Ride Reports January/February 2006

BubbaFest 2005 - The Florida Keys
by Ann & Fred Abeles

A bike ride through the Florida Keys, November 12-19, sounded like a good idea when we booked the tour last December. That was before Hurricane Wilma hit the Keys two weeks previous to our scheduled to ride. This bike tour is one of a number operated by Bubba's Pampered Pedalers. We had experienced Bubba’s "Pampering" earlier during a ride in Michigan in 2004 (The Michigander). Bubba is an ex St. Louis cop who runs a number of supported bike rides each year. (You can consult his web site at bubbaspamperedpedalers.com. Bubba offers his "pampering" service on a number of different sponsored tours in addition to his own tours.) This "pampering" service consists of a tent, air mattress, chair, canopy shade, beverages and luggage transport. His crew erect your tent, inflate your air mattress, put up a canopy for shade and see to it that there are beverages and cold water available in the "pampered" zone. You also get a freshly laundered towel and wash cloth every day. In the morning, before breakfast, you pack up your personal belongings and leave them at the Bubba van for transport to your next destination. The crew takes down your tent and transports everything to the next campground. The pampering plus our double tent cost $379 (6 nights).

For this BubbaFest, Bubba was also running the tour which included the campground reservations, luggage transport to all the campgrounds, 5 breakfasts, 5 dinners, a big beach party with beer, a DJ and dancing, and the use of the YMCA pool and showers in Key Largo on the last day. The tour was $400 per person with two optional additions, a $25 private trolley tour of Key West for the cyclists and a $30 per person Key West sunset cruise with champagne. If you like adult beverages you are asked to contribute something extra for beer, etc. The tour started in Key Largo where we camped for the first night and then biked 30 to 35 miles a day, following US 1, to Key West and back to Key Largo. The only other major cost was transportation to Key Largo where the tour started. Air fare ($214 per person), airport parking, and shuttle to Key Largo from Miami and return ($80 per person) for two ran $651. Total for the trip including lunches and 3 dinners, tips and other extras was about $2,400.

We used our foldable Dahons as the bike for this trip since they fold up into a suitcase and American Air Lines accepted them as one of the two checked bags that were allowed for the trip. The bike, suit case, and a few additional items weighed 50 lbs, which is the maximum allowable per bag. As a matter of fact, the bike case is a little larger than the official maximum allowed without paying an additional $80. However, by showing up early and smiling at the check-in counter, the size issue was not raised. This was the second air plane trip with these bikes and so far they have traveled free of additional charge. We bought the Speed Pro Dahons, their bags, racks, fenders, etc. from Mt Airy Bicycles for about $1,300 complete. About ten other riders on this trip used Bike Fridays on four tandems and four single Bike Fridays. These also travel as check-in luggage. Bike Fridays are great bikes but are more expensive than Dahons. The Dahons ran just fine on the 200 mile trip. Our only problem was with the large amount of glass strewn on the road and bike paths both as a result of broken bottles and the debris from hurricane damage. I had ten flats, and Ann had only one. I am not sure what this data means, except that weight is not your friend when riding over glass. We used 20 X 1 1/8 Stelvio slicks which may not have been a good choice. A fatter tire with some tread might have worked better. Rather than shipping bikes, about 12 riders opted to buy bikes from Wal-Mart and leave them in Florida after the ride. Bubba contributed these bikes to a home for disadvantaged children who will be thrilled with the gifts of almost new bikes. Some of the riders also gave Bubba cash so that he was able to buy a few smaller bikes for the younger children.

The ride itself had its bad and good aspects. For about one half of the trip we rode on the shoulder of US 1. Elsewhere, especially on the upper and middle Keys, there is a bike path. Several sections of the bike path are part of the Florida Overseas Highway State Park and are beautiful.


Ann Abeles crossing Long Key bridge

While the trip is flat, and the shoulders were adequate, the noise from the constant traffic was deafening and unpleasant. The problem was exacerbated by the fact that truck load after truck load of debris and damaged cars were on the road as a result of Wilma. The amount of downed vegetation, damaged appliances and building material was enormous, even though two weeks had passed after the hurricane visited the islands. There is not a lot of room along the road so in some spots the bike path is narrow and was still covered with glass and other delightful unknowns. There are two very long bridges to traverse along the way. The old span of the Long Key bridge (nearly 6 miles) has been converted to a bike path/ fishing pier and is nice to ride along (except for broken bottles). On the other, the Seven Mile Bridge, you have to bike on the debris covered shoulder for the seven, rather nerve-wracking, miles. The old span is missing some pieces, especially the drawbridge section, so it doesn't go through. One can hope that someday it will be repaired for bicycles. On the other hand the views from the bridges of the tropical water, the sunny weather (temperatures in the 80's in the day and 70's at night), and the part of the route which are bike paths made for a great trip. It did rain during two of the nights but our tent kept us dry and comfortable. A prevailing wind blew from east to west so the trip to Key West is literally a breeze, but the way back provides an ample opportunity for aerobic exercise. However, since we were doing only 35 miles a day it wasn't a major burden. The campgrounds were OK and they offered an opportunity for swimming in either pools or beaches. We also enjoyed the unique opportunity to spend a week with others who enjoy this kind of travel. Our biking companions include people of all ages (from 2 to 76), sizes, shapes, cycling ability, and cultural backgrounds. We had a great time getting to know these friendly and interesting people. A unique feature of the trip is Bubba himself, and irrepressible and fun loving character. He and his staff did everything possible to make this is great trip.

Bonus Day Ride
Saturday Nov 5 by Joan Wicks

Mother Nature decided that a bit of Indian Summer would be greatly appreciated right about now. Mother Nature was right! Eleven riders (Martha Bush, Mark Anderson, Joan Wicks, Bill and Vicki Smith, Laura Chaffiotte, Randy Buxbaum, Mike and Betsy LaPadula, Jim ? and Kate ?) came out for an impromptu ride to drink up all the warm sunshine they could. With temperatures in the 70’s, abundant sunshine, and virtually no wind, conditions could not have been more perfect. The fall foliage contributed to the day by putting on a pretty good show. The ride left from Woodsboro Community Park. Riders had a bit of a hard time finding parking spaces and then finding each other as the park was full of people attending a soccer tournament.

We headed out route 550 in the direction of Thurmont, then Northeast to Detour and up to Harney. After a brief visit to Pennsylvania we headed back to Taneytown where we took a break at the Sheetz on route 140 – us and lots of motorcycle riders! The Taneytown Sheetz was really hopping and lines to the bathrooms were long and filled with bikers in their leather riding apparel and us cyclists in our more lightweight garb. Back on our bikes we meandered back to Woodsboro thankful for one of those "bonus days" that keep us going through late Fall and Winter.

Michaux Ride
November 13 by Steve Walter

We had six riders for the Michaux ride unfortunately the ride leader is suffering from short term memory loss and cannot remember all the names. The leaves were already down but the forest was still beautiful. We had sunny slightly cool weather. We stopped at Caledonia State Park for lunch before heading back for a total of around 55 miles.

Bagel Ride December
by Steve Walter

We had four hardy riders show up including Vicki Crum, John Fauerby, Lynne Rosenbusch and myself. The temperature was 20 degrees at the beginning but it was a nice clear dry day with little wind so it did not feel that cold. We headed towards Thurmont staying on roads that we thought would have the best chance of being clear. Despite the snow/rain/ice Thursday night to Friday morning the roads were in pretty good shape with only a couple snowy spots. We stopped in Thurmont to have some hot chocolate and junk food. It was actually a nice day to be out, we logged 40 miles and the temperature was up to 32 degrees when we got back.

Wednesday Night Lights & Pizza - Un Skunk de Peu !!
by Bill Smith

Ride attendees these two months have included Chris Borkman, John Gantnier, Bernie Sellers, Don Crone and Bill Smith. Most rides have been uneventful—a bit frosty (a couple of frozen-water-bottle rides), but one ride in particular was exciting. This was the ride on Dec. 20. John Gantnier eloquently describes below:

Oh yeah, it seemed like a nice night for a bike ride: a balmy 32°F at the start, Christmas lights and friendly drivers awaited us. But that all changed somewhere on Elmer Derr Rd. Bill Smith had some sort of redneck flashback: he must have been thinking he was in his V8 4X4 pickup with tires wide enough to hit both the white line and yellow line at the same time. The skunk ran out and Bill could not resist adding a bike tire mark to the skunk’s white back. This is not the first skunk we’ve seen riding at night, it’s just the first skunk we’ve seen while Bill Smith was riding out front. I think just a week earlier, Chris Borkman saw a skunk and had the good sense God gave him to avoid it.



Harmless woodland creature,
or Weapon of Mass Destruction?



Unfortunately, the skunk could not distinguish between the mad biker who hit him (it could not have been a her smelling like that!) and the rest of us. Either that or the skunk had very bad aim, because we all suffered. Luckily, Bill snapped out of his killing trance just in time to keep from running the skunk down into the gutter and letting the poor critter live to spray again another day. But it was too late; the skunk had already done what skunks do. It appears that Bernie Sellers got the worst of it, an innocent bystander. How many times has that happened, someone in the wrong place at the wrong time pays for the culprit’s reckless actions?

Thanks Bill, from all of us for an early Christmas present, a present that couldn’t be wrapped but had to be delivered via air mail. A present we’ll think about every time we smell a skunk from now on. A present that keeps on giving, and not in a nice way.