Now, what she does want to do is improve her cycling stamina and speed. I really would like Nancy to join our "C" group of cyclists on Saturday mornings. However, she is somewhat hesitant to do that for fear she can't keep up and doesn't want to hold the group back. I assured her she can do it. Today was a good example of her improvement. We bicycled over 20 miles this morning and averaged over 12 mph -- she's ready!
One of the goals we both have is to do a century ride -- 100 miles. The most I've ever done at one stretch is 60 miles and Nancy has gone 50 miles. We both have a ways to go to accomplish that feat. Don't laugh, but riding 100 miles requires "TITS" training. That stands for "Time In The Saddle" training which translates into lots of miles. Hopefully, once we retire we will have more time to ride more miles.
One thing we love to do to rack up the miles is riding "Rails to Trails" bike paths. One trail we rode this year was the West Orange Trail near Orlando. The West Orange Trail is 22 miles long with an 11 miles extension planned. It is one of Florida's most popular trails. Kilarney Station is about 2 miles west of Oakland and that is where we started. We headed east through downtown Winter Garden and continued on to the Horse Farm. Round trip we went about 40 miles. We rode through and next to many orange groves. There were even orange trees right along the path. Nancy begged me to stop and pick a couple oranges. They were the WORST oranges we have ever tasted. No need to do that again!! However, this is a DO AGAIN trail. It was wide enough in most places to ride side by side. It had beautiful comfort stations every 5 miles or so, complete with air pumps for your bike tires. The scenery was spectacular and that is the main reason we love the rails to trails rides. Following are the photos taken along the trail.
Yes, we were in Central Florida!!
Comfort Station
Taking a break at the Horse Farm
Picking Oranges
Downtown Winter Garden - Trail goes down middle of road!!
Covered Bridge over the highway
Shaded Trail
Spectacular Scenery
If you really want to enjoy these beautiful rides, you need to do a little training to build your endurance. Perhaps a another name for this blog could have been...
"Older Couple Pedals for a Century!"
Wow! I like *your* rails to trails!
ReplyDeleteMy original idea for fulltiming was to kayak all the National Wildlife Refuges which is beginning to seem like a rather HUGE undertaking but after looking at this post I wonder if I should check into kayaking the wildlife refuges AND riding the Rails to Trails in whatever states I'm in. You may have made my goal even more outrageous but thanks for the idea and inspiration. Your pictures were great.
ReplyDeleteI found it was easier to spend more time in the saddle when I got one that matched the size of my posterior...and gel padded, too. ;c)
ReplyDeleteThose look like some really great trails! Good job on the cycling too! It takes a lot of stamina to pull off those big miles like that. I know I don't have it yet! Love that covered bridge!
ReplyDelete-Mike
97 Roadtrek 170P "Taj Ma Trek"
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