Dolly's Bike Blog

For two weeks, we enjoyed lots of family, and a bit less cycling.  Many photos below with a quick overview chronology:

3/16:  Took the day off from cycling after 14 consecutive days on a bike, also preparing for arrival  of Parm/Henry and Terry Morse, my brother and his wife.

3/17: Tandem 25.95 miles; Don played golf with Parm.  Long walk into Lake Sumter Landing with sister-in-law Terry.

3/18: Tandem 35.15 miles; more golf for Don and Parm.

3/19: Tandem 24.30 miles.  We drove to Orlando/Disney to see Cirque du Soleil, la Nouba.

3/20: Rode with Brenda and Helen from CCST13, 40.24 miles on my single bike.

3/21: More cycling with Brenda and Helen 49.73 on single; Don and Parm golf; Tim, Molly, Ana and Yoseph arrive from Indianapolis (the grandkids are staying with us, the parents at a nearby hotel).

3/22:  Single 24.93 miles; brunch with Charlie & Diane Zaharako (MTR 2004); Tim and family to Disney World.

3/23:  It actually rained during the morning, but cleared for an afternoon swim.

3/24: Tandem 31 miles; Don and Tim golf.

3/25: My birthday!  Parm & Terry depart, returning to Oregon; Sarah, Matt and Mason arrive late in the evening in Orlando (Three grandkids overnight).

3/26: Family swim.  Tim, Molly, Ana, and Yoseph head back to Indiana.

3/27:  Pre-season baseball at ESPN Park: Red Sox vs. Braves (Red Sox lose).  We depart in 4th inning just before heavy rain downpour.

3/28: Tandem 30.19 miles; mini-golf with Sarah, Matt and Mason.

3/29:  Movie “Cinderella” with Sarah, Matt, and Mason

.3/30:  Sarah and family depart for Virginia; dinner with Villages friends at Cannarellas.

Delightful dinner with Cannarellas, Duncans and Jordans.

(I’m exhausted just typing all of these activities!)

Don and I decided to join the local bicycling groups from The Villages today, on a ride called the Sumter Surprise.

We were joined by John & Madelyn, tandem riders and neighbors from Carmel, IN, who have stayed with us the past 2 nights.  A group of about 50 left Brownwood, the southern square in The Villages, complete with police escort and bicycle shop sag support.  We wandered over rural roads and some state roads to Bushnell, the county seat of Sumter County, which also includes The Villages.  One of the county commissioners, also a resident of The Villages, gave us a brief history of the county and the county courthouse (behind the group in the photo below).

We continued on to the Dade Battleground where U.S. forces battled with Seminole Indians, who were refusing to give up their land and move to Oklahoma – certainly a bit of Florida history I didn’t know (the ranger indicated that the battle’s significance was diminished because it was in a similar timeframe as the Battle at the Alamo).

Our final stop was at the Sumter County Fairgrounds.  Regretfully we arrived 45 minutes before the fair was scheduled to open, so after a bit of a walk-around, we climbed on the tandem and headed back to The Villages – 60 miles for the day!

I have ridden on each of the past 14 days, 274 miles on the tandem, 172 miles on the single, a total of 445 miles, averaging about 32 miles a day!  I plan to take the day off tomorrow, my body needs a bit of a rest.

John & Madelyn joined us for 2 days of tandem biking.

A County Commissioner tells us about Sumter County history.

At the Dade Battlefield, listening to history lesson by Park Ranger.

While the Fair wasn’t yet open, we could view the 4H animals.

I am planning another epic bike trip, this time up the East Coast from Fort Lauderdale, FL to Bar Harbor, ME, sponsored by Womantours (the same tour company I used for my Cross Country tour in 2013). Don and I plan to bike from Key Largo to Key West and back to Key Largo, self-contained, so I can start at the farthest point south. Then I will ride on my single alone, supported by Don, from Key Largo to Fort Lauderdale, where I will join the Womantours group. I estimate my total mileage for the entire trip will be close to 3,000 miles.

Once again, I plan to blog here. Be sure to sign up to “follow” me – in the righthand sidebar – to receive email updates whenever I post a new entry.

For this trip, I will be raising funds for Equal Justice USA (EJUSA), where our daughter, Sarah, has worked for the last 10 years. Sarah and her co-workers at this small non-profit help states end the death penalty, while also educating about the glaring problems in the U.S. criminal justice system. It is a special coincidence that I will be biking through/near states that have repealed the death penalty in recent years: Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut.

You can learn more about EJUSA on their website. Please consider a donation to EJUSA in support of their goals, and my bike ride, through my fundraising site. Even if you don’t choose to make a donation, please check out the EJUSA website for lots more information about the death penalty and the U.S. criminal justice system.