Feb 5 - this is Florida ?!?

wHOOPS -- I FOUND THIS UNPUBLISHED -- IT'S CATCH-UP TIME !

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Where are we ? Let's see -- I'm cycling wearing three layers of clothing, skull cap under my helmet, full-fingered gloves, shoe covers ... it must be Lake Superior ! No, I didn't wear the shoe covers around Lake Superior (I should have) ... perhaps we're at the Arctic Circle ?!?

I did 25 miles yesterday -- 12.5 miles into a cold, furious headwind, and back. I brought supplies for more mileage but decided along the way that another couple of hours cycling in the cold was not going to make me any more prepared for Saturday's ride ... only more miserable. If the cycling is the same on Saturday, so be it. It's one thing to cycle in the cold and/or wet with an objective in mind; it's quite another to be out there just for the "fun" of it.

Ok. Enough complaining. It could be worse ... it could be -12C like up north -- but if it was I wouldn't be out on the bicycle !

It's 32F out there now, according to the internet, but my outside thermometer is showing 40F. Yesterday the indoor/outdoor thermometer showed 32F ... so it's definitely warmer. According to the internet it's only supposed to get down to 45F in Melbourne Beach tonight, so tomorrow's riding will be a vast improvement. It didn't even get up that high yesterday, in the shade. The forecast is for 70F with winds from the NE or ENE -- which is perfect because we're heading that way first and it will help us on the way back.

I figure that I'll be out there 14-16 hours; the time limit is 20 hours. I have to leave here about 2:30 a.m.; check-in for the ride is at 4:00; the ride starts at 5:00. I talked to Tim Bol last night, who was in the process of printing control cards and it sounds like there will be about 35 riders. I expect that I'll be out there most of the time by myself, but who knows.

ps -- if there is any blog entry tomorrow it will likely be in the late evening as a one-liner saying that I made it. If I completed the ride in 14 hours that would get me back here around 9pm ... so that's about the earliest that I'd expect to be back.

I'll get organized today. I'm not sure if I'll put the bike carrier on the back or simply put the bike inside the X5. I may also get out on the bike to stretch my legs today, but won't go any significant distance.

So what did I do yesterday since I was not biking ? Well, I started my taxes. I'm still missing some information from Fidelity which should come in shortly and then I can wrap that up. I also did Jeffrey's -- mostly -- but I'm missing one piece of information that I'll get from him on the weekend.

We watched some more Stargate SG1. Dinner was Grouper with broccoli and sweet potatoes.