Eighth Annual LOST Ride-Run-Walk

The Okeechobee Rotary Club’s 8th annual L.O.S.T. Ride-Run-Walk will be held March 26, starting at 8 a.m. for bikers; 8:30 for runners and walkers.

Good food and camaraderie

I’ve ridden six of the seven previous events. It’s a great time of year and the sponsors and folks who man the rest stops are friendly Okeechobee locals who put out home-baked goodies.

Don’t be intimidated by the riders, either. There’s a mix of hard-core go-fast riders and riders on beater bikes. You’ll quickly find someone of your speed and ability.

This is a great time of year to be on the lake, too. Four of us have been out there the last couple of weekends and have seen so many gators sunning themselves and cruising around that we quit pointing them out.

Places to stay

There are getting to be more and more places to stay in Okeechobee. The Hampton Inn Okeechobee is offering a special for the event riders. Donna Huth, director of sales, said the hotel has a special rate of $89 for groups of 20 or less and $79 for groups of 21 or more.

[Full disclosure: Donna offered me a free night’s stay, which I accepted. Apparently my inability to get up at ye-god-o’clock, especially after the time change, and drive from the coast to Okeechobee has gotten around.]

If you are looking for less upscale accommodations, I’ve stayed at the Scottish Inns in town several times. Don’t expect anything more than a small, clean room, but the prices were in the $50 range the last visit. Here was my Scottish Inns review in 2009.

Registration and more info

Here’s the Rotary Club’s 8th LOST Mailer with a registration form and more information.

Photos from previous Rotary rides

Dyer Consquences Cyclocross Jan. 15

South Florida doesn’t have many places to practice climbing. There are a few bridges, like the Blue Heron Bridge, and there’s Dyer Park, a reclaimed landfill. Dyer Park is where I took Mary Garita when she wanted to train for a hilly Georgia ride.

Cyclocross event open to all

This is the third annual and largest cyclocross event in Palm Beach County. It’s open to cyclists of all levels, including beginners.

5K and 10K Adventure Trail Run

New this year to Dyer Consequences is Palm Beach’s first 5K and 10K mostly off-road adventure run.

For information, directions and registration, go to the Dyer Consequences website.

The Mentos Misfire

I mentioned that I didn’t go for a ride on New Year’s Day because Wife Lila and I went to the beach at sunrise and to the 4th Annual Steinhoff Family Chili Cookoff in the afternoon. What I didn’t share was the main entertainment at the Cookoff.

Foodie friend and sometime bike riding partner Jan Norris sidled up to me and confided that she was going to usher in the New Year with an 11-Fountain Mento Salute. It had been on her bucket list for a long time, she said. I’m sure you’ve seen the videos of elaborately choreographed sticky sprays of soda that are all over the Internet.

Mentos, generic soda, garbage bags and volunteers

Jan’s setup was a little less complicated. It consisted of 11 bottles of cheap generic storebrand cream soda, a package of Mentos, a gaggle of garbage bags and some dragooned volunteers.

The basic concept of dropping a Mento into a soda bottle was pretty easy to grasp, but there was quite a debate about the timing. “Do we drop when you count down to one or do we drop on zero?”

5, 4, 3, 2, 1 DROP!

Let’s just say that I hope this isn’t a harbinger of what we can expect for the rest of the New Year.

Video of the Mentos Fountain Exercise

After the debacle,

I got an email from Jan:
Subject: Wrong Mentos
And, wrong soda. It has to be non-coated Mentos (weren’t available) and some kin to Diet Coke. I am investigating further, but Mentos were the No. 1 problem.

She never likes my version of any story, so I’m sure we’ll hear her side of it before long.

Total Eclipse of the Moon

Nearing totality at 2:29 a.m.

A buddy said he was going to have trouble staying up for the total eclipse of the full moon on Dec. 21, 2010. I said I could save him some trouble if he wanted to duplicate the effect.

  1. Go out in the back yard and stare at the full moon.
  2. Close your eyes.
  3. Open your eyes.
  4. Go to bed
  5. Complain about how hard it is to get up

Total eclipse3:22 a.m.

These were shot with a Canon FS100 video camera set on still mode. I can zoom the lens to a higher magnification than with my Nikon D40. They’re not razor-sharp, but they’re good enough for my purposes.

Light coming back 3:55 a.m.

It was time to head to bed. I stayed up until after 4 a.m., woke up at 9:30 to feed the cats, then went back and slept until almost 1 p.m.

It sure is nice to be retired when you keep hours like that.

We’re serious about Full Moons

Here’s a sampling of some of our Full Moon stories

Frog Dance under the Full Moon

Palm Beach Full Moon bike ride

Fire dancers at Full Moon Drum Circle

LOST opportunity to perform buttectomy

Full Moon rises over Sandia Mountains

The What Else Could Go Wrong Ride

First Annual Christmas Cruise

When I invited rider friends Anne and Osa to the First Annual Velo’s Cyclery Christmas Cruise, I warned them that we might be the only ones to show up.

Organizer Juan Orellana had the same thought. “I didn’t expect but about 10 people to show up, so that’s all the maps I made up.”

As it turned out, about 42 riders showed up at Phipps Park in West Palm Beach to take a tour of the famous (in this area, at least) decorations around Gabriel Drive in suburban West Palm Beach.

Juan led the charge

Riders of all shape and ages, riding tandems, tall bikes, expensive road machines and beaters, some decorated to the hilt, pulled out of the park shortly after 7 p.m. for the roughly 6.5-mile ride.

Most riders wore helmets

Most riders wore helmets, although these guys opted for style over safety for the evening.

Spectacular decorations

The neighborhood has been known for its extravagant decorations for as long as I can remember. Wife Lila insists that we make a pass through there almost every season. Traffic is usually a hassle, so I’ve considered riding on my bike, but dismissed the idea because I was afraid that motorists would be distracted and would run into me.

As Juan pointed out, “In numbers is better.” It helped that we made such a spectacle of our own with all the blinking lights and strange costumes that motorists were VERY aware of us.

My friends are ready for next year

Anne and Osa enjoyed their rides very much. They’re already looking forward to next year. Both of them managed to come up with excuses for missing the Freakbike Militia Choppernite 30 ride the night before, when temperatures were a bit more on the chilly side.

Juan said the event worked out so well that he’s considering doing other family rides.

Christmas Cruise Video

Photo Gallery

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