HoRRibLe HunDreD

Its different. So different. In fact I don't know if I could enjoy an organized ride ever again, when there is such joy, adventure and discovery in a Self Supported Ride. Its no secret and I am sure everyone is tired of hearing about it, but I am constantly evolving and in the process of getting ready to do an extremely long ride solo. So every chance I can I am looking for ways to practice. Since first doing the Horrible Hundred in Clermont I have gone back every year to enjoy the challenge the terrain and route offers. The folks from Florida Freewheelers are great and they deserve Kudos for all the great events that they put on. At my current skill level, I gain no actual benefit from doing a ride that is completely supported. I need to push the envelope. So I packed up my Carousel Design rear pack, slapped on some aero bars and met up with my good friend Morrissson to tackle the course with no Support.My rear pack had two extra Dasani waters, and I had two bottles on the bike. In the bag I had enough food for an overnight trip, I learned after the Okeechobee incident that you need to plan for the unexpected and a route miscalculation could lead to a nutritional miscalculation which could lead to you being on the side of the road in tears needing assistance. I also had a rain jacket, two tubes, one inflator 3 co2's, electrical tape, tools, Sram link, patch kit, blue park tool and a Swiss army knife. I was packing, prolly 10 extra pounds to the bike, but I need the work out.

Immediately my Garmin didn't work as it should and the route was not coming up like it should have. I guess the data was old. On top of that it must have turned on early cause the battery was low when I had fully charged it the night before. Never mind though, we had a cue sheet which I could easily read, we had my memory of the route which was amazingly fresh and we had Orange Arrows courtesy of the organizers.
We set out on a joyful cruise. I start getting into a rhythm and ride out. Morrissson was always withing sight, and I decided every 25 to 30 we would stop to stretch and keep riding. It worked well and we kept doing our thing. I had to fix Morr's bike, no biggie, and we kept rolling, chatting and having fun.
Somewhere around mile 50 or 60 we both ran out of water. I still had the two extra bottles in my pack but really wanted to hold on to them till it was an emergency. Well as we finished a hill and made a turn, I saw a house labeled for rent and could clearly see it was empty. Without hesitation I called for a refueling stop and we both hit the spickets on either side of the house. Filled up and then kept rolling. Not even 5 miles after that we hit the town of Mascotte and had lunch. See, this is the thing about a self supported ride. I have done this ride several times and since It was supported I never bothered to notice all the little towns we rolled threw and all the historical markers. Because I was forced to be conscious of the possible supply spots, I kept my eyes unusually open vs. Unusually focused on hammering to the next stop. It changed the ride, dare I say, made it even better.


I pride myself on my COCK pit set ups and my Cross bike is outfitted for a loooong day in the saddle. The music played all day till I shut it off.


Look thats Morrrisssson, brother rode strong and well I never had to worry about him. He couldn't and wouldn't draft, but that's ok, I get more pride out of riding hard by myself then sucking a wheel.




My favorite self quote from the ride "Morrisson, now your about to find out why they call it the horrible hundred"
Eventually, we reached a point of doubt. The cue sheet said one thing, the cyclometer said another. Somehow we ended up hitting Buckhill road the 5 peaks, at mile 90 something instead of 80 something. We had somehow accumulated 10 more miles then we should have. We hammered buckhill, we hammered Sugar loaf mountain, refueled at the top and kept our roll on. It wasn't long before we stopped checked the sheet and realized we still had 20 or so more miles to go. I made the call it was time to push and we did. We rode dangerous roads in the dark, squinted for Orange Arrows, kept climbing even though it should have stopped and eventually celebrated the finish.
My Thigh muscles cramped which slowed me down some, I guess that's the danger of Self supported is staying on top of your hydration, lesson learned.
If you have yet to go out and do a century, solo, without babysitting, do it! It will change the way you look at the ride completely.
The ride for me was Poetic!
115 miles, 7 hours 20 min ride time. New record for me in both speed and distance.

enjoy,
laters,
LOS

SpOnTaNeOuS ComBusTioN!!!

Life. The ultimate trapping that I have discovered thus far in my 36 years is finding a way to escape the routine. The older you get, the more you become obsessed and trapped in routine. Probably a left over survival tactic, routine can lead to staleness and staleness can lead to complacency.
A week ago from this past Sunday the wife and I headed over to Bikeworks Orlando. Wanted to get the road bikes tuned up and set up bring em back and take them for a ride around town. Interestingly enough half way up to our destination we get a call from my friend Trevor, who tells us about the Beer Bomb Bicycle Tour going on that afternoon. The premise is simple. A bunch of like minded people on bicycle get together, the organizer sets up drink specials at each bar and you ride and drink till the party ends. Sounded like a hell of a good time, but neither of us had left the house with the intention to ride. Regardless, in the spirit of Spontaneity, we went for it. We hit the bike shop, fixed the bikes, fit the road bike for the bird, this was going to be her first road bike and ride. Erik, Let me borrow some pimp ass flat pedals and we took some other flat pedals from the junk drawer and it was ON. We went and had lunch at Panera, by then the troops were rolling and already at the first bar. WE finished eating and drove up to the Start of the Cady way trail in Orlando. There we met with Carol, Trevor's wife. The plan was to ride over to the first spot.

I like the bikes, they are nice together.
LOL, we didn't plan to ride, but we still looked good and as I tell people all the time, 80% of bicycle riding is looking cool.
Riding and photographing, that's what I like to do.
The bird riding a road bike for the first time, once again a natural.
After a slight miscalculation in route, we were told to make our way to Eola park for the second stop of the tour. So a quick 4 mile ride and boom we were at the park. It was a nice ride along the way.





We get to the bar and discover all these bikes out front. Wow, this event was popular. We went inside and grabbed a couple of beers and not long after it was time to roll to the next spot.
When I took this picture I asked her to say the word Sanjiyah and make a look to go with it.
Carol and the Bird getting ready to roll out.
30 bikes were there, but we were late comers so we had to improvise.
As we rode, it turned from light to dark and we made our way down the Cobble Stone streets. The route choice was perfect no traffic cool roads. We get to the next stop and low and behold they had Pizza. We eat Pizza and drink some more. Right after stop two I was WAYYYYY Drunk.



We end up at some BAR and there was a Punk/rock type band playing, I was acting crazy doing imitation slam dancing. I will be the first to admit I had drank way too much, I was trashed but having fun. After this stop we hit the last where we drank more and hung out more and eventually made our way home. The next day I had to get up and be at work by 630am, boy did that suck. I was hurting all day but I made it through. I will be at the next one, and I will post up when it is, I encourage every0ne local or far to join the fun. Spontanaity IS the spice of LIFE!
Enjoy,
Laters,
LOS

ThE NaKeD EyE

I am a trail rider.
I ride trails.
Any trail.
Dirty.
Rocky.
Rooty.
Bushy.
They go up.
Or down.
Dirt road.
Service Road.
High Road.
Low Road.
I ride Trails.
Make trail ride with me.
Or not.

Here is some of the things I like to look for when I ride.
I guess I maybe looking for dinner, or looking for danger.
who knows.

Enjoy,
Laters,
LOS

CeMeTaRy TrAiLs

The Cemetary trail system is an existant trail system that I believe was established by Dirt bikers and four wheel enthusiast.

Recently, I have discovered some good pieces of single track.  

Upon closer inspection of the system it looks to be made up of three trails.

The Pine Ridge Trail which runs along the property of Pine Ridge High School.

The Pride Trail, which runs along the property of Pride elementary School.

And the Cemetary Trail which runs along the property of the Osteen Cemetary but shoots way past it.

I have ridden the Pride trail and we are building a connector for the Naked Indian ride to the Cemetary trail to create on giant loop for the riders.

I have ridden the Pine Ridge trail which I took the family on our Hauted trail ride on Halloween.

Yesterday we took of to locate and ride the Cemetary trail.  

Mission accomplished, it goes from being single track to a full on dirt road to double track. Its going to need a little work with adding pyramids over the logs, but one natural pyramid was already prebuild for us and I rode it.

The trail is going to be an awesome addition,  Check out the Video:

Enjoy,

Laters,

LOS

HaLLoWeeN!!!!

Our family has a tradition.  On Halloween we dress up, we put glow sticks on our wheels, lights on our bike and hit the neigborhood to trick and treat.  This year, since I discovered the Cemetary trails, we decided to add a little ride in the woods on our way to have our traditional end of ride pizza.
Let me introduce you to Indian Jones, the Native Version.  Instead of exploring ancient native cultures, he studies contemporary american culture.
This is Anakin Skywalker, minus the darkside.
As we rode around we found the spirit was thick in the air, these people had a full on bon fire in front of their house.  The feeling was different, there were more people out, but I don't know there was something in the air.  Something I could not quite put my finger on.  People who had their lights off were taking treaters, and then there were people with lights on that were not taking treaters.  And better yet, they have their house all decorated, but not giving out candy.  Just very inconsistent.
Me, well I had to dress up and keep it budget, so I am either the Indian Jason or the Cholo version of the Casey Jones from the Ninja Turtles cartoon!  I had my helmet on my gloves and and the war machine, good times.  So as to not blind people we kept our lights off, I only turned them on when a car was coming, some bastards where driving way too fast and I almost had to chase one of them down to show them my Halloween fist of fury.
Its cool what comes out when you take pictures in low light conditions.
The bird was dressed as trouble and she sure was, Hmmm My warrior princess is yummy!
Anakin on his S works Speeder, check out the effect the spinning glow sticks put in the picture.
This was the best part, one man decorated his yard and literally built a haunted house, it was AWESOME.  So Awesome that I went and shook his hand afterwards and told him how great I thought it was.  Real nice guy, very impressive and creative and best of all it was all free.



Ladies and Gentleman, this is how you secure your bikes when you forget your lock.  You stack them up in a pile that would crumble at the first grab of a thief.  And you sit close to the window and watch like a hawk.  The trail ride was a blast, Gabriel Aka Indiana Jones, didn't have that much fun though and ate it in two corners.  But at the end, when I out loud sounded out the Indiana Jones theme it made him stand up and hammer, kids and their imaginations are the best!
Here they are patiently waiting for their food. It felt like it took forever, but the pizza tasted so GOOD!


Ya the pizza took to long and Indy fell asleep!

This is the last  shot, he was done eating, dressed up again and ready to head home.  It was a great time and the best Halloween we ever had. I say the "haunted cemetery trail ride" is a new tradition to add to our repertoire.  I'm so lucky to have some cool trails and off road stuff to ride, right out my front door.

Enjoy,

Laters,

LOS

NaKeD InDiaN RiDe MaP

Print one out for yourself. This is the standard just enough option, any alternates will be finalized day off ride. Here is the link in Google.

The NaKeD InDiaN RiDe JaNuArY 3rd 2009

Click on picture to read, hope to see you there.