Early Morning FishHawk Bike Ride Gives Cyclists Options

As the sun peaks over the horizon on a quiet morning in FishHawk Ranch, a small group gathers outside preparing to take on the countryside and traffic.

Just Ride Bicycles owner Joe Kennedy is on hand to guide the ride, which lasts somewhere in the 35- to 40-mile range each Thursday morning. The group of five to 10 people includes an eclectic mix of experience, from beginners to those looking for a chance to get ready for the bigger, more intense weekend rides.

“You’ll see a lot of beginners coming out to this ride, and we invite them so they can get used to riding with a bunch of people and learn to navigate different areas,” Kennedy said. “It’s not a big group, and somebody from the shop always stays with every group so that no one gets left behind. We’re going at 7 a.m. now that it’s getting light early enough, which allows us to do a little bit longer ride and give the more experienced cyclists a better challenge.”

The terrain is reasonably simple, allowing newer riders the chance to focus more on learning than maintaining speed or worrying about hills.

“It’s set up so you can go at your own pace,” Kennedy said. “You don’t have to worry about being fast enough to stay on the ride, you just come out and ride. We have four or five guys that will ride at a steady, fast pace, while there are some that hang back and focus more on enjoying the ride. It’s good for cyclists just to get out and get that midweek ride in instead of just waiting for that one on the weekend.”

Heading south on Bell Shoals Road from the Just Ride Bicycles storefront, 13431 FishHawk Blvd., the group takes the two-hour trek attempting to stick together in the interest of safety, but usually it ends up breaking down into two groups, the fast and slow.

The quicker riders will maintain a speed in the 22-24 mph range and navigate the roads in just under two hours. With traffic, the course has not gotten any easier as the surrounding area develops.

“With the urban sprawl we’ve experienced, you now see all these subdivisions, and there are 20-30 cars on a morning like this, whereas you used to see maybe five cars the whole way,” veteran cyclist Darryl Bowen said. “You got the faster group of guys, and the folks like me who average around 18-21 mph. At 53, I can’t really keep up with those young guys anymore.”

For the cyclists looking to challenge themselves, like 37-year old Patrick Combs, the ride offers the only mid-week training session in the area. He has been riding with the group for 18 months and has enjoyed the challenge despite the lack of hills and growing number of cars on the road, if for no other reason that it gives him the option of riding during the week.

“There really are no other rides during the week, so I enjoy this ride,” Combs said. “There are some sections where it gets rough and there are some blind turns, so it can get a bit nerve racking, but we’ve been taking those slow. There aren’t many hills around here but it’s still good just to get out and ride.”

For now, the rides are solely on Thursday, but Kennedy is looking to get them going on Tuesdays again in the near future. For more information, call Just Ride Bicycles at 813-381-3907 or visit their website.