Feb 8 - a day off

Well what did you expect ? Did you expect another riding story ?

Ok -- you wanted a riding story.

Part of the route on Saturday was my usual trek down Merritt Island. Luckily the next shuttle launch was delayed or we would have found that route closed and would have had to make up the miles somewhere to still hit the requisite 300k. We hit another stroke of luck -- they were doing a controlled burn for the 5 mile stretch north of the Haulover Canal. Yes, they were doing the burn as we were riding. There were flames beside us right up to the edge of the roadway as the dry grass burned -- it was hot !

There is a swath of dry grass -- three feet high in some places, and 30-50 feet deep -- and then pines, palms etc. The whole section was burning, way back into the palms and pines. The wind was going the right way, east to west, and they were burning the west side of the road. Since we were biking south, it was right beside us as we hugged the side of the road as any traffic went by. Had the wind shifted at all, we would have been in a choking black smoke. More than that -- any wind shift and they would have immediately closed the road -- they did that to me once last year or the year before and I had no option other than turning back the way that I came.

The trucks were driving along on the road and the grass setting the fires as they went -- jetting a thin stream of something flaming -- perhaps kerosene because gas would have been too explosive -- igniting the grass as they drove. The flames were high in places and it was hot. It was fascinating ... but I know that if I ride down that area this week it will still smell. Since there has been no rain since it will be dusty with any wind.

ok -- back to the non-events of the day !

It was quite pleasant here with the temperature in the mid 60's, sunny and light winds. I browsed the web for quite a while trying to find a replacement Reynolds Ouzo Pro carbon fork with a 1" steerer. Mine has many miles on it and I don't know how long to trust it (with my life!). Newer frames than mine take a 1 1/8" steerer and the 1" steerer is gradually going out of stock. There are other high-quality fork options in 1" but I like the Ouzo Pro which is rated as a very comfortable fork. Anyway ... I'm still searching. I thought that I'd found something and left the browser open to make a phone call this morning to check stock forgetting that I have an automatic shutdown and backup that takes place Sunday night ... rats. Now I'm searching for the site again !

Late afternoon we took Abby to the dog beach where it was quite crowded. Everyone seemed to be outside yesterday, being the first nice day after a cold spell and being the weekend to boot. The weather improves further from this point, looking at the long range forecast, so hopefully winter in Florida is over ! Sandy got talking to a lady (while we guys walked with the dogs) who comes down for 6 months every winter but they rent. He runs his own house building business and goes back and forth to somewhere in NY -- the Adirondacks -- during the winter. She was saying that when they got down this time she immediately went over to Bed Bath and Beyond and bought a cheap set of dishes because she refused to eat off palm trees for six months ... that sounds like something Sandy would do !

As usual Abby enjoyed her walk. It was a walk though -- way too many people on the beach; we were never alone; there was no option of taking her off-leash and letting her run around like a crazy fool. We'll go out boating during the week and let her run on the sand bar.

We had tuna for dinner and as I ate the last piece I said to Sandy that it didn't seem to have a lot of flavor. She found the same thing and was happy that I'd said something. It was fresh -- you can tell if it's not fresh; quite dark, more like the tuna that we got from Costco -- unlike the typical yellowfin tuna that we get here ... but almost tasteless. It was very strange. She doesn't season the tuna other than some olive oil, wasabi and sprinkled sesame seeds -- no salt -- and it's usually excellent. As I said, very strange.

Before dinner we watched some SG1 ... the almost-nightly routine until we catch up to where Sandy re-joined, so to speak.

I did some research on the next ride -- the 300k out of Gainesville. I was hoping to find that it started later than 5am ... nope, it starts at 5am. Not only that but the location is 3 hours from here, which means that I'll go the night before. They have a cut rate at the motel for $49 ... so at that rate I'll get a better night's rest. Furthermore, the 400k starts at 4am ... the 600k starts at 3am ... what are these people trying to do to us ?? I'm an early bird but I think that I'd rather start out in the light and ride into the dark than the other way around. Whatever ... since I'm not organizing the ride I have to put up with their schedule.

Onward. I'll probably go out for one of my "usual" 70 mile rides today. Today it will seem short ...