No writing/riding

Been a while I know, Summer is here and it is too hot for me to ride....simply that and the waistline knows and tells me all the time.

Will start again shortly. Here in Pinellas county there appears to be a lot of stimulus package money being spent on bike trails.

The Pinellas Trail is getting all sort of spurs. Even Hernando county has a new trail being built to connect a few up there. A county employee was recently fired due to missappropriations of funds for the trail...Here is a link to the story.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/localgovernment/brooksville-public-works-director-emory-pierce-fired/1035473

Good times.

Boy Scout Cycling Merit Badge

A little over a year ago, my Herr Frugal's son completed the Cycling Merit Badge in Boy Scouts. It is a difficult but manageable badge to obtain in scouting, due to the extent of preparation needed to achieve the objectives. Physically speaking, a Scout must achieve the following:

• 2 Ten (10) mile rides
• 2 Fifteen (15) mile rides
• 2 Twenty-five (25) mile rides
• 1 Fifty (50) mile ride

Our Troop completed these rides over the course of three campouts and a couple of meetings. Each ride was a bit different, but gave both continuity and variety. I will summarize below the preparation and details for your own idea.

Each 10 mile ride was done after Daylight Savings Time started to allow a little extra light at the end of the day. We rode 5 miles up the Pinellas Trail and 5 miles back. We are fortunate to have a spur of that length right near the church where our troop meets. Two meetings, as we were done with that prep.

The next rides were completed during a campout at the Jay Starkey Park. A great facility with a youth camping area, clean washrooms and quite the adventurous racoons at night! Our boys set up a water soaking trap for the rascals on the second night, and darn it, they did not come around like they did the first night. Anyhoo, the trail in Starkey Park from the start in a parking lot to the rest stop on the Suncoast trail is about 7.5 miles (map says 6.7 miles, we rode a bit more to get to 7.5). A great ride on paved trail, through the pine flatwoods and some wetland landscape. Water coolers were available in the park and very well maintained. So two rides completed this requirement.

http://www.swfwmd.state.fl.us/recreation/areas/starkey-park.html

We completed the twenty-five miler on alternating Saturday mornings. We again used the Starkey park trail and from the trail head we met up with the Suncoast bike trail. North we went until SR52 which was the 12.5 mile mark. A quick snack and some water and back we went, finishing in a couple of hours. More on the Suncoast Trail in a different entry....

The remaining ride was the 50 miler. The boys were pumped as was the adult leadership. We found the perfect ride/campout set up. We would ride the Withlacoochee Trail out of Floral City and stay at the youth camping area at Ft. Cooper State Park.

http://www.dep.state.fl.us/gwt/guide/regions/crossflorida/trails/with_state.htm

We simply woke up, had some breakfast, did a quick gear test, walked the bikes out to the pavement, then away we went, 25 miles to the south, then lunch. Almost to the trail head at SR50. Then back to camp, for some well needed rest and a pizza dinner from a nearby CiCi's.

All in all 150 miles of riding in about the span of six weeks. All that is needed is some well planned out buildup rides and simple conditioning and the Cycling badge can be achieved with the boys. Herr Frugal, believes this badge was the most planned and worthwhile badge the Troop has worked on over the past few years.

Hopefully this outline will help your Boy Scout Troop plan and ride to a successful Cycling badge too!

Thanks for visiting and please leave a comment. I'll add links to the attractions shortly.

Ream Wilson Clearwater Trail

Herr Maus came over the weekend and we road the Ream Wilson trail in Clearwater this morning. 5.3 miles from Bayshore Blvd in Safety Harbor, through the Del Oro neighborhood across McMullen-Booth, around Crews Lake Park, under US 19, past Bright House Networks Field and ending up at the Long Center in Clearwater. One of my favorite produce stands is right there on Coachman, Isaac's Produce. Great place to take a break with a fresh piece of fruit.

Cool temperatures and no breeze made the ride enjoyable. Not too many frisbee golf players out today, what a neat sport to watch and boy, these guys take it seriously too!

It is always great to see Herr Maus and catch up in person. Future plans will include the North end of the Pinellas Trail, the downtown St. Petersbug spur off of the trail and probably some beach riding at Ft. Desoto. If we can make it over to Orlando, the Katy trail and Orange Blossom trails are something to check out around the Lake Baldwin and UCF areas.

I was encouraged to read about the Progress Energy Trail expansion. When complete, the trail will finish 70 miles of paved trail around Pinellas County. I found this article and a .pdf map of the proposals.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/article976023.ece

http://www.tampabay.com/multimedia/archive/00056/New_portion_of_trail_56701a.pdf

Imagine, over 70 miles of paved trails to get around by bicycle!

The Ream Wilson Trail crosses the Progress Energy trail by Bright House Network fields. 2.5 miles has been completed so far, another 2.5 miles slated for completion n 2009.

So, we rode just over 10 miles, went home and enjoyed a big frugal breakfast with the family. Good times!

Please remember to check back for local area trail reports and leave a comment or two!

Upper Tampa Bay Trail

Today was a beautiful day for a ride and we have decided to begin our trail commentary with the Upper Tampa Bay Trail in Hillsborough County. (off of Montague/Hillsborough Avenue)

Herr Maus accompanied me on this short & brisk ride. Total of just under 14 miles round trip, about 7 one way. We started out at the Old Memorial Trailhead and turned around at the Peterson Road Park trailhead. The best news includes the possibility the north end of the trail will continue and link up with the southern end of the Suncoast Trail and the southern end of this trail continuing into the Upper Tampa Bay Park.

This morning was brisk, about 40 ish in the shade. Yes, we wore shorts, which gave us the extra motivation to start spinning.

The trail itself follows a channel from Tampa Bay, some stream beds, past a rest station at Waters Avenue, crosses Sheldon, past the dump, the Citrus Park Mall and the Big Cat Rescue Center. Through some neighborhoods and even past some peacocks!

Its surface is well maintained, vegetation and wildlife galore. Total trip time was just over an hour including some time to read the historic plaques in the area. Since the trailhead is off of Old Memorial Hwy, there is a preserved section of the road and downtown Tampa is 15.5 miles away.

Good times with Herr Maus and Herr Frugalmeister.

Chiefland Bikefest

My brother Herr Professor and I participated in the Chiefland Bikefest back in November. It had been over 25 years since I participated in a quasi-supported tour and it was the Professor's first time.

The organizers were prepared for the first day of riding and the ride was very pleasant, long for me, but pleasant nonetheless. The planned rest stops were thought out and snacks were plentiful. Nice cool day to ride from Chiefland to Cedar Key. All told about 66 miles according to the Professor.

We followed SR 345 to SR 24 in Rosewood on clean two lane roads and out to the island. A quick rest and back to Chiefland through the Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Reserve.

The following day was following the Nature Coast bicycle trail from Chiefland to Cross City. Beautiful day for a ride, through forest, farmland, over the great Suwannee River (I know what you're humming now!) and along US 19/98. Support for that day's 44 mile ride was less than expected, but hey I was riding with my brother and we stocked up before we left. We only wish our other brother, Herr Maus was with us. Perhaps next year!

Accomodations were provided by the Market Place RV Park as was our delicious breakfasts from the snack shack in the Flea Market. Folks it was delicious. Good ride, good weather and good times.

I'll post more and/or link to the rails to trails program during another entry. There is a yearly allocation of over $4.5M to purchase and preserve these trails so more of these trails can be converted.

Thanks for checking in and keep riding. Reduce that carbon footprint of yours!

The Stable

Welcome! I wanted to provide a bit of a history lesson and hopefully some lessons learned as I begin to rehab two bicycles in my stable.

Our stable at the Frugal household number 6 bicycles.
- 1999 Giant Acapulco hybrid (Henry); which has been my main bicycle for many years
- 2000 Cannondale Adventure 400 (Cyril) outfitted to be a road touring bicycle
- 1995 Cannondale 400 Mountain Bike (no name yet); one of the two bicycles in rehab
- 198? Royce-Unionish folding bicycle (Fred), single speed and in it's second life
- 1972 Raleigh Twenty folder (Oliver); the other rehab project

I'll post pictures of each bicycle shortly and will probably link them to their own page.

As we live in the Tampa Bay area, there are many converted trails available to explore. I hope to provide some detail and experiences as we tour along. I hope to provide anyone who lands on this blog some information that will assist them getting out and exploring along at 12 mph.