Bicycle Herping In North Central Florida

As anyone who's visited my profile page knows, I'm a competitive cyclist and ride almost every day. During the week I train pretty hard to stay in racing shape, but on the weekends I like to break out my touring bike, point it in what ever cardinal direction suits my fancy, and ride for 3 to 6 hours at a time.

Many times during my weekend trips I encounter Herps of all types, but never seem to remember to carry a camera. Well, I today I finally remembered to pack one in my bike's trunk bag, and as luck would have it, I not only ran across a Herp, but one of the coolest ones in the whole state.


Eastern Coral Snake - State Hwy 26 - 3 miles west of Trenton, FL
I missed him as I rolled past, but made a quick turn around to try and keep him off the busy Hwy.
http://i364.photobucket.com/albums/o...ernCoral_1.jpg

I managed to turn him back towards the woods. Sorry, I don't ride with a hook, so I couldn't get any better photos of him.
http://i364.photobucket.com/albums/o...ernCoral_2.jpg

By the way, going from riding at 20 mph on a fully loaded touring bike to trying to take pictures with a steady hand in less than a minute is not as easy as I thought it might be! Most of these came out so blurry that they aren't worth posting...

Thats a great find. I was down in Wekiwa State Park once and stumbled across one about 30" long. One of the prettiest snakes I have ever seen in the field.

Thanks for sharing.

Cool find Lance:D

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mike41793

Cool find Lance:D

---

Naw, Lance never sees snakes cause he's rides too fast to spot them :D

That's a really cool find! I'm envious of people like you--my brother runs ultras so he does long daily runs and he's always seeing reptiles, but he could care less hah! I've got to find some way to cover more distance! Thanks for sharing!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Slim

Naw, Lance never sees snakes cause he's rides too fast to spot them :D

---

Yea he goes fast bc hes on roids lol. I assume youre not that competetive... or maybe you are...:D

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by gardenfiend138

I've got to find some way to cover more distance! Thanks for sharing!

---

Cycling is an awesome way to get out and see the country side! Even if you don't want to ride on the highways and byways, you can always get a mountain bike and travel the trails and fire roads. You'll probably see more reptiles than I do! Well, more live one's anyway :rofl:

I would start a thread with road kill photos, but if I stopped to take a picture of every dead thing I see on my rides, I'd never get to ride ;)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mike41793

Yea he goes fast bc hes on roids lol. I assume youre not that competetive... or maybe you are...:D

---

I'm an old man, competing against other old men. Those special pharmaceutics only get you so far, and in the end, aren't worth the trouble.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Slim

I'm an old man, competing against other old men. Those special pharmaceutics only get you so far, and in the end, aren't worth the trouble.

---

True, being born with an enlarged heart helps though too lol.

For an 'old man' it sounds like you do pretty well boss. One of my highschool teachers was a cycling nut. Have you ever tried a spinning class? I know he went to one a few mornings a week before school and it gave him a good workout even. See if your local YMCA has one or something, the class my teacher went to was free I think. At the very least, even if you dont like it much, it seems like itd be a good place to meet chicks lol.:gj:

Very cool find, makes me want to start cycling!

Spinning class, while a very good place to meet members of the fairer gender, KILL me! You do a lot of sweating, and you build up massive amounts of lactic in your legs, but you go nowhere! Good work out yes, but I just don't see the point.

My last supervisor when I was still working for the Air Force was a huge spin class nut...never missed a spin session at the base gym. He finally bought a road bike and the first time he came out with us he got absolutely chest stomped. It's almost as bad as guys who run marathons and then try cycling for the first time. It's two totally different types of fitness. If I tried to run a 5K tomorrow I would be beaten badly by Wounded Warriors with one leg and pregnant women pushing baby strollers.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by John1982

Very cool find, makes me want to start cycling!

---

Thank you, it makes me wonder if I should start cycling with a snake hook and a bag...

DISCLAIMER: Collecting native venomous species in Florida is against the law, and I do not advocate such actions :colbert: :D