MTB WITH DAUGHTER

“But the nations became wrathful, and your own wrath came, and the appointed time came for the dead to be judged and to reward your slaves the prophets and the holy ones and those fearing your name, the small and the great, and to bring to ruin those ruining the earth.”

I thought of Revelation 11:18 when my daughter and I rode through our county park earlier today, only two days after the ill-mannered revelers trashed this beautiful park in the name of fun. They are the concert-goers that I spoke of during Sunday’s escort ride, causing massive traffic jams before sunrise in an attempt to enter the park for the chili cook-off and country concert.

After riding through tons of trash and over heaps of broken glass on and around all of the bike trails, there are no words to express my abhorrence with much of the human race.  It’s a miracle that we didn't end up with flat tires. I might add that the buzzards were having a field day!

Regardless of the above, Diane and I enjoyed our eight-mile ride. We went down memory lane when we passed by the high school where Diane’s daughter, my granddaughter, graduated.

Diane is doing quite well with her bike riding. Her first ride was one mile, second ride was six miles, and today’s ride was eight miles. Her next ride will be double numbers. Soon, she will be joining me on many of my longer mountain bike rides. 

She’s turning out to be a wonderful wheel mate.

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/2196750

IMPERIAL HALF CENTURY BIKE RIDE

Shortly after signing up earlier this morning to compete in a virtual 50-miler with US Road Cycling, I decided that there is no better time than today to hit the road and trails for the Imperial half century. The thought of earning a medal for my efforts was my motivation.

 

So that’s what I did this morning, pedal my Felt Road Bike 50+ miles – partly with my cycling mates and partly by myself.

 

Approximately 70% of this ride was on asphalt bike trails and concrete sidewalks, which greatly decreased my overall pace. I’m not making excuses, but you just can’t get up to speed on bumpy bike trails and concrete sidewalks.

 

Anyway, near the end of today’s route loomed Mt. Trashmore in the Town of Davie’s Vista View Park.

 

After climbing the mountain, I met a lady at the top of the mount that was managing a professional photo shoot. Here’s the story: Just last night, my youngest daughter assisted the lady in Wal-Mart when the lady lost the keys to her rental car. She concluded that she lost the keys while trying on shoes, and thought maybe the keys were dropped inside a shoe.

 

The lady was in tears, so my youngest came to the rescue and found her keys – and yes, they were inside a shoe. Diane also helped her find a nice pair of sneakers to wear on the photo shoot.

 

And by golly, she was actually wearing those blue sneakers when I met her on the mount.

 

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/2195139

ESCORT MOUNTAIN BIKE RIDE

While my wife did a Miami Half Marathon/Glass Slipper training run/walk, I rode alongside her on my mountain bike.

 

While riding and running, we observed the foolishness of countless car, trucks and peds attempting to get inside CB Smith Park for the annual Chili Cook-Off.

 

In one word: Craziness!

 

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/2190405#

NEIGHBORHOOD MOUNTAIN BIKE RIDE

This was an impromptu mountain bike ride around the neighborhood as well as past where I used to work

and where my granddaughter graduated from high school.

There was a great deal of activity in the county park when I passed by because tomorrow the park and local country music radio station will be hosting the Chili Cook-off, an annual event that consists of many flavors of chili plus a few popular country music stars doing their thing live onstage. We can hear them singing from our screened patio.

The average temperature during this ride was 80F.  Check out that beautiful blue sky in the above picture!

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/2188198

A TRIO OF RIDERS

After patiently waiting for fifteen minutes, I was going to give my wheel mates two more minutes to arrive at our biking meet-up spot. If they didn't show, I was then going to map out a route of my own to do. I’m no stranger to solo bikes rides, so either way I was going to get in some miles.

First Rey arrived and then Stephen, surprised as I was that the others did not show – nor did the truants let us know that they would not be riding today. Oh well, maybe some of them shied away from the low temps and strong northerly wind. Quite frankly, it was a perfect day for a ride.

We took the typical boring route to Einstein Bros Bagel shop in Weston. But after we enjoyed our snacks and coffee outdoors on Einstein’s patio, we rode on a combination of bike trails and roads, ending up in Robins Park in Davie, FL.

Greeting us in the sub-tropical park were several attractive young ladies on horseback, smiling from ear to ear as they galloped past us while we were crossing the narrow bridge that is located near the east side of Flamingo Gardens.

In the horses wake, of course, were a few obstacles to dodge. My only request was that my wheel mates in front of me miss the dung piles. We all know how rear wheels throw water and debris back towards the trailing biker.

Thankfully, my wish was granted!

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/2184898

DAUGHTER TRAINING RIDE IN COUNTY PARK

My youngest daughter’s second bike training ride was today, in the relative safety of our neighborhood county park.

My daughter, my wife and I hopped on our individual bikes and then headed for the park, which is only 5/10ths of a mile from our gated community. Once in the park, we navigated on most of the bike trails, staying off the perimeter road where an occasional car or truck passes by.

With the temps in the high 50’s and the sky void of clouds, it was a perfect time of day for a leisure ride. The ducks and geese were enjoying the park and mild weather as well.

There were no mishaps, no close calls, just bunch of fun riding and laughing. We even took the time for some photo ops at various “Kodak” locations.

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/2183042

SMALL GROUP ROAD-BIKE RIDE

This morning’s road-bike ride was typical of most of our weekday group bike rides except this time I broke off from the small group with the sole purpose of riding farther than I would have ridden had I stayed with them. 

My goal was thirty miles, I reached 34 miles. Success!

I broke off from the group at SW 26^th St and 142^nd Avenue.

With a steady wind of 15-20 mph coming out of the NW, the ride towards Weston was slow yet steady. The second half of today’s ride was much easier as well as a tad bit warmer than whet it was in the beginning.  The temperature at the beginning of the ride was 50F.

There were two groups today, one slow and one fast. I chose the slower of the two. 

Thanks Ed, Wally, Greg and Gary for the enjoyable ride.

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/2181249