A Little Warmer

My son and I rode Loop-T-Loop today. The temps were in the 50's. All in all it was a nice ride, but my son pushed me pretty hard. I rode the 928 for a change, but I could feel every bump in the rode. We are hoping to ride the Scenic 25 tomorrow if it doesn't rain with a friend. Got to ride when you can...

Pine Forest Loop

I got to ride Saturday with the Firestone & Summit group. We rode the Pine Forest Loop. There were 7 riders total. I was a little tired and the pace wasn't very fast. All in all it was a nice 40 mile ride. I'm not really crazy about the route, but I knew that the colder temperatures were coming, so I very much wanted to get some miles in while I could. I'll have to try to remember the route and post it on MapMyRide.com.

Today it is too cold and windy for me. I'm thinking about getting some more winter clothing; otherwise I'm going to have to learn how to ride rollers. I don't want to loose my fitness.

Cold Weather

I don't like cold weather. I rode yesterday, just a short ride in the afternoon. I never warmed up. I couldn't wait to get back home just so I could warm up. The legs felt heavy after saturday's ride. This cold weather has got me down. The thing is, it isn't really that cold. 50 degrees isn't cold, but it sure feels cold to me and I don't like riding when I'm cold. Some how I'm going to have to get use to it if I'm going to build upon my fitness which is my goal.

Innerarity Point Ride

Today I joined the Firestone group on the Innerarity Point Ride. The ride started a little after 8am at the Fish and Wildlife parking lot (I can't help but call it the Marine Patrol) with very little wind. The pace started reasonable, but it sped up several times and finished fast. The temps were slightly chilly to start, but it didn't take long before riders were shedding some of the extra clothes.

I hadn't been down Innerarity Point in years. The last time I road down there, there were only about 3-5 houses. The pavement was pretty good. It was fun.

Going through the back gate of NAS not all of the riders had ID's. The gate keepers let us through anyway. Very nice guys today. Riding along the water was very beautiful.

Main St. is still torn up towards the end of the ride, so we took Garden St. instead.

I have mapped the course and it is now listed on the right under rides. The course maps at just under 50 miles.

This was the first time I have ridden this course. All in all I would say that this is a very nice course. There was some traffic here and there, but for the most part the traffic was reasonable.

It was a beautiful day and I got home before 11:30. I really needed this ride as I haven't ridden much lately. The legs are sore now, so hopefully I will ride tomorrow to work out some of the soreness.

The Cold Weather Has Arrived

My son and I had some good rides over the Thanksgiving holidays. It was nice and I was starting to feel strong again. Then it got cold. I'm not a cold weather cyclist. On top of that, I've been working non-stop the last several weeks (except for those nice rides).

So, I'm not sure how much riding I'm going to get in this winter. I had high hopes at the end of the season. Maybe I need to learn how to ride the rollers. I sure don't want to loose the fitness I have achieved.

Just the same, if I don't do much riding I won't be posting much either.

Posted 3 routes

Today was a windy dreary day with rain in the afternoon and evening. I started out to ride around 23 but cut it short to 15. It was so windy. I realized that I wasn't enjoying the ride and had other things that I could be doing. None the less, I'm glad that I rode. I rode the Spanish 15 today.

I mapped 3 routes today on MapMyRide; they are included in the list of rides on the right panel. I've been thinking about it for a while, but haven't really been able to take the initiative to sit down and map the routes. After doing the Three Amigos route this past Saturday, I knew that I better get these routes mapped out soon. Besides, I keep referring to the Spanish 15 and Loop-T-Loop in the blog. Those are the routes that I've been riding the most of lately. The Scenic 25 is still one of my favorites, but it takes time and energy. So here are the new mapped routes:

• Spanish 15 - A fairly flat spinning route when there isn't time for a longer route.
• Loop-T-Loop (23mi) - A variation of Spanish 15 which includes the Airport Loop and finishes on Scenic Hwy. This route is rather compact and doubles back on itself a couple of times with very little duplication.
• Three Amigos - This is a Firestone & Summit group ride around 45 miles.

Three Amigos

Almost four weeks off the bike when you include the trip to AZ. I've pretty much recovered from my strained achilles tendon injury. It is still sore, but at least I can ride now as long as I'm careful not to strain it again.

My son and I rode with the Firestone group Saturday. We rode the Three Amigos route, about 45 miles for us. The pace was a little slow and the traffic seemed heavy (maybe because of the Blue Angle air show). On the home stretch my son broke away. I worked hard to catch him. I finally did, but it took me all of Garden Street to do it. It was a nice day to be on the bike.

I had never ridden the Three Amigos route before. It started with familiar roads heading north then west. There was a fairly long stretch of Blue Angle Pkwy which had a lot of traffic. Then the course got onto Lillian Hwy. At first I was a bit concerned because there was little to no shoulder, but the traffic thinned out rather quickly and the views of Perdido Bay were very nice. We then found ourselves on Dog Track road, then Gulf Beach Hwy. From there we went through Navy Point and then the Country Club. Once we got onto Barrancas Ave. we knew we were on the home stretch and for some of us the pace picked up considerably. Overall the course was nice. If it weren't for the traffic, I'd say it was a very nice course, but being Blue Angle Homecoming Show weekend could have had a lot to do with the heavy traffic.

Last week we rode the Spanish 15 and Loop-T-Loop routes. Not really very many miles. I wanted to test the ankle, but gently. Last night my wife and I rode the Townies around the neighborhood; it was nice to get her back on the bike too.

We are trying to get back into training/riding. But, it is hard. Between my work and my son's school it is taking a lot of discipline to make ourselves make the time to ride. But once we get on the bike all is good. Right now when it comes to training I just want to concentrate on the miles, but work keeps getting in the way.