Florida Bike Rides and Events that we've been to!

March 31 2012 I took the new Orange FWD Trike to the 2012 Clean Air Ride at the Withlachoochee Trail. For $20 you get a T-shirt, food and snacks plus a high quality biking experience! I took the video camera along for this event and I got some great video and rode with some of the local recumbent group riders. This was my longest ride in some years, almost 50 miles!

Heading toward Floral City. Photo by event photographer Erik Stellmach.

Video Captures:

March 3 2012 I took the new Orange FWD Trike to the 2012 Catrike Rally for 'show and tell'! I spent a lot of time talking to interested folks and met some folks from the online forums. I brought the video camera and shot the rally a little differently this time. I was working on a new motorized camera mount, but didn't get it to work with the limited time I had...next year!

Getting ready for the start.

Nov 20 2011 I've been very busy in the last month or so. In mid October I was in South Carolina and rode the Swamp Rabbit Trail twice while visiting relatives and got sick as I road 2 hours in the rain! Then I took the trike apart to modify it for the new all aluminum front and rear sections. With the new aluminum front section and new crankset I signed up for the Horrible Hundred in Clermont, Florida.

For those who don't know, Clermont and the surrounding rural areas have some of the highest elevations in the State of Florida. Every year there is a bike ride that goes over the area's highest hills in a single day event. The "Horrible Hundred" has options of 35, 70 and 100 mile routes, and being realistic I signed up for the 35 mile ride.

Unfortunately my planned 'training' ramp up to the event was sidelined by welder and painter delays on the new pieces, so I had to tough it out! But I finished with my two goals intact: One was to finish in under 3 hours which I did at 2 Hours 47minutes. And the second goal was NOT to walk up a hill! The hills that have names are not long, just short and steep. And I didn't walk up any, it was a bear just turning over the crank on some hills near the top, and there where plenty of riders walking up! And like most people say, the last 5 miles is very challenging. Can't wait for next year!

Thanks to Dawn Lovo for the 2011 Horrible Hundred Ride Photos!

Oct 2 2011 I participated in the 17th annual Rails to Trail event in Withlacoochee, Florida. This is a fund raiser to support the trail. For a $20 fee you get a T-Shirt, breakfast and lunch! A long day with over 5 hours to and back driving time plus the 3 hour ride time for me. I'm not up to a 60 mile or longer ride yet at the speed I like to go, so I did 45 miles. I didn't do any video as this trail is pretty much straight each way. There was a photographer on the trail taking pictures of the riders, so you could get a nice pro quality souvenir too! You know what they say; "no pics, it didn't happen!"

Inverness Trail Head, October 2 2011

On the Withlachoochee Trail heading toward Inverness.

July 16 2011 I went back to Cocoa to do another tour of the Riverside Drive ride with another trike enthusiast and we hit the High Point Loop. As I treat each ride as a testing ride, I wanted to see how the trike does up a short steep hill. I used the lowest gear, which currently is a 42x28 or roughly a 30 inch gear. The trike pulled pretty good and nothing broke! The hills and low gears generate all the torque on the driveline and it felt strong on the hill. The production trikes differential will have improvements to handle more torque than the prototype design I'm using.

July 9 2011 I attended the CRABS recumbent ride in Cocoa, FL. The River ride is about 28 miles up and back on a scenic riverside street next to the Indian River. Afterward we had lunch in Cocoa Village. I didn't video this trip as I wanted to meet the folks and enjoy the ride without worrying about the camera. I signed up to their yahoo group to keep up to date on group rides.

May 29 2011 I went to South Carolina to visit family on an extended Memorial Day weekend. They live near Greenville which has a lot of outdoor parks and trails. The Swamp Rabbit trail is about 11 miles long and goes from downtown Greenville to a little town called Travelers Rest. Downtown Greenville has the Reedy River Falls and it's very scenic and beautiful.

March 5th 2011 Whew! What a day! The Catrike Rally was a blast and lots of fun. I met lots of friendly folks and had a nice 30 mile ride from Winter Garden to Clermont and back. After the ride we all parked our trikes downtown and had some lunch! Winter Garden has never seen so many riders on trikes, over 100 or more! I had heard 183 had registered from all over the country. The official Catrike Factory Tour was held at the plant at 2:30 pm and we all got a closer look at one of the best recumbent trikes in production. Can't wait till next year!