The Bee-17s will ride the Horse Farm
100 full course from Loften High School,
Sunday, October 23rd.
The Time: The ride will start promptly at
8:30AM. There will be food for riders prior to the event;
parking access closes at 8:15AM, so be sure to
arrive early enough to pick up
your
registration packet, get your free starting nutrition, and have your bike ready to head out with the rest of our group right at
8:30AM
when the pace car leaves. More information is available
here:
http://gccfla.org/gcf/index.html
The Ride: Anyone
who
wants to start with us and ride at our usual Bee-17 speeds (probably
(hopefully?
:) the lower end of the usual
range) is welcome to group with us for the start at
8:15. I expect that we will sort out into
several sub-groups as we often do on our rides, but to the extent
practical, we
will try to regroup at the various rest stops along the way, and at the
midway
lunch stop. Unlike our usual shorter rides, we will NOT guarantee to
wait
for the slowest riders who started with us at every turn, so you should
carry a
printed copy of the route map with you to use in conjunction with the GREEN ARROWS painted on the road, which we have
followed on
our training rides. We have ridden almost every mile of the route in
the
last month, so there should be no reason to get lost now. Remember,
this is not a race; it is an endurance
event;
we "win" by all finishing the full 102 miles and
the
best way to insure that is by taking turns in the group lead
position and not hammering each other into the ground when we do, so that we all make it to the
end on our bikes rather in the SAG
wagon. Be sure to bring adequate water for your needs between
rest
stops, and your own energy snack of choice
for
backup, and eat
periodically as you go to keep your strength
up.
The Start Point:
Loften High School, 3000 East University Avenue (SR26),
east of
the big fork in the road where Hawthorne Rd splits off from University, and
next
door to the Morningside Nature Center.
If you are pretty sure that you want to start the ride
with
us and maybe share the wind-pushing duties at the front part of the time,
please
drop me an email so that we know to look for you on ride day at the
start
time.
The Ride Aids:
Since
anyone could possibly end up riding alone at their own pace late in the
event,
you should print yourself a copy of the route map posted
above.
You need to pre-REGISTER for this event, which
will
insure that you have a packet waiting for you at the event start; register
early and save a bundle, and some administrative time at the
start.
Questions? If you have
any
question about what the Bee-17s will be doing, or suggestions, call
Ed at
(352) 332-5678 (cell) or egardner@xxxxxxx
Because
this is an official Club ride, most other details will either be posted on
the
club web site or distributed on the mail server.
Note: There will be no
regular Saturday Bee-17 ride
this
week, as many of us will be working as volunteers to
support
the Santa Fe Century ride. If you would like to see where
John
Travolta lives, plan to join us
the
following Saturday for one of our regular rides
to
Jumbolair, near Ocala, where he keeps his
Boeing
707 "floaterhome".