I finished off my bike week with a 51 mile road ride this morning, in quite humid conditions. I’ve really been biking like crazy this week! Three mountain bike rides at San Felasco totaling 83 miles & two road bike rides totaling 87 miles. A total of over 15 hours on my bike this week! I am losing pounds (over 30 in the last 3 months!) and feeling great!
(photo from Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants)
This morning I started out by leaving my house & catching the Gainesville-Hawthorne trail to Hawthorne. It started out with a light rain, then just switched to humid. Riding around Gainesville lately is like getting exercise & sauna all in one, it really feels good to sweat and I was dripping every ride this week (yesterday my mt. bike ride was so humid I soaked my socks and the inside of my shoes from the sweat dripping down my legs (I know, gross!)). Anyway, about 6 miles on the trail, coming back from Hawthorne, I took State Road 325 headed down towards Cross Creek. About 5 miles down, I take a right on State Road 346 towards Micanopy before getting to Cross Creek. At this corner I noticed on my ride last week that my favorite milkweed, Sandhill Milkweed (Asclepias humistrata), was close to going to seed and I was exited that by this week I would be able collect a couple seed pods! Sure enough, there were some just popping! I brought a plastic bag in my new camelback and I promptly collected them! I have always loved this plant. It has distinctive purple veined leaves and would be a great addition to my native wildflowers. I tried to grow it from seed in Orlando about 12 years ago. I got them to pop up, but they never quite took off. This time I think I’ll try building a little hill of yellow sands this time & see if that helps!
From there I pass over the River Styx on the way to Micanopy. Funny, as I often think of death on my bike rides. Not in a scary way, but more curious as to how. I was wondering the other day how ‘death by squirrel’ would look in my obituary? That day, I must have nearly hit 20 squirrels that get confused when I approach on them on the paved trail. My road bike has arm rests so I can tuck down, but I am not in as much in control then. I try to hiss at them like a cat & that usually helps break their indecision about which side of the trail to head to! I have really been lucky accident wise in my life. I’ve flown over the handle bars more than 100 times in the woods with nothing more than a scrape or bruise (I did crack some ribs one time on pavement, but that was not too bad). I have probably run into 200 poisonous snakes. I actually nearly ran over my third moccasin of the season out at San Felasco on Wednesday. I could not stop, only had time to pop my feet out of my clipless pedals & lift them up. I thought I ran over it, but barely missed it. At least this one moved off the trail, so I didn’t have to pick it up with a long stick. It was only about 2 feet long. The bigger ones tend to hold their ground so I have to move them. I have also been in about 12 car wrecks without injury. Maybe I’m jinxing myself, but I seem to be quite lucky, considering some of the foolishness I have gotten into over the years. I really don’t think I am afraid to die, though I don’t expect it to happen any time soon. I am trying to live authentically these days, so if something does happen to me, please know I was happy, loved and fulfilled! The River Styx does look beautiful at the 346 bridge, I may have to launch my kayak there one day & see how far up I can go & head down to Orange Lake too. If I don’t get run over by an airboat, I could even try to go up Cross Creek to Lochloosa?
As I passed by Micanopy on the short stretch of 441, I stopped to eat my first (and only) granola bar of the trip at a little over 2 hours into the ride. I actually started off thinking that I had forgotten to pack a spare bar, so I was trying to stretch the one I had. But I did discover I actually had 2 in my bike bag (this one was even pre-expiration date!). I stopped at a picnic table in front of the Blue Highway a pizzeria. It was fairly non-descript & closed, but after eating & hydrating, I checked the menu on the door & it looks really tasty! Not sure if I could eat much pizza on such a long ride, but they did have some nice looking salad & such. If I had been an hour later, they would have been open! Maybe next time?
Next I headed up State Road 234 towards Rochelle where I rejoin the trail. I crossed the bridge over Camp’s Canal, just as a nice couple were finishing their canoe paddle down the Potano Trail. They had rented the canoe from Kate’s Fish Camp. Sounds like a fairly good trip and they just had to call on the cell phone for their pick up. There is a little place to park there & I think I will launch my kayak there soon. Previously, I have paddled down the trail by launching at Lake Pithla-chocco boat ramp. I have been most of the way down Prairie Creek but had not quite made it too Camp’s Canal because of late afternoon starts & friends who lose steam. Of course, going that way, you paddle upstream on the way back. I do prefer to go upstream first, so I am excited to launch at Camp’s Canal next time. The couple said the canal was clear! Sounds like a couple snags on the creek, but my kayak has little draft, so hopefully I could glide over them? They said the yellow flies weren’t too bad, so maybe I can try that adventure soon! Anyone interested in joining me?
From there, I had a fairly smooth ride back, though I was pretty weak headed up the big hill at the park. But I made it home to my loving doggies! Not sure about the whole camelback thing. It does allow me to bring plenty of water (I am notorious for forgetting to drink as I already appear to have a camel metabolism). Hopefully it will start tasting better soon! Apparently it is made from PET which is not supposed to be toxic like PVC, but it sure does have a chemical taste. Part of the problem was I put ice in it & used tap water (Gainesville has horrible tap water!). My first ride with Brita filtered water was a little better, I just figured, why use filtered water if I was using unfiltered ice? I am making some filtered ice for the next ride! It was nice having cold water for the first half of the ride, though it was so humid, that the perspiration on the pack was quite wet, but I had my cell phone in a ziploc anyway (I guess I have enough plastic with me). OK, time to walk my dogs & plan my next activity (other than work)!
