What a beautiful weekend for biking. Great temperatures, albeit a little windy on Saturday. Winds were blowing at 20mph on Saturday, so that didn't help us on our 54 mile bike ride to the Yalaha Bakery. We didn't expect much at the bakery - we pictured a small little shop that wouldn't be able to handle the 125 bikers that were coming. What we found, however, was this wonderful stand-alone building with a parking lot that was filled with cars, bikes and Harleys. It looked like it was straight from Germany with these colorful painted walls and a backyard filled with picnic tables and a band. The bakery was packed with people waiting for their number to be called - breads, danishes, tarts, and, Andy's favorite, Pretzel Rolls. Andy does not have a sweet tooth, but he's from Philly and loves his pretzels. We took a 40-minute break at the bakery (mostly waiting in line) before completing the second-half of our ride. It is so hard starting up again after taking that long of a break. Around mile marker 48/50 we started thinking it was time to get off of those hard seats.
Back in Mt Dora we took a one-and-a-half hours off, but then hopped back on for another 5-mile ride. This short family ride is called the Poker Ride. You stop at 4 locations and pick up a playing card at each stop. The 5th you get at the finish. Then whoever has the best hand, wins the pot. I had a pair of Aces and was actually winning for a little while until someone showed me up with three 10's. We never win, so I don't know why we always do this little ride around the hilly streets of Mt Dora.
Just a quick note so you can appreciate how much we're hurting right now: our recent rides (this summer) have only been 25 miles. So we have already more than doubled our mileage in one day.
On Sunday, we did the 26.5 mile Mount Plymouth Ride. Described as "curving roads and rolling hills". Not many rides up here that don't fit that description. It must've been around mile marker 23 when my thighs locked up. I went from doing 17mph in a headwind and screeched down to about 14mph. What a disgrace, but my thighs said "enough is enough".
So, why do we keep coming back to the Mount Dora Bike Festival? Oddly enough, it's because of these hills and curving roads. It's because of the horse farms and cattle pastures. This wonderful pink-colored wheat grass that glow in the dew and morning light. And the views of the lakes that are so abundant throughout Lake County. It's a world away from South Florida. It's a great area to ride.
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