A little cross Florida fun:-)

Last Sunday was the cross Florida ride.  Knowing that my legs were recuperating and as I was still not quite able to handle the long trek, I asked Kent Polk if I could tag along somewhere along the halfway point and help with any issues he may have and help pace if possible.  He said, "Yeah"!  The only concern being that I didn't want to get in the way of any racers that may be trying to break records.  I new that ckaudio from bentrider would be there in his Quest velomobile and that he would be pushing the pace if anyone wanted to go.  So it was decided.

I parked and rode out about 25 miles to cr54 and proceeded to get lost on the way not knowing how to read the directions and not being able to get my gps to find my location.  I finally called Kent's wife, Judy and spoke with her.  She was lost as well and didn't know where Kent was.  I took a stab at it and just pulled up to where I needed to be by luck as just then a white velo and Kent appeared over the hill. It was going to be a fun ride...no other racers close by and the quest wasn't going to mind if I helped Kent a little. I pulled out and joined Kent at the front and chatted for a bit before ck rang his bell and passed.

Kent with ckaudio in white Quest just ahead

He cruised down the road at a healthy pace and I would be lying if I said it wasn't impressive seeing the Quest in full race spec with hood glide down the road like spaceship.  You couldn't even tell if it had wheels or not...Very cool!
Right about this time Judy called and I told her where we were and where to start heading. Now it was time to get some work done.  I took some pictures and went to pulling.  If you could call it that...you have to know Kent to understand that he doesn't really like to draft and will sit back just far enough to get a little but not in the drafting sense of the word.  Maybe a 10 or so watt savings.  Off we went after the spaceship.  I pulled up to almost 30 for a bit trying to gauge his speed and then settled at 28.  I would pull for a long while and then have Kent take a turn at the front for a bit so I could recover and then pull for some more.  It was fun.  We were even able to draft off of ck for a while before he pulled over and let us pass.  I spoke a little to him, but it was hard to hear through the wind...He did play his cool stereo tunes for me.  Here is a cool video of Kent and I from ck's video camera!! 
It didn't take too long at this speed to reach my ending, but already I was regretting not doing the whole thing.  I felt really good and strong.  There was a bit of an issue, but nothing I couldn't pace out of.  Probably not team friendly in a pack for long as I would have to be thinking of myself too much, but still could probably do it.  I am grateful to Kent for allowing me the honor.  It was really cool to have the 12hr and 24hr Sebring champs kicking butt together and I can't wait to do it again! Kent went on to win out and has written a summary with my video link included in the story.