Bicycle rides just got friendlier

By Kevin J. Shutt

kevin.shutt@newssun.com

SEBRING -- For Red, it began as a two-mile bike ride to the Circle K on Hammock Road.

Then, he began bicycle commuting the six miles from his Golf Hammock home to work at Heartland Pharmacy near Highlands Regional Medical Center.

Leonard "Red" Camp is a pharmacist.

"I decided for reasons I don't even remember to ride to the convenience store that's a couple of miles from my house," Camp said.

That was May.

Highlands Hammock State Park Ranger Darrell Smith, whom Camp met during one of his rides into the Hammock, put him in touch with Bob Hodge.

Hodge is president of Highlands Pedalers, the local bicycling club.

"I went on my first ride two weeks ago," Camp said. "They were patient with me. I survived it."

"They" were the spandex crew that meets three times a week in the parking lot of the Bicycle Shop on U.S. 27 in Sebring.

Camp's "first" ride wasn't his first per se, but his first with the sometimes-intimidating avid recreational cyclists.

He rode with the group again Aug. 16, when 28 people, half of them novices or more-casual riders, joined him for a 20-mile tour of greater Sebring.

The tours are courtesy of Rita Bennett.

"She's an organizer," Camp said.

Bennett and husband Bob are retired.

From Baltimore, they moved to Sebring seven months ago to be closer to their children and grandchildren.

Bennett was baby-sitting her grandchildren, who live in the same golf course community, Friday afternoon.

"I was feeling very frustrated," she said, not of the children but of the local bicycling scene. "We've been here for seven months and I didn't have anybody to ride with."

Rita and Bob Bennett were active with their club in Baltimore, which had more than 1,000 members.

And if you really must know, they met 27 years ago ... through the bike club.

And yes, she was instrumental in organizing rides and he had served as president.

"I feel that there's a lot of people, even if they're coming out and trying to hang on, they're not feeling successful," Bennett said. "They don't want to do it anymore."

Bicycling is supposed to be fun.

Sure, ego-driven racer types actually enjoy pushing their bodies to the limit, zipping around the county.

But, what about everybody else?

The Bike Shop's primary customer base are retirees who buy beach cruisers and comfort bikes, exactly the type welcome on Bennett's countryside tours.

Heck, Camp rides a Trek Navigator (a comfort bike) and he has no trouble keeping up.

That's because Bennett's group isn't racing.

"It's a touring ride," she said, hardly containing her enthusiasm for all Highlands County has to offer cyclists.

She prints cue sheets so everybody knows the route. She puts them in zip-locked bags to keep them dry of perspiration and precipitation.

"There's tons of places that are interesting," Bennett said, firing off the ones that came to mind first -- Covered Bridge, Henscratch Farms.

There's also Depot Museum in Avon Park, Highlands Hammock State Park, the BBQ guy at the corner of State Road 64 and County Road 17A, Sebring Regional Airport, the race track and Lake Placid's murals.

The rides are generally 20-25 miles at a relaxed pace in what is called a "no drop" ride.


That means nobody is left to fend for themselves.

Believe it or not, the fast guys actually try to drop their friends, cherishing any pain they may administer in the process.

Bennett said the no-drop tours are every third Saturday at 7:30 a.m. (8:30 p.m. after the time change in Fall) from the Bike Shop, 213 US 27 South, Sebring.

"Last weekend it was amazing," she said of the 28 riders who showed up Aug. 16.

Saturday there were 24.

One of the dads had his 3-year-old in tow in a trailer.

"Do I want a road bike?" Camp said. "Yeah I do! Probably at the end of the year. I've been reading on the Internet bike forum ... they're saying it's 10 percent bike and 90 percent motor. So, I'm trying to work on that motor."