The much anticipated day of the Horrible Hundred ride was finally here. What I was going to learn was how appropriate the named ride was.  Constant up and down hills, several over 12% grade, 5,300 feet of elevation climb, and over 900 participants.  What an exhilarating ride.  The hardest physical activity I’ve ever done in my life and one of the most rewarding.  Having completed the whole ride without having to stop on any of the uphills was only possible because of the amount of training I did prior to the ride.  It was nice being in a ride where the whole time I had other riders in front and behind me in sight at all times as well as my riding within numerous groups.  Interesting how group riding sucks you right along at higher speeds than your normal pace.  I was also not used to entering SAG stations with hundreds of people there.  We were also blessed with over a couple dozen police officers at major intersections clearing traffic for our uninterrupted passage.  Would I do it again?  Absolutely not!  Not because of its difficulty, but because the experience was so enjoyable that doing it again without having a challenge would only diminish the experience already completed.  It’s one of my most memorable experiences and I’m going to keep it that way.  The added 100 miles brings me to a few miles short of a 10,000 mile milestone in my overall journey around the world.  Now, what will my next challenging ride be?

We arrived in Vancouver ready for our much anticipated time in a city we truly love to visit.  Our ride began in perfect weather at the bike shop by selecting our bikes and meeting our group members.  A little practice ride to get everyone aquatinted started us on our journey.  The Sea Walk around the port area provided an entrance into the Totem Pole stop, our first of many.  Continued pedaling provided stops at the infamous ‘Girl in Scuba Gear’ statue, a lighthouse, Lions Gate Bridge, Beaver Lake, and a sculpture designed by an artist portraying the Asian culture without having ever seen it before.  The stories that accompanied each site were fascinatingly told by our wonderful tour guide.

Upon leaving Stanley Park we first stopped at the Amazing Laughter Sculpture depicting the artist in 11 bronze statues over 10 feet tall in numerous poses.  Of course, selfie’s were taken then off to see other sights including the Olympic Villager, Market Place, several bridges, and a skyscraper that was triangle shaped at the bottom and square at the top.  We passed through Chinatown and Gas Town leading back to downtown and our bike shop starting point.  It was an enjoyable 9 miles that took over 5 hours. We would recommend this ride to anyone ready to see the sights of Vancouver.

The past weeks have yielded enjoyable rides as my preparation for the Horrible Hundred ride approaches.  Unlike prior training, I was looking for new hills to ride.  Funny how when I lived in Colorado I was looking for flat terrain to ride when I lived in rolling hills.  Now I live on the flats and I’m looking for hills….never satisfied.  I’m within a few days ride with my wife around Stanley Park in Vancouver, Canada.  Looking forward to new scenery and history told by our tour guide for all our group to enjoy.  Let’s just hope it’s not raining and too cold to enjoy the ride.  Upon my return from the vacation trip it will be back to the hills.  My upcoming century ride will be a major challenge and I plan on being ready.

It’s been a great two weeks as I’m not only riding, I’m also waking up very early, for me, to go to the fitness center and do my full body routine.  My cycling seems a bit in the fantasy world as I seem to be surrounded by celebrities.  Is that Betty White watching me…wait what…she’s still alive? It appears frequent ‘drive-in’  food connoisseurs print their order on the car window.  Speaking of food, I’ve been thinking about menu selections from the Philippines as my next virtual destination of Manila is coming up…. in about 946 miles.  Well I guess that means I have lots of time to decide.  I’m currently 9,453 miles into my trip around the world which equates to 38% done.  Just for giggles, if I continue at my current average pace I should complete the journey on November 5, 2031 at age 79!

I know I’m ready to get back to riding when I can actually put on my compression socks….by myself.   I can check the box now, ‘no back spasms’.  I took it easy this week with a total of 69 miles.  So far so good.  Hmmm, what my back spasm episode was really telling me is that I need to get back to full body exercising and not just cycling.  I think I’ll go back to the fitness center and see how my old routine feels….of course with less weights starting out!

Ouch! Yup, that is the after-sound of when one lets a 72 year old brain tell its body that it can do something that a 32 year old can do….exercising with too much weight…back spasms here I come.  I know from previous experience what to do and it will take about three weeks.  So much for riding as it really doesn’t feel good.

The experience of wearing an all-in-one triathlon suit was now behind me and it was time to continue my virtual tour around the world. Oops, the first week back is filled with travel time.  Well there is always next week. Yah, well partially.  Oh, But there is the next week.  The excuses were piling up so high that mushrooms saw fit to just pop up to see if I noticed. Ah, it felt so good.  My road bike experienced 87 miles and it all was….just like riding a bike!  You never forget.  But…..then I had problems with soreness in my back.  Off the bike for a week and now I’m ready to get back out there.  November brings with it the hardest ride I will have attempted.  It’s not so much the distance as it is the climb with over 4,800 ft. of up’s and down’s.  Yup, that means extensive training on the neighboring hills….and I know just the place to go.  With 9,266 miles passed by towards my virtual ride around the world of 24,900, I’m finishing up the last leg of my journey over the Pacific.  I have 1,133 miles to go until I reach Manila in the Philippines with Vietnam, Thailand, and Myanmar to follow. I hear the mushrooms in those countries are edible!

Cycling has consumed my exercise and adventure desires in the recent past.  Once in a  while something comes along that just peaks the curiosity: Can I Do That?  Last year I happened along the South Lake Trail to Lake Minneola and over the horizon I saw a major event taking place.  Was this a ride that I didn’t know about?  Well kind of.  It was a 5K Run, Duathon, Aquabike, and Sprint Triathlon.  Hmmm…I bike now, I recently used to run, and I do swim.  I marked it on the virtual calendar in my brain and planned six weeks before Father’s Day to begin training.  During the week it was a run or bike with  a swim and on Saturday it was all three.  Father’s Day came and I was anxiously ready to go.  The minute I set foot in the water for the first event all memory of what to do and the importance to maintain a sensible pace just flew out the window.  I struggled with my stroke with so many other swimmers around, it was as if I never trained! I rolled over on my side and did the side stroke the whole quarter mile.  In practice I never did the swim in less than 16 minutes…the warm waters of Lake Minneola yielded a time of 11 minutes!  So that is where all my energy went….so much for conservation….too much excitement!  The 10 mile bike ride went without a hitch in my typical 14-15 mph pace.  The 5K run is where I noticed that I left too much energy in the Lake.  I got through without a problem, just slower than I thought my training indicated I could do.  In all it was fun, I enjoyed the activities and vast number of people, it was nice doing more than just a bike ride and in the end I now have a memorable experience.  Would I do it again….yes, but under more run training and control of my excitement of the swimming event startup.

One day while I was riding the South Lake Trail I rode through another activity that caught my eye: A Sprint Triathlon buried in among numerous other activities with hundreds of people sweating through the challenges.  Many were there just for the 5k run, the bike challenge, and some did both the run and the swim but, most were there for the Sprint Triathlon…a taste of all three.  After talking to numerous participants I just had to add this event to my bucket list of experiences.  The swim will be easy as I swim enough to instantly be ready.  Of course the biking will be a breeze, but it’s been 5 years since my legs dawned those running shoes.  So there you have it, my next challenge which means my riding time will be severely reduced while I ready other muscles in my body.  If I know my body and mind, when I cross the finish line of this new adventure my bike will be calling me to get back to putting some real miles on those new tires and drive chain I recently replaced.

My latest 100 miler was yesterday and the ride was a piece of cake.  No, not bragging, I have to attribute that to all the training I do. Yes, it really does make a difference!  However, my bike knew these long rides were getting a bit easy for me and that I like a challenge so at mile 97 my chain broke.  I had the links to reassemble but I couldn’t remove the broken links.  I sat on the bike and pushed myself the last three miles and when I got to the finish line, with many of the ride organizers watching, I lifted by bike and carried it over the finish line declaring the Andrade team overcame and made it to the end. 

The Withlacoochee Trail is a rail trail with 8 foot wide pavement the whole way and few rural road crossings.  Trees adorned a fantastic sun shade canopy so the 90 degree temperatures were actually quite pleasant as long as you kept the air conditioning going by sweating and moving.  The organizers of this ride celebrated the third anniversary of Pastor Jim Parker’s passing and his propensity to ride with a 100 miler on every birthday.  A definite well organized, friendly, and enjoyable ride.  Now it looks like a chain will become part of my spare parts kit I travel with.  Like many of these rides you see the darndest things!