For Those Who Haven't Friended Us on Facebook...

Admittedly, I've gotten lazy.  Type a few sentences on Facebook, maybe add a photo and then hit "post".  Like the Ronco ads might say; "Set it and forget it!"  But, in fairness for the folks who aren't on my Facebook list, here's a little vacation update just for you.



Our daily route.

 We're in north San Diego county, staying with a friend in Escondido.  We have been riding our tandem almost every day, following the same loop to Oceanside, Carlsbad and then back to Escondido.  51.5 miles... daily.  The route we keep repeating involves a loop, which we ride in a counter-clockwise direction. 

Some parts have a bike lane, some don't.  There's a little bit of road construction going on in one part of the outbound segment, and we find ourselves riding a little portion on the sidewalk because there's no room in the road for us AND a car at the same time.  It's only about half a mile of major inconvenience, and I'd rather stay alive than argue over space in the lane... or the morgue.

The last eight and one-half miles of the ride before we hit the coast is on a dedicated bike path: no vehicles, only bikes and pedestrians.  The downside of this little corridor of safety is that the wind blows directly into our faces for the whole way... and it's always brisk.  It's hard to make good time in this portion of the ride, but it's nice having the wind at our back on the return portion of the ride.



Next to the Pacific in Carlsbad, CA

 One day we rode from Escondido to Chula Vista, where we stayed with a friend for the night, and then goofed off the next day in Coronado, CA.  We racked up 70 miles on that little excursion.

My favorite photo of the trip is a picture of us (Idaho residents), wearing our Florida PANTHERS club jerseys while standing next to the Pacific ocean.  Conflicted?  Perhaps.  Enjoying the ride?  Absolutely!

Back in Boise...

We got home before 2:00 AM and slept in until 7:30 or so.  I'm now in Eagle, ID getting our snow tires swapped out on the VW; Valerie will be here soon with the Corolla for the same purpose.

It's almost 11:30 here, and 35 degrees!  A big difference from being in Tampa yesterday at this same time amd enjoying near 80 degree weather.  It was trying to snow in Denver last night as we were flying out; they had to run the plane through the de-icer before we could leave.

We'll now shut down this blog until the next time we leave town again... good health to you all!

Tuesday at TPA...

It’s 3:05 PM, Tuesday afternoon. We’re at the Tampa International Airport; Valerie is walking around getting what exercise she can, and I’m sitting here at a table with the computer, “making the magic happen”. Our flight leaves in an hour and fifteen minutes, and this trip officially comes to a close.

We spent the morning computer shopping with my father-in-law. His computer is reaching the end of its life and he needs something that will actually work when you want it to… and I wish that I had known he was going to be needing to upgrade, because I would have loved to have spent a day transferring files and settings to the new toy, and then teaching him how to use it. Mundane, perhaps, but I kinda like mundane for some applications. As it is, he’ll have to have the store where he’s buying it do the “idiot work”, and unlike me – they charge for the service. Give me an iced tea every now and then and I’m happy as a clam!

After that we stopped at the International Mall where Valerie did a little browsing, and picked up a few things at a couple of stores that they don’t have in Boise. I looked in the Apple Store, something they finally did get in Boise.

So now we sit in the airport, waiting for the flight which is supposedly on-time. We’ll see how well things go once we get to Denver and have to wait a couple of hours for our connecting flight!

Monday Morning; Rain-Out

Here we are, looking out of the garage at the rain ruining any chance of our Monday morning ride.  Not you much earlier we had received a call from the local ringleader, stating that "Heaven had spoken" and today's ride was cancelled due to weather.

So the bike is mounted on the car, the bags are packed and we're waiting for the last laundry load in the dryer to finish and we'll slosh our way south on I-75 back to Tampa.

Sunday's Ride...

It was cold this morning when we left home to pedal to the starting point: 51 degrees and breezy.  Jackets and tights were a must for the beginning of the ride, although by the end I had shed the jacket and was seriously considering to lose the tights as well.

We opted for the longer of the two routes this morning, a route that always seemed to have a sharp wind blowing at us and plenty of rolling hills to get the leg muscles by the end of the ride.  Whoever said that Florida was flat has never gone bike riding east of The Villages.

By the time we had finished the ride and were safely back home we had a total of 50 miles pedalled.  I might add that the flags were sticking straight out from their poles; that's how brisk the wind has been ALL day!

Valerie wasn't hungry but I was... so I'm sitting in a near-by Chinese buffet doing what I do best.  Oink, oink!

The Rally Officially Begins...

Saturday morning arrived looking like rain was going to be the order of the day… the sky was dark and gloomy, a light rain was falling and the roads were wet. I wondered whether we’d even have much of a ride, perhaps opting for one of the shorter routes so we wouldn’t have to ride in the drizzle for any longer than we had to. (The people in the photo are getting ready for the start of the rally; notice the wet pavement in the parking lot!)

But as we pedaled toward the hotel to join up with the other riders for the start, the rain stopped. The road started drying out bit by bit, and there was a hint of blue sky peeking through the clouds every now and then. They were saying that the rain was probably over for the day… so we decided to go ahead and take the 62 mile loop and go for the gusto. After all, today is Valerie’s birthday and what could possibly say “I Love You” more than pedaling as far as possible?

As seems to be the norm, we started off with everyone but after 15 miles found ourselves very much alone… bringing up the rear once again. I never thought that riding at an average of about 15mph was slow, but I suppose I need to reevaluate that assessment being that we never seem to be able to keep up with the pack…

One of our highlights today was having a black bear cross the road in front of us when we were riding through the most rural portion of today’s course. We tried to stop and get the camera out, but the noise we created caused the bear to run for the cover of the dense plant life growing very close to the edge of the road. We pedaled past the point where he crossed the road but couldn’t see any sign of him.

We were surprised when the rest stops that were mentioned on our cue sheets turned into nothing more that convenience stores along the route… and the owner of one apparently wasn’t too warmed up to the idea of people just waltzing in to use the bathroom without making a purchase of some kind (not that I blame him, really). It was time for a Snickers bar anyway…

Lunch was served at a community center that was about 10 miles prior to the end of the route, and we surprised ourselves by making it there in time to have the box lunch that was prepared by Arby’s, surprisingly. And the sandwich that was part of the meal (walnut chicken salad, I believe) was actually very well made.

Lunch was over, and we fought 10 miles of a headwind back to the start/finish point (just to say we rode the whole course, and then pedaled back “home”… hitting the 70 mile mark as we rolled into the driveway.

Tonight is the banquet for the tandem riders, and it’s being held (conveniently) at a center about a quarter of a mile from where we’re staying. Sweet! We could actually walk there if we want to… depending on how the legs are feeling by then!

Friday Frolics...

Friday morning started out with rain – enough to push back the start time for our ride to 11:00 AM. Several of the “regulars” were there this morning, along with some tandem teams that had just arrived for the Florida Tandem Rally. There were going to be two groups riding the shorter loop; one “fast” group and one “slow” group. We overheard the leaders of the fast group say that they were going to keep the pace at around 18mph for the slower riders, and figured that meant us. (It also meant we could ride with the fast group.)

This lasted for about one third of the ride, and then the pace just kept picking up, bit by bit, until we could no longer keep up. To make matters worse, a poorly worded cue sheet had a few of us stragglers turning onto a circular road 2 miles before we were supposed to… so while we’re riding in a clockwise direction, the main pack of tandem cyclists went whizzing by us in a counter clockwise direction… smiling and waving (and no doubt wondering why we were going the wrong direction).

We probably lost a mile of total distance, but in the end it was still a good ride… relatively fast for our abilities, but nice to know that we could keep up with “the older kids” at least for a little while.

I’m writing this at 2:00 PM (don’t know when I’ll be by a wi/fi hotspot to post it). The official registration for the tandem rally begins at 3:00 PM today, and we’re expecting Valerie’s sister and grandmother to show up here sometime around 4:00 so they can all visit with each other. Tomorrow comes the longest ride of our stay, weather permitting!

Thursday Came and Thursday Went...

Thursday started off well… and then things went a little downhill. We met up with the group for their usual 8:30 AM ride, and managed to hang on to them for the first couple of miles. Then we decided we were too warm with our coats on, and slowed down while trying to get them off.

By the time we had doffed the excess warmth and Valerie was able to stuff both of our coats into the pannier, the group was already down the hill and up the other side. When we crested that same hill, the group was out of sight. Throw in the fact that I don’t know the way their course runs, along with going through a round-about and having to guess which direction to go… well, game over… I lost.

We were on our own for the morning ride, and looped around a large circuit that I knew was part of their route in the hope we might intersect them somewhere along the way. Nope… didn’t happen. So we rode until about the time that they would usually arrive at the end point of their ride by Panera Bread and met them just as they were pulling up. It seems that nobody realized we dropped off the back as fast as we did, and by the time they realized we were gone they could see us any easier than we could see them. No biggie… we still had a decent ride albeit alone.

After the coffee and snack break we followed one of the riders over to their new home and got to take the tour… wow. Other than there being six or seven tandems occupying an immaculate four car garage, there was the small matter of their large house. Again… wow, but this time with more feeling!

As with many homes here, there is a large screened patio off the back of the house, or as some of the folks seem to call it here – the birdcage. I realized that I was out of my element when I walked into “the birdcage” and came to the conclusion that it was as big as our whole house! Add another “wow” with a slightly deflated tone to it… maybe mixed with a slight sigh.

We later met the group for a late Mexican lunch (or early dinner…) and when we were done enjoying their company, got to go and witness another ultra-impressive home. This one was essentially the same floor plan as the one we marveled at earlier, but there were different tweaks and design options that just blew us away.

Kids… when your parents tell you to study hard, there’s a reason! We saw a couple of them today. Wow.

...The Rest of Wednesday!

We left the house about 3:00 PM and rode in to Sumpter Landing (one of the town squares in The Villages) where I was able to snag some wi/fi at the local Starbucks and work on this blog, download e-mail and generally look like a dork sitting inside the coffee house with my laptop.

As you can see from the photo, we drove the golf cart into town! How upscale are we now?

We decided to go visit the sales office to see what sort of arm-twisting tactics they might employ. All in all, things were easy and we went out and looked at a couple homes that might be in our price range. The wheels are turning… we really would like to live here and the fact that there are several tandem bicyclists here is a real draw for us.

Time will tell…

Wednesday... So Far!

Wednesday has been an overcast, yet comfortable day that saw us meet up with the local tandem riders for their usual 22 mile ride. After doing the social ride, and enjoying a break at Panera Bread, we continued on alone to do 28 more miles just to bring our daily total to an even 50. It’s been a while since we’ve ridden that much, usually hitting the 40 mile mark when we’ve had a day off in Boise.

I think part of the “problem” is that in Boise we hardly ever leave our house before 10:00 AM, and then have an hour’s drive just to get to the Treasure Valley (where Boise is located) to ride. In Florida, we’ve been getting up at 6:30 AM and heading out the door shortly after 8:00 AM to meet up with the other tandem riders by 8:30 AM – their departure time for the ride.

We were done riding right around 1:00 PM, which in some cases is when we actually get started when we’re at home! It’s 2:55 PM as I write this and I’ve already cleaned up, gone out to lunch (driving the golf cart) and then returned home to work on this blog entry. I could get used to this…

While riding along Buena Vista Boulevard in the southernmost part of The Villages this morning, we spotted a bald eagle perched atop a street lamp. I brought the bike to a stop in order to take a picture; as soon as Valerie handed me the camera he flew off and landed in a nearby field. So, in case you’re wondering… the picture that doesn’t appear with today’s blog entry shows a bald eagle on top of a lamp post. Really. You’ll just have to trust me on this one!

[View a map of The Villages]