February 20th, back on the bike

We left the house at 6:30 today driving Mariadella and Leonas to the Orlando airport. While the temperatures were in the mid 40's at our place, they dropped to 36 degrees inland -- heavy fog in places.

Without the modern conveniences of nav systems and mapquest I would have driven to Orlando via SR44 and I4 and watched for signs for the airport. Instead of that we went part way on I4 then the 417 toll road. The mapquest map was not sufficiently detailed to clearly see how you got from I4 to 417 so I took the 17 exit towards Stanford -- which would have been a pretty route except for the dense fog. 17 then led us to 417. Returning, the M5 nav wanted to send us across the east-west toll road to I95, but I continued north and then jumped off on SR50, which was the nav's next recommendation, and also because we were running very short on gas. It turned out to be a good route -- if anything, it took us less time to get home (under 1.5 hours). The nav's recommended east-west toll road might have been the shortest route after all. Also, if we drive these routes often enough we will have to get the toll transponder -- Sunpass -- for the convenience because the Sunpass lanes are all high speed.

We had a great time with the gang while they were here and were sorry to see them leave but it is also nice to get back to normal. It was somewhat busy with the den being used as a bedroom, but Steve and Pam maintained that the pull out couch was comfortable. The house worked well for a group this size and will do equally well when Jason, Lorraine and Kim are here in March. Wayne and Doris Guymon will be staying here on the 21st before heading north -- more on that later.

Once back home from my ride I worked at installing the depth finder in the Whaler. I had decided to install a 12 volt receptacle as well so got most of the wiring soldered and in place, running it through the same track as the existing cables and hoses to keep things neat. I quit at 5:30 because it gets a bit buggy at that point. I still have to do the final installation of the pice that goes into the water, screw in the receptacle and mount the display -- but the hardest part is complete.

On the bike -- I certainly noticed the three days off. I did the usual Merritt Island ride. At the beginning it felt good, my legs were rested. By the end, however, I could feel the difference that the time off made -- my body was not as used to the pace.

Half-way down the park road I got a flat -- a piece of wire was sticking out the side of my rear tire. Either I'm unlucky or these Michelins are not as rugged as the Specialized tires. I ordered three new Specialized tires in advance of the cross country ride -- I may move the Specialized tires from the Rolf rims to the Mavic rims for this weekend's brevet ride -- I'll decide later.

Speaking of brevet, I received the welcome package from the USA Randonneurs today -- it has lots of interesting reading. I could really get into the Randonneuring thing -- that is my kind of riding.

The weather was great today. After the cool days when our guests were here it warmed up to the mid-60's with moderate winds 8-10 from the southwest. I turned around at the visitors' center after filling up my water bottles.

Nutrition -- lunch before leaving at 10:30, cliff bar at 25 miles, gel at 40, 50 and 60 miles.

Ride stats -- 74.75 miles @ 17.5 mph.