Yesterday Jen and I did the SeaWorld thing. I haven't been there since I was a wee young lad, probably around 11, but it was pretty cool. After that we spent the evening traveling back to Medieval Times. What the heck is that...? Well, it's a show in Kissimee, Fl that literally puts you back in medieval times. You spend the night watching a tournament of knights battling to be named champion, while eating an authentic meal. So authentic, there are no utensils. Soup, bread, spare ribs, roasted chicken legs and potatoes are all consumed with your hands. And all the beer (or for under-agers like me, Pepsi), you can drink. Oh yeah, and they joust. It's cool.
The weather here keeps getting better everyday. Today was hot and sunny, 'round 78 degrees. Looking forward to doing lots of riding next week in this heat and giving the tan lines a solid off-season boost. I'm gonna try to explore some new trails that are a little closer than Ocala, thanks to the recommendations of Bowman. Don't worry, there will be pics.Did some baking today too. Wanted to make some chocolate chip Christmas cookies so I used the Original Toll House recipe but tweaked it to make it vegan. Replaced butter with a 50/50 mix of peanut butter and applesauce. The result: a cookie with a traditional homemade flavor with the texture of a wet sponge. My guess was that the peanut butter had made them cakier, just like the "leftover pie" from a few weeks ago, so for the second batch i used less PB and more applesauce. Same outcome. Lesson learned- Experiment with small numbers. I have 150 of these damn cookies to eat now.
Downtown St. Augustine...felt like Europe
Is it just me or does it seem like these power meter charts are getting way out of hand. Is there really a point to posting a picture of some stupid lines that are meaningless to everyone except the person who's information is recorded on it? Even if there was a point, I find it hard to 
Isn't that impressive?
This past weekend was yet another failed edition of dual Shenandoah 100 rides. Either way, we had some sweet riding. Saturday we rode parts of the Shen. course, then ventured into West Virginia to check out Seneca Rocks. The map of the park showed over 40 miles of trail so we decided to give it a go. Turns out the trails are mostly designed for hiking so the initial climb to the top of the ridge was mostly hike-a-bike. Once to the top we popped out to a vista that, had it not been total fog, would have let us seen for miles and miles. The bright white fog that surrounded us still had a pretty cool, "really, really high-up" feeling. Once on the top of the ridge we found some fun flowy singletrack that was made extremely treacherous due to the rain the night before.
The sleeping arrangements for the weekend were undoubtedly the most interesting part. Saturday was spent sleeping on cots under the stars, surrounding an open fire pit. It was really cool, that is, until the scariest noise I've ever heard woke me up. Some sort of animal, approximately 100 yards or so directly behind me, was screaming. Like tires on pavement. Actually, that's what I first thought it was, someone just down the road was doing doughnuts, but it didn't take long to realize that it was a live creature. I shook Brandon awake and told him what I heard and that I was scared out of my mind. He and Matt both assured me that it was a deer. Somewhat skeptical, yet partially satisfied, I quickly went back to sleep. Wouldn't you know it, about two hours later, I'm woken up by Brandon and Matt who, after hearing the same noise, were trying to restart the fire for protection. We haven't figured out what it was yet. Our best guess was an owl, but it was loud, and it was close, and I've never been so scared since the time I thought my brother was a burglar breaking into our house late at night...
