I finally got in a century on a limestone trail and on my recumbent. I rode the I&M Canal from Chanohan to Buffalo Rock and back to the Rock Run access. The trail is closed between Buffalo Rock and Utica, but I met a guy that had come from that direction and he said it was open with no issues.
When I started riding more, I ended up doing a metric century (62 miles) after a long night of drinking and lack of sleep. I took off and drove up to Wisconsin to ride the Cheese County Trail starting in Mineral Point. I was probably a bit dehydrated already but had a good breakfast of fried chicken. Of course I was only 35 and not paying attention to anything my body was telling me other than eat now or intoxicate now. I started the ride and all was ok until about 40 miles in. It was the 4th of July and as usual a horribly hot day. Its 90 degrees and sunny out and I’ve got goosebumps and chills. Im tired but everytime I stop to rest, the mosquitos feast upon me. I started to bargain with myself that I could stop to rest in 4 miles, then 5. My muscles were ok but I was seriously bonking. When I completed the ride, I stripped down in the parking lot, put on some clean clothes and went into the brewery that was the trailhead. After some water, a Coke and a steak, I felt great. There was a minor leg cramp while driving home but I appeared to recover very well. I felt great that I had done a ride that had a “name”, a metric century. I just realized that was 10 years ago, how perfect to finally hit 100 but also kinda lame its taken so long.
I’d been trying to get the next “name” ride but something always happens to kill it. In the past its been an evening outing that I had stop riding in order to make or just my body was not prepared for the long saddle time. Last year I hit 91 miles which is so close but my body really couldnt make the last 9 miles even though I had trained so well. I guess I should remind you that this is not the normal 100 mile road route, this is a gravel trail. Theres a bit more resistance than pavement.
This year, I did a number of 60 – 70 mile rides hoping that would . I suffer from cronic leg cramps after long rides. Ive tried alot of things like Gatorade and some magnesium suppliments but nothing really helped. If anything, I found that my body has changed (gotten older) and that I sweat an incredible amount. Doing research found that there were others with the same problem and it was more likely a lack of hydration/electrolytes.
Some site suggested a product from Hammer Nutrition called Endurolytes so I got a bottle. I’ve used it on long ride and have been very happy with the result. At times my legs felt like they were about to cramp, but didn’t. On these last long rides I made sure to keep hydrated. So Saturday I kept the supplements going and made sure to drink a lot. It worked. I was tired as expected, it was a 7.5 hour ride. Afterwards no cramps, no lockups.

Its been a rough winter season but spring is here and I can’t be more relieved.
In order to take care of some other business, I skipped Cycle Zydeco this year. This would have been my 8th time on that ride and I really missed being there riding with friends, drinking, and having boudin and crawfish. I’m hoping I’ll be able to get in for next year.
I did get to ride in Georgia though. We took a trip to the rental unit in Florida and on the way stopped off just west of Atlanta to ride the Silver Comet trail. As it turned out, rain kept us from making the long ride so we headed further west and took the trail to the Alabama border.

We narrowly missed a pretty severe storm that came through on our way back. It was not the lengthy overnight ride that I had hoped for but there’ll be other trips. I didn’t have the Nomad trailer customized for the solar panel yet anyway.

Once in Florida, we took rides on the Pinellas trail and hung out at the House of Beers in Dunedin.

A group of friends and us went up to New Glarus Brewery for the release of the Unplugged Series “Cranbic”.

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The beer is very good, just a bit sour but as expected. Its not over the top like the Belgian Red or Raspberry Tart.

While there, I was able to purchase a smoked beef tongue from the local butcher shop.

update…My biopsy came back OK. So no cancer so far, just an odd healing wound on my neck.

Im in Florida to prepare for a renter from Canada. I drove straight through the 18 hours from Chicago to Lago. Not a tough feat if you have enough Red Bulls.

I was looking forward to having a heapin’ plate of soul food from Food For The Soul in Clearwater, but sadly it closed.

By the surprise of the locals I asked for info, they didnt frequent it so i guess I know why its gone. I was directed to Raco’s Chicken which has other good stuff. Heres my lunch of oxtails on rice, collard greens, mac/chees with a side of fried gizzards which didnt make the car ride home. It was real good, the oxtail was like a juicy pot roast, due to the high fat content.

The gravy was basic but a good match for the seasoned rice. The mac/cheese was much better than Ive had at other places. I asked if it was sweet, like all the others I’ve had… he looked at me like I had a second head. He was also disgusted to hear of sweetened mac/cheese. The greens were tart and their homemeade hot sause put it over the top. The gizzards did not look like anything to be considered until i tasted them. They were pale deep fried but when I had the first one, they were so well spiced that the breading did the job it should, just adding flavor. They marinade them prior to frying and it held up to the oil. They truly did not make it home. The cornbread is really good and sweet but the bottom was overcooked for me. Some may like that but I like my ‘bread soft and underdone. Sad to be without one restaurant but glad to find another.

If the hair loss isnt a big enough sign of getting old, the skin biopsy is. Got my first one on Saturday. The mole on my neck since I was a child started acting up with soreness, discoloration, and swelling. All major signs point to bad news but still could be something simple like an infected hair folicle or a pimple close to the mole. Like George from Seinfield, the dermatologist didn’t give me a “get out of here! That’s what I wanted to hear: “Cancer? Get outta here?”
He did say that even if it was bad news that it was probably caught early enough. So, I gotta wait for the call…

The photo doesnt do it justice..its pretty gross looking.

While on our trip to the Team Scat ride (that does’t seem to happen anymore), we stopped off for beer…go figure.

First off we hit The Grumpy Troll in Mount Horeb, Wisconsin. We have been here before, actually rode there on the Military Ridge trail back in 2005. Their beer was nothing special as I recall but we figured since we were going right through town around lunch, it was time for even an “ok” beer. They have a odd display of a moon shiner above the bar.

This time the beer was pretty good. They had a Ginger Tart Beer that tasted similar to New Glarus’ Berliner Weiss..which i didnt like very much. However, the Dark Belgian was pertty decent @ 9%.

Next stop was the Old Man River Brewing in McGregor, Iowa.

The Oktoberfest was fair but I did like their Dunkel. The environment is really nice and new. The bartender grew up in the area and was able to answer alot of my questions regarding the Pink Elephant supper club and a kids museum that used to be in the area.

We rode our bikes to the Agusta Bottoms beer festival this weekend. Best beer by far was the Pumpkin Barleywine from Buckner Brewing in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.

Most entertaining booth….Ofallons

It was cool to ride our bikes to a beer festival.

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