1/2 METRIC-CENTURY MOUNTAIN BIKE RIDE

Aside from getting lost in a residential section and the hordes of rush-hour vehicular traffic, this morning’s half-metric century mountain bike ride was peaceful and full of awesome tropical sights.

Wildlife spotting’s included countless species of birds, turtles, schools of fish, feral cats, horses, cows, bulls, dogs (large and small), a dead possum, even a squirrel that was begging for leftovers from the patrons at Einstein’s Coffee and Bagel Shoppe. Thinking that he wouldn't like a bite of my Wild Cherry Shot Blok, I tossed the little rascal some scraps from my oatmeal bar.

Unwilling to sit there and listen to a phony Viet Nam war hero (he never served in Nam), I departed Einstein’s and my friends somewhat impulsively. This particular jackal is not a part of our biking group, yet he insists on sitting at our sidewalk table. I don’t get it! Come to think of it, when it comes to understanding people, there are a lot of things that “I don’t get.”

Anyway, I enjoyed my solo ride. The ride was exceptionally slow, but so was the turtle that I spotted.

In closing, I’m slow, I know it, so get over it!

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/1966696

PEACE MOUND HALF METRIC CENTURY ROADBIKE RIDE

I rode with Sandy, Tom and Steve for 25 miles of this ride. The remaining 6 miles was done on sidewalks at a 9 to 10 mph pace.

For a photo op and a change of pace, we rode through Peace Mound Park in the City of Weston. The park is stunningly beautiful.

This was my first fast group-ride in several weeks. Overall group pace was nearly 16 mph, whereas my overall pace for the entire ride was only 13.3 mph.

The boys really worked me today.

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/1961472

TOUR de PEMBROKE LAKES MALL PARKING LOT

This was a typical ride when I volunteer to ride alongside, behind and in front of my wife while she does a marathon training run. I’m her mobile water boy.

Restricted as to where we could run and ride at that time of morning, 1 ½ hours before sunlight, we zig zagged around the mall's parking lot until my wife accumulated 10+ miles.

While riding and running in the mall’s huge parking lot, we found a total of 99 cents laying on the ground – most of it underneath a fast food drive-in window.

It was a pleasant morning with the average temperature right around 70F.

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/1957702

ROAD CYCLING TO WESTON AND BACK

I had a very satisfying ride today on my road bike. One thing that I noticed right away was how much easier it is to pedal a road bike than a mountain bike.

After slowly cruising on the sidewalks from home to Einstein’s Bagel Shoppe in Weston, a ten-mile ride by itself, I hooked up with Sandy, Tom, Rey and Steve for the ride back to where they parked their vehicles.

It felt wonderful to again ride along with the guys at a speed that provided me with some good ole fashion aerobic exercise.

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/1949557

NATURE WALK + WEIGHT MACHINES

When the leading edge of a cold front was upon us, I decided to leisurely walk to and from our fitness center for a weight-machine workout, stopping along the way to gaze across the lake at the ominous looking gray clouds that were passing by.

A duck that was slowly swimming next to the grassy shoreline caught my attention at one point, as did a white Florida Ibis that was poking his long beak into the shallow water in hopes of spearing a minnow.

I then noticed some small bamboo shoots, or sprouts, making their debut along the western edge of the lake. I thought that was quite odd seeing as though the bunches of mature bamboo that had grown to maximum height is located many feet from the shoreline.

That cold front that I spoke of? It has blessed us with comfortable temps in the low 70’s.  How sweet it is!

I ask you, what’s more peaceful than observing nature?

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/394841422

ROBBINS AND VISTA VIEW PARK MTB RIDES

I thoroughly enjoyed this morning’s ride. Not knowing what direction I would be headed once outside on the mountain bike, I chose to head northward towards Robbins Park and a biking trail that runs parallel to Hiatus Road. Good choice! Besides one lone female runner, a very pretty one at that, I was the only human on that trail as well as the adjacent trail that leads to Flamingo Road. There was a family of ducks walking across the Flamingo Road/Hiatus Road trail, but they skedaddled out of the way el pronto.

After stopping a couple of times in smallish roadside parks, both times to take sips from my Gatorade bottle, I headed towards Vista View Park with plans to ride on the mountain bike trail that encircles Mount Trashmore. I've been wanting to ride that trail for some time now.

The Mount Trashmore biking trail was awesome, very steep and very rocky. I was somewhat surprised about the larger rocks because I frequently observe runners on those trails running and walking. Now I know why they occasionally slow it down to a walk.

There were two inclines that had to of been 20% gradient or more, up and down. Talk about inclines that took my breath away, they managed to do just that.

All toll, I rode my MTB 27 miles this morning in the blistering sun. Not a cloud was to be seen in our tropical bluish sky.

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/1944500

FIRESTONE WALK

Putting our truck into the shop for maintenance gave me a chance to walk from the shop to home and then back to the shop whenever the truck was ready for pickup.

This walk was 100% walking except for three short jogs during the last mile.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/394065767

COUNTY-PARK ESCORT RIDE/RUN

This morning’s short mountain bike ride was a zero-zapping, fun-filled escort ride, which entailed riding alongside, behind and in front of my awesome wife while she did a training run. I was her bottle toting hero dressed in yellow and black.

This morning's ride also included some aggressive grassy knoll riding, occasionally attacking the county park hills when leaving the smooth asphalt roadways. It sure was fun acting like a kid.

I have to say, it was rather warm outside this morning; 82F with the humidity at 100%. 

A real sweat fest for both of us!

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/1938984

28 minutes of my afternoon workout was spent walking to and from the gym while the remaining 53 minutes was spent on various resistance machines – 2 to 3 sets on each machine. 

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/393795899

ESCORT BIKE RIDE

While my computer was uploading and installing the new Windows 8.1 Pro, my wife and I went outdoors for some run training and escort bike riding. She ran, I rode!

It was a mild 70 degrees at the beginning of our non-adventurous, full sunshine ride when the huge ball of fire presented its face on the eastern horizon. We experienced relatively low humidity, so my wife’s run wasn't as brutal as some of her summertime runs. 

I never generated an ounce of sweat. How could I? My average HR was a mere 83 bpm.

Today I am thankful for my awesome wife and our good health.

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/1928016

RIDING ALONGSIDE MY WIFE WHILE SHE RAN AND WALKED

This was a pre-sunrise escort ride, riding my mountain bike alongside my wife while she did a short training run/walk around the shopping mall’s one-mile long parking lot. It was a perfect morning for a short run/ride, with the temperature at a mild 70F. The sun, however, was so bright that our visibility was nil to none when running and riding towards the east. We exercised a great deal of caution realizing that the motorists in the parking are, also, could not see.

We also passed by the area where this past Saturday evening, our neighbor fatally plunged his car across the sidewalk and then into the deep lake. Although it is apparent that excessive speed was one factor in this unfortunate incident, the accident itself is still under investigation by our local police department.

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/1922168

TUGGING, PULLING AND WALKING, ALL IN THE NAME OF OPTIMAL HEALTH

40 minutes of this workout I was working out on the resistance machines in the fitness center. The remaining 16 minutes is the time it took me to walk to and from the gym.

It was partly cloudy, 82F and zero wind, which translates into a pleasant day at the southeast tip of the USA.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/390936455

CAR PLUNGED INTO LAKE

Early morning escort ride, riding alongside my wife while she did a training run/walk.

On the way home while riding and running alongside our neighborhood lake, we viewed the results of either a police chase or reckless driving that occurred late last night.  The vehicle in question veered off the road and then plunged into the lake.  (The driver of the vehicle ended up being one of our young male neighbors.  For whatever reason, he fatally plunged into the lake that runs parallel to the roadway.)     

Later in the day, my wife and I walked across the street to the hospital's fitness center and then did a mini-resistance machine workout.

We experienced perfect weather this morning, 70F with a slight breeze.

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/1910986

SWEET SIXTEEN MTB RIDE

I pedaled my mountain bike 16.01 miles around our neighborhood earlier this morning so I’ll label the ride “Sweet Sixteen MTB Ride.”

And the ride was definitely sweet, all the time realizing how fortunate I am to be able to ride my bike whenever and wherever I wish while the majority of people fight the rush-hour traffic commuting to and from work. Hey, at least they’re working, right?

I’m not sure if y’all recall the late Brian Piccolo who used to play with the Chicago Bears football team in the late 60’s. I rode through a county park this morning named after Brian. He used to attend one of our local high schools prior to playing college ball and subsequently professional football. Brian played in the same backfield as super-star Gale Sayers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Piccolo

Anyway, I slowly rode through the medium-sized park at will, stopping only once for my usual documentation photo. I like the photo because my bright orange biking jersey matches the kiddie playground in the background.

And how about that beautiful tropical scene in the lower-right picture?  This area is indeed a tropical paradise!  

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/1903353

WALKING AND RESISTANCE TRAINING

 Just prior to the sun making its initial appearance, I did a semi-brisk walk up and down Johnson Street with my wife! Bringing up our heart rates by walking briskly was not our reason for picking up our walking pace; just doing something outside together in the relative coolness of the morning was.

Later that day, we walked the one-mile round trip to our fitness center and back for the sole purpose of working out on the numerous resistance machines.  I counted 12 machines in my workout.  

While we were walking along the bank of the lake, we spotted an Ibis in search of unsuspecting minnows swimming about near the surface of the water. 

After spotting the Ibis, my wife then spotted an old crow wearing a cut-off green shirt. Not being one to pass up such a photo op, she snapped a picture of both birds.

The old crow eventually scared off the younger Ibis!

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/388371915

MTB RIDE IN PEMBROKE LAKES AND PEMBROKE FALLS

Feeling a bit restless earlier this morning, I saddled up on the MTB for a fifteen-mile neighborhood ride through Pembroke Lakes and Pembroke Falls, passing six schools in the process that were in full session teaching the future citizens of America the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic. I can only hope that some of our future genius’ will become elected officials and actually accomplish something good for the country while in office. Wouldn’t that be a novel change!?

Anyhow, the weather was perfect for a bike ride, be it in the parks, on the bike trails or on the busy roadways dodging the countless horseless carriages. My choice, of course, was riding in the county park and on the comparatively safe sidewalks.

Three times I stopped the bike to snap some pictures in the sub-tropical paradise. I’m just sayin’, this is a lovely area to ride a bike if you wisely choose to remain off road.

I’m now ready for a quiet breakfast with my wife. I’m thinking eggs over light and a toasted everything bagel with cream cheese and thin tomato slices. Florida orange juice full of pulp will be my drink of choice.

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/1897971

 

Have a happy day!

SAD NEWS BIKE RIDE

Sixteen miles into yesterday morning's mountain bike ride, I was saddened to learn via a phone call from my wife that her mother had passed away earlier that morning. When my wife learned of her mother’s passing, my wife was at work and I was out riding my MTB.

The passing of my wife's mother was not unanticipated.

The only upside to the upsetting news, however, is that her dear mother will no longer have to suffer from that damn Alzheimer’s as well as other countless disorders.

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/1892724

OUR 28TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY

Bagel Palace

After enjoying breakfast out this morning with my beautiful wife, we casually walked to and from the fitness center by way of the hospital’s large parking area.

While in the gym, we did an intense weight machine workout – both upper body and lower body. Working out together is a fun thing!

Today being our 28^th wedding anniversary, I will be meeting up my wife later today at her work place (Yes, she has to work today) for a non-candle light dinner at Subway. We intend to romantically split a foot-long sub, share our chips and drink, and then purchase two more subs for tomorrow’s Miami Dolphins home game against the Baltimore Ravens.

This is our life and we love it!

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/385917294

RIDING AND RUNNING IN AN OASIS

Feeling blessed to be living in such a beautiful area of our country, where I can ride my bike nearly any day of the year, I volunteered again to ride alongside my awesome wife while she did one of her training runs in the county park.

And what a beautiful park it is, with all its scenic waterways, covered pavilions and mature live oak trees that offer shade when needed.

 

The park is our favorite place to run and ride, and it’s only ½ mile from our gated community.

 

This morning’s escort ride included a couple of sprints, one being a Strava segment that I generated some time ago - of which I set a new PR.

Setting out to run/walk only four miles, my wife ended up logging in five miles. This morning, my better half was an overachiever.

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/1878883

IMPROMPTU MOUNTAIN BIKE RIDE

Rain, rain go away, you’re shortening my bike rides to beginner’s mileage.

After first checking with the weather radar and feeling that it was clear to wander outside on the MTB for a medium-distance ride, I departed from our homestead around 8:30 this morning with no route in mind other than our local County Park and then westward.

Improvising the route during the entire ride, 14 miles into the ride I ended up pedaling up Mount Trashmore to catch a real-time view of the eastern horizon. Knowing that any rain would be headed inland from the Atlantic Ocean, I looked toward the east and caught a glimpse of some menacing-looking dark clouds headed my way. At the time I was a mere three+ miles from my truck that sat in the parking lot of my wife’s place of employment. Away I went!

Talk about perfect timing, I arrived at my wife’s work place just as the rain began. I then called to advise her that I was safe and sound inside the truck, which is something I always do at the end of my rides so that she won’t concern herself any longer with my safety.

I then drove to PetSmart for a purchase of six more tropical fish for our two fish tanks. The four guppies, one angel fish and one platy are already begging for fish flakes. I guess I better go feed them and the others.

Two hours after arriving home from cycling, shopping and feeding the tropical fish, I did an intense weight-machine workout in the fitness center that lasted for 50 minutes.  

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/1875962

BOBO’S BICYCLE ESCORT SERVICE

Nearly 50 minutes before sunrise, my wife and I headed out the door for our morning exercise. She was to run/walk 10 kilometers and I was to ride alongside her on my road bike. This is our routine every time she heads outdoors for a training run.

As soon as we stepped outside our home, we could tell it was going to be a hot and humid run/ride. The only saving grace was the 8 to 10 mph breeze coming in from the ocean, and even that wasn’t enough to ease the discomfort we felt.

Our gym workout will come later in the morning, directly after breakfast and a casual walk.

Oh, I didn't discover that my helmet was missing until we were over one mile into the run/ride. I thought my head felt lighter than normal.

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/1872934