Lake Louisa State Park & TT Orlando

Much has gone on since our last post. We spent a week at Lake Louisa State Park, near Clermont, FL. It’s a relatively new state park with very nice sites and facilities. The neat thing about the park are the roads into and around the park. They are well paved and lightly traveled. Perfect for bike riding and running. There are some hills to test your fitness too. When we arrived at the park on Sunday, February 15, there was a triathlon in progress. The biking portion was taking place so I jumped on my recumbent and rode in the race for a short while. Wanted to see how hard and fast they were riding.

The early part of the week was spent chilling out. One day we headed to the West Orange Trail where we rode the bikes into Winter Garden for lunch. I rode from the Panera Bread in Clermont while Audrey rode from the Killarney Station.

On Thursday, Denise (daughter) and Samantha (granddaughter) flew from Harrisburg, PA to Orlando to spend 4 days at Disney World. We spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday with them. Friday was the big day as we headed off to Epcot for the day. Later we had dinner at the new restaurant - T-Rex. Saturday and Sunday we hung out at the pool at Saratoga Springs. The kids left for the cold temperatures of PA on Monday, and we left Lake Louisa State Park for another 2 week stay in TT Orlando. We sure had a good time with the Denise and Sam. We were sorry to see them leave.

Sunday we had a phone call from our daughter (Cindy) in AZ letting us know that she had qualified for the Duathalon World Championships. A duathlon is a running - biking event. Use this link to learn more about the event. http://www.desertclassicduathlon.com/

Needless-to-say we are excited for Cindy. And here is additional good news. Two years ago the championships were held in Hungry. This year they will be held in North Carolina. Go here to view a few pictures of Cindy competing in the qualifying event.

http://tinyurl.com/akw97e

Here in TTO things are going well. Yesterday we rode the West Orange Trail with friends of ours, Myron and Dorcas Whitley. The highlight of the day was Myron & Dorcas demoing a trike in Winter Garden. See the picture of Dorcas.

Over the next few days we'll be putting the bikes to good use. There is a ride scheduled for Friday and Saturday with other recumbent riders. The Friday ride is on the Van Fleet Trail sponsored by a local group of recumbent enthusiasts. The Saturday ride in sponsored by Catrike - the company is located in Winter Garden and will host more than 200 recumbent riders. There will be a morning ride, lunch and a tour of the Catrike factory in the afternoon. We will post updates on these events. Stay tuned.

Riding the Withlacoochee Trail & More

Early Friday morning, February 13, 2009, off we went to ride the recumbents (bents) on the Withlacoochee Trail near Brooksville. The trail runs 46 miles with numerous trailheads making for easy access. Go here to learn more about the trail. http://tinyurl.com/2wgw9 We joined more than 25 other bent riders starting the ride at the Ridge Manor Trailhead. The ride intinerary called for the riders to head to Floral City with a visit to Hampton's Edge Bike Shop (a recumbent shop) before heading back to Ridge Manor. A lunch stop was planned for along the way. In the end, only a few riders rode to Floral City (20+ miles). Most rode to the 10 mile mark and turned back to Ridge Manor. By far there were more trikes being ridden than 2 wheeled recumbents. Audrey rode more than 20 miles while the Corsa logged more than 40. After the ride we headed back to Clermont with a stop at Wendy's for a snack.

Additional pictures of the ride can be found here. http://tinyurl.com/crw4yw

Today, Sunday, is moving day. We leave TTO and move to Lake Louisa State Park for a week. Our friends, John & Pat Lively, leave today too. Myron & Dorcas Whitley left on Friday and Rob & Bonnie Wall leave mid-week. Most of these folks will be back in TTO in a week or two so we'll catch up with them again.

Check out the short Withlacoochee Trail ride video below. Stay tuned for the next update. It will include a visit to Disney with our daughter, Denise, and her daughter Samantha. We are looking forward to the visit.

Here is a note we received yesterday from our daughter Cindy who resides in AZ. She is working hard to qualify for the Ironman in Hawaii - her second appearance.

"Just got back from long run with my friend Carolyn.  I've been helping  
her train for a marathon and I think I created a MONSTER.  She  
recently qualified for Boston and is training so hard that I can  
hardly keep up with her now.  Actually, it's good for both of us.

Doing a long ride tomorrow (3 hours, including some intervals).   
There's not too much time left before my 1/2 Ironman in California."  

Another TT Orlando Update

Here is a quick update on what's happening since the last post. On Wednesday, we headed to the West Orange Trail for a ride into Winter Garden with the start at Killarney Station. Audrey had some work done on her Catrike at the Winter Garden Wheel Works - where she bought the trike. She had the head rest foam replaced and a chain guard installed. Check out the pictures of the owner of the shop, his associates and the Black Cat being worked on.

While Audrey was riding from Killarney Station to WG, I headed out a little more quickly to find the Catrike Factory in Winter Garden. It's an easy place to find but not the easiest to reach by bike. The road leading to the industrial park where the factory is located is heavily traveled and not bike friendly. However once I found the place, I was impressed. I met the owner of the business (Mark) and his main mechanic (Guillermo), and they spend about 15 minutes chatting about the business. Catrike is sponsoring a 2 day rally for recumbent riders on February 28 and March 1. Audrey and I plan to attend. There is no charge for the event -- you gotta like that. Go here to read about it. http://tinyurl.com/b863db . You can go here to view a few additional pictures taken at the Catrike factory. Thanks Mark for chatting with me. http://tinyurl.com/cuw9be

Thursday was a day of fun. Myron & Dorcas Whitley, Rob & Bonnie Wall, Pat & John Lively and Audrey and I headed to RV Liquidators in Orlando to check out the motor homes for sale. On the way we stopped in Winter Garden for pizza at Winter Garden Pizza. No motor homes were purchased but there were many that were mighty attractive.

Yesterday, Friday, we took our bikes and head to a group ride of recumbent riders on the Withlacoochee Trail near Brooksville. There were more that 25 bent riders who participated. Details will be posted later.

More to come another day.

TT Orlando Update

Our stay at TT Orlando continues. Since our last update, we've survived the coldest temperatures since our arrival in FL back in late November. Lows in the morning reached the mid-20s in some nearby spots. There citrus, strawberry and other crops were protected with water sprays that put a light coat of ice on the plants to protect them from a hard freeze. According to the reports, there was minimal damage

Check out the recent slideshow posted on the right side of the blog - "Our Stay in FL '09" . Click on a picture to start the slideshow in a larger view. You'll be able to read the captions.

We have had a couple of days of good bike/trike riding on the West Orange Trail. On Saturday we rode with a couple of recumbent friends, Phil Mix and Paul Giglio, beginning at the Killarney Station. We ate lunch at the Winter Garden Pizza (see the picture). Note the description of the trail on the picture. On Sunday we returned to the trail after attending church and getting a bagel at Panera Bread in Clermont. Audrey rode 20 miles on the trail and I rode 40.

On Monday Pat & John Lively surprised us with a phone call and asked us to join them for an hour without telling us where we were headed. See the picture to see where they took us. What a pleasant surprise. Can you tell by the picture we are at Dairy Queen?

Yesterday (Tuesday) was a work day. Four hours were spent on the roof of the coach - washing, waxing the cap sides and ends and applying UV protectant. Glad to have the job finished. The next task is waxing the coach. While I was on the roof, Audrey cleaned the inside of the coach - dusting, washing and vacuuming.

All for this time. Stay tuned for the next update.

Lazydays: Rally Park & TT Orlando

What a week we've had since the last post. Our stay at Rally Park where we were for 8 days was a winner. We enjoyed our days before the SE Trek Fun Club rally began on Thursday, January 29. The days prior to the rally were very relaxing. We rode our bikes around the Lazydays complex, ate the free breakfasts and lunches in the Club Lazydays Cafe. We took the bikes and rode the Flatwood Park Trail in Tampa. Go here to watch a short video of the ride.

http://www.vimeo.com/2973490

On Monday, we took the coach for service to the Central FL Coach Works in Lakeland where we had a new micro/convection oven and a new bathroom fan installed (both under warranty). Coach Works also installed the digital converter box in the main TV. While the coach was being serviced, we took our bikes to the Van Fleet bike trail only a short distance from the Coach Works. The Van Fleet Trail runs about 40 miles.

The Trek rally was a success with 51 coaches attending. Dave & Rita Neth were the hosts with Audrey and me serving as co-hosts. Go here to view pictures and videos taken at the rally. http://www.setrekclub.com/

Now we are settled in at Thousand Trails Orlando until February 15. Trek friends - the Fishers, the Whitleys, and Claire Weston are here. Former Trek owners, the Walls, are here also. I would be remiss if I did not note that our friends, John & Pat Lively are here for 2 weeks. We spent 3 weeks with them back in early December. I must tell you that when I saw John soon after we arrived here, he gave me a hard time about not identifying them as friends in our previous blog updates. Now I'm trying to make amends. You will be interested to know that John is a famous jockey having won the Preakness in 1976 -- 102nd Preakness: John Lively aboard Elocutionist wins in 1:55. We had a great time with them in December and hope that we have now hopefully redeemed ourselves.

The most recent news to report is the purchase of a new 3G iPhone for me and the hand-me-down of the Edge iPhone to Audrey. Audrey's phone died and needed to be replaced. Rather than buying a new phone that would not equal the functions of an iPhone, we decided to transfer my first iPhone to Audrey. She is a very happy camper who is working hard to master the new toy. I must report that the purchase of the new phone and the transfer was not an easy task. We spent the better part of a day moving between an Apple Store and an AT&T store in Orlando to get everything working. It was a nightmare, but now all is well. The AT&T experience was less than positive at times. The Apple Store service was exceptional.

There is bike riding in our future - the West Orange Trail in the next few days - after the cold spell we are experiencing breaks.