Beach-Web for November 2008
Saturday, 29th November, 2008: - Well - Thursday was turkey-day and I spent that with Mom and Uncle_B and the 'relatives' in Jville... Friday was a 'yard-work' (amongst other things) day... - SO - Saturday - I rode the TriceQ - and did 'about ' 23 miles in just barely 2 hours... went West (well, actually south-west) this time - into an area I'd not explored, yet... - And, as usual (especially of late) I 'won't bore you' by gorgeing you on pictures but allow you to deal with them on your own... small_(about 300k bytes) large_(about 1.1 megs) huge_(about 2.1 megs)
here's one of my many riding companion(s) ---- I met him along the way. He's decidedly slower than I am - and he has a reluctance to cross big highways (quickly) small_image larger_image.
Wednesday, 26th November, 2008: Way to go Mr._Bill - 30 miles PLUS (but plus not much) on the TriceQ today in about 2 hours - 40 minutes - NOT a BAD DAY!!!
My route took me down to Hobe Sound (normally a round-trip of about 18 miles). I then realized that the sidewalks don't go much south of Bridge Road, so wandered around and then eventually went OVER the Intracoastal Waterway Bridge (the bridge on Bridge Road) and rode up the road on Jupiter Island to where it ends at a Florida State Park for Hobe Sound. I then rode back home - where - the wind was BLOWING against me the WHOLE WAY HOME - Ugh - Ugh - I should have been out kiteboarding today, with this kind of wind! Three images - take your pick - track-log (from Garmin GPS) overlain on-top-of Google-Earth satellite photos... small medium huge
Tuesday, 25th November, 2008: - drove home in the late morning and early afternoon, after doing some 'Mom-Things' in Jacksonville. - went for a very (very) short trike-ride, then some yard-work, and a WHOLE LOT of cat-attention (and almost a WHOLE CAN of Tuna (but not quite) since I've been gone 4 days - she's VERY ATTENTIVE right now - crashing-early, though - driving wears one out - MAYBE go to Lake Okeechobee tomorrow for trike-riding.. - but - we'll have to see what the weather holds in store!
track-log (from Garmin GPS) overlain on top of Google-Earth image(s): small large
Monday, 24th November
New TriceQ trip on Monday, 24th... (21.3 miles / 20.6 max speed / about 1 hour and 50 minutes) - a LOT of this trip 'appears' to be 'through the woods' - don't let Google Earth's OLD aerial photos fool you - there is / are a "BUNCH" of new (mostly un-housed) housing developments in / around this area. Must be at LEAST 50 miles of roads with 4 lanes (2 in each direction) AND both a bicycle path AND a sidewalk on both sides of the road(s)... Some only have one bike-path but most have two - it will be a GOOD week while discovering all the options and variations to ride in / around here!
The "King's Day (J-24 sailboat) Regatta" in Jacksonville... - Saturday-Sunday / November 22-23, 2008
it was VERY COLD - but I had 'enough' clothes (no excesses, just enough) - here you see me in two different hats, and 4 layers on my torso - and two layers on my legs, and wet-suit-booties - Nice Boat, though - NOT WET! - but VERY CHILLY! 10-17 knots of wind, from the NE most of the day - 4 races run on Saturday - Sunday is yet to come - but supposedly less wind, and warmer. - some EXCELLENT - exciting and very close sailboat racing...
Bill is JUST ABOUT to land his Glider at "The Florida Ridge" flight-park...
Today is Thursday, 20 November ... - Today Mr. Bill went Hang Gliding for the first time in 5 1/2 months - thanks to his attempts to recover his hurt-left-shoulder (on 28 June)... - Well - I had two tandem flights (with an instructor / friend who could evaluate my shoulder / my ability) - and he helped me a lot - said he felt I was 'just fine' but I needed more 'strength' in my left shoulder... - Then I went for two short hops in my own Glider (a "Wills Wing" Sport 2 - 155 square foot)
some (other) pictures are available here:
- Picture_1_Mr._Bill_up_high
- Picture_2_our new TriceQ (tricycle) qualified, licensed, certified tandem instructor/pilot: small large
- Picture_3_my_good_Neighbor_Mr._John (top harness) going for a tandem fun ride: small large
- Picture_4_GPS track-log overlain on top of Google Earth image (red=flight_1; cyan=flight_2) small large
AND - Today is Saturday, 15th November... - Went for a (tricycle) ride on the "L.O.S.T." _ ( Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail ) with some friends from the boardsailing - windsurfing crowd here in Stuart. We rode 'about' 21 miles in 'about' 1 hour & 45 minutes - and we REALLY ENJOYED the L.O.S.T. because there are no interruptions, it's ALL paved, ALL flat, no intersections, no dogs, no people, no traffic-lights - in GENERAL it's MADE for bicycling / tricycling.
HOWEVER, we did see 4 roller-bladers (3 guys and one lady) but we were very happy to share the trail with them...
In order to not overwhelm the web-page or the viewer with too many pictures - these are here in a list - you have to click to view them (a LOT of WORK for the VIEWER!)...
- The Overnight Work-Aholics evidence is all OVER the place: small large
- The Friends - ahead of Mr. Bill: - small large
- Found this on the side of the road - on the way home - a small power-pack easily adapted to kiteboarding and hang-gliding: small large
- The (Garmin GPS) 'track-log' image overlaid on top of the image(s) from Google Earth... small large
Today is Friday, 14th November...
Mr. Bill did about 23 miles today on his recumbent tricycle - from north Hutchinson Island to Ft. Pierce (beach), along A1A, (with a 20 mph tail-wind did this 11.5 miles in less than 50 minutes) - however, the GOING BACK SOUTH was TOUGHER with a 20 mph HEAD WIND - ugh - ugh - was only going about 8 mph by the time I finished...
Had to pick-up and 'carry' the trike around this 'obstacle' but it was the only 'BIG' obstacle... WHY someone had to leave this bundle of (VERY HEAVY) white cloth here one will NEVER KNOW - but - here it was - right in the middle of the bike-path (well - actually - it's a side-walk) - but - again - why leave this in the side-walk?
And his huggly-bunch telephoned him while he was riding along - and she said, "You're about to cross a bridge" and she was RIGHT because she was following my progress on a web-site... She's 1,000 miles away and she knew I was about to cross a bridge... ... ... thanks to the magic of modern technology! ... - However, you can't talk on the phone and have the GPS thing follow-you - but that's o.k. - one can't complain for FREE - and anyway - I pedalled out of cell-phone-range ANYWAY...
Anyway - YOU TOO, can try this courtesy of the people at 'Instamapper': http://www.instamapper.com <=== their web-site
but the link for Mr. Bill's rides is here: Link to Instamapper for Mr. Bill's trips here and there...
OR - you may want to do this (Instamapper) link: click here <=== this gives you a 'static' map that you have to 're-fresh' to get the (pseudo) real-time-updates - but you'd have to KNOW when I'm riding for this to be of any value to you...
This was not the ONLY trip I took this week on the Trice Q - I have ridden almost every day - usually at least 18-22 miles - I did not ride on Thursday(13th), though - except about 8 miles to 'check-out' the new Polar heart - rate - monitor chest-belt-transmitter that came via UPS on that afternoon
Today is Sunday, 9th November... - Mr. Bill tried to do 20 miles today - at one time - UGH UGH - didn't happen - on the other hand I got to the 'Power Plant' - but then there were 'Bob's Barricades' in my way (and I was too lazy to get OFF the Trike and MOVE them) - so I turned around - - anyway - I learned that there is / are some places where it just AIN"T WORTH IT to ride on the side-walk (like the 3 miles just north of "Turtle Beach" parking lot where I started-ended...) - there were pot-holes, and I had to switch sides of the road several times (because there's NO sidewalk for some places) and there was a part that was "Under-Water" _ it's o.k. on a trike but for a bicycle - it would be too slippery!!! - anyway - from now-on I'll part at "Dollman Beach" parking lot and go from there! Dollman Beach is only about 12 miles from the house...
On the other hand - there's a part of this ride right along the road and "Herman's Bay" is just to the left (when you're heading north) and it's REALLY REALLY PRETTY!... - and a 'Development that never finished' called "Diamond Sands" - is open and with about a 1.1 mile stretch of VERY SMOOTH asphalt - it was really great for some 'speed runs'...
WHOOOOOPS - someone here (a 4 legged thing) says it's LUNCH TIME _ Time to FEED the CAT!
AND, this afternoon, the WIND was GOOD so Mr. Bill goes kiteboarding for the first time in about 4 1/2 months (yeah; left-shoulder still healing). BUT THE WIND WAS GOOD - then got better, and my OLD 16 meter kite was a 'bit too much' - so after about 45 minutes I came in - packed-it-all away - and went back out on a brand-new 11 meter kite and WOW - it's nearly as powerful as the 16 but WAY less kite to handle - and with the fifth-line the 11 meter is QUICK to Launch!... According to the weather-web-site(s) I'll have several more chances, later this week, to use the 11...
Today is Saturday, 8th November... Mr. Bill tried to do 2 rides in one, today, - and managed 14.8 miles in 1 hour, 28 minutes, for an average of 10 plus mph...
hot sun but it was nice because (unlike my previous rides) I didn't have to stare INTO the SUN half the time - so - riding during mid-day is nicer because the sun is nicer, and there is way less traffic...
Today is Friday, 7th November... - here's the 'track-log' from my morning 7.8 mile TriceQ ride:
Today is the second of November,2008: Bet YOU FORGOT, Too, - we did - it's now 06:49 a.m. and we THOUGHT it was 07:49 a.m... - UGH UGH forgot to re-set our clocks... ... ...
SO that left us "up early and nothing to do" - so we took my trike and Ms. May's bike and went to Hutchinson Island and went riding on some very nice sidewalks. - about 12 miles in all...
Anyway - so this time change thing means lunch (VERY TASTY) was a bit early. Then, after lunch, Mr. Bill re-engineered a LOT of mounts on his new Trice Q (after following Ms. May on it for a while - I saw some things that needed working on - that one doesn't see while ON the trike...
HOPE ya'll are WELL! - keep in touch!
RAIN RAIN RAIN - 2 1/2" yesterday - 1 1/2" since last night. This morning (Sunday, 2nd) we were going to go bicycling / tricycling along the sidewalks up around Jensen Beach (near the ocean) but - well - we'll have to see how the rain goes...
On the First (of November) - Saturday, we went to the 'St. Edwards School' - near Vero Beach to see 'Little Shop of Horrors' - put-on by the local school's kids - and it was pretty good - the original story and play were on Broadway for a while - but this is a local thing and very nicely done... Ms. May's piano teacher and his 'trio' (one guy on guitar and one guy on the drums and Jim (Ms. May's piano teacher) did the sound and sound-effects - very nicely done... Little Shop of Horrors is a large-cast and chorus show interesting story and great props and costumes...
This picture taken by Ms. May on Thursday, 30th October...
AND in (VERY VERY LATE (29th to be exact)) October, Mr. Bill picked-up his new 'toy'. If you're interested in 'recumbent tricycles' then please e-mail me. I'll be glad to share my research with you. Further - again, if you're interested, I have an Excel spreadsheet that helps compare and contrast a lot of (not all) the variables in one place.. - free for the asking.. On the other hand - if you want to do the research yourself, go to Ask.com or Google.com and plug in 'recumbent tricycle'. there are 2-3 US manufacturers and 3-5 offshore manufacturers... - The one I bought is designed and built in the UK (ICE Trice Q), and has shifters from Japan, and is pretty nice.
AND in (VERY VERY LATE) October, Mr. Bill finalized several REAL DEALs for and on behalf of his Mom and so that was a pretty great relief and accomplishment, now that he's 'past' that 'hurdle' other things can move-along...
AND on the second of November - MAYBE we'll get a chance at some Hang Gliding - first time for Mr. Bill in nearly 4 1/2 months - his (left) shoulder is recovering nicely. AND also on the Hang Gliding front, not only were there two articles by friends in the latest edition of Hang Gliding magazine, but there will be a Florida Competition this coming spring at his favourite flight-park: The Florida Ridge. The competition will be 25 April (Saturday) through 1 May (Friday) and this is prime-Florida "LIFT" weather so the competition should be pretty good. He hopes to compete and/or to drive and/or to help-out on the ground-crew - so regardless he'll be 'involved' in some way...
Mr. Bill's best hang-gliding-flight (Ever) - see the FlightLog.Org web-page, here...
and-or see the track-log over Google Earth Image(s), here... small_image larger_image (1 megabyte)
Archived BeachWeb monthly site(s): Click here for a list of the archived months
Some people have asked, WHERE can I FIND, "X" - whatever the heck "X" is?; but in my case - these two things are being asked about...
The "Tire Changing Web-Page" and/or the VANC (VikingAsia (Networks and Computers) Consulting) web-page.
Archived BeachWeb monthly site(s): Click here for a list of the archived months
Some people have asked, WHERE can I FIND, "X" - whatever the heck "X" is?; but in my case - these two things are being asked about...
The "Tire Changing Web-Page" and/or the VANC (VikingAsia (Networks and Computers) Consulting) web-page.
this web-page was last updated: 21:47 p.m. (EST) on Monday, 01 December, 2008 revID: 1s