Gayle’s and Rorie’s fine adventure to the Withlacoochee

Here is a report of Gayle’s and Rorie’s fine adventure to the Withlacoochee State Trail. Or a Food Trip that included cycling.

Now Gayle furnished the diary of cuisine and I have added my account of things including the cycling part.

Departure date: Time around 6:00pm. So we were ready for dinner.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Dinner – Port St. Lucie

Cracker Barrel (can’t miss with Cracker Barrel – known for good tastin’ but somewhat unhealthy viddles)

Gayle remembered that the Thursday night ’s special is:

Roasted Turkey w/ sage dressing (enjoyed by both Rorie and Gayle) the potatoes and dressing look better on Rorie than chubby Gayle. (I’m trying to gain back the weight from Megan’s and my 300 mile trip last weekend.)



We arrived around 11:30 pm very tired to find the Central Motel very nice and clean. It has a refrig, micro and coffee maker. No hair dryer, ok by me since I have curly hair that hates hair dryers. We decided not to set the alarm, we have no schedule!



Friday, September 3, 2010

Breakfast – Inverness

Swiss Bakery at the Central Motel

Rorie enjoyed and lapped up a HUGE bowl of homemade Muesli and one fried egg. Swiss style with lots of fruit.

Gayle was in “be good mode” only wolfing down 3 scrambled eggs, a sliced tomato and a slice of homemade whole grain dry toast



The hotel is located in Inverness which I highly recommend for this trip to the WT. It sits right on the trail like (ski in and ski out) about the halfway point so you can decide which way to go each day. We chose the shorter route since it was the first day. There is even a very nice bicycle shop located on the trail . If you ever wanted to try a recumbent bike this is the place. They rent them there.

Lunch - Hernando

Chicken King!!!! Damn it was fine! Parked our bikes right outside. We didn’t really like the looks of the place but there was no where else to eat. The chicken tasted like chicken….no cheap chicken in sight!

Rorie lapped up a pulled chicken sandwich with BBQ sauce and some greens steeped in bacon.

Gayle was somewhat sensible and scarfed up a grilled chicken salad with no dressing – only lemon



We rode back to the hotel and cooled off in the pool. Clean pool.

Then we decided to drive to Rainbow springs State Park only 17 miles away we heard. After a wrong turn we ended up driving almost 60 miles. We took a quick dip in the most beautiful clear cool water, and noted “good use of tax payer’s dollars” and took the 17 mile trip back.

It was a little too early for dinner so we found a place called The Front Porch where we tried the Key lime pie Gayle says the best she has eaten and I had pecan pie almost as good as my daughter makes.

Dinner - Inverness

McLeod’s Bistro –

Rorie’s eyes kept a rollin’ back into her sockets as she savored each and every bite. She had scallops served on a spinach, Asiago cheese and white wine sauce. Either she was famished or she experienced the best meal she ever had! (Very fine dining in a beautiful setting.)Gayle was in the mood for fish. (An extremely rare occurrence) She had the poached salmon with oranges and fresh dill served with summer squash and jasmine rice. Perrrfect!



Saturday, September 4, 2010

Breakfast – yummy muffins from Whole Foods courtesy of Rorie

The guy at the bike shop told us about a club ride that starts there at 8 so I had to meet up with them. GayleGail l rode the south route of the trail to get in 52 miles for her long ride. The club rode the country roads that criss-crossed the trail from time to time. It was a 45 mile route with gently rolling hills amongst huge oak trees and a nice bunch of folks. After each persons pull they got a hearty thank you from each person in the pace line. I then rode up to the Shamrock Bar (on the Trail) to meet Gayle.



Lunch – Shamrock Bar, Floral City – We met there to use the loo, but once we opened the door and smelled “burger” that was a no brainer lunch stop. Gayle was thirsty as an old camel, so she knocked back a quick Amberbock and Rorie was well behaved with a sweet tea. The burgers really hit the spot! We had the regular burger. You hungry guys can order the Shamrock burger. Gayle played her favorite country tune , (several times) Broken hearts ille by Joe Nichols . . We rode back for another dip in the pool.



Dinner – Enrico’s Italian, Inverness – this place looks like a dump on the exterior, and only slightly better on the interior, but the food is a different story!!!! We had a three course dinner with wine. It was really good.

Rorie enjoyed a huge stuffed grouper with crab and Gayle a huge plate of veal piccata. A massive slab of peach cobbler cheese cake was shared by both “ladies.” Gayle tried to let Rorie eat most of it…which I did.



Sunday, September 5, 2010

Breakfast – Blueberry muffins from some semi-healthy local grocery store bakery



Gayle had heard from a couple on the trail about another trail the Chiefland just north of us. So we headed up there and found it. It wasn’t as nice as the WT . We ventured over to the Fanning Springs State Park which was fairly crowded. The water was crystal clear and cold. We didn’t swim there ‘cause we were on our bikes.

Lunch (about 10:30AM) – Huckleberry’s BBQ located on the highway outside Fanning Springs

Both carnivores had pork sandwiches but Gayle had a side of beans (they came in handy later in the day) and Rorie’s side was some bad tastin’ mustard greens.They probably thought putting sage and thyme would make them gourmet, no leave southern cooking alone. We have to note that the bad greens were the only morsels planted in front of us that didn’t disappear the whole trip…not bad considering.

Dinner – Cracker’s – Crystal River – We ended up here after discovering the town of Inverness was closed on Sunday night except for Stumpknockers’s. Gayle already knew that one was grim! We hopped in the SUV to discover a delightful place unknown…and not to be disappointed we cruised to Crystal River( Because Gayle had filed this in her Food Brain on our “wrong turn” to Rainbow Springs) and chose Cracker’s because the parking lot was chock-a-block. We grabbed a booth right next to Lee, the cutie that runs Sun Cycles in Inverness. As it turned out, he and his buddy were looking to ride the Chiefland Trail, but couldn’t find it. We rode the Chiefland earlier in the day and decided it wasn’t as nice as the Withlacoochee trail.



Monday, September 6, 2010 - a no alarm clock day, at last!

Breakfast – McDonald’s Egg McMuffin…processed cheese and all..very yummy and some cinnamon deals that Rorie thought would be okay for Gayle to eat….she thought wrong! One bit e was amazing…who know McDuck’s would have such tasty, drenched in sugar, cinnamon rolls!

Lunch- Winter Garden – Moon Cricket

Both had fish tacos and they were great!



Then we cruised home through Clermont and made a quick (ha) stop at the Cycling Hub, got more loot and hit the dusty turnpike for the trek home after a fine 4 days!

Megan and Rorie our G2 Longdistance heroes!

Here is a little report of our ride to Palm Bay.
It all started because I am training for a 1000K ride in Sept in Tennessee. I met Megan about a month ago and mentioned this ride I was going to do to Palm Bay where my daughter lives> She was new to road cycling but wanted to try. I said I think you need to do a 100 mile ride before you try a 300 mile 2 day ride. But then she did a 12 day trip down the California coast(camping with her daughter) on a 50 pound bike so I knew she could handle this.
We left my house at 4:50 on Sat morning, met up with a fellow named George who used to race so he paced us from West Palm up to Port Salerno. I had a cue sheet from RUSA , the org. I belong to so most of the trip was on A1A .We had lunch on Hutchinson island , then the road got rough (Ft. Pierce)and it got hot. Megan was a real trouper, not one "when are we going to get there". There were some beautiful areas around Sebaston then the last 30 miles on US 1 in the late afternoon sun were very tough. We got to my daughters house around 5:20, 152 miles later. She welcomed us with plates of cold watermelon.
The next day we left at 5:15 feeling a little tired. The cool darkness helped us breeze up US 1 so we were in Sebaston by daylight. Then by the time we got to the rough roads it started pouring , we were driven to the side walk at one point for safety. We crossed many bridges in the rain and Megan did well especially considering she had never ridden in the rain. It took us 12 hours to get home.We celebrated at the Outback, the best meal after such a ride.
We are looking forward to the g-2 trip around the lake O.
Rorie

around the world in 80 days (well, almost)

hey everyone, I hope your enjoying your midweek - whatever that may have brought. some of you may have read the email from megan mccracken. megan is a relatively new G2 member, but has not been around as she has been out west. her daughter, bryn, has just completed a 5000 mile coast-to-coast self-supported bike tour! megan flew out to oregon to meet up with her and ride the final leg down to san francisco. I know you'll all join me in wishing them both well and congratulating bryn on an incredible journey! here, here!

bryn in oregon. happy to be able to lift a bike

without 100 pounds of gear on it

megan and the oregon coast

from megan, "This is a Thorne Nomad touring bike from England. Kind of cool that a guy on my daughter's tour brought it here and loaned it to me when they got to Oregon, to be returned to him 2 weeks later in San Francisco. Turns out it fit pretty well. Lucky for me huh?"

addendum, or news from the pack

oh, the myopia of one's own perspective! I just received news from Ed, who was in the main field of Mike's Ride yesterday. it seems that which appeared to be our own power and good luck, also owes a debt of gratitude to at least Ed and anyone else who blocked for the breakaway. my sincerest gratitude and apologies! at the very least I hope the end justified the means.

the weekend for one, twos

image for entertainment purposes only. 

G2 is not represented at the tour of denmark

well, along with matti breschel and jakob fuglsang, matt goss and mark renshaw, G2 had it's own 1-2 finish on Mike's Ride™ this morning. your humble author and Willy van Gent™ (team captain and chief counsellor) managed to time a breakaway to perfection today and roll in 10-15 seconds ahead of the main field of mike's ride. the winning move (if you can call it that in a non-race race) came just after hillsboro avenue. I rolled off the front and was quickly joined by a Bike America rider (well, a rider in BA kit). we got a small lead, but I was fairly convinced that we were just seconds away from getting caught and sat up. no sooner had I committed to being caught and willy came up from the main field and together we closed the gap back up to the BA rider. the trio worked together and managed to get a gap that seemed like it might stick. the only real mar came when we decided to blow the light at palmetto park. while we very seldom run lights (and indeed slowed quite a bit for this one), the thought of a breakaway victory was too strong. the BA rider decided to stop and willy and I rode the golf course section on our own. thanks to willy's calming influence ("dude, don't blow up"), I did not blow up on the long uphill to spanish river. I was concerned that we were just about to get caught, but we kept it steady and powered up the last incline before the long straight to the finish. the spanish river hill is always a deciding factor. unless there are very strong riders in the main group, you can pretty much count on no one being willing to pull hard up the hill. because of this and our steady pace, willy and I were in a perfect position. willy led over the top and we powered along the long straight. I took over the pacing at the mid way point and we held on to cross the line a bit ahead of the lone BA rider and a good distance ahead of the field. it was the kind of finish that just sort of happened. there were no hard attacks, but we just sort of got things right.

in other news, it was very good to see norm out again - the links having only briefly lost their allure. look for more appearances by norm and mo nearer to fall when the greens fees increase. it will be best since we could use their horsepower - and their company -at the front. also making a return was clements venderwerf. straight off of the boat still with hints of sea salt on him... although that might have been sweat, come to think of it... anyhow, he traded his sea legs for cycling legs... which may need another ride or two to return. another shout-out goes to helen mckenzie who, like the helena before her, came out to give mike's ride a go. other than some misunderstandings about where and when the group stopped, she survived quite well. and, for all who are interested but haven't yet come out, riding mike's isn't like being chained to an oar. you can always slow down and finish the ride at your own pace. riding with faster riders, however, is the key to becoming faster yourself. if those are your aspirations, come on out, it is always good to see large numbers of G2s on the ride - front, back, or middle...

although, I daresay we are often in the front!

lord have mercy!

after mike's the reassembled group rode north to lake worth with everyone riding well and taking turns with pacemaking. kevin, rené, kyle, danny, norm, clemens, and jim dusek all did a great job getting us home against a headwind. kevin rode especially strongly today - well done!

 a special thanks to clemens for giving me a ride from atlantic. the thought of riding the rest of the way home had lost it's appeal about 3 blocks north.

another weekend, another triathlon

happy monday folks! and you know what monday means... monday means that it's time for the weekend report! saturday's ride was an easy spin for most of G2 owing to sunday's Huntington's Triathlon in miami. I caught up with the group on their southbound leg just a bit north of spanish river. and, as usual, because of my, as usual, tardiness, I received a mild comeuppance. the easy spin portion of the ride lasted until somewhere just south of hillsboro ave. when someone decided the time was right to wind things up. not sure who it was, but I, for one, am getting tired of our easy rides being spoiled by riders who seem to only have two speeds...

wait a minute...

I think that was me. well, sorry about the disruption of the easy spin. I'll be better next time... I promise.


Huntington's Triathlon

helen, helena, and christine looking good after stomping the competition

sunday came very early for several of us. G2 entered two relay teams: christine manna, helen mckenzie, and helena redshaw comprised the women's team while willy, swimming sensation john acton, and 5'10" of deadweight filled out the men's relay. kevin peranio competed as an individual and vi-an showed up for a good deal of moral support and embarrassing photographic documentation. I'm not sure how athletes on TV manage to continue to look good even when they look bad, but that is sadly not the case with all of us...

john and christine hit the water for their respective teams. john is a very, very good swimmer (and runner, and...) and regularly competes in more extreme events around the country and internationally. we were lucky and grateful to have his volunteer support sunday. despite very warm water temps, both john and christine posted very good times (all individual time available here just follow the link to the "relay teams long course" results). helena and willy took over from there and completed the bike portion. willy managed to better his last 40K average speed. it felt as though there was a bit less wind than our earlier olympic distance back in the spring, but the bridge is always a challenge. helena rode strongly despite not having aero bars. this may not seem like much, but over a course like this one - in both character and distance - aero bars can make a significant difference.

the run portion was left to helen mckenzie and myself. because of john and willy's efforts, I was given a very good head start over the next relay... unfortunately, a combination of my own overdoing and under preparation caused me blow the run - losing almost 4 minutes to my last 10K time. making matters worse was that those 4 minutes would have been the difference between first and second place. my apologies to my teammates. it should be noted, however, that I would have needed every bit of those 4 minutes a the guy chasing me down was running 5:30 miles... uh, yeah. helen, on the other hand, ran strongly and gave the women's team an outstanding finish time. while there were no other women's teams registered, their time put them into 4th place overall with the men's team 2nd overall out of 14 relay teams.

kevin peranio, once again being our resident true triathlete, competed in all events and significantly bettered his times from last year. kevin is doing exceptionally well and we're glad to have him (yo) representing. this race's field, while a little smaller than the publix one we competed in earlier in the year, was far more competitive. in both the relays and the individual races there were some very, very fast people. hats off to all G2s and volunteer G2s who made the weekend fun and competed well! a special thanks to vi-an le for coming out to cheer everyone on and to take the pictures.

I'm hiring an aesthetician and some professional handlers to make sure my next appearances are more... pleasing.

the whole bunch of us

surviving frank stark

another great weekend of riding with G2! well, another great weekend of very fast riding with G2. a quick recap... well, okay, a pretty lengthy recap, but what else are you doing?:

saturday: saturday's ride started with Mike's Ride™. a surprise starter was helena! who ventured out to see what all the hubub was about and generally test the waters. also starting was Willy (captain and King Mixer), Smilin' Jack Gottlieb, and your humble author. we also picked up (All Go) Mo along the way who provided much needed horsepower at the front. G2 did a great job and had several riders in the front all morning. Jack, Mo, Willy and I were among a front group of probably 8 riders as we approached the long drag up to the spanish river hill. Greg Cousins and The Helmetless Dude™ were both ahead having blown the light at Hillsboro. they got a 20-30 second gap that never quite closed, although we got close. Jack and Mo did excellent work splintering the group near the top of the hill leaving just Willy and I ahead. Willy pulled hard with me glued to his wheel and finally pulled off launching me to my best finish on Mike's just behind the two breakaways... although I might have been nipped by a surprisingly strong older rider atop a vintage chromed steel bike... oh, he'll pay... oh yes.

as per the plan, we waited for everyone to straggle in and met the group who were starting at spanish river (Kevin, René, Clemens, and a not-as-yet-a-member Joe,  and continued north to the boynton beach inlet. Helena, I am please to say, did very well and now knows what's up. we hope to see her and more of G2's cyclistes feminine on Mike's Ride in the near future. The rest of the ride  - minus Mo's flat - was largely the usual fun ride with moments of speed. everyone took turns doing the work. Clemens came to the front at one point to administer a smack down to an impertinent rider who had gone forward in a big show only to fade in the strongish east wind. our tall dutchman moved quickly to the front, paused for a stare down, his deep voice intoning the rhetorical "hoe gaat het, be-otch?" before steaming ahead with Mo and I on his wheel. on the way home I took an ill-advised flyer that lasted from just south of atlantic in del ray until the fountain. ill-advised because I didn't realize at the time that I was expected to ride the next day's Frank Stark Ride

pre-race... er, ride. standing tall in a sea of Zs

frank stark: well, what's another 5am morning? I awoke in the pre-dawn dark to get my dogs walked - which I barely did before Clemens arrived to pick me up for frank stark. apparently, willy didn't trust me not to bail and sent the dutch mafia. at least I had my coffee.

Clemens and I arrived shortly before the start. I stayed clear of the start area having gone commando... well, I suppose it could apply to an absence of underwear, but in this case I mean an absence of a paid entry (I know, the shame). anyhow, I didn't feel entitled to any pre-ride goodies and was fairly convinced that I was going to get busted. once the ride began it stayed rather tame. the number of lights and number of riders kept things pretty well in hand. while this was supposed to be the "A" ride, I saw a good many people who I would not have placed there and there was certainly some nervous energy in the group. the beginning, though, was without incident.

once we hit A1A all hell broke loose... well, sort of. somehow willy and I had made it to the very front and bridged to three riders already hauling ass northward. Greg Cousins was (as usual) among the three. willy and I stayed with the group taking hard pulls at 25-28 miles per all the way past spanish river. somewhere in the blur of speed and pain, we picked up Gus who got into the rotation. even though G2 was now the majority in the break, we decided to back off and regroup with the other G2s who were coming up quickly in the next and much larger group. let me tell you, it's a lot easier sitting in the middle of a large pack at 25 and I enjoyed the total lack of effort. chapeau to the three riders up the road, though. they may have slowed at some point, but that is an enormous amount of strength and they would stay ahead the rest of the day.

Gus questions his sanity before the next surge.

somewhere north of lake avenue, the large field began to hot up... and then break up. somehow, I think it was coincidental with willy going to the front, but I'm not sure. at this point what remained was a fast group of about 30 that included pat patregnani, and the much storied Graham Potter™ along with the usual suspects from mike's ride, the always present paparazzi and finally various hollywood stars urging us on from the trailing caravan...

okay, so the paparazzi weren't really there.

we regrouped at the rest stop and gladly took the chance to rest and refuel. the trip home started reasonably enough. the earlier hard efforts and the wind conspired to keep the pace low. somehow, Willy and I slipped off the front and were surprised to be alone until most of the way back to lake avenue . we were finally caught by a group of three others and we tried to get some kind of rhythm, but I was pretty cooked and couldn't hold the pace they were looking to do. I finally surrendered and told willy to go ahead. there were enough people behind that I knew I could ride with someone back to palmetto park. I was caught by a group of about 6 more riders and managed to make it back to willy's group before falling off again. I finally ended up with the Gruppo Potter/Patregnani and was grateful for potter's willingness to pull us all back home. what none of us realized at the time was that somewhere behind, there was a major crash with one poor soul hitting an oncoming car. I heard that they suffered a broken pelvis and other injuries, but I imagine it could have been much worse. other G2s were right in the middle of it, although thankfully none were hurt. Jim managed to avoid actually falling even while hitting the rider in front of him. Clemens was a little ahead and I don't remember hearing where Danny was, but he too was uninjured.

most of G2 after the ride.

the rest of the ride was a reasonable spin back. I, for one, was right knackered (as the brits would say). most of the participating G2s gathered at the start/finish area. the lucky registered ones got to eat and hang out with impunity whilst I remained vigilant and hungry - still convinced I would be exposed. while unfortunate aging hip hop blared through the PA system, the organizers tried somewhat fruitlessly to give away prizes based on entrant's numbers. surrendering to the fact that many had already left, they began to throw out random requirements for receiving a prize. our own Clemens Vanderwerf narrowly edged out a competitor as the "tallest guy at the ride". see? there is an advantage to just showing up. in all a great and fun weekend. certainly, I know you share my relief that no G2s were caught up in the accident and we certainly hope to see more of you out there next year... where you'll find me registered and with a plate full of food.

G2 participants: Willy, Clemens, Jim, Danny, Bob, Gus, Rorie, and your humble author.