Villano Beach Loop

43 Miles Villano Beach loop with Eddie, & Christian. It was a great ride! I took some pictures of Eddie attacking his first bridge. We averaged 18 MPH and had a great time!
Garmin Route
750

Afternoon ride with Eddie, Brian & 1/5 Dana

Ride started out with Me, Dana, & Eddie. About 1.5 miles into it, it became just me and Eddie! Dana was still really sore and didn't have her bike shorts so she decided to bail this time. But she still did really good. Me and Eddie rode to the back of Jim’s neighborhood and met Brian. From there we did a 16 mile loop down Long Leaf Pine and Veterans Pkwy. It was a really nice route! And man all i can say is that Eddie has improved dramatically!! And Brian is getting really strong! In total me and Eddie did 28 miles.

Garmin Route

707

Monday Night Bikes Etc.

The ride tonight was Me, Dana, & Eddie. We had a nice ride. For me it was a much needed recovery ride. We did the whole 20 Mile route this time and did it at 13.5 MPH AVG. Which is a great improvement from last week!! Next week will be even better! Dana is doing so good! Eddie is doing awesome also, he has gotten really strong!

Garmin Route

687

Tour de Durbin Crossing NFBC

Just me this morning. This was easily my fastest ride ever. I was running about 21 MPH and max AVG’s about 24 MPH. This was an awesome ride! 43 Miles.

Garmin Route

667

TDC Training Ride Part 2

This was a great ride. Eddie came out and did the 24 Miles option also, he would have done the longer route but he had an appt at the gym. Total ride length was 48.29 miles.

This was a very interesting ride. I saw a rider go down hard, I think her name was Rhonda. She also took my CCW class. She was riding along at the front of the pack pulling and she ran over a pad lock (like a master lock) When her front tire was on front of it she started sliding on it and went down fast to the left. She hit really hard i thought for sure she was hurt bad, but she hopped right up and was perfectly fine! That's it right… WRONG! Right after she went down I ran over something that i assumed was debris from her bike it ended up being the pad lock. It was bouncing around in the road after she hit it and it slammed right into my big chain ring and bent the crap out of it! I was fine for about 20 miles after the impact but, once we wound it up to about 21 MPH the chain started popping off of the ring. It ended up bending it so bad that i had to replace the chain and the big chain ring. Friggin sucks!

Garmin Route

Monday Night Bikes Etc Ride w/ Dana & Part one of TDC Bikes Etc Ride

So I kind of messed up the maps for this one somehow. The Garmin didn't auto reset like it always does. So when we rode Monday night it restarted on Saturday morning when I did the TDC Training ride.

So Monday night was Dana’s first real trip out! She did great! We went 17 miles and she averaged about 13 MPH. It was Me, Dana, Kenny, & Eddie in our group.

The second Lap in this link is the first part of the TDC training ride. Me and Eddie were the only ones that did this ride! If you look at the next Blog entry it has all the stats for the TDC ride.

Garmin Route

Lunch MTB Ride

Just me and Kevin today! We busted out the Mountain Bikes! It felt good to get back out in the dirt! We did a nice 7 Mile ride and found some good spots.

AC Skinner Lunch Ride

The ride today was awesome!!! We got Eddie back out with us!! We stayed together the whole ride which was awesome! It was Jim, Aaron, Kenny, Me, & Eddie. We went down AC Skinner and had a ~16 Mile ride. Only averaged 16MPH but it was fun, Eddie will be up to speed soon and will be hauling butt!!
Garmin Route

558

UNF Lunch Ride

Ride was a little chilly. With some 12-15 MPH winds. It was Jim, Aaron, Kenny, & Me. Took a new route through UNF. I enjoyed the change.
Garmin Route

543

Monday Night Bicycles Etc. Ride

No map or data tonight. I got the pleasure of riding a Tour ready bike!! I rode a 2010 Super Six with a total of about $8K invested in it. It was Mike's bike. The owner of Bicycles Etc. It was everything that I imagined an 8K bike would be! I loved the SRAM Red Shifters. The Carbon Wheels were amazing as well. I also really liked the 46cm bars so I ordered some 46cm Race X-Lite Blade Carbon bars. The ride was awesome! On the way out we just cruised at about 18. We ended up doing one bridge lap and let me tell you that bike can climb! On the way back Joe decided that he wanted to do a TT run. But I couldn’t let him break away alone. So I caught his wheel and 2 others also caught my wheel and 4 of us went all out and averaged 23.2 on the return 10 mile route!! 2 others caught up at the very end so they were hauling!!! And Kevin was right behind them!! It was a great ride!!!!
Kevin & Eddie Joined me.

Monday Night Bicycles Etc. Ride

The first Monday night ride of the New Year. It was a nice ride. We had about 15 people and 2 groups. We did one bridge lap and ended up losing track of a new to town female rider and we thought she got lost down town and it was getting cold and dark fast. We looked for about 20 minutes and me Jim and Kenny headed back while Sean and Joe stayed behind searching. Once we got back to the shop we found her there safe and sound. She had gone straight at the bottom of the bridge instead of turning and headed back to the shop!

Garmin Route

Solo Morning Ride

It was a pretty cold start. Low 50’s. I was nice to get back out and do my morning rides again. I miss them and hope that it will stay warm and I can keep it up.

Garmin Route

Long Lunch Ride

Forgot to start the data recorder right away. It was Jim, Aaron, Kevin, & Me. Kenny isn't riding at all this week. Ride was 12 miles. It was a fast ride with a lot of wind!
Garmin Route

2010 Tour de Cure Lake Nona (Orlando), FL

It was a great ride!!! My first century!! Averaged 18.1 MPH.

2010 Tour de Cure Lake Nona (Orlando), FL

It was high 30's low 40's when we started!! IT WAS COLD!!! It was Neal, Jim, Aaron, Kenny & Me doing the 100 Mile route. Dan, Eddie and Todd did the 30 Mile route!
Garmin Connect -
Activity Details for Long Lunch Ride

469

Long Lunch Ride

Great ride!! Jim, Aaron, Kenny, & Me. Our last training ride before the Orlando TDC our first Century!!
Garmin Route

Long Lunch Ride

Great ride!! Jim, Aaron, Kenny, & Me.
Garmin Route

Villano Beach Loop

So Jim, Aaron, Kenny & Me rode a 43 mile loop leaving from the Gate station on US1. We did a loop from there to Villano Beach and Back up US1. It was a good ride!! The ride on US1 was really cold, at-least 10 degrees cooler. And I bonked really bad i think because of some Advil i took before the ride. I wont take any of that again. We also out ran some motor scooters on the Villano Beach Bridge.
Garmin Route

345

Long Leaf Pine Ride

Had a great ride! Brian, Jim and me. Rode 36 miles and had a lot of fun. It was my first time riding with Brian! He did great!! He is on a weight loss journey of his own. He has lost 50+lbs in just ~2 months! He was able to hold a good average of around 17mph. About 16 on the computer. The weather was awesome! Hope to do a 50 or 60 miles ride tomorrow.
Garmin Route

Lunch Ride

It was a hard ride for some reason! Aaron was Lance-Like and Kenny and me were struggling!!! Weather was nice.
Garmin Route

266

Long Lunch Ride

Just me and Jim Today! Had a good tail wind sometimes and a harsh head wind others!!! I held 34 MPH for about a mile on Southside!! It felt great!! Weather was nice but windy. Had a spill at JTB and Gate Pkwy. because I couldn't unclip fast enough. No real damage just my pride.
Its now Pre-Ride week. Time to start preparing for the big event the Lake Nona Tour De Cure!!! It will be my first century ride and Nemours is a silver level sponsor!
Garmin Route

Tour De Durbin Crossing

So I decided to do this NFBC ride with Neal & Scott R. this morning. I started out bad. I had a flat on the rear tire this morning. It happened at the intersection of Race Track and Bartram. It was a slow leak and i heard it before it went 100% flat. After I got it changed i got to Veterans Memorial Park. I was freezing. I wore my Balaclava and full cold gear. I was still cold. Scott had a flat about 10 miles into the ride and just turned around. I rode with the A+ group most of the ride until i fell back a bit and then me and Neal tried to find Scott. We didn't. By the time i got home i had rode 60 miles!!!
Garmin Route

237

Lunch Ride

Went back to our standard 12 mile route. I was a really nice day today! Just Me, Aaron, & Jim again.
Garmin Route

Short Lunch Ride

So we decided to do the 9 mile route for the first time in forever! It was easily the coldest that i have ever been while riding. So I was freezing. It was Jim, Aaron, & Me. Kenny was being part time this week. My weight is still between 290 & 300. Hopefully with the season getting better I can start dropping it faster.
Garmin Route

Lunch Ride

So today it was Kenny, Aaron Jim & Me. It was a really good ride! Weather as great and we kept our average speed up despite the fact that we had all ridden 4 days this week.
Garmin Route

Lunch Ride

Today was just Jim and me. We had a good ride was a little chilly but made for a good afternoon. I had my first flat!!! Right after we passed JTB on SS the stem came loose from the tube!!! Had co2 and a tube so I was fine though! Garmin Route

Lunch Ride

Just Aaron, Kenny, & me today! We had a rabbit to chase but never caught him!! He was on a TRI bike and was friggin haulin! And to make matters worse he told us he was coming off of an injury! we averaged really well but just didn't have it to hold with him for more than a mile or so!
Garmin Route

Lunch Ride

Ride was 5 of us today!!!!! Kenny, Kevin, Jim, Aaron, & I. It was crazy windy! We had a nice ride! I wish that we had this many riders all the time! My cadence sensor moved again! I need to figure out a way to hold it better!
Garmin Route

Long Lunch Ride

Did the long lunch ride today! I was a long windy trip! but the weather was beautiful!

Garmin Route

108

Lunch Ride

Just me and Kenny today! Averaged 20 MPH!! We were moving! Had a nice ride wish the others would have been there!
Garmin Route

Lunch Ride

So the lunch ride was awesome today!!! It was Kenny, Aaron, Dan!!!, & I. Dan still not feeling up to riding with us took the shorter route and we took the 12 mile route and tried to catch him!!! Yeah that didn't happen??? We pulled in about 2-3 minutes after he did. Still good but not fast enough. We averaged 20.5 MPH but that wasn't enough. It was pretty windy, but we hammered it out! Kevin got a picture of us also!!

Garmin Route

A1A Ride

Wow this was a long ride after such a long break!!! 54.5 miles, averaging 17.5 MPH. I forgot to turn on the "Pause on stopped" setting so it reduced my AVG MPH to 15 on the Garmin, but some easy math fixed that. It was 15-20 MPH sustained winds, with gust to 30 MPH. We were having to work going down the Vilano Beach bridge. It was just Neal and me, and Neal was on his friggin mountain bike! And kept up and pulled a lot of the time also!! He is a beast!

Garmin Route

Lunch Ride

Well it was the first ride back of the new year! It was definitely a rough start. The wind was cooking! but it was nice to be back on the bike. We only did the shorter router. It was Jim, Kenny. Aaron, & I.
Garmin Route

Cycling website up and running...

I now have the cycling website up and running!!

http://cycling.thelug.com

I might change it in the future but we will have to see. I have nemmtb.com but not sure if i want to change it yet.

I haven't been riding recently due to consistent temperatures in the low 20's.

2009 Summary!

1575 Miles on the road bike.
220 Miles on the MTB
~110 LBS

All since April.

My goals for next year are:

225 Lbs.
2500 Miles on the Road Bike
300 miles on the MTB
Ride a Century
Run a Marathon
Plan to do an Iron Man Triathlon

Long Lunch Ride

Garmin Route

Kevin, Kenny, Jim, I rode today. It was a cold, fast, awesome last ride of the year! We were cooking. Averaged over 20 MPH. Heres to more miles and fun next year and a 200 Lbs. guy!

1575

Long Lunch Ride

It was cold day. We had server issues at work so Kevin couldn't go as planned. It was Kenny, Jim, & I. We did alright. The new route was great! It will be my new Lunch Ride!
About 3 miles into the ride the battery on my Garmin died because I hadn't charged it since the last ride and I played with it when I got my new shoes on Christmas day. So there is no route for today.


Garmin Route

Graham Swamp

So Neal, Kevin, and I went to Graham Swamp this morning! It was a beautiful day! The swamp was not that wet and it made for some good riding. I busted pretty hard on the medium jump at the beginning because I thought that I could ride through the branches of a bush. Think again. I was ok just a little sore. Kevin on the other hand. Busted really hard clipped in on the drop off in the mud area. This is the same place i busted. He ran his knee into the fork and cut his knee open pretty bad. But he was ok. We met up in the woods with some guy that was smoking a cigar while riding, I have no idea how he does it. I had to stay up wind it was killing me. After the first full loop Neal & I wanted to do it a few more times but Kevin was done. So we left. All in all it was a nice ride, just wish that it would have lasted longer.

Lunch Ride with the wind!

Garmin Route

1540

Lunch Ride

Garmin Route

1528

Lunch Ride

Garmin Route

1516

This Weekend…

There was no riding this weekend. It rained ALL day Saturday & Sunday I went to the gym and spent the day with Dana. Hopefully the week has some decent weather, I would really like to get in some decent miles this week!

Lunch Ride 4

Today was Jim, Aaron, Kenny, & I. We had a fast ride! It was freezing again! In the 50's. We wore our arm warmers and I should have worn my leg warmers it was so cold. That is now 4 days in a row for lunch rides and I also rode the trainer on Sunday and worked out at the gym on Wednesday. It has been a good week!

Garmin Route

1504

Lunch Ride Kenny, Wind, & I.

Today was just me Kenny and the wind!! Man it was rough! I had to drop in my small chain ring for a bit it was so bad! We were cruising at 24-26 for a while, and even hit 31 on Southside, but back on Baymeadows it was rough!

Garmin Route

1492

296 Lbs.

Lunch Ride, Captain Blowout gets a friend...

Today's ride was awesome! Kenny, Jim, Aaron, & I rode and wore it out. We hit a max of 30MPH on flat land and even in the heavy wind we averaged 20.5 MPH. On the final stretch on Southside Jim hit something and got a flat. So Kevin finally has a fellow member to the Captain Blowout group. Kenny is a beast! He is getting really strong.

Garmin Route

1480

Lunch Ride Freezing!

Ride was freezing cold and windy as it could be! I didn't bring my arm or leg warmers so I was really cold. It was just Kenny, Jim, & I. The wind was hitting hard, our average speed hurt because of it. It was only about 19 MPH. But it was a good ride.

Garmin Route

Pensacola 8 Mile Loop

So I finally got to ride while here in Pensacola. It was getting dark and a little cold but it was a great ride. Having not ridden in a week I felt like super man! The hills are awesome here. I tried to do a 12 mile loop but I guess that I turned one road early and it was only a 8 mile loop. Debris was a issue here, I guess that the street sweepers aren't as good as other places, I'm not sure. Wish I could have ridden more but I had a good time while I was here but am looking forward to getting back home to Dana.

Garmin Route

1456

No rides...

Well this is the longest I have gone without riding in a long time. 6 days now. I hope to ride in the morning. The weather is getting cold and, thanksgiving, and I had to travel for work to Pensacola, which is where I am now. I hope to ride in the morning with a local group. It will be about a 30 miles ride I have been told. I also would like to do a 12 mile loop I found here during lunch. If the weather holds I may do that Wednesday.

Lunch Ride

Today it was Aaron, Kenny, Kevin, & I. We had a fast ride. Loved it! Weather is awesome!

Garmin Route

1448

Micklers Landing w/ Kenny & Jim

The ride started out very early. 6am at my house Kenny met me and we rode out to Jim's. The weather held out nice and the temps were great! We made it all the way back to 2209 before the weather started looking bad. It sprinkled the last 3 miles of the ride and thats about it. Kenny held the pace on his new bike and pulled plenty! It was an awesome 44 mile ride.

Garmin Route

11/22/09 Micklers Landing Ride

1436

Lunch Ride

Today Kevin was back on Moto, so it was Kenny, Jim, Kevin and I. Kevin had no incident this time and again we had a fast ride. It was the 3rd day in a row so it was a rough ride for me strength wise, the wind was kinda strong.

Garmin Route

Lunch Ride

Was a good ride! Kevin punked out this time, and Aaron was out. It was just Kenny, Jim, & I. We had a good fast ride.

Garmin Route

Lunch Captain Blow Out Returns...

So we had a good group today! Kenny, Kevin (Captain Blow Out), Aaron, Jim, & I. We did the long lunch loop. We were really cooking and would have had a banner new record with Kevin even being on his mountain bike with knobby tires but Captain Blow Out struck again! He decided to be cute and hop a curb. He didn't quite make it and pinch flatted the rear tire. But other than that it was a super fast ride and the weather was awesome. I hit 32 MPH chasing Jim on the Southside stretch.

Garmin Route


1368

Horrible Hundred 2009...

So yeah wow!!! It was definitely horrible!!! Wow it was easily the hardest ride to date! The route was very nice and the views were beautiful. But the course was very poorly marked! Jim missed a turn and we all missed the last rest stop. There were other occasions that if we weren't with a bunch of others we would have not known where to go! It ended up being ~ 73 miles. I achieved my goal of not walking up any of the hills! And we all finished the 70 mile route! Next year is the century for me. I am not doing any short rides any more, I need to move up! The worse part about the whole thing was missing the last rest stop!! That was Horrible! I got very dehydrated, and started feeling funny. Other than that it was a great ride!

Garmin Route


Google Route

Morning Ride Late, Windy, Nasty, Freezing...

Wow this morning sucked!!! It was cold as all get out! I left 15 minutes late so i had to haul tail. The wind was out of control!! It was misting for a little while. Just horrible. Just like last night if it wasn't for the Horrible Hundred i would not have ridden. I met Jim a little north of his house, he left and we met about a mile short of the entrance to his place. It was easily the coldest & windiest it has been when i have ridden.

Garmin Route


Put my new tires on last night! I got the Michelin Pro 3's. I love them. They look great! I just hope that they will last longer than the Bontrager Race X Lites. They were a little smaller and harder to get on but i like them!

1283 Miles
299 Lbs.

Bridges 3.0 in rain...

It was a full house tonight!!! I did another all time best of 8 laps (16 climbs), about 12 miles. It was Jim, Kevin O', Neal, Mary (one of Neal's friends), & I. It was nasty!!!!! Raining, windy, cold. It was just plain nasty. Traffic was heavy. Pretty much if the Horrible Hundred wasn't Sunday i wouldn't have ridden!

Garmin Route

Bridges 2.0...

Bridges today were awesome! Me and Jim went out! I did my most laps ever of 7!! The weather was supposed to be bad but it ended up being super nice. I didn't need any cold gear! I had some issues with the VCD again. I will potentially look into it more before the first of the year. Did about 12 miles and will hopefully do it again this week!

Garmin Route


So i spoke to Dr. Schrum at the clinic today. He is one of the allergy and asthma doctors. He said that i described to him exactly the symptoms of "VCD - Vocal Cord Dysfunction". He said it is where the vocal cords contract instead of expand when exerting yourself. He told me that if i wanted to seek treatment that i would need to see a Speech Pathologist?? We will see i suppose. Until then i will just control my breathing.

Bridge attack...

So this was a good first trip back to the Nocatee Bridge. Unfortunatly the GPS turned off some how so i didnt get a full map but i did 6 laps (12 climbs) and about 11 miles. It was Neal, Scott R., & I. It was a little chilly but the weather held out and was nice.

I did have one problem though. I had a strange breathing problem. It kind of felt like what some people describe what asthma would feel like. I have never had asthma nor has anyone in my immediate family. It was like a tightening sensation around my throat, and it almost burned to breathe really really hard and deep. I found that if i closed my mouth half way that it limited the amount of air i took in and the discomfort lifted some. After the ride i felt a little hoarse and sore, and that lasted really until the next morning. It was a tad cold and when i say hard breathing i mean i was 100% max effort and climbing a bridge.

The Return of Kevin...

Garmin Route


So Kevin and I met Jim at the rear of his complex and rode in. It was cold! Temps were in the low 50's. So we all had our leg warmers and long sleeve jerseys on! They worked really well. My feet were still cold so i think that there might be a circulation issue, or maybe my shoes are too tight. But all in all it was a good ride. We saw a really neat front coming in.

Time Change Mickler Ride...

Garmin Route


So the ride this morning was awesome! Since the time changed when I left at 6am it was starting to get bright already and by the time I got to Jim's it was light out! It was great weather a tad chilly at times but warm enough to not be cold. The ride went really good it was the first long ride with the Garmin and it worked awesome! The battery was plenty powerful and the GPS was spot on the entire time. There was a little confusion in the GPS because when we got to Mickler's Landing we walked our bikes to the beach so the GPS has me tracked really slow, so it messed up my averages but that’s no biggie! I love the graphs this thing puts out! All in all I rode 45+ miles and felt awesome! My butt was a little so because I rode the MTB yesterday and hadn't in a while so the bigger seat made me a tad sore. I am also sure it didn't help that me and Dana stayed out until 1am at Angie's place for Halloween but I had a great time! We went in costume for the first time together! I was a whoopee cushion and she was a Brick house. I even bought a fart machine! It was great!

1202 Miles

Sand Spur Fun...

So went riding in the Julington Durbin Preserve. That is the place where I was attacked by Killer Bees last time I was in there. So I took a different route! Well this route was far better as far as sand and Killer Bees go. I had a really good time! I saw turkey, armadillos, squirrels & snakes. It was a nice warm ride. Went about 10 miles total and when I got back home I went to the pool and jumped right in with my bike shorts on and did a few laps. Man was that refreshing! But when I got out I noticed that my rear tire was a little flat and the front was pretty low. Then I looked and had about a 100 sand spurs in each tire. By the time I got to my front door they were both flat! At least it wasn't when I was deep in the woods. So when I got the tires off the tubes I had about 7 holes in each tube! So then I had to get needle nose pliers and pull each thorn out of my tire one by one!! Man was that fun! But it was good to get back on the mountain bike!

Solo Foggy Work Ride...

Garmin Route


Ride this morning was very very foggy and muggy. Not what you would expect at almost November!! I rode alone this morning and it was a good ride just wet and nasty after riding through the fog for an hour.

Mornin Ride From Jim's House...

Garmin Route


Met Jim at the back of his complex. Roads were nasty wet from the rain over night. The bikes got really dirty and we got pretty wet as well from road splash. We were a little slower than normal because we had to keep it slow in the turns and merges due to the wet roads. Still a good ride though!

Dark solo morning work ride...

Garmin Route


This morning was a little dark and a little cold. It was almost to cold but warm enough that i didnt have to wear cold weather clothes. Went fast I used the Garmin for the first time in the dark and it was awesome in the dark! I now have a attack time and my new route is 52 minutes. I called the city about the debris and sand on Phillips Hwy in front of the VW dealership. They were out there to clean it up in less than an Hour!!! I was like huh?? Really? I didn't think it would actually get cleaned up i was just calling to complain!

Long Lunch Ride 2.0

Garmin Route


So today we (Jim, Kenny, & I)rode the same route as yesterday and because of my cool new Cycle Computer I can compare all the info. It is sweet!! We went harder and faster today and kept my heart rate lower!!! 12 miles total Avg MPH of 19.8mph!

Long Lunch Loop.. w/ Garmin in tow :)

So here is the link to my Garmin route page.
Garmin Route

The new computer was awesome! The features are great and the computer functions on the PC are amazing. We did a 12 mile Long Lunch Loop. Averaged 18.7 MPH and I can graph everything. The only down fall i see is that i don't have a built in Odometer.

Morning solo ride...

So rode to work this morning, it was a good ride, fast and to the point. It is still really dark and it was really cold 55! I wore nylon jump pants, and a wind breaker but i was still freezing. Ride was 16.5 miles. My new Garmin computer should be here today !!! I cant wait!

Green Cove Springs...

Was a good long windy cold ride! I rode to Jim's house early and we left there for the Shands Bridge area. It was frigging cold. It was so cold I couldn't feel my toes any more. From Jim's house we went all the way down Long Leaf Pine, which dumps me right next to 13. That’s where I left Jim, (he was scared ;) he had plans). So then I had to use the bathroom emergency like :). So my options were pretty limited out in the sticks. So just by chance at the corner was a Chevron!!! Thank heavens. Well now being alone and pretty far from home, at least 20 miles, I decided that I would stand at the threshold of the door and ask if there was a bathroom I could use, I had my bike at my side then with the front wheel about half way in the store :), she said yes and pointed to the back. So me, refusing to leave my bike unattended rolled my bike right in the store and in the bathroom with me :) half way to the bathroom the lady spouted something off along the line of sir...ummm...we ummm... normally don’t let bikes in the store. But I just kept walking since she wasn't very loud spoken and just wheeled it right in with me. So then I was off alone to tackle the dreaded, scary, horrible Shands Bridge. Well it wasn't great but it wasn't that bad either, it was 8:30 ish when I rode it and only 9 cars passed me while riding it. A normal bike lane is 4', and this shoulder / bike lane was only about 2'. So it was small and there was a decent amount of trash and debris but it wasn't all that bad, the grading section was only like 40' and the crest was pretty good as well. The Clay County half of the ride was long, windy, cold, & full of hills. I liked the hills but man throwing in the wind made it terrible. I loved the country roads and morning sun. It took about 2 hours to get to Brian’s house and the ride was right at 40 miles. It was awesome to see Brian, Jessica, & Dillon. I hadn’t seen them in a while and need to do this more often. We ate at O'Charleys on the way to my house, which they gladly took me!! Food was good there I had never eaten there before. I wish Dana could have met us there but it was all the way in Fleming Island and we had a Baby Shower to go to.

Even before the Dr.

Had my Doctors appt with Dr. Romero today. Weighed in at 303lbs. BP was 130/79 and my pulse was 48. Things are getting a lot better. Rode 10 miles this morning, just did the Bartram loop and rode to the ST. Augustine / I-95 overpass and did a loop there. It was a good fast ride. Went home to jump in the pool before my Dr. Appt. and the dang pool was closed i was pissed!!!

Morning Ride...

Met up with Jim @ 6:30 at the back of his complex. I went a little further because he said by accident that it would be until 6:45 but he just was delirious. So the ride went on as planned until his protein shake got ran over by a truck :) that was hilarious! Then we were going down the fast stretch of Southside between Baymeadows and Deerwood Park and we hit 29.2 MPH it was amazing!! Ride was 26 miles for me.

First, Last Monday night Bikes Etc. Ride of the year...

So the ride went really well. Eddie, Kenny, & I went and man did Eddie do great! It was easily his fastest ride to date. He averaged around 18 MPH, and he has only been riding about a month! We went 32 Miles!! We left Eddie's house and rode to Bikes Etc. the ride was good we went down San Jose to the Acosta Bridge, Kenny didn't know that part and didn't like that he wasn't warned ;). He was on the Mountain Bike and did awesome as well.
The new wheels are awesome! They spin up so much faster and my average speeds are higher! I am thoroughly pleased!

New setup...

This afternoon Dana and I went up to Bikes Etc. to pick up my bike. I finally got my replacement rear wheel in which was upgraded from a Race to a Race Lite!! I also upgraded the front wheel to match! I upgraded my saddle to a Race X-Lite due to bending issues, and I love the New SRAM Rival Compact crank. Dana was looking at a 48cm Cannondale but she couldn’t make up her mind. We think we need to do some more testing before we know if she is really going to like road riding. I need to take her out so we can let her get the feel of a ride not just a parking lot test. I am at 950 miles so far and I am down to 307 on the home scale!! My doctors Appt. is Friday and would love to be at 299lbs!!!!! We will see!

Just Lunch even faster...

So this afternoon Jim, Kenny, & I did the lunch loop again which was day 2 for me and day 3 for Kenny! We again tried to beat our previous day and we did. Kenny was on the mountain bike again and we made it in 28 minutes. We could have gone a tad faster but we didn’t want to drop Kenny. He is a beast on the mountain bike! It was hot again @ 100°!! I think that I will take the weekend off and relax. I am planning on riding the Monday night Bikes Etc. ride with Kenny and Eddie.

Lonely Morning & Fast Lunch...

This morning I rode to work and did the short Bartram loop and then to work solo. I went hard and fast. It was dark almost the entire time and the weather was pretty muggy. At lunch Kenny and I rode the lunch loop and tried to break the 30 minute record. We did the loop in 29 minutes and he was on his mountain bike!! It was smoking hot; the temp on my computer was 102°!! So that was about 30 miles for today. Was the first time riding since the MS and I felt great!

MS-150 2009

So we rode the MS-150 and finished it, but not without hiccups! 7 miles into the ride on day one my crank arm decided that it didn’t want to be attached to my bike anymore and stayed on my shoe. I lost out on 19 miles of the ride catching SAG vehicles to the first and second rest stop trying to find a new crank bolt; the old one was stripped completely smooth!! After that we got on the way again. Eddie rode 30 miles and then left so that was his longest ride to date (He has only been riding 1.5 weeks)!! All the rest stops were awesome! Lunch was awesome; we had Firehouse Subs, Myoplex protein shakes, vitamin water, fruit, etc. The end of day one was amazing!! The feeling is unreal! Aaron fell at the finish line that we missed :), sorry Aaron.
Day 2 was far less problematic. Kenny & Eddie didn’t ride, but Jim, Aaron, Kevin, & I all rode with Neal. We rode together for about 3/4 of the day and then Kevin got a flat (Surprise!!!) We then lost Neal. Jim fell at one of the rest stops in the middle of the road. Today was only 65 miles, and day one was 86 miles. No lunch stop today but plenty of food. The finish line was amazing in St. Augustine!!! So many people! Dana was there with Kenny's wife and Aaron's wife, taking video and pictures. Bubba burger was there serving burgers, free beer, sides, and cokes, anything you can imagine! Kenny decided that he didn’t want to be completely left out on Sunday so he rode 2 miles from the finish and met us and rode the last 2 miles with us to the end so he got in the pictures!

Here are the links to the routes.
Day 1 Google Route
Day 2 Google Route

I ended up riding:
133 Miles
17.5 MPH AVG
33 MPH Max
7 Hours & 40 Minutes

Last ride before the MS 150...

So this morning Jim and I rode to work. It was cold as crap this morning! It was 60° this morning and by the time I got to work I couldn’t feel my toes and my hands were numb. I wore my normal shorts and jersey but had an Under Armor long sleeve gear shirt on under it. I will definitely need some warm clothes for the winter. The ride was our normal 24 mile ride from the back of Jims house and we went at a really fast pace today. Averaging 19 MPH total. But we had a 1.5 mile sprint from Baymeadows and Southside to Deerwood Park. We averaged 26 MPH for that 1.5 Mile stretch!!!! It was insane! Ate pasta for lunch the carbing has begun!!!

Evening ride with Neal...

Man it was crazy!! I rode the first half alone and then the second half was with Neal. We rode down Long Leaf Pine. Half of that road is closed, so it is really nice having 4 lanes to ride on! I averaged about 19-20 mph by myself. With Neal we averaged 22.5 mph. It was crazy! So that makes 50 miles for today since I rode 24 this morning and 26 and change tonight!

Morning Ride...

This morning I met Jim at the back of his house and we rode to work. Google Route Rode a total of 24 miles this morning. We went hard and fast, averaging about 19 mph. Tonight I will do a ride with Neal and try and burn myself out doing 32 miles.
We are all registered and ready to go with the MS150. I donated some of my donations to Kenny and Kevin were pretty close to $450 and we all 3 got the MS 150 Jerseys! Total we raised over $2000 total so far and it is still growing! Tomorrow night I plan on doings the bridges with Neal, then riding to work Thursday morning and taking the rest of the week to rest until Saturday morning.

Mickler's Landing and back...

So today Kevin, Jim, & I rode to Mickler's Landing and back. I rode from home and then back home, right at 50 miles! It was a good fast ride! I had no soreness or fatigue issues, and could have gone on longer.
Eddie got a Trek 1000 and has put some money into it and it is a really nice bike now!!! It looks sharp! Aaron bought a 2010 Trek 2.1 and it is also beautiful!

Ride 3 Wilmington...

Ride was good but a little short. It was late when I got started. Rode mostly alone tonight and did some exploring. Found some nasty plants called Stinging Nettle's, they are nuts!!! The instant that you touch them it is an instant burning sensation. It isn’t crazy strong just very fast and a little irritating. Got some more beautiful pictures! Will post them up soon!!
I returned the bike today. Bike Line, in Wilmington was awesome!! Everything from repairing the defective shock to taking care of a credit card problem!! I was very pleased and will without a doubt return for future business and will send future business.

Ride 2 Wilmington & 5 new rules for riding...

1. Be out of the woods be 6:45pm, Mother Nature hates all cyclist and wants us to get lost in the woods and die... in the dark!
2. A stream / creek (or "crik" as people from up here say) that flows down a mountain, on the last day of summer, regardless of how refreshing, clean, and nice it looks is freezing, even if your foot is only in it for 2 seconds!
3. Camelbacks are a necessity not a luxury!
4. Full suspension bikes work better when both shocks hold air!
5. That brownish / black colored mass in the center of the trail, no matter how it looks, because trust me it looks like a rock, or dirt etc, is really horse crap and shouldn't be ridden through under any circumstances!!!

10 miles, fast and short. Dont know if I will ride tomorrow, tired and it might rain.


That is all for now!! Off to the shower I go!

Ride 1 Wilmington...

Well all I can say is this sure isn’t Florida!!! This place is amazing!!! The views, creeks, hills, are all insane!!! There is some wicked stuff here. I rode about 3-4 hours and about 15 miles. I ran into a fellow rider on the trails who took me around some of the easy trails, then later on the way back to the hotel I ran into 2 more riders that took me on some hard core technical stuff that was out of control! I plan on going tonight also. I rented a Gary Fisher HI-FI Deluxe 29er from Bike Line here in Wilmington. They replaced the rear shock this morning because it wasn’t holding air. So it should be good tonight. I had to pump it up about every 2o minutes last night. I took some great pictures that I will post later on, with some maps! I will say this is the first time that I have been away from home that I was thinking that I would rather live here than in Florida!

Morning ride with Jim & Kevin, minus Kevin!

So this morning Kevin, Jim, & I were supposed to ride to work. I left a 5:45am so I could get to Kevin's house before he left so I could ride with him to Jim's house so I could get a longer ride in. Well about half way there I get an email telling me that he isn’t going to make it because a server is down. So I am glad I took my phone and looked to see what the message was just in case. So I got to Jim's house about 15 minutes early but that wasn’t a big deal. I went a little further than normal.
Google Route It was a fast ride we rode about 18-19 MPH AVG, from Jim's. To Jim's house I averaged about 16 MPH, total was 26.5 Miles
Lunch time me and Kenny rode our normal lunch ride
Google Route We averaged 18 MPH and went to the bank twice, once through the drive through. That’s 9.1 Miles.
So that’s about 35.5 miles today.
The MS150 is a GO!!! Nemours donated $1000 in our name so we can ride as the "Nemours Cycling Team"!! I am stoked!
Tonight Dana & I are going to the Comedy Zone to see David Allen Grier, should be a good time. We are getting ready to celebrate 2 years!!! I love her so much!

Morning ride...Or not...

So this morning I got up, got dressed, got on the bike and off I went! I got All the way to Racetrack RD and the Cemetery and boom the rain hit with fury! So I turn around and start riding back and it stops raining. So I’m thinking that I was at the edge of the storm and would just have a short 18 mile work ride. Nope about half way home it starts raining again. So I pull into the house on my way back by to get a plastic bag and it starts raining even harder! So I figure I am going to not see Dana much next week so I will just bring he bike in and go back to bed to spend some extra time with her. I rode 7.1 miles though and went the Gym at lunch time, so all is good!

2009 Endless Summer Watermelon Ride

Google Route
This was a long hard ride. Kenny, Kevin, Jim, Aaron, & I ALL completed this ride with awesome time! We averaged 18.3 MPH and had top speeds over 30 MPH, completing the ride in around 3 Hours & 40 Minutes, including 3 rest stops. It was a great experience! It was full of rain and rain and rain!! It was a torrential down pour for 3/4 of the ride. Then the sun came out and it was nice. All the rest stops were well stocked and the people were awesome! There were over 600 people preregistered! We had some crashes, bumps and bruises but it was an exciting first major group ride!
Next up is the MS 150. I am working on getting details lined up for registration and hope we will get it going soon!
Had a great weekend with Dana and was just plum wore out Sunday after the ride but luckily she understood, she rocks :)!

PCB Part 3

This morning I rode:
38.5 Miles
16 MPH AVG
36MPH Max
2 Hours 15 Min
Here is the GPS Map and Picture
Motion X iPhone GPS Map
Ride GPS Pic
Left a little late this morning, but I would have left later except Dana kindly reminded me with a kick every time I hit the snooze button. I rode the route in reverse of what I have been riding because I wanted to hit the bridge first thing so I could destroy it. It wasn’t as big as I thought and was hoping for more actually. I then had some chain problems and stopped at a Harley and RV repair shop and bummed some chain lube to un-bind one of the links. They were awesome and didn’t charge me anything. I then rode hard and averaged 18.5 MPH until my 21 mile break where is started heading East and the wind was kicking my butt so I only averaged about 14 on the way back. The weather was great and the beach views were nice as always.
Daniel will be having his baby today!! And I am the uncle! I can’t wait to get back into town to see Baby Luke! Dana is finally better and I am looking forward to having a nice day with her.

PCB Part 2

This morning I rode:
34.5 Miles
17.2 MPH AVG
23MPH Max
2 Hours
Here is the GPS Map and Picture
Motion X iPhone GPS Map
Ride GPS Pic
It was a good ride this morning. I could have ridden much further. I was feeling great! I was strong and composed. The weather was great and it didn’t get too hot, at the end of the ride it was only ~91°.
I finished Lance's book and it was a very inspiring story and I recommend it to everyone! Yesterday Dana & I rode about 9 miles together! I loved it. It was the first time we had ridden together in a while. I hope that she sticks to it and starts riding with me. If she does I would like to buy her a road bike. So for the rest of the week I hope that I can get up to about 50-60 miles.

PCB Part 1

So went for the first ride here in PCB. It was nice out this morning and I rode 20.5 miles. It was a fast hard ride one way and a grueling head wind ride home. I plan on doing 4 more rides this week skipping tomorrow and Friday. I am going to go up 10 miles per ride so I hope to be at 60 miles on Thursday so I can be ready for 68 on Sunday in the watermelon ride.
Motion X iPhone GPS Map
Ride GPS Pic
Went by one of the local bike shops here to look at maybe getting another tire... but I think that I will wait. I got some well needed rest and started reading, Lance Armstrong’s book; It’s Not About the Bike. It is a very good read so far.

Solo fast ride! Vacation starts today!

So this morning I rode the 16.5 Mile Bartram loop.
Google Route
I went fast and hard!!
16.5 Miles
18 MPH AVG
28 MPH Max
The weather was nice and the sky was beautiful! I rode with the new pedals, and the new helmet! The pedals are awesome I think that made one of the biggest differences. I got the Shimano A520 Road Pedals!! The helmet is a Giro Saros Red/White Helmet, it is super comfortable, and matches the bike! I ordered some new black side paneled Nemours riding team shorts today and a few more jerseys. So they should be here by the MS 150.
Vacation starts today! We leave at 2pm for Panama City Beach, all we have to do is go home, pack, and don’t come back until next Friday!

Long DARK ride

Rode this morning and met Jim at the back of his sub division. It was a beautiful morning. The moon and and the stars were still bright and the sun barely came up before we got to work!! It was DARK!!!!! Its about to start changing and not be bright early :(. I hate that time of year!
Rode 24 Miles
17 MPH AVG
28.6 MPH Max
1 Hour & 25 Minutes
When we pulled up to the office, we turned around and there was Aaron on his mountain bike in his Nemours Jersey! That was awesome!



Google Route
iPhone GPS Upload via Motion X

Donovan's Summer Picnic Ride

So the ride was awesome! We went through historic ST. Augustine, the ocean, the marshes, and over the intracoastal 6 times! We rode a total of:
43.5 Miles
16 MPH AVG
2 Hours & 45 Minutes
Max MPH 37.6
It was a strong ride for me. I started the ride with the B/C group and rode that for about 18 miles, but it was entirely to slow for me. Then the A group with Neal & the 2 Scotts caught up. I rode with the A group for about 10 miles and then got dropped. After that I finished the ride pretty much solo. I struggled petty hard at the end. I ran out of food and water and it was ~98°.I will post a map later!

Graham Swamp and Lunch!!

Well Yesterday was a double whammy! I rode 10 miles on the rode on Kevin’s mountain bike with Jim, Kenny, & Aaron. Kevin punked out because he was sore :( anyway... Jim rode his mountain bike for the first time and did amazing, he loved it. Then last night Neal, Scott, & I went to Graham swamp. Rode the 7 mile loop well into darkness. There was some rain and boy was it muggy! We went fast and hard. I was pushed to my limit because of the lunch ride and their stamina!!
Ride GPS Map

Ride in with Kevin...

Rode this morning to work. Woke up late and didn't ride as far as i wanted but I went to Long Leaf pine, where i met Kevin and then we rode back to work.
22.3 Miles
26.5 MPH Max
17 MPH AVG
1 Hour 18 Minutes
Google Route
Hopefully tomorrow I will be going to Graham Swamp after work, and potentially riding to work again tomorrow.

Nemours Team is now REAL!!

So yesterday I rode to work in the new jerseys and shorts that came in on Thursday! They are amazing! V-Gear did an awesome job!! I rode in at 22 miles solo Google Route. At lunch I rode 10 miles with Jim Ride GPS Map. So that was 32 miles for yesterday.
This weekend me and Dana went to Disney and just went to the Hotel and had a great time just laying around.
Jim got a new bike this weekend and I can’t wait to get out and see how Jim does on the new bike. I think he is going to be a beast!

Beautiful Morning! Beautiful Moon!

Rode this morning and met Jim at the back of his sub division. It was a beautiful morning. The moon and and the stars were still bright and the morning dew was calming! I really enjoyed it!
Rode 24 Miles
16.5 MPH AVG
26 MPH Max
1 Hour & 15 Minutes.

Updated the Odometer reading so it reads all the miles I have put on the bike since I started riding again.

Google Route

Solo 22 Mile Work Ride

Rode in this morning solo. Went to Long Leaf pine and then back to work.
22.3 Miles
26.2 MPH Max
17 MPH AVG
1 Hour 18 Minutes
Google Route
Went to Espeto Brazilian Steakhouse tonight with Dana. It was amazing! Working at Shooters in the morning. Then a nice weekend! Scale still at 313lbs.

First fall of the year!

Went to Graham Swamp last night with Neal, Kevin, Kenny, Jim & Aaron. Had a blast! We did the full loop which I rode 7.1 miles. Went over the bars when some sticky mud caught the front tire about 1/4 of the way up! No pain just really muddy! This was the first time that I have done the entire loop and it was awesome! I will always finish now! The end is much faster and a lot of fun! Kevin had another flat that make about 12!! I took the Remedy to the shop for the 100 mile tune up, so that will be a few days, and I weighed it while I was there and it weighs 30.7lbs!
I updated the blog template some and I like it a lot better! I am still working on it so we will see where it goes from here!

16.5 Mile into work

Rode to work solo this morning.

16.5 Miles
25.4 MPH Max
17 MPH AVG
58 Minutes
186 Odometer

Nice ride, very cool, rode a nice 4 miles @ 24 mph, and was hurting pretty bad still from the 54 Mile ride.
I made some google maps routes that I will figure out how to share later. Headding to Graham Swamp tomorrow with a large group!
Google Route

And then there was 54!!

So this morning I got up and met Jim at his house at 6:15am. We then proceeded to ride to Neal's house and ride to the beach. That’s about 16.5 miles one way. Once we got there Jim turned around and went back because he had to go to his kid’s soccer game. I rode with Neal down A1A to St. Augustine and then up US1 back to 210. Total round trip was 54 miles. That is my farthest ride to date!!! Neal was a big inspiration!
Here is the route and stats GPS punked out about half way through. The odometer is now at 170.
Ride Map

Solo 30 mile ride this morning!

This morning Kevin didn’t make the ride because of extenuating circumstances that I will not get into ;)!! But I rode 30 miles solo! It was a good ride with a new route. I am not sure I will go that way again for now due to some construction and lack of bike lanes but we’ll see. The stats were:
30.1 Miles
17.3 MPH AVG
27.5 MPH Max
1 Hour 45 Minutes
Odometer is now @ 115 miles

Scale this morning post ride said 313lbs.

I didn't get to ride the bridges on Tuesday due to weather. And tonight at Hanna Park doesn’t look promising either but we will see!
GPS Maps of the ride are below!
Ride GPS Map
Google GPS Map

Beautiful morning on the road bike!

This morning I rode out to the back entrance to Jim's neighborhood and met him there, that’s almost to 2209 about a 5 mile trip from my house. So i added 10 miles on the ride to work.
Stats:
24 miles
16.5 MPH AVG
25.4 MPH Max
1 hour & 26 minutes
I am now at 85 Miles on the odometer, since the new tires on 7/20/09, thats 42 miles per week average!!! I wanna get that higher though!!.
The scale this morning after the ride said 316 lbs!! That's 84 lbs. now.
Jim did really well he kept up the whole time and didn’t hold me back too much! Tonight I am going to do the bridges with Neal in Nocatee. That should be another 20 miles.
Had a great weekend with Dana we sat around and did nothing but spend some really good quality time together. It was awesome! We got the house and animals all clean and looking good.
GPS Maps of the ride are below!
Ride GPS Map
Google GPS Map