On Wednesday, 1/26/11, I was preparing for my morning bicycle ride from the Hilton on Marco Island Florida. It was cloudy as the sun was trying to break out. The roads were wet from the heavy rain the night before. I climbed on my bike at 8:00am and headed out. I was hoping the predicted rain would not dampen my ride.

I had my loop from the previous day and headed towards the Goodland Bridge. On my first ride, I met and rode with a local cyclist that lived on Goodland. He gave me a tour of Goodland which included his family’s cycling history. On our ride back I asked him about Marco Key. He explained the key’s history of being a nature preserve. He wanted to show me the key so we headed around the gate. He gave me the tour which included mangroves, wildlife, and the beautiful homes.

I had decided to do the same key loop because of its beauty, but I never expected to experience what was about to happen. I turned into the key and waved to the security guard at the gate. It was now around 8:30am. I am not exactly sure where on Whiskey Creek Drive the sighting occurred. I think it was before the bridge. I rode around a slight bend in the road and noticed something walking from the mangrove on the left side of the road. It was crossing the road about 50 yards ahead of me. I was rolling at 18 mph and I was approaching the cat quickly. My mind started racing with thoughts. What is it? It’s a cat. A very large cat. It stopped in the middle of the road and turned and faced me. Now I am about 10 yards from the cat. What should I do? Slowing down, I decided I better stop. When I applied my brakes the noise seemed to startle the cat. He turns and confidently walked back into the mangrove from where he started.

At this point I realized what I had just experienced. It was a panther! It stood about three feet tall from ground to top of back. It was long and sleek with a smaller head than I would expect. As it stared at me, I remember more of a gray coloring to the face. At this point the adrenaline was kicking in. As I rolled past the spot the panther was already out of sight. But then again he or she was probably watching me. I continued to ride up the road, finding it hard to believe what had just happened. I had just seen one the 100 panthers still remaining in Florida.

The start of this event began while we were being driven from Fort Meyers airport to Marco Island for vacation. We asked the driver about the cat crossing signs. He explained to my wife, daughter and me about the endangered species. How they are nocturnal and rarely seen. My daughter asked if they were aggressive toward people. He replied in his 10 years here, he never heard of an attack on a person. I now can confirm that he was right. I was luckily not the first reported attack. All this occurred in a matter of 30 seconds, but will have a lifetime to tell this experience.

For those of you looking for a vertical challenge, I think we found one. The Mount Greylock Century in the Berkshire Mountains has been a tradition since the 1970s. The route features over 9800 vertical feet of climbing, including a trip up (and down) Massachusetts’ highest point - Mt. Greylock: Elevation 3490 feet. Once you’re done with Mt. Greylock, which is a Category 1 climb on the European scale, you’re still faced with two Category 2′s, a Category 3, and a Category 4. If you’re looking to average 20 mph, this is not the route for you. 

This year’s Greylock adventure included four Expo Wheelmen (Vickie Monahan, Todd Mozzer, Chuck Scott, & Dave Jacoboski)  A couple of teammates bowed out at the last moment, but none so gloriously as Mr. Jeff Buske.  (To “Buske”, now a verb, is defined as one who bags the ride days in advance based on the meteorological forecast, or drinking too much the prior evening…). Also joining our group for most of the ride were four members of the Thread City Cyclers (TCC) out of Willimantic. 

Showers had been predicted, which was enough to dissuade about half the normal riders to forego the experience.  A steady rain would accompany us for about the first 70 miles of the ride.

The first few miles of the ride were easy pedaling on a flat bike trail for the first 5 miles or so. Mount Greylock comes at about the 10-mile mark and climbs about 2300 vertical feet over 10 miles. While it is not a particularly steep climb, it is relentless, especially in the pouring rain.  With fresh legs still under us, we all spun quickly up the mountain.  Dave J tried to get away at the two thirds mark, but was aghast as a TCC rider snatched the yellow jersey from him with a couple of hundred yards to go.  At the summit, soaked like wet rats and shivering in a cold 50’s wind and rain, we all looked at each other and laughed at our interesting situation.  Before hypothermia fully set in, we headed down the north side of the mountain, which drops much more steeply for about 2500 vertical feet. Because of the wet road conditions, we had to hang onto our brakes the entire way down with speeds on the straightaways of no more than 20 mph and no more than 10 mph on the switchbacks. We all decided this is a climb/descent that would be better done on dry roads.

From North Adams we headed into the second climb of the day, a 5-mile 1000-footer up Route 2 to Whitcomb Summit, along the Mohawk trail. On a clear day there is a great view at the hairpin turn at the two-thirds mark, not that day however, we slogged on…

After a rest stop we were off on a long descent.  At the high point, there was a sign announcing that the Hoosac Railroad Tunnel passed under the road at a depth of 1040 feet. We proceeded to drop all of that height, ending up at the low point of the ride at the 50-mile mark. Todd and Chuck were so far off the front on the descent that the others needed binoculars to see them in the distance…  As soon as we finished going down we turned onto East Hawley Road, which climbs back over 1000 vertical feet over a 5-mile distance. We all agreed that this climb was tougher than Greylock itself due to its steeper grades and the fact that we’d already done two major climbs.

The event organizers had a nice lunch spread at the top of East Hawley Road and we re-energized ourselves with peanut butter and jelly bagels and pasta salad. Including pasta and fruit salad served in huge blue Tupperware containers (Yes the kind you store in the garage, basement or attic. Yum!)

After lunch the demeanor of the ride changed somewhat, with no more enormous climbs but lots (and lots) of smaller equally steep climbs.  The final rest stop was manned by a cute elderly couple and stocked with (among the much needed fluid and other nice selections) Hammer Huckleberry gel and cans of Coca Cola, and an assortment of chairs to sit down and relax in.  I think most of us tried the Huckleberry gel and claimed it to be quite tasty.  The couple graciously filled up all our water bottles. I think at that point if any of us sat down, we would have done so to wait for the SAG wagon!

The rain DID let up late in the ride, which made for decidedly more pleasant riding conditions. At about 90 miles we turned west on Route 9, and started down a hill that continued all the way back to the finish, a very pleasant (and relaxing) way to complete a ride that provided an arduous test for all of us. I’m thinking we’ll do this ride again next year, but without the rain.  One last note: based on their performance this day, Vickie and Todd are both ready for their upcoming Leadville 100 adventure, good luck!