Brrr!! It really did a big temperature drop this weekend.
My friend Jed had come up from Clermont so we could go to Panama City Beach on Sunday and ride the bike route for the ½ Ironman. Jed came down Saturday night and when I got out of work, we had supper and worked on getting my new aerobars on my bike. I love my bike but realize that having large handlebars has its drawbacks. The aerobars clamps did not have screws large enough to connect around the handlebars. We ended up going to Home depot (sucked) and Lowe’s (booyaa!) to get some metric screws to replace the ones that came with the bars.
After that, we prepared for the next days ride so we would not have to mess with it at five in the morning. I was a tired from work and a bit of the flu also, slept like a baby that night.
Sunday morning got up at 4:45 and we took off for the coast around 6ish.
It was cloudy and a bit drizzly as we started and it did not get any better after that!
At the first stop to stretch and do some body functions Jed was trying to tell me how cold it was. HEHE. I did not really feel like telling him that at that time of the day I am still not fully awake and probably numb to the environment! He really was trying to convince me to turn around and head back to my place, but I knew my wife had checked the weather and the weather at Panama City beach was going to be a lot better then the weather in Gainesville.
About an hour later, we stopped to get gas and while he went inside, I filled up the little Hyundai and froze my ass off! We had passed a bank where the temperature on the sign read 48! It has been between the 70’s and 80’s for the pass two weeks and in one day, it drops down to 48? Anyways we asked the woman at the gas station where the closest Wal-mart was so we could get some long sleeve shirts to cut the wind and rain down a bit. Lucky for us it was a short 5 min drive off the main route and we were back on the road in no time with $6 sweatshirts on to keep us warm.
Then we hit Tallahassee. Why they would make a city like this I have no idea, but they really need to put up some signs so when you drive through it you can stay on your route! We lost like 15mins trying to find the road we were looking for, all because they do not have any signs up! Ok that was the end of my rant on Tallahassee.
The closer we got to Panama City the better the weather got. Then the state trooper pulled us over, thanked us for wearing our seatbelts while speeding, and gave me a ticket! It had to be the fastest ticket I have ever received, bang five mins later we were on the road again. It took us about five hrs to get to Panama City beach and then we stopped at a Publix to grab some bagels and set up camp at another Wal-mart.
It was nice and sunny but the temperature was still in the low 50’s and the wind was very strong (we found out later it was 20-25 mph). We donned all our cool looking bike gear and headed out for the bike portion of the day. I started in front first to set the pace and Jed took over after about 4 miles into it, he said I was working to hard (he was right) and wanted to bring the pace down a bit. The head wind was horrendous, I was pushing 17 mph and he slowed us down to 13-15 mph. I was very grateful.
After that, we kept a steady pace that he controlled and I did a lot of drafting! It helped and at the same time the wind was so strong at times that it did not matter. About twelve miles into the bike you hit this bridge, the bridge is really a man made hill, the wind blowing across the top was very strong but we managed a good push up it followed by a very nice downside. At the bottom of the bridge, we made a right hand turn onto a different road portion of the course. The wind was less in our face on this section and it went easy.
I should mention also that this was my first ride with aerobars. I almost fell in the first mile when I tried going aero! After a few miles of going form aero to rode then back to aero again I started to feel a little more confident in myself and really liked the aero position, especially with all the wind we were facing.
A lesson learned is to make sure your aerobars are nice and tight! I hit a bump and my aerobars tipped forward on me! It was not a very pleasant feeling when going around 15 mph on a bike!
We really focused on eating right and getting plenty of fluids, although with the weather the way it was we needed a lot less fluid then we had planned. I had my Camel Pac and two water bottles while Jed had his aero bottle and three water bottles. I still had some left in one bottle and the Camel Pac when I was done.
Overall, the entire bike ride took us around three hrs to finish. Then we did a 50-minute run at Jed’s pace to finish the day out.
Oh, I should mention that at the intersection just before we finished the bike portion of the day (we could see the car in the Wal-mart parking lot) we wiped out in the intersection in front of 50 people! I will honestly say it was all Jed’s fault! Hehe.
Jed drove on the way home and we made decent time but it still took us 5 hours+ to get to Gainesville and then poor Jed still had to drive to Clermont.
Some quick observations on the day:
1. It is a long ways to Panama City Beach from Gainesville!
2. Hyundai’s are not good for long drives if you are over 6 ft tall!
3. Gas station clerks are always helpful.
4. Wal-mart rules!
5. The state troopers should be impressed a Hyundai can get over 50!
6. Spring break is nice in Panama City Beach!
7. When on the highway on a bike and a trailer goes by you at 70 mph, you have the right to be scared!
8. Falling at 2 mph in a busy intersection is just plain embarrassing!
9. Training with your bud is a good thing.
Yesterday I worked late so skipped going to the gym and pool. Today I have a swim planned and also a bike and run to stretch out those muscles from Sunday.
Out of here!
My friend Jed had come up from Clermont so we could go to Panama City Beach on Sunday and ride the bike route for the ½ Ironman. Jed came down Saturday night and when I got out of work, we had supper and worked on getting my new aerobars on my bike. I love my bike but realize that having large handlebars has its drawbacks. The aerobars clamps did not have screws large enough to connect around the handlebars. We ended up going to Home depot (sucked) and Lowe’s (booyaa!) to get some metric screws to replace the ones that came with the bars.
After that, we prepared for the next days ride so we would not have to mess with it at five in the morning. I was a tired from work and a bit of the flu also, slept like a baby that night.
Sunday morning got up at 4:45 and we took off for the coast around 6ish.
It was cloudy and a bit drizzly as we started and it did not get any better after that!
At the first stop to stretch and do some body functions Jed was trying to tell me how cold it was. HEHE. I did not really feel like telling him that at that time of the day I am still not fully awake and probably numb to the environment! He really was trying to convince me to turn around and head back to my place, but I knew my wife had checked the weather and the weather at Panama City beach was going to be a lot better then the weather in Gainesville.
About an hour later, we stopped to get gas and while he went inside, I filled up the little Hyundai and froze my ass off! We had passed a bank where the temperature on the sign read 48! It has been between the 70’s and 80’s for the pass two weeks and in one day, it drops down to 48? Anyways we asked the woman at the gas station where the closest Wal-mart was so we could get some long sleeve shirts to cut the wind and rain down a bit. Lucky for us it was a short 5 min drive off the main route and we were back on the road in no time with $6 sweatshirts on to keep us warm.
Then we hit Tallahassee. Why they would make a city like this I have no idea, but they really need to put up some signs so when you drive through it you can stay on your route! We lost like 15mins trying to find the road we were looking for, all because they do not have any signs up! Ok that was the end of my rant on Tallahassee.
The closer we got to Panama City the better the weather got. Then the state trooper pulled us over, thanked us for wearing our seatbelts while speeding, and gave me a ticket! It had to be the fastest ticket I have ever received, bang five mins later we were on the road again. It took us about five hrs to get to Panama City beach and then we stopped at a Publix to grab some bagels and set up camp at another Wal-mart.
It was nice and sunny but the temperature was still in the low 50’s and the wind was very strong (we found out later it was 20-25 mph). We donned all our cool looking bike gear and headed out for the bike portion of the day. I started in front first to set the pace and Jed took over after about 4 miles into it, he said I was working to hard (he was right) and wanted to bring the pace down a bit. The head wind was horrendous, I was pushing 17 mph and he slowed us down to 13-15 mph. I was very grateful.
After that, we kept a steady pace that he controlled and I did a lot of drafting! It helped and at the same time the wind was so strong at times that it did not matter. About twelve miles into the bike you hit this bridge, the bridge is really a man made hill, the wind blowing across the top was very strong but we managed a good push up it followed by a very nice downside. At the bottom of the bridge, we made a right hand turn onto a different road portion of the course. The wind was less in our face on this section and it went easy.
I should mention also that this was my first ride with aerobars. I almost fell in the first mile when I tried going aero! After a few miles of going form aero to rode then back to aero again I started to feel a little more confident in myself and really liked the aero position, especially with all the wind we were facing.
A lesson learned is to make sure your aerobars are nice and tight! I hit a bump and my aerobars tipped forward on me! It was not a very pleasant feeling when going around 15 mph on a bike!
We really focused on eating right and getting plenty of fluids, although with the weather the way it was we needed a lot less fluid then we had planned. I had my Camel Pac and two water bottles while Jed had his aero bottle and three water bottles. I still had some left in one bottle and the Camel Pac when I was done.
Overall, the entire bike ride took us around three hrs to finish. Then we did a 50-minute run at Jed’s pace to finish the day out.
Oh, I should mention that at the intersection just before we finished the bike portion of the day (we could see the car in the Wal-mart parking lot) we wiped out in the intersection in front of 50 people! I will honestly say it was all Jed’s fault! Hehe.
Jed drove on the way home and we made decent time but it still took us 5 hours+ to get to Gainesville and then poor Jed still had to drive to Clermont.
Some quick observations on the day:
1. It is a long ways to Panama City Beach from Gainesville!
2. Hyundai’s are not good for long drives if you are over 6 ft tall!
3. Gas station clerks are always helpful.
4. Wal-mart rules!
5. The state troopers should be impressed a Hyundai can get over 50!
6. Spring break is nice in Panama City Beach!
7. When on the highway on a bike and a trailer goes by you at 70 mph, you have the right to be scared!
8. Falling at 2 mph in a busy intersection is just plain embarrassing!
9. Training with your bud is a good thing.
Yesterday I worked late so skipped going to the gym and pool. Today I have a swim planned and also a bike and run to stretch out those muscles from Sunday.
Out of here!
posted by Carl Hebert at
11:28 AM
