BIKE RIDING ALONG THE ATLANTIC OCEAN ON A1A

Today’s bike ride, all 120 kilometers of it, was the farthest distance that I’ve ever biked in one day – and it wasn’t easy by any stretch of the imagination.

Faced with a relentless wind the first 40 miles when heading north on Route A1A along the Atlantic Ocean and the inland waterway, the three of us struggled just to maintain a 15 mph pace. Pulling was brutal! One would think, then, that if the wind was difficult northbound, on the way back south we could simply cruise with the wind at our backs. That simply was not the case. Can you say “Wind Shift?”

What made today’s wind so bad was the fact that, for the most part, it was blowing across the water undiminished by trees or structures.

Our breakfast break after 45 miles of riding was a God send and a must. My breakfast of eggs, sausages, potatoes, rye toast and coffee was just the ticket to refuel my already exhausted body. Even at that, we stopped a couple of times on the way back for GU and Gatorade.

No words can describe the richness and beauty that we witnessed while riding our bikes in the Palm Beaches. Many backyards included boat houses with yachts the size of Navy destroyers.

We also passed by President Kennedy’s old compound that he and his family and staff used to frequent.

74 degrees, sunny, wind from the NW at 15 to 20 mph with gusts to 26 mph.

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/609431

Slow Down and Smell the Roses–and Stay Well

It really burns my butt whenever I see event advertisements like this one, and I see them on nearly every bicycling event that is advertised on the Internet and on cycling club web pages.

I would love to participate in the events and go the full distances.  But how can I when the event organizers place such rigorous speed restrictions on the farthest distances? Is there something wrong with just wanting to go the full distances at a moderate speed and actually enjoy the journeys?

Who in their right mind would want to pedal a bike at breakneck speeds for 100 km? In the first place, to do so would require all cyclists to tailgate the cyclist that’s in front of them for drafting purposes. Those speeds would also require the cyclist that is behind you to tailgate you as well – and you then hope to God that they are able to stop quickly enough should you have to hurriedly slow down or come to a full stop. Chain reaction bike crashes are common because of this pace line impasse.

I fully understand that event organizers have to limit the amount of time that volunteers spend at rest stops, finish lines, etc. mainly because of budget concerns and time frames. I also ‘get it’ in reference to how many police officers it would take to escort all speeds on all distances. Most events, however, do not hire police officers.  Cyclists are pre-warned that they must participate at their own risk.  And volunteers and just that, volunteers!

Going back for a moment to the pace line, I do not find it fun or entertaining to ride in a pace line having to stare at the ass end of the cyclist that is riding directly in front of me. Nor am I comfortable with some hammerhead cyclist riding my rear tire just so that my body and bike shields him or her from the headwind. Consider the potential of multiple fractures plus painful road rash whenever the wheels tap one another, which, like I previously said, happens quite frequently. And don’t think this cannot happen to you.

In my opinion, we have become victims of our puzzling willingness to accept speed as our number one prerequisite, not only in sports but also in our everyday lives. We rush from point A to point B only to hurry once again after we arrive to wherever it is we are headed. It’s a vicious cycle of self-imposed, unnecessary ridiculousness.

Speed causes undue stress – and stress causes unwanted illnesses.  Slow down, smell the roses, and stay well!

RIDING WITH THE FAST BUNCH

Holy cow, can those boys and girls ever pedal them road bikes fast.  I say boys and girls; one guy is 81 years of age. I'm not making this up!

Okay, so I decided to ride with the fast group instead of doing my usual slug ride. For the first 20 miles, I had no problem staying with the fast peloton.

It was around mile 20 or so, right when the leader sprinted away from a traffic signal, did I have an issue with keeping up. I have a tendency to be super cautious at intersections, more so than the average biker, so once I fell a few feet behind and couldn't catch the pace line, even though I was traveling over 24 mph, I backed down my Felt Z6 Bike to 20 mph the rest of the way to the coffee shop. No sense in killing myself just to catch up.

On the way back to the barn from the coffee shop, I and three other biking amigos slowed the pace somewhat while the others continued at a break-neck pace.

All in all, it was a doggone nice ride with some really seasoned cyclists. If I ever expect to get faster, I'll have to up my speed more often. I can do it!

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/167022293

MONDAY FOUR-CITY BIKE RIDE

After riding alongside my wife for four miles while she ran, I broke off and then met up with my five cycling amigos on the east side of Pembroke Lakes Mall.

Leaving the mall area right after eight in the morning, we proceeded on Hiatus Road for two miles prior to ducking into safer streets in the residential area of Rock Creek. Even on the tree lined residential roads we are not in safe harbor, but it was a darn sight safer than the main thoroughfare roads.

After passing through Pembroke Pines, Cooper City and then Davie, we made our grand entrance into Weston's Einstein's Coffee Shoppe wearing our multi-colored cycling kits. We sort of stood out among the other patrons, in a good way.

After refueling or bodies, Sandy S. and I decided to go back by ourselves using a different route, making a short stop in Vista View Park to (A) Watch the model airplanes! (B) Do a hill climb! and (C) Measure the grade of Mt. Trashmore by using one of our smart phones! We learned that the grade was somewhere between 10 to 12 degrees. We think it is at least 15 degrees in most places.

Anyway, after fiddling around in the park for 10 minutes or so, we drove west through the park’s riding trails and soon discovered a walk-through in the perimeter fence large enough to enter and exit with a road bike. This was a nice find for future rides.

After biking on an asphalt trail that runs alongside Orange Drive, we then cut across the canal and headed east on Griffin Road. Griffin Road has semi-wide bike lanes on both sides of the road heading in each direction.

Exiting Griffin Road after maybe three or four miles, we then drove through a ranch area that provided us with an open road for maybe two miles. It was there that we were able to open up the throttles a bit to just over 20 mph into a headwind that was determined to be in our faces no matter what direction we traveled.

From there on, all the way back to the barn, it was tense riding for three miles because of the threatening manner in which arrogant motorists drive. Some of them refused to give us our legal three feet even though they had empty lanes on their left. Sandy S. rightfully pointed out one particular moron that was driving a white Corvette. 

I suppose wearing my high viz, lime-green jersey doesn't mean crap whenever some butt-brain, arrogant SOB wants to show and prove their ignorance. Enough said on that matter!

All in all, though, this morning's ride was very enjoyable. The weather was perfect for biking or doing anything else in the great outdoors – even flying model airplanes.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/166407677

Five Cities 2/3 Metric Bike Ride

This morning’s ride was one of the best ever weekday rides in quite some time. At least it was for me!

My individual ride began nearly one hour prior to meeting up with my biking partners, riding around the mall’s huge parking lot at a mere 9.5 mph pace for 7 miles.

Because I never stopped my Garmin GPS when meeting up with my partners in crime, the first seven miles at a sluggish pace is included in the overall 2/3 metric ride, which resulted in a wussy overall pace of 14 mph. The remaining 34 miles, however, was done at something like a 16.3 mph pace. I’m not a mathematician, but I believe those numbers are in the ball park.

Anyhow, six of us then took off from the mall with four of us taking the lead while two others basically lagged behind at a fairly significant distance.

Our route from the mall to the coffee shop was the same basic route that we’ve been following since the invention of the wheel – or so it seemed. The route is boring to us only because we’ve duplicated the ride countless times in the past. For a new rider, though, their description more than likely would be quite the contrary. It's actually a very scenic route.

After sitting on our duffs for 45 minutes at the coffee shop sipping cups of Joe or Gatorade, four of us then took off in the westerly direction just for a change of scenery and to extend the ride beyond the usual.

Like they say, “Variety, or change, is the spice of life!”

The weather was near perfect for a bike ride, with the temperature never going above 80, the sky clear, and the wind coming from a westerly direction between 5 to 7 mph.

In all, we rode through five different cities, Cooper City, Davie, Pembroke Pines, Weston and Southwest Ranches. My favorite area was the ranches just south of Weston.

Near the end of our ride, we drove through CB Smith County Park for a 3.35-mile journey on curvy roads and through a motor home park that is surrounded by tropical lakes and gator-infested marshes. All pets should be kept indoors or on leashes at all times. Bikers proceed at flank speed. LOL

I’m looking forward to more rides like today’s ride, fun, safe and bursting with new scenery.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/164126646