EPCOT

Words cannot express what a great time my wife and I had at EPCOT yesterday from 8 a.m to 4 p.m. We make it our practice to visit EPCOT every April during the International Flower and Garden Festival. April 2013 was no exception.

We rode some of the rides and then visited every country around the world showcase, marveling at all the different flower arrangements during our travels.

I'll be putting together a video slide show for all to view. Please give me a full day to collect all photos and then upload them into U-Tube. Believe me, you'll be in awe when you eventually view the slide show.

It's good to be back home, though. We missed our two kitty cats.

http://www.mapmywalk.com/workout/270194580

Video Slide Show

DOLLYWOOD

Welcome to Dollywood, the Smoky Mountain's ever popular amusement park.

Right off the bat we rode on Thunderhead and the Wild Eagle, two roller coasters that are guaranteed to shake your innards and rattle your head. That they surely did! Add to that some greasy post ride chicken fingers and fries, plus the pizza and beer shortly after leaving the amusement park, and old Robert was taken completely out of his healthy eating mode.

Bottom line, my roller coaster days are over with, as well as greasy foods. As far as the pizza and beer goes, they stay. LOL

I'll tell you what folks, if you ever want to see some unhealthy people, just visit Dollywood. Never in my life have I seen so many obese individuals, which is somewhat surprising seeing as though many of them have no teeth. I mean, how do they eat so much without teeth?

The pickin' and grinnin' was fantastic all throughout the park, as was the ride aboard the Smoky Mountain Railroad Train.

We had a great time in Tennessee. Yeh haw.....

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/303821456

Video Slide Show

MOUNTAIN BIKING THROUGH PARKS

Robert

Because of the early morning rain and gloomy forecast, our regular road-bike ride was cancelled. However, not to be denied our Monday morning ride, Sandy S and I met on Stirling road riding our individual Mtn. bikes. He was riding his 2012 Mongoose and I was riding my Sears Comfort bike, an antiquated 1995 model.

There was nothing but a light sprinkle when we both left our homes, but the rest of our ride was rain-less and under the protective (from the sun) cover of slow-moving grey and white clouds. In short, it was a perfect morning for biking.

Sandy

Sandy led us through some housing areas and bike paths that I never knew existed. I do believe even if my life depended on it, I could not retrace this morning’s route without a great deal of help from my Garmin GPS. I’ll save the file and then reload back into my Edge 500 should I ever want to repeat the ride.

We even did some off-road riding along a canal that is located in Tree Tops Park. Even without front or rear shocks, my bike handled the hills, bumps and lumps just fine. I can now see why so many people enjoy riding their fat-tire bikes along Mtn. bike trails.

Not too far from the end of our morning ride, we veered off into Flamingo Gardens (http://flamingogardens.org/Wildlife.html). After parking our bikes by using the kickstands, we enjoyed a delicious strawberry smoothie made by a pretty young lady that works at the fruit counter. While sitting on a bench and sipping our ice cold smoothies, we could have reached out and touched the passing peacocks. How cool is that?

Sitting next to our table was an all-black stray kitten with pure white whiskers. He/she was so cute! Good thing my wife wasn’t with us, for she would have wanted to bring the charming little critter home with us.

http://app.strava.com/activities/50107512

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/301756595

CASUAL WALK AND WEIGHT MACHINES

When I left our home to walk across the street and around the lake to the fitness center, the cloud coverage was nearly 100%. When I left the gym 40 minutes later, there was no cloud coverage. Ordinarily, that would be a welcome change.

The significance of the cloud coverage change has everything to do with me cutting my walk shorter than planned. Without any sunscreen applied to my arms and head, I thought it wise to remain out of the sun.

As it was, I walked home with my gym towel draped over my head, which made me feel like my friends in the Middle East walking across the barren dessert.

While in the gym, I tugged and pulled on most of the resistance machines. I did use 25lb free-weights for my arm curls, but otherwise it was an all machine workout.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/301028835

http://www.mapmywalk.com/workout/263172756

FOUR-CITY BIKE RIDE ON SIDEWALKS

This morning I rode my fat-tire bike 22.5 miles on sidewalks through the cities of eastern Miramar, Hollywood, Cooper City and Pembroke Pines. Because of all the sidewalks that were in disrepair, plus the Saturday morning traffic at intersections, I used extreme caution by going very slow.

Most sidewalks that were in need of repair were located in the eastern Miramar area, which is an area of that suburbia city that has changed considerably in the past twenty years. What used to be a lovely area of our county is now an eyesore for we who take pride in our homes and property. You can bet that I won’t be riding my bike through that area ever again.

If I wasn't carefully maneuvering my bike along broken uneven sidewalks, I was using caution not to run over piles of glass left by wankers that love to break their beer bottles on concrete after drinking the beverages. 

As a side note, I noticed numerous old cars parked in the driveways of that area that were equipped with enormously expensive wheels and low-profile tires. The wheels and tires were worth more than the cars.

Anyhow, that’s life in our three-county metro area, which reportedly has a population of over six million. 

I’m beginning to wonder if it isn't safer riding in designated bike lanes, or maybe I should just choose a better sidewalk route.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/300472077

SELF-CREATED CYCLING ROUTE

100% SIDEWALK BIKE RIDE!

After creating a route on Ridewithgps and then uploading that particular route to my Garmin Edge 500, I jumped on my fat-tire bike and then followed the directions on my Garmin.

Other than a couple of unnecessary U-Turns, the directions were right on the money.

I never knew my Garmin had that capability. Nice surprise!

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/299676637


WALK AND GYM WORKOUT

Total walking time includes time in the gym lifting weights and doing multiple stretches. 

http://www.mapmywalk.com/workout/261869080

ROBINS PARK BIKE RIDE

I rode to the coffee and bagel shoppe only with Ed this morning. The others, from what I understood, had plans of hammering it during rush-hour traffic. I wasn't in the mood to ride fast on traffic-clogged roads during rush hour, so riding with Ed was the better of the two choices. Ed, by the way, is 81 going on 59. He’s a very interesting person to ride with and speak with.

After snacking and drinking, seven of us did the Robin’s Park route. Ed didn't feel like riding through Tree Tops Park, so we altered our route so as not to include Tree Tops after riding through Robins. Both parks because of their curvy, narrow bike paths are extremely slow riding.

It was a beautiful day, with the average temperature right around 82F and a steady wind blowing in from the northeast at around 8 to 10 mph. The humidity was quite high, but that was never an issue. After living in the sub-tropics for 71 years, one becomes accustomed to tropical temps and high humidity.

I think all of us did an equal amount of talking while pedaling. I like this type of ride! Thanks to Ed, Sandy, Greg, Marco, Tom and Ron, this morning’s ride was particularly enjoyable.

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/1246516