Summer Vacations

[Mark B]

Anybody making plans for summer cycling vacations?

I've been thinking about a few.

I was thinking about doing a tour ride down the west coast, either self supported, or family supported.

I was also thinking about doing a cross-state ride, like RAGBRAI, or one similar to it.

Brewmaster has me thinking about Oregon. I've cycled up there before and it was pretty neat.

Of course, much depends on what happens with the economy, the price of gas, etc.

Mark

 

[trapdoor2]

We're headed for Orlando in April (no, not to Dizzyworld) and I intend to ride the Withlacoochee trail on whatever rental recumbent they have available. The trail is about 50mi long and reportedly quite nice. That reminds me, I sent an email off to Suncoast bicycles last week and never got a response on their rental program...perhaps I should call.

Now I'm headed out to the MUT. It is in the mid 50's and blue sky is calling me to ride!

 

[teacherbill]

Off the trail in Floral city is a Cruzbike dealer.....

Hamptons Edge Trailside Bicycle
- http://www.hamptonsedge.com
8294 E Orange Ave, Floral City - (352) 419-4809

Bill

 

[trapdoor2]

Hi Bill,

Yes, I will be paying them a visit. Wouldn't it be nice if they had a Cruzbike ready for me to run up and down the trail! I have also been exploring the option of just buying a rack for the Prius and bringing my conversion along for the week.

 

[teacherbill]

trapdoor2 wrote: Hi Bill,

Yes, I will be paying them a visit. Wouldn't it be nice if they had a Cruzbike ready for me to run up and down the trail! I have also been exploring the option of just buying a rack for the Prius and bringing my conversion along for the week.

I will let you in on a non-secret, I plan on buying a conversion bike from them when I get there. It should be in mid-April, right around the Assult on the trail. Last I heard Regis had a few Cruzbikes in stock and if the price was right he might rent one out.... Tell him Bill from Sebastian sent you. :mrgreen:

 

[trapdoor2]

Well, I did get to visit Hampton's Edge bikes and Suncoast. Suncoast had no recumbents for rent but were very nice and gave me driving directions to Hampton's Edge. They were closed Monday (and Tue.) but I finally got down there Thur. I got there about 30min after they opened and was lucky enough to snag the last rental recumbent. Evidently they're "The Place" to rent bikes on the Withlacoochee, as the place was jumpin. The trail was full of recumbents of all types (no Cruzbikes though) and I joined them on a "Cycle Genius" longbike.

Bill, your conversion is still there and waiting for you. They also have a Softrider in the racks.

Hampton's Edge is smack in the middle of the trail, it is 23mi to either end from there. I chose the "wild" end and ran about 10 mi down to the Withlacoochee wildlife management area. The trail is very smoothly paved and in excellent condition. Gee, with 27 gears to choose from and no hills...I think I used three gears the whole time (apart from starts and stops). Only negative is that it is so straight and so flat that one can get a bit bored just pedalling along. I did see a tortoise and a bobcat...no gators. The bike was OK, but after about 20 mi, I got a serious case of recumbutt. The position is very upright and although it started out quite comfortably, it ended poorly. :roll: I did forget to put sunscreen on one arm...got just a bit too much sun on that one.

+1 First trail I've been on where the recumbents outnumbered the DFs. Saw half dozen Catrikes, equal number of GRR/TourEz types and a couple others. -1 Even at my age, I dropped the average age on the trail by several years...I don't think I saw anyone under 65. :lol:

 

[teacherbill]

[quote="trapdoor2
Bill, your conversion is still there and waiting for you. They also have a Softrider in the racks.
[/QUOTE]

The conversion is waiting no longer. It has a new home in Sebastian. I got over there this past weekend. Now I can set my sites on other things. Will be going over it with a fine toothed comb and then hand it over to my the bike shop that takes care of my OCR2. Thinking of changing over the handlebar set up from the "flat-bar" type look to more of the style that is on my OCR. I think that will lessen the strain on my shoulders from sports when I was a good deal younger. Sports paid for part of my college, so I cannot complain too much. Just wish I had elected the surgery to get fixed way back then.

For a vacation, I found the first ride across North Carolina, from Murphy to Manteo (Nags Head). Figure since I have a few weeks off during the summer I could park the van in Nags Head go west to Murphy (up hill) then catch a good long descent back to the van. I wonder what my bride will say .....

 

[Mark B]

So far, every idea I've had for a summer cycling adventure has gotten shot out of the water. I'm still working on it, though.

Mark

 

[backley]

Hey guys and gals,
A real neat summer ride is in Idaho. It is a 72 mile long paved trail from Coeur d'Alenes up the Mullan valley. It is a wonderful ride and you can find out more information on this link. I understand that there is also a Cruz Bike dealer in the vicinity. http://friendsofcdatrails.org/CdA_Trail/index.html We do have some wonderful rides in Oregon too, Mark.
Have fun this summer in any case,
Blaine

 

[teacherbill]

Mark B wrote: So far, every idea I've had for a summer cycling adventure has gotten shot out of the water. I'm still working on it, though.

Mark

I feel your pain, when I got home after school was out, I looked at the equal sign in the checkbook. Wonder if I can get a "bailout"?