Ready to Roll in Florida!

Gator Country Hell Week #11 is set to roll out of sunny Fort Myers on Friday 28th December. And judging by the topsy-turvy weather much of the country is experiencing of late, this is about the best place in the US to be right now.

Today Becky and I spent over 2 hours at Sam’s Club buying provisions for the trip. This is always a taxing ordeal, as we try to predict what everyone will like. Having been in this business for quite some time now (this is our 37th Hell Week event overall), we have come to learn that every group of riders is a little different from the one before. The last group that swigged Diet Coke and munched Kudos bars may be this year’s group that raves Coke Classic and pretzels.

So we stand around looking at each other a lot, trying to guess what we’re going top run out of, and what we’re going to be taking home with us.

But that’s all detail work. Right now we’re focusing on the 8 days ahead, the 800 miles of riding, and the weather forecast…which right now looks incredibly good. Once again the prognosticators have laid out a splendid prediction, with sunshine and highs between 75 and 80 for most of the trip.

A total of fourteen of us will be along for the journey. We will be spending the night in Clewiston, Avon Park, Plant City, Brooksville, Winter Garden, Bartow, and South Lake Placid before we return to Fort Myers on 4th January. We’ve got about 800 mils of riding, including roughly 100 on paved bike paths scattered throughout the state.

And if we’re lucky, maybe we’ll even see a gator or two.

Check back for daily updates from along the road!