TOUR OF SEBRING

On September 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th, 2011, I could have been found participating in any one of three bike rides in the rolling hills of South Central Florida with nearly 350 other road bike enthusiasts. In attendance, also, were recumbent cyclists and tandem cyclists. The majority of cyclists, however, were perched atop their shiny, colorful road bikes wearing outfits of every color imaginable, some club related and some not.

My uniforms of choice were a red Spiderman outfit, a Livestrong black and yellow outfit, and my usual red and white Team Memorial jersey and pants. The first two aforementioned outfits, both Chinese-made and purchased online through a Chinese bike apparel shop, caused painful chaffing in the private area triggering much personal distress and prompting a few chosen curse words directed at my industrious neighbors on the opposite side of the globe. My bad, though, for buying cheap!

The first day’s ride, referred to as "The Lake Istokpoga Ride," totaled 63.75 grueling miles on mostly hilly country roads. To me, each hill felt steeper and more difficult to pedal up than the last hill, an expected characteristic of us flatlanders.

We must have passed tens of thousands of ripe orange trees, all neatly planted in perfect rows. Nestled amongst the orange groves were a handful of small farms and cow pastures. We even spotted some angry looking bulls hanging out by the roadside barbed wire fences. Riding quietly by, I wasn’t about to anger the already angry looking bulls. I didn’t trust the bulls or the flimsy looking fences.

The second day's ride was aptly named "The Lake Reedy Ride" simply because we rode around the entire perimeter of Lake Reedy. Just a tad bit shorter than the first day’s ride, pedaling around the Lake Reedy area put an additional 63 miles on my bike’s odometer. I thought day two’s ride had more hills, but maybe that was merely my imagination because of fatigue.

Day three’s ride was my favorite of all three, mainly because of its shorter distance.

After leaving the Kenilworth Hotel staging area, we rode around nearby Lake Jackson and then straight for what seemed  like miles until we entered Highlands Hammock State Park, where twice we slowly pedaled around the park’s interior road taking in all the sights and sounds of the jungle-like park.

Advertised are alligators, deer, bears, wild hogs and other beast of the wild. We spotted one hyperactive squirrel scampering up an oak tree. Only one! Marlin Perkins would have been sorely disappointed. So were we!

To critique all three courses, they were well marked, mostly devoid of vehicular traffic, and they offered an array of scenic cycling. I’d give the routes five stars out of a possible five.

Five stars are also due the event’s organizers and all of the staff at the host hotel, The Kenilworth.

All meals, breakfast and lunch all three days, were exceptional. Feeding hundreds of hungry bikers is no easy feat, but they found a way. I give praise to all personnel that worked diligently in the food department.

Now for the downside of this year’s Tour of Sebring – at least in my opinion.

There isn’t too much that irks me more than waiting on people that have no perception of time or respect for other people’s time. If a bike ride is advertised to leave, for example, at 7 AM, you would think that everyone in a group would show proper respect for others by being at the staging area, bike ready, at 7 AM. Most definitely that was not the case with our group – three days in a row. We were the very last bikers to leave the staging area all three days because of individual tardiness, and the same thing happened during last year's Tour of Sebring.  Add to that, we were the last bikers to leave at the beginning of this year's Tour de Broward metric century in our home county.  Can you see a pattern?  The word "Frustrating" comes to mind!  

And to make matters even worse, once we did depart the staging area as a group, not once did we remain together as a group. There was always someone who wished to surge ahead as if they were in a race, leaving the others behind to struggle against head winds by themselves. Others would simply refuse to cooperate. Group riding and pace lines (pelotons) are all about assisting one another during long bike rides.

Tour of Sebring is just that, a tour. It is not a race! It is essentially a tour of the area’s rolling hills and scenic countryside.

Even though there were many photo opportunities along the courses, not once was I able to stop to take pictures. It was all about speed and zilch about taking advantage of the beautiful countryside. Had I stopped to take pictures, I never would have been able to catch up with even a remnant of our already divided group.

Biking alone is not fun! But at one point during the second day’s ride, I biked nearly fifteen miles by myself all because I, alone, followed the leader’s suggestion that we regroup after attacking the hills.  There is no need to get further into the attributing details.  This is not meant to be a slanderous blog post.

I’m not saying that I’ll never again do the Tour of Sebring, or any tour for that matter. But if I do, there first must be an understanding within this particular group that riding in a disciplined peloton is vitally necessary.  So is showing up on time!

Why do I have my doubts!?