Saturday morning means gravel grinding (or sand grinding) in Northwest Florida. Today I am meeting up with John, Floridaman Mike, and Chris at the Bear Lake Campground for a 100K ish spin. Extra double bonus….. a new camera!
The forecast called for rain all week but at the last minute a wonderful day broke out….. along with temps in the mid 80s and high humidity. However, the mid-week rains settled the loose sand and gravel and made for epic road conditions.
Floridaman Mike eats gravel and sand for breakfast then farts dust all day long!
This is my new friend Chris who must know I like photography and sports wonderful colors! He also seems to be a fashionista as his whole outfit matches from the shoes to the bike.
We were rolling through the hills and forests of Southern Alabama and I stopped to shoot the crew. By the time I fumbled with my camera they had rolled around the corner and I got this image of an empty road. This empty road view lasted for several kilometers from this point on as they just kept it rolling. Many times adventure photography is a lonely sport!
John and Chris hadn’t worked up a sweat yet while I was dying in the heat and humidity. They have been rolling these roads all summer so at 80 degrees, they were almost needing a jacket.
This is today’s water stop. The holy water did not seem to help my fitness as by this time I was looking to pull the pin. Trying to convert backpacking and hiking fitness to cycling fitness is a painful 8 week process and my good friends have Z E R O sympathy for me….. something as it turns out my Idaho friends and my Florida friends have in common.
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