Feb 8th -- time for a longer ride

Well, it could not have worked out better. We went down to see my Uncle Phil and Aunt Ruth in Hobe Sound FL via bicycle and car. I set out at 9am, somewhat delayed because it was cool and I did not want to carry a jacket all day. As it turned out I decided to wear my vest as the temperature was still hovering just over 50 with a slight headwind as I headed north up Saxon.

What a beautiful day for a long ride -- it was sunny all day and the temperature warmed up quickly with the sun up probably hitting mid 70-s or warmer on the road. By the time I got through Edgewater (10 miles) I could easily have taken off my vest, but I opened up the collar a little and kept it on for the first 25 miles. It is very light and stuffable, so it did not take much room in a back pocket.

I had toyed with the idea of riding through the Merritt Island refuge and then across to US 1 and south, but decided to stay on US 1 all the way. I did not want to run into any road closures getting back to US 1 and then end up having to backtrack. Besides, US 1 from the 18 mile point (where I would turn off) through the 35 mile point (where I would rejoin) is a fairly bicycle friendly section of road and it was clear sailing with a slight tailwind.

Speaking of the wind, it was mostly in my favor. It was probably about 5 mph all day, varying from at my back to from the left (East) to from the front, depending on the road, but on average it was behind me and the traffic on my side of the road augmented the wind speed.

Traffic ? yes, it was fairly heavy. It was Thursday and I went through all the communities along the way -- Titusville, Melbourne, Sebastian, Vero Beach and Fort Pierce, where Sandy caught up to me.

The worst section was south of Sebastian. For almost 20 miles it was half construction, with no shoulder, the road torn up, the traffic relegated to one south-bound lane (including me) -- so I was forced to ride on the white line. That part was not fun. The other half was rough, butt-jarring bumpy, especially since at that point I had gone 100 miles and my butt was getting sore anyway.

Our original plan was that Sandy would meet up with me around 100 miles but we miscalculated somewhat and I ended up going almost 125 miles. It was a good training ride but it made for a lot of short cell phone calls -- "so where are you now ?" -- and a later than planned arrival at my relatives' place. Speaking of which -- my uncle Phil thought that I would be setting out at 6am and do 100 miles in 4 hours ! In warmer weather with earlier daybreak, I would have been on the road that early -- but never 100 miles in 4 hours !. So, needless to say, we were late to their place -- around 5:30.

We had a very good visit, lots of chatting, and they showed us around the area on Friday morning and had lunch at Pirate's Cove. We left their place mid afternoon and were back home by 5:30 on Friday, taking the Merritt Island route back. If schedules permit they will come up to New Smyrna Beach to visit with us before we head north.

Nutrition -- cereal for breakfast at 6am + 2 cups of coffee, then on the road -- 2 bottles of water, 3.5 large gatorade bottles (1.5 water bottles each), 2 cliff bars, 2 cliff jells, 1 bag of chex mix at lunch, a 3 inch danish.

Ride stats:

124.6 miles; 6:35 clock time on the bike; 7 hours elapsed time; 18.9 mph average.