Florida Base
We are here and it’s everything we wanted. We rolled in late Thursday night after sitting in the hwy, stuck in a parking lot that suddenly appeared on 75 south. After the 4 ambulance and who knows how many cops drove by, I knew we were going to be there a while. When the helicopter landed on the hwy, then I shut off the engine and took the dogs for a walk…..another hour later we were rolling down the hwy. I hope who ever went for the flight is doing well now.
Friday we headed for my friend Kevin’s place in Bradenton. We did a road ride, hit the gym and then watched Fight Club on the 65″ big screen…that the closest Namrita and I have ever been to the movies (no we have never gone to a movie together…weird huh?). The house is working out well. Kevin is Omaha visiting family….say hello for me…so we have the whole house for Namrita and I and the boys. The roads down here all have bike lanes too!
Saturday we woke up to bandage issues with Porter. He had surgery last week and he was unexpectedly bandage-less in the AM. I think now that he is off the pain meds he is active enough to trash the bandages or he is active enough to expose our poor bandage wrapping abilities. We finally worked something out with a baby sock and went riding at Flatwoods near Tampa. It’s pan flat, but still fun for me. This is where I first started riding in FL. I used to live about 3 miles away. I used to think it was pretty epic to ride from the house do a loop and ride home. I guess it was considering it took me something like 4 hours to do that. Not so much any more. I so many good memories of riding out there….crashes, successes, bonks, work days, unofficial races with friends, wildlife encounters (a panther once), my first night rides and hours and hours of solo riding. We’ll probably ride out there again this week, since it’s perfect for base riding. BTW the Bandersnatch was great in the tight twisty stuff…and there is a lot of that at Flatwoods. I am so impressed with that bike.
After the ride we headed to my brother, Dan’s. He had tickets to the Lighting game. We warmed up with a few beers at the house, then loaded all of us in a van and made our way down to the Forum. Dan, Penny and friends had suite tickets while Namrita and I were 11 rows from the ice. We went our separate ways. 10 minutes later, Dan was letting us know he managed to get us into the suite as well….sweet, that’s where the free food and beer is! We watched first and third periods from up top in the suite and then while the Lighting were shooting near the seats below in the 2nd period we sat down there. It was great. Another exciting bit was to see the new score board over center ice. I worked with Dan to install the video and fiber optics for this beauty. Last time I was at the Forum the video booth was a rats nest of wiring with only 5 days to go to the first game with new score board being installed….it was a tense place. It’s crazy how much was accomplished on such a tight schedule, but I guess when you work with live TV, you get used to those demands.
Sunday was rough ride. We rode at Boyette with Jackson (Porter is on the DL with the bandaged foot) for an hour then went back out for 3 more. The trails here are expanding every time I come back. Gary from the SWAMP club has been very some very technical trails. Short and steep ups and downs, lots of side hill bench cuts and enough roots and rocks to remind me I don’t have any suspension. The ride was a rough though, mostly because the of the hangover from copious amounts of adult beverages before, during and after the hockey game. Good times.
This weeks it’s all about bike fits and base miles. If you are reading this from FL and are interested in a fitting while I’m down you can reach me through the 55nine Performance page.