COVID-19 served as a change in daily fitness routine from swimming to cycling. And it's about time that I got back in the saddle since moving to SWFL! Been 6 years out of form, and I am thrilled to be turning the cranks once again.
It took about 7 months to build up from 25 miles to 70 miles. Most every Saturday I'd ride in Naples with my friend, and each week we'd add a little more miles and intensity. The more I rode, the more my thrist increased for peleton riding. I searched for an event that suited my desires, and found the Tour De Forts, by CAAMEvents in St. Augustine, FL.scheduled for Sept. 13th. It was moved from April to September due to Covid, then it became a virtual event. No travel, no problem, and can do it any day on or before the day of event. There was no requirement to turn in your result. They used the honor system, however, I decided it would be nice to see the route. I don't use Strava or Garmin, so I dowloaded the #Tracker app. It was unfortunate my cycling partner was out of town for the weekend, but we were certain I'd find some friends along the way, which I did!
I was pretty excited about embarking on this long ride. The Saturday forcast was as follows; wait for Inverness 19 to dump rain and wind on our region. Luckily, I beat the storm, and Sunday was a wash out! Getting an early start was imperitive if I wanted to get ahead of the wind and rain. Wheels were down at 0620, heading North into slight headwind.
The first encounter I had with a cycist was about 20 miles into the ride. He was coming out from a gated community, and waited for me to go by. I was going easy, so he immediately came around me and started sprinting really hard. I was thinking, okay, I don't want to catch you, but I will speed up a bit to keep him in my site. After about 1-2 miles, he turns around. I continue down the road at a nice friendly pace. I cross over highway 75, where there is a little hill (Yeah).
On the other side of the bridge, the route goes left to continue North. At that point I spot three cyclists (guys) going North at a nice pace. One of them had blarring rock and rock/heavy metal music playing from his bike somehow. One was pretty strong, pushing the 11 the whole time. The third rider was second strongest. I get on their little train and noticed the pace was a little light for me, and came around all three. I was pulling for a bit, when the stonger guy came around and commented, "We normally not have riders come around us, especially a single rider!" That was a nice compliment!
Their route took us in and around the airport as you can see on the map, and the roads are wide open. I took a strong pull, and their strongest rider, comes around to take his turn, and says, "I don't think I can go that pace." I was thinking, yes you can! So he went harder than usual and dropped his buddies. LOL. The guy with the music suffered the most. At one point the music guy pulled up along side of me and said, "You will be the caues of my slow death." That sounds pretty bad!!!!
After all the fun with them, we parted ways at the bridge where I'd make my way south, hopeing for a little tailwind before it changed due to the storm. As I rode along I passed a guy and thought he might hitch a ride on my wheel, but didn't. He later caught me at the light down the road, and said, "This was the only way I was going to catch you." He just didn't feel like going harder than he was at the time. We chatted a bit, and became friendly, with I believe an intention to ride back to Naples together, since it would be faster. While waiting for the long light, another cycling duo (guy and girl) approach the light and I was thinking, let's catch this train back to Naples. That is exacty what we did! Actually, I don't think the cycling couple were at all thrilled we were sitting on their train, but he wasn't going to shake us. If he did try, pretty sure he would have also dropped his girlfriend!
All in all, it was an interesting mix of folks that I sort of met on this 70 mile journey. My first, and only
fuel stop was at mile 58. Texted mom, to let her know I was a-ok and had 12 miles to go! I wanted to see the beach, so I stopped for a photo opp. I saw a NBC2 local newscaster leaving the beach, and called out her name, 'Hey, it's Shannon Clowe! She said 'Hi' back.
After tooling around to get the added miles, while trying to stay out of the rain, I finished the ride feeling pretty darn good!! It was a heck of a fun day! Thanks CAAMEvents for the motivation. Keep the rubber side down, and stay safe out there!
https://www.sports-tracker.
