I wondered if they could see me, or if I had enough distance and shadows to be hidden. I tried to ignore their presence but I could hear everything they were saying, It was in some ways annoying. Another car pulled up and shortly they were all off on a 25 mile ride, the weather report said NO Rain according to a man who called himself, Mr. Doppler.
I decided to get up, use the bathroom, tend to my chapped bottom and then get some food in me and prepare to leave at the crack of daylight.
The day before, somehow, my seat had slipped. I hadn't noticed and I rode for HOURS with my seat too low. This put my butt on a part of the seat I don't normally use and that I don't normally lubricate and ended up chapped raw.
I ate my breakfast. Rolled out and headed towards Croom. It was 7am and my goal was to be out of the singletrack before ten am. 3 hours I figured at a modest pace was realistic.
For the first time since mile 40 I actually started having fun. Croom was green and in full jungle forest glory. I carefully made my way keeping good pace, ticking away the miles, heading towards he infamous pits that this section of croom is known for.
As I made my way through pit one, the rain started. I thought about Mr. Dopplers prediction and laughed. I kept moving. I checked the time and I was ahead of my anticipated finish time.
I get to the next to last pit and right in front of me drops a rider, and as I pass the junction point another was coming out of the same hole. It was a bit surreal. I just had zero expectations of seeing anyone. I had to actually keep the pace through the bench cut and crested the next short uphill and let the guy pass.
I started losing my pep. I was getting tired, only 2 miles left in this section. Once I got off the singletrack onto Nobleton road, I was super happy to be done with the skinny undulating trail and was ready to pound out some thoughtless bike path and pavement miles.
The lack of sleep, the long road, the rain storm had left me tired. And I saw a bench and decided I needed to stretch my back. I laid there, resting, sleeping a very blissful and wonderful sleep. When raindrops hitting my face came as my wake up call and I had to get up and go again, off to chase Santos which was closer then ever at this point.
Floral City was my next Oasis. I started dreaming about hot food, I was really wanting something cold to drink. The rain was fine. It actually felt good and in spite of my raw ass cheeks I felt great. The miles were coming quick and I was greeting all the riders traveling opposite my direction.
Low and behold I caught sight of the riders I had heard plotting their 25 mile round trip voyage. I know its not nice but all I could think was, damn I rode the 14 miles of croom and got 6 miles past that point, 22 miles or so, in less time then it took them to do half their trip???
She served me hot food and sweet potato fries. I had several cokes, cokes are not part of my normal meal plan but I am in survival mode. It all felt great, but halfway through my meal, I feel asleep head down, for a long while. The storm was in full force, I would wake at moments and eat a little then go back to my nap.
Awful I know, but it was what I felt my body needed to continue pushing forward. And after I finished eating, and drinking I stopped at the gazebo and restocked on my water and continued forward. I had been on the Withlacoochee bike path several times. And today it seemed different. Although I was on pavement, the trail had such a backwoods feel. Everything was green, lush and tropical.
I had packed away my shirt. Riding only in my base layer and my jacket. Finally after several hours of riding in the rain, it stopped and I took off my jacket and packed it in the back as well. I stopped at wal greens in Inverness to get lithium batteries, I had been getting reports that my spot quit working and since I left the convenience store in Ridge manor the battery light warning had been going off on my Spot Tracker.
I put in batteries and continued on my trip. Before Long I was entering Potts Preserve. I came across a group of people barbecuing, I was reminded that it was indeed Memorial Day. I rolled on, exited the park, rode the grassy canal road, seeing several ATVs.
I went through the fence and stopped at the convenience store for more drink. I was really tired, I wanted to sleep more, but I was noticing my time was running out. I had gotten a call earlier that Kailan didn't have a ride home and now I had to make an unexpected trip to New Smyrna, AFTER I finished the sleep deprived Hell ride and be home BEFORE he goes to school in the morning at 8am.
Amazingly enough Stumpknockers was closed. I got into Haltapa. It was exhausting, so hard, I was hating it, and after a long slog I got to the parking lot at Pruitt and laid in the grass under the shade of the oak tree to sleepy and tired to continue.
I don't know how long I slept, it was so nice and peaceful, it truly felt like heaven. I got a text and that woke me up, I got on the bike and left noticing time was really getting short now and in a few hours it would be dark.
I trudged through Pruitt got on the limestone, marveled at the baby armadillo with his cute little claws who didn't have enough sense to run and hide when i rolled by leaving him only 8 inches of space. As I exited Pruitt I was really out of time now and exhausted. I wanted to sleep, get some more hot food and then continue with the 20 or so miles I had left. So sleep would of took an hour or so, food would of took an hour or so and the ride 3 hours or so at best. That's 5 more hours and it was 730 pm. Putting me back at the car at midnight, with a drive to from Ocala to New Smyrna back to my home in Deltona, to get up at 7am and get ready for work and school. The math seemed like more then I was willing to deal with, so me and my chapped ass decided that 260 was more then enough knowing if I would of not had the pressure of picking up my son, I could easily finish, it would of just took 5 more hours.
The route is powerful. Some of it is really too much though and there are some sections that I will change for the sake of continuity. It is after all what I think is best to promote flow.
Take care,
The NaKeD InDiaN
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