HeR FiRsT 50 :O !

Paloma wanted to do the NK ride ever since she knew that I had connected the loop.

She has been pedaling a lot more lately. She is a natural if such thing exists.
On this day she did the entire ride, abridged, but just as fun.
It took us 10 hours to do the entire ride.
6 of them were spent riding a mostly off road loop with BUFF single track, BuFf double track and dirt roads.
Lots of climbs; I ended up taking a detour that gave us some of the longest sickest climbs I have done in a long time. Funny part is those climbs have been there for the longest time and I never knew.
4 of the hours were spent smelling the roses.
She has never ridden 31 miles let alone 50, but she was in to win. My plan was simple. Break it into sections, stop, post up, relax and enjoy, time, is not an issue or a factor; a true Off Road Tour.

Mr. Turtle met us on the road heading into Cassadaga. Its the funniest thing, as I sit on the machine doing cadence riding and chatting with my lady, I see the turtle in the road, Identify it outloud and take off in a chase after it similar to the crocodile hunter from back in the day. Plus I wanted to make sure he didn't get hit, but brother must cross the road here alot cause he was hauling ass.
The first mostly off road section of the NK ride was in good shape save for the last mile. The last mile was rough and you had to ride on the shoulder of the road where the grass is still growing. Its rough riding, cause at times you lose shoulder so you have to speed up sprint across the soft sand and bridge the gap to the other side where the shoulder is rideable.
Amazingly enough, its a great workout.

When we got to Cassadaga, I decided to hang a right and head into the "downtown" area and check out some of the sights and shops.

Here is where we took a slight detour from the regular NK ride. We took the road out of Cassadaga to MLK to Orange camp for 5 miles of back road and sidewalks. It was nice had some leg burning steep climbs on this progressive Urban slither of singletrack.

Great thing about riding for me. Is if I ride, the effort affords a cold one if I chose to do so and today I did. They made my belly feel warm.

Los on the phone. My phone is a bad ass on board assistant and entertainment machine. I got to say, I am into gadgets.
After lunch, drink, and desert at Angelina's, we rode another 3 miles to Lake Beresford park. This place has potential and I plan to do some approved trail building out there and hopefully build or inspire someone to assist. The Buff single track we rode looped perfectly in the direction on the paved spring to spring trail that we take that leads us into Debary and further down along the NK route. It was mostly uphill and really primitive, we totally dugg it.

I loved the detail in this log,





Great sights along this trail. I cant wait to get out here and give it more, I predict great things for this spot with some time and effort.






I found the sweetest connector off the spring to spring trail to the rail road track trail that involved a 20 foot steep off camber descent to a technical tight transition at the bottom. Also realized how nice the climbs are on this thing. This place is definetely going to be incorporated in my training loops I do out here.

LOOK FOR THE GHOST IN THE PIC

Once we left Lake Beresford the next Oasis was the Gemini springs trail head at Lake Monroe. We got there at 10pm and posted up. Used the spout to refill all our water, we had ran out about 4 miles back, we wet our hair, cleaned our legs, laid on the benches and relaxed.
We had some of the coolest experiences that I have ever had on a bike.
We saw a family of raccoons crossing the rail road tracks.
One sprinting deer.
3 owls. One sat with us for almost an hour sitting in the tree making chirping sounds like I have never heard coming from such a bird.
The best part was after this spot, when we were making our way across the Gemini springs trail and we hit the marsh land area.
There must have been close to 1000 lightning bugs flying around in unsynchronized movements. For a moment I thought I was having some sort of psychedelic rerun, but NO, what my eyes were witnessing did indeed exists.
It was beautiful and priceless.
Lights just flashing and floating in no particular pattern for yards and yards, breathtaking.
We finished up around 1am. She says it was great, best she has ever felt after a long ride. Man, those Ergon Grips sure do help.

Enjoy,
Laters,
LOS