My South Florida Adventure

I recently got a chance to take a week off and head down to my old stomping grounds in South Florida.  It was a solo trip without the family.  The weather was great with temperatures in the low 80's everyday except the day I departed back home.

Everyday was spent either heading to the beach,  riding mountain bike trails, going kayaking or both.

Down on Miami Beach they were filming a Orbitz commercial.  It is amazing what an artist can build out of sand. 

I headed out to the Amelia Earnhart Mounatin Bike trails. These trails are very popular for good reason.  There must have been over a 100 people out riding.  No race, no event just riding.  Very popular indeed.

It has been over 15 years since I last rode/raced at Amelia.   The entire trails system has been revamped. I thought the Golden Gate Trail was very cool.  


Back in 1999 the Sandblaster series was very popular.  I enjoyed those event a lot back then. Man have the trails changed. 

Some really cool features have been added and the maintain the trail system very well.  One thing I really like about all of the trails down in South Florida is that they are directional.   It makes riding really safe especially when there are so many riders.

You never know what you will find riding down in the middle of Miami, Florida.  I found this and a few other gems including a boat.

Every park I went to had a bike wash area.  South Florida riders like to keep their equipment clean.

I headed North to kayak the Arthur Marshall Loxahatchee Wildlife Refuge.  The lady who owns this canoe/kayak rental place has been there for close to 25 years.  It is a small family business.  Today here nephew was running the place.  One day I would like to have a business like this.

The Everglades are full of all kinds of wildlife.  This little guy paid me a visit while I was getting ready to head out for the days adventure. 

I had the entire Canoe Trail to myself.  When Carolynn and I go we usually do only one lap but I decided to try two laps today for about 12 miles.  The going was tough at times do to the Nymphaeaceae (Lily Pads). I had to take several brakes to complete my journey.

There is a business for everything down in Florida.  It appears that the residents are so overworked that they can not even clean there own BBQ grills.  Actually when I think about what a pain it is to clean a grill I wonder if I should open up a franchise here in KC?

I rode at Quite Waters several times because my parents live only about 5 miles from the park.  Quite Waters used to be the main trail system that I would ride on when we lived in Coconut Creek.   This park was flattened by hurricane Wilma back in 2005. 

The entire trail system at Quite Waters had to be rebuilt.   For a small area that got a lot of trails with most of them double back along each other. 

This little island brought back some memories.  Back in the early 80's before Quite Waters was even built this area was used by 4x4's and ATC's (yes I said ATC.  ATV's as we know them today were not yet made).   I used to swim out to it.  Funny how things looked so large when you were a kid.

Overall I think they did a good job of rebuilding the Quite Waters trail system.  It has  rocky base in most areas as the terrain was drudged up from the Quite Waters lake years ago.

On my last day I visited Markam Park in Ft. Lauderdale.  This trail system as also changed over the years with many new miles of trails.

The soil on many of the trails were a nice black rich soil.  It was very fun to fly along through the trail system with all the traction you could possible ask for.

Of all the parks I think enjoyed Markam Park the most.  They variety of trails there is overwhelming. 

I about killed myself riding down this section.  It might have been because I was riding a bike that was to small for me.  After this near death experience I realized why the park makes you watch a safety video and sign a waiver before you ride.  I never did watch that video and sneaked in on the backside of each course.  Funny all those old places that I used to ride into the park are still there.

It was a good week down in South Florida.  I enjoyed myself and even got a little tan.

Beaches and Bikes

Our winter vacation has been going well. It has been nice to visit my family and catch up with some friends. I am glad I decided to bring my DEAN down with me. I usually borrow a bike, but having your own bike that fits is sure nice. It is also nice to be riding in 80 degree weather and feel that warm sunshine and cool Florida breezes....

Our next beach we visited was Deerfield Beach. . One of the local favorites. It has a good mixture of surf, sand and fine dining. ..Just as we found a spot on the beach Christopher started to head into the water to begin enjoying the day. Within minutes a large crowd started to gather. Someone said they saw a shark. Sure enough as I observe the breaking waves I saw a 6 foot Lemon Shark. Shortly after the life guards starting yelling for everyone to exit the water. Some swimmers did not want to leave the water. All I know is when I see a life guard waving his arms and blowing a whistle my butt' is heading to shore ASAP.....Christopher and I ventured about 1 mile South and decided to check out the waves. They were just too temping to pass up. We had a blast and really enjoyed the day.

Saturday I met Joel and Moe on one of their morning training rides. They are on Team zMotion based out of South Florida. Today's ride was about 70 miles long with an out-back on A1A up to Palm Beach. I don't know if it's the free buffet breakfast that is served after the ride, the beautiful ocean view or the team motor scooter that paced the group, but over 50 riders showed up for a nice early morning ride. It was nice to get in some good quality miles and the ride brought back some fond memories of when I called South Florida home.

Monday we headed to the Florida Keys for 2 days of snorkeling and sea kayaking. We got a nice room at Key Largo Resort at Manatee Bay. It is only 500 yards from John Pennekamp State Park which is a great place for snorkeling and kayaking among the mangrove trails. We tried to go today, but the park was completely full so we headed down south to find a local beach. Much needed testing was needed on our equipment. We finally did find a beach, if you want to call it that. Harry Harris Park was a site to see. It was like a miniature little island with a lagoon. We made sure our masks and snorkels were in good working order. We saw some very cool looking fish and a few lobsters. Carolynn had a little accident on the way down to the water. Those rocks were a little slippery.

10 Days of Hell

Since last weeks Full Moon Mountain Bike Ride I have been out of commission. First I get the flu then this darn Sinusitis that it appears I contacted from someone/thing has really beat me down. I tried to train some (like last weekends ride with Dan and Randy), but my body was having nothing to do with it. The worst part is the migraine type headaches that came with it. After 10 days of hell I finally broke down and went to the doctor yesterday. It is amazing what some Rx, a sinus wash and 12+ hours of sleep will do for you....at least my problems are not as bad as my teammates perirectal absess. Don't worry I will not post a picture of it.....

My brother forwarded me an email from one of our old classmates that lives in South Florida. Joel, who during school didn't even know how to ride a bike, is now an avid cyclist down in Florida. Apparently a car pulled out in front of a small pack of cyclist and several of them went down. Mark Hewitt took the worst of it going through the windshield of the car. I don't know which is more dangerous, riding in Kansas City or Ft. Lauderdale. After thinking back on several near death experiences that I had when I used to train on those crazy Florida roads I vote on Florida :-)