple of the climbs that really penalized you if you fail to gain enough speed down the previous drop. The only really mentally tought section was a tough climb that had a hard left at the very top that then dropped and at the end of that drop forced a hard right between trees and a dirt wall. Let me say that I rode side ways on a small section of that dirt wall (the 29er is a slowwww turner!).


If you want to see what Gator Pit, Golf Cart, and Canyon look like, check out the video below, courtesy of Proedgebiker.com



From Canyon we decided it was time to head over to Pandemonium, Sidewinder and Swamp Thing. I rode the Pandemonium bypass today (didn't feel like doing the bigger drops) while the others rode the easier (but still hard) drops. When we finished here we took the nice drop out of Pandemonium and hit the hard right back towards Sidewinder. Sidewinder is another more advanced intermediate trail, with lots of small drops and switchbacks, along with terrace rides that remind you NOT to look over the edge. Swamp Thing is a lot of the same thing, albeit some of the drops are a little less forgiving (more like those found on Alafia). We rode over to where Ridgeline was just so those of us who had never ridden it could see what it looks like (the trail was closed due to recent rains). Definitely some major drops here!

On our way back from our on foot sight seeing trip:


After looking at Ridgeline we rode the rest of Swamp Thing till we hit the fire trail, then headed back up the fire trail. The majority of the crew wanted to ride Pandemonium one more time, while that occured Alex and I pedaled down to the end and waited for them to run through. After everyone had finished, we had all pretty much agreed we were done, I had the brilliant idea to take the guys over to the spur jump...yeah we rode it the wrong way and didnt get to jump and we were too tired to attempt it again.

At this point we had about a 3 mile ride to get back (the last 3 miles doesn't show as the battery on the phone had died). We all rode hard back to the parking area, total mileage was probably about 13 miles for the day.

Ride stats for the time the phone was still powered up:
Started: Jun 27, 2010 8:34:13 AM
Ride Time: 2:48:56
Stopped Time: 0:00
Distance: 9.49 miles
Average: 3.37 miles/hr
Fastest Speed: 13.78 miles/hr
Climb: 292 feet
Calories: 436


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Saturday's Pinellas Trail Ride

Ana and I headed out to the Pinellas trails Saturday for a ride on the pavement. It is no doubt blisteringly hot outside this time of year. Today was no exception. The only saving grace today was that it was partly cloudy so occaisionally we'd get the relief of a a cloud obfuscating the sun for a few minutes. In retrospect that was a rather technical way of describing the sun going behind the clouds for a minute.

Since there was an arts and craps festival in downtown Dunedin (pretty much how I feel about these events), we parked up at the Publix at Alt 19 and Curlew Rd. From here we pedaled all the way down to court street in downtown Clearwater. We passed over a small bridge just south of Stevenson Rd, and saw a few manatee's cavorting and playing around out in the distance. It is always amazing to see these huge creatures just having a good time rolling around in the water.

When we got to downtown Clearwater, it was amazing to see how dead the area that we used to have to drive through to get to the beach had become (you no longer can get to the beach directly from downtown). The area looks amazing but you can see how many of the mom and pop shops have closed up as a result of the loss of business.

Pedaling a little further, we took a break in a parking garage that had a set of benches in it. This section of the trail offers very little in the way of shade, just plenty of reflective concrete.

After cooling off for a bit we headed back up the trail and stopped for lunch at our favorite spot, Cafe Alfresco. We both had omlettes, but I also opted for some of the raspberry cheesecake they have which is absolutely fantastic.

After this we headed back up toward the car, but decided to go all the way up to the overpass so we could ride it back down (we like to go fast!).

Ride Statistics:
Started: Jun 26, 2010 11:25:20 AM
Ride Time: 1:39:06
Stopped Time: 50:02
Distance: 13.65 miles
Average: 8.26 miles/hr
Fastest Speed: 17.82 miles/hr
Climb: 249 feet
Calories: 654

Google Map of the Ride:

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Thursday evening ride

Tonight's ride was great, still in the 90s (no rain to cool things off). I bumped the seat up another 1/2" and it made a world of difference. I remembered my water bottle this time and the batteries in my headlight were fresh. This time I experimented with locking out my front fork and that too helped speed (at the cost of comfort). Now that the fork is broken in, it rides much better, but that squish factor wastes a lot of power.

At any rate, ride stats:

Ride Time: 1:08:28
Stopped Time: 0:00
Distance: 13.29 miles
Average: 11.65 miles/hr
Fastest Speed: 26.93 miles/hr
Climb: 705 feet
Calories: 669



Eating adjustment: Down 2.3lbs since Monday morning.

Making lemonade in the dark

I had intended to head out the door around 7 tonight...but being Florida, the electrical storm was in full swing out here in Riverview at the time. Finally around 8pm it finally cleared up, so I got put the lights on the bike, suited up and headed out the door.

It was quite refreshing out tonight - maybe 84F since the rain had cooled things off. At 8pm it is still pretty bright out this time of year, so the lights weren't really necessary at that time. I made it down the road about 4 miles when I noticed that my headlight wasn't very bright. Another 2 miles down the road...ah crap, I forgot my water bottle. At this point I figured I should head back, it was now pitch black, my headlight was dying and I had nothing to drink. By the time I made it to the 8 mile mark, the headlight called it quits and I still had almost 4 to go. The saving grace here is that I witness one of the most beautiful electical storms - there was a huge thundercloud over Pinellas County that had lightning dancing all over it. It was also nearly a full moon. The bad thing is that the headlights from cars coming toward me kept me from seeing the trail at some sections, which really slowed me down. I made it back home, feeling great, having enjoyed the outdoors, my bike, and the adventure of riding a bike in the dark - thus turning my lemons into lemonade...in the dark

Ride Stats:
Started: Jun 22, 2010 8:30:02 PM
Ride Time: 1:06:35
Stopped Time: 1:09
Distance: 11.72 miles
Average: 10.56 miles/hr
Fastest Speed: 18.72 miles/hr
Climb: 512 feet

Father's day ride

Today Shawn, Ryan, and I headed out to Alafia to do some riding. My goal for today was to ride North Creek as much as I could mentally and physically handle. Of all the trails out there (the I had attempted) North Creek had really been the next "hurdle" of sorts to learn to clear. Roller Coaster and Bridges will be the next. There are 3 sections of this trail I absolutely needed to learn how to clear. Number one was the tree roots at the beginning of the trail. I learned how to deal with it, stay to the left, pedal hard and jump it, let the rear wheels roll over it if I don't hop it completely. The second is still on my to do list. I call it the staircase of death because it looks like you are going to die if you go over the bars. At any rate, the first 4 steps down, I lost my footing on the pedals and ended up in the wall. It was downhill from there, as the trail got the best of me. It seems that not only was it crazy hot and humid, but this was our first trail of the day. I honestly felt as if I had no power or stamina. Could it have been from the cupcakes I ate the night before? Perhaps I didn't eat enough for breakfast. I guess we'll see how it goes as the summer gets into full swing.

Mentally for me it seems, I need to ride some easier trails and get my confidence "warmed" up before I try doing this portion of the trail. At any rate, i felt wobbly as could be, was dismounted several times by the trail (once to avoid going into the gator infested waters) and I ended up falling once, which resulted in my derailleur knocking on my wheel. I finally got to a point where I could adjust the cable tension and all was well with it again.

I continued down the trail and even made the final jump. From here we headed over to Rock Garden, which we proceeded to run the opposite direction. As usual running this trail is great fun, albeit it is almost all uphill going in reverse order. We got to the end of Rock Garden and we saw four adult deer and a doe, foraging just past the edge of the trail. It seems like every week I see more and more wildlife while on the trails. From the end of the trail we headed back to the trailhead to take a break and drink some water.

After the needed break, Shawn and Ryan went back to ride North Creek again. I passed and headed back to Rock Garden, it just wasn't in the deck for me mentally. I rode rock garden again and then followed it up to where North Creek exits. While waiting for Shawn and Ryan I chatted with a guy from the SWAMP club, who gave me some pointers about riding North Creek, and commented that my 29er should clear most of the obstacles without a problem. Just about that time Shawn and Ryan were just exiting the trail. We chatted and cooled off for a minute and noticed the sound of a gator which seemed rather close. I looked down about 5 feet down on the edge of the water, only to see a 2.5' gator slinking back into the water.

After checking out the gator we headed back down to Rock Garden and ran it again. After running Rock Garden we headed back to cool off again back at the trailhead. I decided to go ahead and run North Creek again, and this time try to clear as many of my previous problem spots. I cleared the roots, and approached the staircase (which I decided I was not going to do). The next trouble spot was where a pair of trees grew close together and their roots formed a wide V and behind this V is a short drop. Our friend from the trail told me I could just roll over the bottom of the V - he was right! Problem solved. Now if only I can get my head around the initial drop.

All in all good riding today, even if it was insanely hot!



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Time to trim down again

It is funny how weight has a tendancy to creep back up on you. I noticed today I was over my 5lb self allowed "swing zone" when I hopped on the scale. It is amazingly easy for us to overeat after a good run or biking session - oh sure, I'll have the cake, I just burned 1100 calories. Did I mention I had the hamburger, fries, brocolli, zone bar, and whatever I could rake in while I was at it.

So...starting Sunday, it's not that I plan on dieting, but watching what I am eating in quantity and quality. I have to live low carb not to get fat again, but it is very difficult not to take in carbs before or during endurance sports.

I'll start logging the eats in here as well once Sunday rolls around.

Thursday night "get out of the house" ride

My Hardrock Sport Disk 29er at the river overlook.

Alex and I met up over at "Hole in the Fence" aka Morris Brige Park. We started riding the main trail, starting at #4. At #5 we hung a left and caught the beginning of Gator Bait, and then left again on Misery. Misery really isn't all that miserable, in fact, none of the trails at Morris Bridge are any more difficult than the easiet trail at Alafia. We keep going down Misery till we hit Gandpa. We took Grandpa to piglet (aptly named for all the hog holes along this trail. We diverted over to techno pig, a section with lots of little "play" drops. Alex and I practiced drops and jumps here for about 10 minutes and then headed on down the red section (it isn't labled) to Grandpa again. We took Grandpa over to the start of washboard. This trail again is very aptly named, as it feels like what I imagine riding over a washboard would feel like. Once we got past washboard, we took Heart Break Ridge, a supposedly "very difficult" trail. Again, not much of an issue, lots of roots, and two nice little bridges. We actually passed another rider here. We rode HBR to the end, and then saw the sign for "river overlook" so we decided to check it out. The trail was very wide, likely so park vehicles could go down it. It was starting to get a little dark, which made this section pretty creepy. At any rate, there was a nice overlook of the Hillsborough river, but I cannot imagine being down there very long in the summer - between the mosquitos and the humidity, it was a little rough.

At any rate, we headed back and followed the main trails. The really nice thing about the trails here is that they are fast with lots of twists that really make you lean the bike into some of the turns. All in all it was a fantastic ride!

SWAMP Trail Map of Wilderness Park


Our route:


Alex's Trek 6000 at the river overlook:

Over the bars and into the woods

Lovely. One way to describe the feeling of weightlessness one feels as their body takes flight over the handlebars on their bike. Even more lovely is that this happened on the first drop of the ride. This would not be my first foray into the dirt today. What was really amazing is that while I did get ejected from the bike, the bike landed perfectly upside down - seat and handlebars and stayed this way.


Not me, but you get the idea...

We had decided earlier in the week we would try the tougher trails first. I elected to do rollercoaster, one of the more difficult trails in Alafia. We rolled up to the first drop, a 5 or 6 step staircase of pain. Shawn, Jason, and Rich (the more adventurous and more experienced) went down no problem. Then it was my turn. From what I could tell I was doing great - I made it down the first 4 or 5 steps and then physics took over. Mistake #1 - I was not behind the seat. In downhill drops and staircases, you have to literally have to get your body behind the seat to put enough weight on the back to prevent the over the bars scenario. Mistake #2 - which may or may not have occured - locking the front brakes. I assume I did this as a gut reaction to the falling sensation, but who knows. Alex told me that I looked like I had cleared it just fine, but said at the bottome it was like something grabbed the front wheel and flung the bike and myself over like the worlds worst pendulum. I am pretty sure that everyone in the park heard the words "OHHHH F@@@CK". I took the hardest shot to my left knee, in nearly the same spot I did the first weekend I had my bike. The last wound had just healed. My gloves protected my hands, helmet scratched a little, got a nasty raspberry on my leg from where it caught the handlebar grip, and I got covered in dirt. Uggh.

This was not what I needed to start my adventure on one of the toughest trails I had ever attempted. With my confidence gone (and I apparantly took Alex's too) we continued down the trail. I had a lot of fun on the trail and had I not fallen off, I probably would have loved it and attempted to do more of the drops. I did ok the rest of this trail until I got to a spot dam near at the end. Coming up a steep climb I did great till I hit the summit. At the summit I caught a large rock with my left pedal and lost my momentum. I tried to balance it out, but alas, on my ass I was. Timmmmber! Pitched right over on my side, laughing the whole way down.

Finally we exited Rollercoaster and went back to the picnic shelters to cool off. It was already in the 90F range. My "moisture wicking" jersey was basically a hot wet towel at this point.

The hardcore guys decided they were going to go run North Creek and Rollercoaster again, Alex, Ryan, and I, decided to do Sandpine, Rock Garden, and the River loop.

We had a great time on those trails and running low on water, we headed back to the camp to relax and to refil our drink bottles.

We decided to run one last pull throught Rock Garden, then we called it a day.

I also had forgotten to turn on the GPS, so by the time I realized it, I said forget it.

Distance covered: 14.8mi + fire roads (probably another mile on these)

Roller Coaster:2.2mi
Sandpine:2.5mi
Rock Garden:3.5mix2
River Loop: 3.1mi

Map of Alafia, courtesy of SWAMP


Alex sent me his GPS based route (notice the difference from the stated mileage vs what the GPS sees since it gets lost in the forest)

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When good plans go bad

Normally Ana and I end up dropping Alana of with her parents and we ride the Pinellas Trail on Saturday mornings. Normally... Today we couldn't get a hold of her parents so we decided to do our own thing. While Ana was riding her bike, I went down to AJ's and bought a new set of gloves and a pair of Tifosi Pave. These are sunglasses that also come with clear lenses with vents on the side to let them breath. I had discovered on previous trail runs I was getting all kinds of dirt in my eyes or spider webs from early runs. These frames also included a dark and a red set of lenses in addition to the clear.

I didn't have anyone with me so I took it easy. I did the Rock Garden twice, took the loop back after second run and rested for a bit under the shade of one of the pavillions. After a short rest, i headed back out to do Sand Pine. I rode the entire length of Sand Pine, and once I reached the end, I turned back and went the opposite direction and took the trail a second time.

Wildlife

On my way back to the parking lot on the last section of Sand Pine, I saw something moving in the trail ahead of me - a snapper turtle eating plants sitting right in the middle of the trail. I decided to let him eat, and double backed to the muti use trail cutoff. Interstingly enough I saw another turtle doing the exact same thing on the other side of the fire road.





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Pictures from the trail

Picnic Island Adventure Race

Tonight's race was one word - HOT! The temperature was 97F at race time, with heat index numbers around 105. I ran with a coworker Thom, and one of his friends who was crazy enough to ride Alafia earlier today and decided to brave the run. Having started riding my bike in the heat, I knew hydration was going to be very critical in this heat, so I filled up my camelbak with 3 bottles of cold water.

After the last race we decided that starting in the middle was not opportune, as the choke point of the race is in the singletrack portion of the mangrove swamp. This would have been terrific if it wasn't almost 100F outside. Ultimately Thom and I both started off way too fast. I have never ran 7 minutes during a race and had to walk and unfortunately, this would be the way the entire race would go tonight.

Course Routing
From the start line, run north down the length of the beach. At the north end of the island turn left and run uphill. The ascent here is probably 30 feet. Head toward the NE and then make a sharp left and make a loop around the berm. Once back around stay to the left and run down the top of the hill parallel to the beach. As you approach the shelters, you will find the obstacles 1) a net to crawl under, 2) a tire obstacle, 3) a 2.5 foot tall hurdle. Continue past these and continue toward the south end of the island. Now you get wet! the image gives the impression you are on the beach - this is not the case - you are in ankle to shin deep water (depending on the tide). Tonights run was just over ankle deep for the most part. At the end of this the course jogs north and back onto dry land. You continue down this path till you get to the water again and then you run through ankle deep water as the course turns to the west. After about 40 yards, the bay water turns into a single track mangrove swamp. This part smells really bad, does not allow for passing, and everytime I have went, I usually end up standing around waiting for people to get through this. Once you get past this the course jogs to the north and you run down the island's service road. This continues down for about .25 mile and then jogs to the right (NE) and depending on the tides, is either dry land or a slippery mess. Tonight was the latter. At this point the trail crosses the service road again, does a few zig zags on flat land and you loop around the berm the opposite direction of how you did earlier. Finally you run up and down the hill as it parallels the beach. Finally after several zig-zags, you continue down the beach, then you get wet again. This time you get thigh deep into the bay and loop around a buoy, back onto the beach and you run 20 yards to the finish line.

(click on image to enlarge/follow along)


Conclusion
The most difficult part of this race was the heat. The obstacle course really is not very difficult at all. The swamp section wasn't nearly as deep as it was last time, but it really smelled something horrible (almost gagging me). The next portion proving to be a challenge was the fire road that was slippery. A fall here would have really been painful, as it was covered with limestone.

I finished the race in 43:19, which was 2:30 slower than last time, and I ended up with some really nasty blisters, which is the first time this has happened to me since I have started running. No matter what the difficulty, when it was over I still felt great and had a good time. I hope that in July, it rains like crazy during the run!

First Ride with the SWAMP club!

HOLY CRAP THEY ARE FAST!

Just as soon as you think you can boogie, you are introduced people who have rode the same trail every Tuesday for the last 10 years. They are very fast - but I apparantly have more endurance as I feel like I could keep pace just fine after the first 8 miles. The folks at SWAMP were awesome, Marty, Wes, and many others whose names I'll remember in the future, were all awesome to ride with.

Alex and I rode some of these trails Saturday. We didnt ride nearly any of the super switchbacks that we did tonight. I never did go OTB (although I saw one lady end up in a Palmetto bush). Not a fun option. We also didn't ride as much of the main trail due to the time (park closes at 8:30).

Now I need to find a Zumba class for Ana on a night other than Tuesday...


On the map and stats below, you are not seeing the other 5 miles of trails I rode ro the other 25 minutes or so. I didnt have time to turn on the GPS, as they leave right at 6. When I did get to a stop point I turned it on.

Ride Stats (short by about 4-5 miles)and I never stopped so it when we did rest, so my pace is likely showing slower than we were actually going.

Started: Jun 8, 2010 6:25:22 PM
Ride Time: 1:23:08
Stopped Time: 0:00
Distance: 10.19 miles
Average: 7.35 miles/hr
Fastest Speed: 19.41 miles/hr
Climb: 906 feet
Calories: 488



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Pinellas Trails Ride

Today Ana and I rode the Pinellas trails, nearly the same route as last time, but we rode about 2.25mi further than last weekend, and did it only 10 minutes longer. We finished up our ride at Cafe Alfresco, a great post ride lunch spot.

It was very hot, albeit overcast today. I drank all but 3 or 4 onces of the Camelbak, and all of the gatorade.

Ride Specs:

Ride Time: 1:44:05
Stopped Time: 5:13
Distance: 14.89 miles
Average: 8.59 miles/hr
Fastest Speed: 22.65 miles/hr
Climb: 341 feet
Calories: 482






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Wilderness Park Trail rides

Today Alex and I met up at the Wilderness Park Trails (Morris Bridge, Trout Creek, and Flatwoods Parks). We started with the trails Grandpa and Palmetto, then just followed the main loop trail for the entire distance.

Ride Statistics:
Ride Time: 2:35:39
Stopped Time: 6:16
Distance: 16.29 miles
Average: 6.28 miles/hr
Fastest Speed: 18.14 miles/hr
Climb: 1965 feet
Calories: 1131

Comparison to other trails

Nearly all the trails we road on the Morris Bridge site were pretty smooth, some small downhills and not very technical at all. The worst root section here was easier than the easiest at Boyette or Alafia. There were litteraly no climbs or drops to speak of, there were some "play areas" where you could drop in, but nothing like youd find at Alafia.

Once we made it to the other end of Morris Bridge, you must pedal down Morris Bridge Road about .4 of a mile to catch the next section of the trail which takes you to the Flatwoods area. Once you enter this area, the trails become much more rooty, but just in the sense that there is lots of them, but very few that were more than 2-3" in height or that couldn't be avoided.

By far my favorite section was from marker 41 to 47 - very very fast and curvy. We ended up doing this section three times just because it was so awesome. From here we rode up the berm and down to the flood control gates. There was a gator hanging out in the river just beyond the gates, this was the only wildlife we saw the entire ride.

Map of the area that we did:


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