I met the most extreme human last night at the campsite, Shane Henry. He was camping a couple sites down from us and was super excited about fishing for bull shark late into the night. He said he would cook us up the best shark steak we have ever tasted if he hooked a big one. He caught a seven foot shark at this site a while back and showed me the video of them measuring the length of the shark and it was indeed eighty-four inches. I could write a totally separate blog post about this man with all the stories he told me. I will give you just some of the highlights.

Shane was a Moto X Monster Tour participant where he jumped his dirt bike doing gnarly insane tricks while flying many stories above the ground traveling unbelievable distances. He has no fear.

He would jump in the water after alligators while fishing in Florida and bear hug them so they would rapidly surface. He was a MMA fighter at some point in his life. He is simply a modern day badass. With all this being said, his crowning achievement in my eyes is his simple and effective way to get his tent cool on a hot Florida night. The picture below shows that he has no bounds to his creativity.

I woke up hoping to see Shane wrestling a shark and landing it up the boat ramp and was a little disappointed when he had called it quits by 3:30 am this morning. I went about my business and prepared for another day of joyous riding and giggled a little thinking back on our conversation.

Folker and I headed out with a shorter day on our plate as we were scheduled to link up with the family east of Orlando near Cape Canaveral. The night riding was very pleasant as the full moon was coming in and out of the cloudy skies. The moon’s counterpart, the sun, lost the battle completely with the clouds which made for a very pleasant day of riding also.

This morning we found ourselves more on low traffic roads. As we turned off onto one of these type of roads, a group of three elderly men passed by with matching cycling kits and I felt the spirit enter as quickly as they passed us. It was time to go and I committed by passing Folker and jumping on the wheel of the last rider and said “I am with you!” One old man further up asked “Who is it?” as they tried to figure out what was exactly going on. I rode in the rear for about a quarter a mile and decided I could pull for these guys up front and block a lot of wind for them and that is what I did for the next couple minutes. Finally one of them came up beside me and asked me where I was going. Once my final destination was revealed they passed by with each of them wishing me luck. They were good sports as I thanked them for letting me get my road bike riding fix.

Soon we were on Rockledge Drive and it was perhaps the best road we have ridden on this trip as it was quiet with minimal vehicle traffic offering beautiful water views and the chance to enjoy the local houses. The road was also full of numerous cyclists including three larger pelotons making it a cycling festival almost.

I stopped at one point and got some video footage of one of the pelotons moving in the opposite direction and I cheered them on. Later on they were heard coming from the rear of us and I told Folker I was going to jump in and give it a go. I jumped towards the middle of the pack and then out of nowhere the Dutchman made his move and flew by me and entered the fray. I quickly dropped off and scrambled for the phone to capture some of the moment. An impressive sight to see if I do say so myself.

Today was a shorter day mileage wise, but the morning was packed full of great memories. It was a great day of riding on beautiful roads filled with such a positive atmosphere. America!

We made it to our link up with my family and we will be enjoying some time in Walt Disney World. We will start where we left off on Monday! Time to enjoy the happiest place on earth.