I didn’t have an exact plan for my third and final day in Ocala, other than start the day with breakfast from the same place I’d been going to…

The shop across the street from the trail (Greenway Bikes) has a Wednesday night group ride, and I’d brought my lights, so I was tentatively planning on that. However, once I looked at the weather forecast, I decided I’d better ride earlier since rain would be moving through later in the day. I ended up riding part of the loop I’d done on Monday with some deviations onto the “red” trails that I hadn’t ridden yet. This time, since I (sort of) knew where I was going, I did it with fewer stops along the way and started taking advantage of the general “carviness” of the trails. There’s one trail out there aptly named “Bunny,” which repeatedly dares you to lean your bike over until you feel like you’re about to drag a knee. As an added “I love Florida” bonus, I also saw a dude riding in tights, a windbreaker, and a balaclava (it was a colder-than-normal 55 degrees and cloudy).

There’s also this thing, just randomly placed along another one of the trails…

I giggled my way though a few laps of it before heading back to the trailhead with time to spare to play around in the skills area…

 

 

I managed to ride the super skinny one about half the time I tried it, and was even more successful at the other one… even doing it in the “backwards” direction that required a pop-up on to the raised end. Considering my general phobia of riding skinny, elevated things, I was pretty proud of myself. It was a great wrap-up to the many hours of training.

That afternoon, I packed the bikes and whatever I could into the Element to prepare for the afternoon rain and early morning departure. As predicted, it started pouring around 4:00. I stopped back by Greenway Bikes and bought a beer. I could get used to a shop like that…

The remainder of the afternoon was spent lounging in the giant tent, listening to the rain.

Later on, I went back to Chipotle for dinner, but not until after I’d found a huge liquor store and gone on a beer hunt for Ryan. Liquor store employees are really friendly when you walk through the door and immediately grab a shopping cart.

The next day, I was up, packed, and out of the campground by 7:00am. I’ve decided that winter training in Florida is a great thing, and I’m definitely going back next time the weather turns foul in Memphis. Speaking of… I made it back to Memphis just in time for the weather to be nicer here. It seems as if winter is finally losing its grip on the city (though, there are a few cold days in the forecast next week). Hopefully, the worst is over.