Did you know that the human powered land speed record is 83.13 miles per hour? The record came from a specially designed recumbent bike. Dutch cyclist Sebastiaan Bowier pedaled a streamliner up to that incredible speed for 660 feet in Battle Mountain, Nevada. I remember watching his narrow rocketship like ride on television and thinking, what made his bike go so fast? It was a mystery I had to explore. Terri and I visited Vite Bikes & Trikes , a relatively new shop on Venice Island, Florida. The owners are John and Jacquie Schlitter. John is an ultraendurance record holder who has been in the recumbent industry for 35 years. He is the first person to complete the Race Across America (RAAM) on a recumbent. His wife Jacquie has also competed in RAAM and holds several records of her own. They were the experts who introduced us to this unusual style of riding. We had never even seen a recumbent until we started riding in Florida. Here you witness packs of them c...

The weather report was looking rather ominous on Saturday March 29th, 2014. It was to be the day of the 'Build Your Own Bike' pub ride hosted by the Sarasota County Off Road Riders. Cyclists were encouraged to scavenge together old klunkers with spare parts in a rusty soup of ingenuity and labor to build the ultimate pub cruiser for under $100. The angry skies parted ways only minutes before the gathering began. Riders met at the Gazebo in Centennial Park on Venice Island and displayed their patchwork of frankenstein creations. While the weather made for a lower turnout than hoped for, those who did arrive brought the good stuff. The cruisers ranged from those with outlandish geometry to those that were almost painful to observe. There was a bike painted with chalk in which people were encouraged to write their names on the dusty frame. One cruiser was so caked in rust that you needed a tetanus shot just for looking at it. One rode seated straight up reaching...

In the blissful perfection of a cool October night the Sarasota County Off Road Riders assembled on the island of Venice for another of their fun, unforgettable fundraisers. The theme this time around was a Halloween scavenger hunt. Fifty participants assembled at Centennial Park on Main Street just as the sun was disappearing over the ocean. Each offered up their donation which would go towards the cause of building and maintaining mountain bike trails in the Carlton Reserve.  With the darkness falling and a light-hearted challenge rising, the fun began. Riders arrived in all manner of costume and on every arrangement of bike that you can possibly imagine. Starting with the Road, Cruiser and Mountain bikes, people decked out their wheels with adornments, glow sticks and flickering strands. While everyone had bike lights for the night of riding, some bikes were positively pulsating in the darkness and could be seen a quarter mile down the street. One resplende...

For many it seemed to be a typical Saturday evening in the City of Venice, the streets were clearing, the sun was setting and the mood was relaxed. Then, out of nowhere, dozens of bicycles buzzed by. Road bikes, Mountain bikes and even a BMX bike casually cruised down the side streets filling the Island with a whole new crowd of smiling faces. Who was this mysterious peloton? They were the second gathering of the SCORR (Sarasota County Off Road Riders) pub ride which included the owners and employees of Real Bikes Venice , Real Bikes Englewood and Bicycles International Venice . Eric Claussen displaying the new bike trail signs SCORR is the group which recently crafted 4 miles worth of Mountain bike trails in the Carlton Reserve park. This particular pub crawl was put together to raise money to pay for the signs that will be posted on those trails. SCORR volunteers, wearing the camouflage shirts, made sure no rider was left behind as 60 cyclists traversed the streets...