Another Day At The Races--Sort Of

Yesterday I was off to the races.

No, I wasn't in the peloton or even at the starting line.  But I was in the vicinity of a track.

All right, it wasn't a velodrome.  But it's probably the one truly important racing venue outside the world of cycling.  I'm talking, of course about the Daytona Speedway.

To be more precise, I pedaled to Daytona Beach, which meant that I did two 100k rides in three days, which is two more than I'd done in the three previous months.  

I rode up and down the streets, along the boardwalk and, yes, on the beach itself.  I was going to do the latter because, I reasoned, if it was OK for cars and jeeps to drive there, why not bikes?  Plus, I was riding a beach cruiser, and I thought perhaps it should actually be ridden on a beach at least once!

Believe it or not, the car lane on the beach is actually designated as the Daytona Beach Highway, subject to all of the same rules and regulations as other automobile routes.  The difference is, of course, that it's sand instead of asphalt or concrete, and the speed limit is ten miles per hour (16KPH). Hey, you can go faster than that on your bike!

But the best part of going to and from Daytona by bike is the beautiful road--Route A1A--that skirts the coast line.  When you're riding north from Daytona, all you have to do is look--real hard--to your right and, on a clear day, you can see Casablanca.  After all, it's only 6866.9 kilometers (4246 miles) away.

The Burn Without The Climb

Tomorrow or some time after, I'll tell you about the ride I did today.  It's another 100K ride, though to a different destination from the one I did the other day.

So, in three days, I've probably done more riding-for-the-sake-of-riding than I'd done a couple of months.  My legs have been holding up surprisingly well.  Maybe I had more "money in the bank", as an old riding partner used to say, than I realized.  

Whatever fatigue I've felt has come from all of the sun I've absorbed on my skin.  Even though I've used lots of sunscreen, I now see--and feel--redness on skin that had been the color of Wonder bread for weeks.

All right, so that last description was a bit of an exaggeration.  Still, I feel as if the past few days have been a new beginning, at least in terms of my cycling--and writing. Yes, I've been doing some of the latter, and it's not related (at least not obviously so) to this or my other blog.

The only complaint I have is the one I have about cycling here generally:  It's flat.  Now, it's probably the reason I've been able to do the rides I've done with relative ease. But to really get back into shape, I'll have to start going vertical.  And about the only climbs around here are the bridge ramps. Even places with "hill" in their names don't require much more of a change in elevation than the floor of one place in which I lived during my youth.

Speaking of my youth:  Yes, I did a fair amount of climbing on my bike.  In fact, during my last two tours in France, I pedaled up a few of the fabled Tour de France climbs.  One day I will write about them, after I sift through my photos and journals of those rides, the most recent of which I did in 2001.

But for now, I'll share this wry image about the difficulty of such climbs:

From Imgkid

Of the peaks mentioned, I have done all except Port de Bales.  Perhaps one day I will do them again, or find others.

Happy Easter From The Florida "Bunny"

So...Yesterday I was feeling good about doing my first 100K ride of the year and, in the process, getting more sunshine in one day than I'd seen in the previous three months.

Today I rode about half as much.  I probably would have had a shorter ride in any event because I started later and had to get back earlier than I did yesterday.  But today I made a point of not venturing very far because I was riding in and out of showers that threatened to turn into one of those Florida downpours that bears more resemblance to Niagara Falls than to most other storms you've seen.  At least, that's what the weather forecasters promised us.

And we did get one, about an hour after I got back--and just minutes after seeing someone who probably weathered it all quite well:

Can you imagine if we had necks like that?  It would definitely put chiropractors out of business!
 

Actually, he's the Florida Easter Bunny. a.k.a. the Great Egret.

Have a great holiday!