We rode the Withlacoochie Bike Trail yesterday with Brother Bob. I was impressed. We picked up the trail about five miles from its southern end at State Highway 50 about five miles East of Brooksville and thirty miles or so West of Clermont.

The trail is about ten feet wide and is made from asphalt and pulverized tires. When we finished the ride we had tiny pieces of black dust on our legs that smelled like rubber. The trail is flat but you could feel slight upgrades and slight downgrades. There are roads every few miles you have to cross but they are clearly marked and are lightly traveled country roads.

The trail goes through swampy river bottoms and, later, horse farms and fields. It is well shaded and smooth. There are no broken bottles, beer cans, plastic bottles, papers, etc. I never saw any litter at all. Every mile or so there is a bench to rest at or a picnic table to eat a lunch or snack. There are stores at some of the road crossings and even a bike shop adjacent to the trail. We rode from highway 50 to Floral City, about twenty miles, and back. It was an easy spin and a good taper ride.

Jean rode with Bob for a while then rode next to me (you know she must have been uneasy since she never rides with me). When we would meet other riders she would stay next to me and not go single file (I guess she figured since we were the only true bikers out there we deserved two thirds of the road). It’s kind of like riding with Big John, huh Becky?

There were some other riders out there but we never felt crowded. About half were two wheeled recumbents. Most of the riders were men. My theory is that they were trying to damage their prostates so the widows down here would stop chasing them.

We saw a several squirrels (one of them bounded out and did a pirouette under my tire while I was in the aero position-I held on tight but didn’t hit him-I don’t know how I missed because he was right under my tire), two turtles (I think they were Gopher Tortoises) and a snake about six feet long. The snake was on the left edge of the trail and Jean was riding in the center. Her reaction was to shriek (not scream which would have been tolerable) which scared the heck out of her riding partner (me), then swerve over toward me and almost run me off the right side of the trail (apparently the snake snarled at her which frightened her into this behavior). Now I know why I like to ride alone.

We may make a bike rider out of Brother Bob but it’s going to take some work. First of all he won’t wear a helmet. He says it goes back to the days when he rode motorcycle. The bike was old and, if he wore a helmet, he couldn’t hear the parts fall off. Sometimes he would have to backtrack miles to pick them up off the road. Secondly, he rides quite slowly. I think it’s because it’s too hard to keep his cigarette lit while riding fast. And thirdly, his pre-ride energy meal consisted of two hot dogs from the weenie machine at a Speedway gas station at 8:30 AM. I think he’ll come around but we may have to spend a lot of time here in Florida to check his progress.

I’ll sign off now. We are down to two weeks and counting. I’m starting to feel the pre-race jitters. Why did I sign up for this race anyway?

Jack & Jean

PS – Jean still hasn’t run (three weeks tomorrow). Not looking good