# Ride/Race Across Florida



## johnbspinnen' (Mar 12, 2005)

I'm doing the 300k RIde Across Florida in 3 weeks, and was wondering if anyone has ever done it before. The website is quite sparce when it comes to info.

http://bikeacrossflorida.com/nav1.html

What are the rest stops like? Did they have the Friday time trial every year? Thanks in advance for the info.


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## cinbau (May 7, 2002)

I did it two years ago. Reststops at that timer not all that great. As soon as everyone passed one site it was packed up ad carted on down the line. A couple of us in our group got some bad fruit later in the day at got a little sick, but were able to finish. I think we must have trave3d done every road in Florida that was under construction that day. Some were down right dangerious. I know the construction was out of their hands, but rerouting at the last minute would have been a safer call.

Other than at the end the que sheet had the wrong distances and a few un marked turns we missed we finished with 10 extra miles. We made the best out of it. We were lucky and had no rain the entire day. 

T-shirt and several other promissed items were not had that year until mailed a few week later, and were not that attractive for such a momentious ride. Things were a bit unorganized. As a result the race director resigned a few days late claming, He droped the ball at that years race." Several of us would like to do it agian, but the not so great support and travel expences are holding us back.


There was no Friday time trial that I heard about.

Have fun.
Cricket


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## johnbspinnen' (Mar 12, 2005)

*Thanks for the info.*

Thanks for the info. It does seem to be quite unorganized. The website is barely functional. I live in Virginia but my flolks live in Florida not far from the start. Actually the race looks to go within blocks of their house near Oviedo. Sooooo I'm going to give it a try. I'll let you know how it goes. 

Initially (when I sent in my reg.) they had mention of a Friday 40k time trial and the start was to be at Cocoa Beach. Now a new registration is on the site that says the start is at Titusville with no mention of the TT. The distance is shortened to 133 miles. Hmmmm .... and my check STILL hasn't cleared the bank! I'm still going to give it a go. We'll see.

I guess the focus is on the pro peleton that is supposed to ride the entire route in a police escorted envelope. I've heard that this has caused problems in the past as the escort has to be handed of to differant police at the county lines. What a logistical nightmare. Looks like us slugs at the back are there just for the fees. I also registered for the coach back to the start. If that doesn't pan out I guess I'll just have to ride back !!!  

Thanks again.







cinbau said:


> I did it two years ago. Reststops at that timer not all that great. As soon as everyone passed one site it was packed up ad carted on down the line. A couple of us in our group got some bad fruit later in the day at got a little sick, but were able to finish. I think we must have trave3d done every road in Florida that was under construction that day. Some were down right dangerious. I know the construction was out of their hands, but rerouting at the last minute would have been a safer call.
> 
> Other than at the end the que sheet had the wrong distances and a few un marked turns we missed we finished with 10 extra miles. We made the best out of it. We were lucky and had no rain the entire day.
> 
> ...


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## cinbau (May 7, 2002)

That sound fmiliar. When we did it they sent out an email two weeks ahead saying that the route was shortened down to 155 miles. And according to the que sheet it was right. But the distance after the last rest area were all wront. In two seperate distances 10 miles were left off. How ever did the ques was not a good typesetter (niether am, I but the distance have to be corect in that situation). 

I think the police escorts were new last year. We had one for the first county and then were on our own after that. Last year I heard several complants about the escorts, going slow and stopping to let straglers catch up. Not so well like by thoes who wanted to press on at a pace that they were comfortable. I even read on their site that several riders passed the escort to go faster, but were stop and brought back. But, when they took off again were stoped again and told either stay with us or go home now. And were detained on the side of the road for 45 mkinutes. Just what you need a long break two hours into a long event. 

See if you can beat our times, we did it in just under 9 hours. I thoght I was going to use my aerobars for a lot of the ride. I ended up removing them along the route.

I can't say anything about the returm coach. One of riders wife ran support for us. She meet us at all the later rest stops. I hate to paint a grim picture, but I have seen better organization on smaller events. 

Cricket


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