PLEASE send us text messages before, during, and after the ride!

We'll be rolling in a couple of days!

Fundraising Party

The fundraising party was an incredible success. Special thanks to Bill who offered up his beautiful home and an incredible spread of food. Lots of folks showed up and the party was loads of fun. Thanks to the generosity of the attendees, our team raised $3,990 in 1 night. We still have a ways to go in fundraising, but this party really got us on our way. Some of the attendees REALLY dug deep and were particularly generous. You know who you are. Thanks to everyone for making the evening a memorable one!

40 on A1A

John, Dave, Barry, Allan, and I braved A1A in Fort Lauderdale today. Starting on Sunrise, we biked over the 17th Street bridge (over and back) and biked all the way up to Boca and back. Construction on A1A made things scarey for me at first. The bike lane has been destroyed in places and some obnoxious drivers are under the mistaken impression that they alone own the road.

Dave advised taking over the lane during construction zones and he was right! I learned that when the road goes down to 1 lane, you can't stay to the side. If you do, you will be run off the road. The strategy is to take over the whole lane with your bike until the construction zone ends. This won't make you popular with some motorists, but it will keep you from dying. The biking north of Ft Lauderale was much calmer and more scenic. We completed 40 miles today.

Spinning is a great way to train!

I just did my first spinning class ever today. Wow, what a workout! It was fun but pretty intense. I can feel it in my legs already. I think this is a great way to build up some muscles and endurance for November. My plan is to spin on Mondays and Wednesdays in addition to doing the weekend rides.

The instructor did a great job of making the session entertaining. She turned out all the lights except for a lava lamp and played fantastic dance music to sweat to. My fellow classmates were fun, encouraging, and friendly. If you're in the Fort Lauderdale area, I recommend checking out the Zachariah Family Wellness Pavilion at Holy Cross Hospital. Classes are just $8 a session.

You can learn more about spinning here.

Hope to see you spinning!

50 Miles on A1A

Our longest ride so far! With hurricane Ivan churning in the distance, we rode 25 mile north on A1A into Palm Beach county. Crews were still cleaning up debris from hurricane Frances. Wow what a crazy few weeks it's been.

A few rides in one....

Hi all,

This is my first blog for the ride (and my first blog ever!) so bear with me.

Saturday 28 August

Well, today was the second FAILED attempt at riding Shark Valley on a full moon! You'll recall that the July full moon ride was cancelled because as we were getting ready to go, the sky opened and dumped rain on us. We decided it must be a big enough storm to be raining down at the Park as well. Of course, after getting out of a movie a few hours later, the big, bright moon laughed back at us from its clear, cool position above us.

So today we're heading out there - with fellow SMART rider, Bill Rodowsky, and fellow peer-pressured biker enthusiast, Allan Bond - and we get the call! Another potential Smart rider attempted to head to Shark Valley, but alas was turned away due to a fire in the wetlands! Of course we made the most of it and ate BBQ at THE PIT (see picture of the Pit in our Pictures). We were finally to be successful in a couple days...

Sunday 29 August

Our weekend would not have been complete without a ride. So Dave and I dragged Allan out this morning for our ride. Not wanting to stress myself out last night, I locked the bikes onto the car, for ease of starting early on Sunday. You know where the story goes...I forgot the key to the lock. So after arriving at our starting point, I had to drive back home to get the key. Where is our karma?

Luckily, the ride was well-worth it! We rode the HIGH 17th Street bridge - both ways! Then we made it to the Hillsborough Inlet - about 30 miles altogether. Construction along the road on the southern tip of the Fort Lauderdale beach required us to take over the whole lane. You can imagine what some of the early morning drivers thought of that. Hopefully those obnoxious people were on their way to church.

Monday 30 August

We FINALLY had our bug-filled ride down Shark Valley! WOW! What a beautiful orange moon as it rose. And once it was up it gave us all of the light we needed. Given the bugs and the late start (a car accident held us up on the highway) we only did one 15-mile loop - but it was worth it! We did apparently awaken a few gators along the ride. One large one reared up and started backing away - his white under-belly shone in the moonlight...

Shark Valley will be an absolute destination during the winter months for a full moon ride! Yes, that means I plan on getting back on the bike sometime after the SMART Ride! We may be able to ride it again before the ride, as long as we're late enough to miss the sunset bug-feast!

That's it for now. We hope to do another early-morning ride this coming Sat, Sept 4 - about 40 miles, as long as Frances doesn't decide to blow us over!

Dave took a beautiful picture of the sunset with Allan's camera - I just can't figure out how to put it up here - Stephen, Barry - can you help?

Thanks - John

Endless US 27

Sunday 22-August-2004

Today's ride started at Sawgrass Recreation Park on US27, 2 miles north of I75. US27 is a four lane dived highway with an adequate shoulder for biking. I rode 21 miles north on US27 without a single interuption by stoplights, traffic or turns. For a long distance ride, this is the place because you can ride forever without having to stop. Unfortunately, there is no place to stop for water.

The store is open and there's a SALE!

Rapid Recyclers merchandise is now available! An almost ridiculous array of clothing, housewares, and other stuff can now be yours. A couple of bucks from every item sold will go toward the SMART ride!

If you're thinking..."Oh cool, I'll buy something later"...big mistake! There's a sale right now. Save $3 on any purchase of $30 or more. Be sure to use this code at checkout: back2schl

You can jump to the store here: http://www.cafepress.com/rapidrecyclers

The store can also be accessed via our web site: http://www.rapidrecyclers.org

Happy shopping!

We rode 40 miles today in Key Biscayne!

Our first 40 mile ride was accomplished today! Congratulations to John, Dave, Ken, and me for going all the way baby! (Ken is not training for the SMART ride, but he was kind enough to join us for this training ride just for fun. Thanks Ken!)

The ride was down in the Key Biscyane area. I've boated down there, but never biked. This area is quite popular with cyclists. The paths were great for the most part and the scenery is beautiful. We tackled the bridge once (both ways) and did some huffing and puffing.

Ken had a minor knee scrape when he accidentally slipped on a bike trail. Luckily it was an area where there were no cars. Just a little drama--nothing too serious thank goodness!

The lesson learned on this trip....ALWAYS carry a spare innertube. John had a flat and luckily had an innertube with him. Good job John! I forgot to mention that on last week's ride Barry suffered 2--count them: 2--flats! He had a spare and had to borrow a spare from John for the second flat. It's good to have friends. I never realized how common flats can be riding out on ther roadways. Be prepared!

Our First Training Adventure

We had our first training adventure up in the West Palm Beach area today. John, Dave, Erin, Barry and I planned to complete a 30 mile bike ride. We were riding up around the Jupiter Island area. I had never been up there before It's a truly gorgeous.

Unfortunately, we had to stop suddenly when a light turned yellow and Erin bit the pavement. (Note to self: land on my helmet, not my chin). Erin broke a tooth and needed lots of stitches in her chin. She's preparing to get back on her bike this weekend! Now THAT is impressive.

Our team is now much more careful at stoplights: Green means go, Red means stop, and Yellow also means stop!

The team went with Erin to the hospital while I stayed behind to watch the bikes. As weird fate would have it, a cyclist rode by who stopped to chat. His name was Tony and he was also training for the SMART ride! He was a great guy and he kept me company for a while during my wait. Thanks Tony!

Another positive note...a woman (whose name I don't know) lept out of her car as soon as Erin fell. She immediately called 911 on her cel phone and left. Thank you anonymous person! In addition, while I was waiting with the bikes a guy stopped his car to make sure I was okay and to see if I needed help. West Palm Beach citizens are great! Thank You!

Welcome to our blog!

This is a place for Rapid Recyclers to share our ups, downs, and sideways as we train, raise money, and participate in the SMART ride!