Attention all GCC members,

I am posting a ride that is not limited to just HighBees.

Day: Saturday, January 17, 2009

Time: 7:00 am meeting, 7:15 am departure by vehicle for our ride destination, the Pinellas Trail.  This should get us to the trail head around 9:30 am.

Meeting Place: LeStore, on the corner of SW 34^th St and Williston Road. Suggest parking in the Publix parking lot next to the station as they have more parking available especially since the cars will be there all day.

Route and Mileage: We’ll get together at the meeting place and arrange carpooling to get all riders into as few cars/trucks/SUV’s/vans or whatever as possible and head for Tarpon Springs, the northern trail head for the Pinellas Trail. If you have never ridden the Pinellas Trail before, the northern half is more rural down to Clearwater, and the southern half from there to St Petersburg is more urban; although there are crossings that go over the streets so you don’t have to stop to cross streets. On the northern segment that is not a problem. The total trail length is 34 miles, one way, about twice the length of the GHT. There are small town along the way, so finding a good place to stop is not a problem. Riding about 20-25 miles south from Tarpon Springs will take us to around Indian Shores, south of Clearwater Beach. We can do a rest stop there and then head back. Upon returning to Tarpon Springs there are many options for lunch before heading back to Gainesville (yes, if certain HighBees go, who will remain nameless for now, we can stop somewhere that has coffee).

Pace: The ride will be at the normal HighBees ride pace which is about 16 MPH. based on the response to this ride, if we have riders that are slower we can set up a second group riding at a typical LoBee pace of 15 MPH and any others at a slower pace can likewise ride together. If there are some riders that usually ride faster than the HighBee pace, they can either ride at the HighBee pace or ride up ahead and we can all meet at a designated point. This is intended to be a fun social ride and not a time trial event.

RSVP:  As this is not a normal Saturday ride posting, I am asking riders that plan to attend to e-mail me back and let me know. Also please let me know if you have a vehicle with a bike rack and you are able to drive to Tarpon Springs and back and how many other riders and their bikes you can transport. If you need a ride, please let me know that. This way we can be sure we have enough available vehicles to transport the riders and their bikes. According to MapQuest it is about 138 miles from Gainesville to Tarpon Springs and should take a little over 2 hrs to get there. In other group events I have participated in, such as a hiking club, to compensate the drivers, those that get a ride pay a certain amount to the driver. In this case, given the mileage, it seems fair that those getting a ride pay the driver they go with $10.00 to cover the gas, etc.

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions please let me know. I don’t think this has been done before in GCC, so it is a bit of an experiment as far as transporting the group that plans to ride. That is the reason I am posting it two weeks in advance, so I can get some feedback as well as a head count on the number of riders interested in going. After getting the feedback, I’ll post a follow up e-mail by next weekend with final plans; so please reply with any feedback or your interest in going as soon as possible so I can make any final adjustments and let everyone know.

I think it will be fun ride and look forward to hearing from you.

Mike

PS: Below is a map of the Pinellas Trail from the website, www.dep.state.fl.us/gwt/guide, if you care to check into other details about the trail.