Wednesday Random Thots

Today was a ride day, while it was warmer than yesterday I still wore my arm warmers. Yesterday I told you about the people I usually see. Today I thought I would tell you about the sights that I see. As I left my house it was light enough I didn't need a headlamp or my rear blinky but still a little foggy or maybe it is mist. I noticed that the re-cycling truck that picks up glass, plastic and newspapers had dropped some glass on the road. You have to be careful of these since my tires are more slicks with no tread and I ride with 100 lbs of air in my tires. These little shards of glass will cause a major flat.

As I left my circle I noticed the road here was wet. Not from rain because it is now dry season and we get little or no rain until June when it rains every afternoon at 4 pm. No it was wet from the irrigation. With my slick tires I have to be careful taking the next corner to fast.... anything over 20 mph.

As we turn onto Southern Hills Drive Tony stands in the saddle to sprint, he is trying to sprint more to get in shape for the straight-a-way where he wants to get to 35 mph. This sprinting causes me to speed up, the only problem is Southern Hills Drive has speed bumps which jars everything my speedometer and cadence stop working and the road ends in a cul-de-sac where we turn around. I have a tri bike, Quintana Roo, which doesn't handle as well as Tony's Trek Madone roadbike. So at the turn-around I fall behind yet again. Since I'm trying to train for triathlons I remain in the saddle most of the time and just try to spin faster to catch up. Some times it works.

A golf cart pulls out in front of us as we head back and this is a signal for Tony and I to go faster to try to catch the cart and pass it. I change gears to 5 down and off we go and yes we catch and pass it nicely saying "Good Morning" to a startled golf cart driver. We are doing 23 mph the cart is doing about 19 mph.

As we head up Tony's street we watch for Coffee Drinker and Collie. I am convinced that since I haven't seen them in a month they are planning a sneak attack. At the end of Tony's street, another cul-de-sac, we turn around and it is catch-up time to me. We come down his street to he back gate blow thru the stop sign and head up to the Fitness Center.

At the Fitness Center is a large parking lot where we cruise around the perimeter get a drink and start back the way we came but making a right to go to the famous straight-a-way. I usually pull from the Fitness Center around Island Circle then jump the sidewalk up a slight incline to the straight-a-way. I get a sip of drink get into aero position again and I try to pull Tony as fast as I can. Here on the straight-a-way we usually have to announce the "BIKES COMING" to move the Groupies (6 ladies walking in the road side-by-side). At about half way we are doing 28, Tony goes around me, I try to get on his wheel but usually since he is 8 years younger than me (I'm the better looking one) he drops me.

As we make the lefthand turn and head to the Boat Yard we jump onto the trail/bike path that passes the "Pottie House" then on to the road again heading back toward my house. Here we saw a LARGE DEAD RAT. No the little ones like we saw last winter. And not the Palmetto Rats that I killed in my attic last year. No, a real RAT.

When we make the turn to my street, we spot a dead snake. He's nicely coiled but dead. Tony and I do my street as fast as possible then back to Southern Hills to start our second loop hoping to find another golf cart to pass along the way. Those two loops make 20 miles. Sometimes I go to Tony's house and back another 5 miles to cool off.