BiKePackAcroSSFLoRIdeR

This weekend I got a mission planned.
My departure time is not set in stone. The route is pretty firm though and the distance estimates put this trip at close to 300 miles. It will be the longest mileage I will do in a single weekend, but its what needs to happen to get me to the point where I can be prepared to do the GDR in 2010.

The plan is to cover ground from my house to Big Buck Lake Group Camp estimated 80 miles with a whole new strategy and plan to get there. I'm pretty excited about the route and hope it turns out to be butter smooth, dirty and pretty. Once I get there I will set up and hunker down for the night, hopefully I can get there early enough to watch the Sunset and hit the sack early to rise early and ride to Santos.

Once At Santos I plan to ride the system out towards the Pruitt Memorial, past the Memorial down Thunderbolt Alley, hang a left on some unknown road that will dump me onto SR 200. At that point I will head towards the Citrus trail head of the withlacoochee. Once on the Withlacoochee I will descend towards croom, eventually reaching Croom road and heading up towards Tucker Hill where I will camp for the night, Estimated 120 miles.

On Sunday when I get up, I will take the Withlacoochee out to SR 50 and head East towards Clermont. Once At Clermont I take the Lake Minneola Scenic Trail to the South Lake Trail to the West Orange Trail to Apopka. Once in Apopka I ride through Erroll Estates out to Longwood where I take the Seminole Wekiva trail back towards Sanford and take the 415 BAckdoor home to Osteen (estimated 100 to 120 miles).

This is the Benefit of a Blog, I can tell the entire world essentially where I will be and everyone knows the route. Here is the cool part. The Fat tire Festival is going on in Santos and the Clean Air Century is going on in the Withlacoochee giving me plenty of opportunities to draft and see people and talk and make friends alogn the way. Should be a good weekend.

Here is the Kicker. I plan to go Super Light. No backpack, no front pack(cross bike wont fit it) Just my rear pack and my small frame pack. Bare Bones. LOL, wait for the pics I got a real hobo look going on with the bike at the moment. No cooking this trip. I plan to treat it like a mini GDR and have strategically planned my refuel spots for food and water.
Stop 1 Heathrow for food and water refill and a Large Latte.
Stop 2 Santos for food and water refill.
Stop 3 If needed near the Citrus Trail head on the Withlacoochee.
Stop 4 Nobleton for a big restock before hitting croom and the unknown stretch to Clermont on Sunday.
Stop 5 Anywhere I need to stop on my way out of town to eat or restock as I expect there to be several towns and stores between Ridge Manor and Clermont. Once on this portion of the route its all as needed as I will be back in Civilization.

My other only dilema is music. I tend to use the music when on the road, I hate to hear cars repeatedly buzzing by. Afte trying numerous different music methods I found my skull candy ole school headphones and they kick ass, BUT, I cant wear a helmet with them. I went with just a hat on Saturday and I loved the Freedom and Frankly I am touring not stunt riding and even the last trip I forgoed my helmet on many occassions. I believe in the importance of skull protection but at the same time, If I get to a point I dont wanna wear it I have no real place to secure it.

So, Helmet or no Helmet? Leave the skull candies at home. Take two different music phones, one I can wear while riding and tape into my ear and then the skull candies when I make camp. Buy one of those kick ass helmets with surround sound built in. Forget the whole thing? I dont even know...

This is whats on my mind on a Tuesday morning....


Enjoy,
Laters,
LOS