Alafia Sunday

As is typical for a Sunday, we headed out to Alafia. We did some quick runs through Sand Pine, Rock Garden, and then about 1/3rd of River Loop (it was way too wet). After this run we headed back to the trailhead to relax a bit. After cooling off, we headed back to Rock Garden, then headed back to Sand Pine to run it in reverse.

Along the line, we took some video of all of us running through some seperate sections of Rock Garden:




Ride Statistics:
Started: Jul 25, 2010 8:47:57 AM
Ride Time: 1:54:54
Stopped Time: 0:18
Distance: 7.42 miles
Average: 3.87 miles/h
Fastest Speed: 10.76 miles/h
Calories: 373


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Tour de Riverview

Since the weather was questionable today we decided to stay local and just take turns watching the baby. I ended up getting out the door around 9:30 and was welcomed by the tropical storms 15-20mph SE winds. Not particularly fun when headed south or east. On the way out, I head South then west, and finally a long southern leg, which is thankfully, slightly downhill. On the way back, the wind was at my back which really helped (One section I averaged 18mph, which is dam fast on a mountain bike). It wasn't till I hit the east route on the way back where I really felt the wind, and it was very brutal!


Started: Jul 24, 2010 9:37:21 AM
Ride Time: 56:07
Stopped Time: 0:00
Distance: 11.59 miles
Average: 12.39 miles/hr
Fastest Speed: 21.19 miles/hr
Climb: 230 feet
Calories: 579

Ana's first ride at Alafia River State Park

Today we headed out to Alafia River State Park, so Ana could pedal some of the more intermediate beginner trails that the park has to offer. We started off doing Sand Pine - a beginners trail more difficult than any of the beginners trails on the other nearby mountain bike parks. We were pedaling along when we came across this "obstacle": Ana posing after getting past the "obstacle" Shawn attempting to clear it: We finished up with Sand Pine and headed into Rock Garden. It is interesting that Rock Garden is supposed to be more difficult (blue instead of green) but I have yet to find anyone who feels that it is any harder than the other green trails at Alafia. Perhaps it is due to the couple of drops and several bridges found throughout the trail. At any rate, Ana did just fine! Shawn rode the black (difficult section) with ease while we watched him enjoy the run. Shawn riding through the difficult option on Rock Garden:

Here is a vid of Shawn taking the drop on the hard option on Rock Garden:


Here is a vid of Shawn taking the drop back up(and he didn't actually fall):


After Rock Garden we headed back to the trail head for a breather. Ride stats and map for the first part of our ride: Started: Jul 18, 2010 10:01:28 AM Ride Time: 1:33:23 Stopped Time: 0:20:22 Distance: 3.61 miles Average: 2.32 miles/hr Fastest Speed: 12.36 miles/hr Climb: 771 feet Calories: 230
View Larger Map After the break we headed down the other side of the park to do the River Loop. Ana was starting to tire out so we took it easy. The trail was very muddy and was in real need of trimming. We met a man and woman out on the trail looking for the way out, so I gave them directions. It was funny that on our way out of the trails, we caught up to them as they were walking their bikes out of the trail. Ride Stats and map for the second part of our trip: Started: Jul 18, 2010 12:06:43 PM Ride Time: 32:41 Stopped Time: 0:00 Distance: 2.21 miles Average: 4.06 miles/hr Fastest Speed: 10.53 miles/hr Climb: 331 feet Calories: 133
View Larger Map As usual we all had a great time, and Ana is really enjoying the off road trails, and I enjoy having her out with me!

Saturday Pinellas Trail Ride

As typical on Saturdays, we headed over to Pinellas County to ride the Pinellas Trail. We headed out about an hour earlier this week, and we were rewarded with it being a little bit cooler than normal. We rode almost 14.6mi today, from Dunedin to Clearwater Beach and back. The most challenging portion of this ride was the uphill sections of the Clearwater Memorial Bridge. On the way from Clearwater beach back to the mainland, it is an absolute climb from sea level to 75 feet on a mountain bike. To climb I ended up on the 3rd cog up front, and on the 5th gear on the back, while literally stair stepping up the entire way.

Ana at the top:




On the way back, we stopped for lunch at our usual spot, the Cafe Alfresco in Dunedin. If you ever get the chance to stop there, I highly recommend it!

Ride Statistics:
Started: Jul 17, 2010 10:24:09 AM
Ride Time: 2:13:11
Stopped Time: 1:45
Distance: 14.43 miles
Average: 6.50 miles/hr
Fastest Speed: 27.32 miles/hr
Climb: 988 feet
Calories: 628


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Tuesday Night Ride

Last night Patrick stopped by and we went for a ride on the new paved trails on 301 in Riverview. Patrick is working on getting back in shape so I proceded to kick his arse on a 10 mile short ride. He did pretty good considering he hasn't be on his bike in almost a month. At any rate, the temperature was great and the rain stayed away (for the most part).

Ride details:
Started: Jul 13, 2010 7:48:43 PM
Ride Time: 53:46
Stopped Time: 0:00
Distance: 10.19 miles
Average: 11.38 miles/hr
Fastest Speed: 18.55 miles/hr
Climb: 292 feet
Calories: 659

Balm Boyette over the edge ride

Alex, Ryan, and I ended up at Balm Boyette this morning. It was actually suprisingly cool, which was a nice. At any rate, we pedaled the 2 miles in and rode Loch Ness into the park. From Loch Ness we headed down to Spider Berm. Naturally every now and then we all end up riding over our level. Today I was cranking along pretty quickly when I crested a climb that had a quick left downhill turn on the other side.

The problem was that I could not defy gravity. I hit the brakes hard enough to get stopped but I had already breached the edge of the trail. Combine the momentum that my body still had and the fact that my right foot could not touch the ground and I lost my balance. The next bit of terror going through my mind was that there was very little room on the right side of the trail before the trail just completly dropped off and you end up falling into the gator infested and stagnate water below. At this point I grabbed for branches and vines that were overhead or within reach. I was starting to slide down and grabbed a handful of thorny vines which kept me from going down. I managed to get back onto the trail, and I pulled the bike up. Coincidentally, this is where I lost the bike the very first time I rode the trail back in May.

At any rate, I ended up with skinning my right knee and scraping up another section of my knee and shin.

At this point we continued on to ride upper spider berm, then headed to Golf Cart. We rode Golf Cart over to Panedmonium. None of us felt like riding the drops so we headed over to Sidewinder and then onto Swamp Thing. From here we rode the West Forest trail, on to west meadow and onto east meadow. While we were riding the west forest trail we stopped to see what the scenic overlook looked like. It wasn't too scenic...At this point Alex said he was done, and wanted to head back. I insisted that we do the spur jump which was right next to where we were standing. It wasnt much of a jump, but man it was a fast fun downhill. Since we were heading out I figured we may as well do upper spider berm again (it is a very easy section)and it is shaded. We exited the trail and made our way back out again.

As usual, a great ride!

Ride Details:
Started: Jul 11, 2010 8:14:06 AM
Ride Time: 2:20:45
Stopped Time: 0:00
Distance: 11.35 miles
Average: 4.84 miles/hr
Fastest Speed: 13.10 miles/hr
Climb: 125 feet
Calories: 645


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Ana's first time on the off road trails!

I picked up a new bike for Ana last night, a Giant Rincon W (woman's design frame) which came with decent components, disk brakes, woman's style seat, and weighs at least 15lbs lighter than her old bike.

We headed to "Hole in the Fence" Aka Wilderness Trails at Morris Bridge Park. We rode the main trail to Grandpa, back to the main trail, down Palmetto, back to the main trail, over Hog Wild and back to the main trail. From here we headed down Washboard. At the end of washboard we caught the main trail, and then headed down to the scenic overlook.

The yellow sign out there says "No Bicycles"...

Shawn and his Yukon FX

My Hardrock Sport Disk 29er

Ana's Rincon W


After we checked out the overlook and rested for a few minutes we continued on down the main trail, out onto Morris Bridge Road, and over to Trout Creek park. We continued down to the paved loop and then hit the facilities and rested for a few minutes. After the rest we headed back the way we came, with the exception that we just rode the main trail back to the parking lot instead of taking any of the other trails back.

All told we probably ended up pedaling about 18-20 miles. Not bad for any of us, less lone someone who is completely new at riding trails. Ana had a great time but we realized quickly that she needs a camelbak, which we'll pick up before her next trail outing.

Back in the saddle again

Well, I finally felt good enough to go riding again after Monday's spill on the rain slicked wooden bridge. I did manage to get some new hardware this week, from selling some old camera gear on eBay. I bought myself a new set of pedals for the bike and they just happened to arrive today. The piece of junk stamped steel factory pedals had already worn down and my feet would slip off when it was the least bit wet. The new pedals however have small spikes that stick up about 1/4" and stick to your shoes like glue. They also have fantastic rebuildable bearings on the inside that really transform the pedaling experience and make it seem so fluid.

The high levels of water in the nearby creeks and lakes was nice, it was like riding past an open refridgerator in some sections. I noticed on the wooden bridge that there is a nice clean looking patch from my bike and my body sliding across it on Monday. Lesson learned! Otherwise tonights ride was fairly uneventful. I added a small loop to get me over the 14 mile mark. Just need to get up enough energy to get down the rest of the way to where the main road dead ends. Adding that section should get me close to 20 miles round trip. I wish my evening rides always felt like this - cool and relaxing. One thing I really find funny is how often I can actually beat most cars across the intersection when I have to stop for lights. At two traffic lights tonight, I was nearly across the intersection before the first car caught and passed me.

At any rate, tonights ride stats:

Started: Jul 8, 2010 7:24:44 PM
Ride Time: 1:09:54
Stopped Time: 0:53
Distance: 14.17 miles
Average: 12.16 miles/hr
Fastest Speed: 19.73 miles/hr
Climb: 92 feet
Calories: 993

An object in motion....

Tends to stay in motion. So goes the laws of physics.

This morning I woke up at 6:10, and looked out the window and saw and heard the rain. Last night I managed to sneak in a 5 mile little trip before the heavens opened up again, and Alex and I were supposed to go hit Flatwoods (weather permitting). Well, it was pouring, so Alex said he was going to stay home and go back to bed. For me, once I am awake, thats it - I am up. I fixed some eggs, had a few cups of coffee and looked at the weather - light rain, but no thunderstorms. I can do this...

I headed down the road, and quite honestly - it was fantastic. Nothing like a light mist to keep you cool while you are pedaling, and since most people had the day off, there was next to no traffic out.

Then we get to nearly the 3rd mile...


Now this picture was taken in the winter - so you arent seeing the overgrown foliage sticking out into the bridge. You also cannot see that it is covered in slippery black mold. Now I had slowed because I knew that being wood and having been covered in rain for the last 4 days it was going to be slick. Unfortunately for me though, I tried to duck one of the branches that stuck out into the bridge. This is where all hell broke loose. As far as I could tell when I ducked the front wheel slid to the left, which forced the rest of the bike down on the right side...while this occured I take a superman pose and slide about 5-10 feet down the trail (the reflective jacket and slick wood seemed to combine to create the world's worst slip and slide).

Once I stop sliding and I start to try to figure out what the hell just happened, I start thinking...where's my bike? At this point a woman in a minivan stopped and asked if I was ok, to which I replied, everything except my pride thanks! This is when I discovered the bike, handlebars and headlight underwater in mud, and the back tire and derailler resting against the edge of the wooden bridge. I fished the bike out, to my amazement the light still shining brightly, and the tail light was just a blinking. As get the bike back up on the wheels and spit some water out on the lights, brake levers and shifters, I try to get the chain back on the big rings. No dice. I look back at my derailler which I thought was busted, when in fact, the chain jumped the rear sprocket and jamed between the frame and the smallest gear on the rear cassette. This in turn pulled the lower pulley up against the cassette. I freed the chain and made sure the gears, brakes, and wheels were good to go.

I pulled some napkins out of the zip lock bag and wiped the grease off my hands and cleaned my shades. Then I surveyed the damage to my body - A nasty raspberry about 1"x5" on my left inner thigh from it scraping across the seat, and my right knee was skinned up. Otherwise just black mold covering my right side of my jersey and the front of my safety vest.

I took it easy pedaling for the next mile and felt good enough to at least ride some more. I ended up doing 9.85 miles, and it was one of the nicest rides I have been on in quite some time (one of the coolest too!).

Started: Jul 5, 2010 8:10:12 AM
Ride Time: 56:41
Stopped Time: 0:00
Distance: 9.85 miles
Average: 10.43 miles/hr
Fastest Speed: 17.50 miles/hr
Climb: 341 feet
Calories: 475

301 Paved Trail

So I took notice last night when feeding some friends who are vacations pets, that a really good section of the new paved trails along US301 in Riverview were finally paved. It also appears that once they finish there should be at least another 2 miles of nicely paved trail I'll have access to. The good thing is that the trail is really smooth, looks to be well lit (once it is finished) and has a similar look and feel to the Pinellas Trails. Unfortunately people in Hillsborough see bikes as targets (or don't even look for them) which made this ride difficult. I though that crossing Big Bend Road would be the scarriest crossing, but quite honestly, one subdivision and on entrance near a McDonald's were the really difficult spots. I guess visions of egg mcmuffins blinded some of these folks.

At any rate, aside from that, the trail is great, and I cannot wait till it is done so I can have a solid 20 mile paved ride nearly in my back yard. (2 mile ride from the house to the nearest entry point for me). So it is like a completely flat version of Boyette.

Ride Stats:
Started: Jul 3, 2010 8:26:49 AM
Ride Time: 1:10:53
Stopped Time: 0:00
Distance: 14.40 miles
Average: 12.19 miles/hr
Fastest Speed: 19.63 miles/hr
Climb: 276 feet
Calories: 658