Well well well.  Very frustrating.  After a lengthy description of my biking in the keys last month, I hit something that wiped out the entire post.  So, I will try again soon. Here we go again.  Obviously, the first thing I do when I get to south Florida I rent a bike from Eaton Bike shop.  My daily rides begin with a 20 miler east along route 1.  I turn around about ten miles at the Navel Air Base and each day extend it a bit further until it turns into 30 miles round trip.  What has become a tradition is my ride from Marathon to Key West....a fifty miler.  This years venture turned to be quite an adventure.  First, I encountered three bouts of rain.  Nothing severe but enough to get me wet.  I was able to outrun each but the last one caught me as I took a needed rest.  Also, on the treacherous 7 mile bridge I hit a metal bar that some idiot threw onto the small shoulder.   After temporarily losing control and fully expecting to crash, I was able to recover and continue over the bridge.  I did lose my water bottle but wasn't about to turn around as it is dangerous enough. Besides, I could get water in many places along the road.  The next obstacle was a construction area that forced me to ride on the road.  It only lasted a mile but cars passed at an uncomfortable distance....considerably less than the 3 foot required in Illinois.  Entering Key West after the 50 mile trek, I stopped to make a phone call.  As I un-clipped, I noticed my right cleat wouldn't re clip as I resumed but I was still able to pedal without clipping.  As it turned out, a screw holding the cleat was missing.   Not to worry.  I would just go to the bike shop to resolve the issue.  Unfortunately, I couldn't just replace the screw.  I needed to purchase the entire cleat set.  I returned to our cottage and thought I would do another ride.  After setting my cleat, I discovered I could not remove it.  After another brief panic, I removed my right foot and had to unsaddle with my foot still attached to the pedal.  The only way to resolve the problem was to remove my foot from the shoe.  I took the bike with shoe attached to the bike shop.  After a bit of a struggle, the mechanic was able to remove the shoe.  He tried to tell me the shoe was the problem but I knew that wasn't the case.  I only wear these in Florida and they were used not more than a dozen times.  He finally figured out the problem and case resolved.  Another exciting episode biking in the winter in Key West.   My next entry will be centered on the new and different experience in restaurants in Key West.  As many times as we have been to the area we found a couple new great restaurants. Stay tuned

 

And a big WOW.   It's been awhile since my last post but much has happened since then. The old computer where my blog is stored has finally "bellied up". Therefore, my posts have been less frequent.  But, I have fixed the problem and am back to my blogging. New Year has come and gone, January has come and gone and here it is the first part of February.  Not much has been happening on the biking front as far as outdoor riding except for my annual jaunt to Key West, Florida.  In fact, we just got back.  The good news is we avoided a huge ice storm in and around central Illinois.  The weather in Key West started out a little windy and cool.  Winds were from the ESE at between 15 mph and 25 mph which made for excellent biking and the temp began in the upper 60's but soon heated up to the 80's.  Unlike past years, I didn't post vacation information as I have been advised that to do so would invite thieves and marauders into my home to engage in thievery. As such I am doing so now in the comfort of my own home.  

For the first time since we began vacationing in South Florida we flew directly from Bloomington into Key West exchanging planes in Atlanta.  I suspect that will be my preferred method in the future.  Normally we fly into either West Palm Beach or Miami in order to spend time with our friend Sue who lives in Royal Palm Beach.  This year she had plans that would conflict with our vacation time thus the direct flight to Key West.  And, as to be expected the flight down turned out to be quite an adventure.  Leaving Washington the temp was a frosty -12 degrees.  Our flight was to leave at 6:00 a.m.  Unfortunately, our Delta flight was changed from a reasonable 2 hour layover in Atlanta to less than an hour.  But, if we left on time the layover period would have been sufficient.  Ha Ha. Not so fast buddy boy.  After boarding, we were informed their would be a 20 minute delay to "de-ice" the plane.  In addition, we had to check our carry on bags at the door since our "puddle jumper" would not accommodate carry on bags in the overhead.  Now we were on a very tight schedule.  With a half our to spare we landed in Atlanta.  But, and I'm not exaggerating, we taxied 15 minutes before we were at the gate.  Now time was really short and plan B was to see when the next flight to Key West  left Atlanta.  Finally our bag arrived and I realized we needed to get from gate F to gate B.  That required descending two flights of escalators and taking the tram.   Now, we really had to move. As luck would have it, we made the gate 3 minutes before they closed the gate.  We had to check our carry on's and could not use the overheads.  So when we arrived in Key West we had to wait at baggage claim amid a large throng of people for our luggage.  As it turned out, we would have been wise to check our bags in Bloomington saving time throughout the whole trip down.  Currently, the airport in Key West is not big enough to handle the amount of traffic it now sees.  They are expanding the facility but until it's finished the crowds in their terminal rival anything seen in Chicago's Midway or Ohare airports.  Enough for now, more on the actual vacation later.