Florida C2C - Tarpon Springs to Home

Shorter day today, ‘only’ 23 miles!  Headed out from what turned out to be an okay hotel (even if it was right on US 19) to our first stop of the day after a whole 1.6 miles - Toula’s Trailside Cafe.  Loads of coffee, an omelette and bougiourdi (boo-yer-di) set us up properly for the day! 

10 miles to John Chestnut Park and then started the final run back to Westchase and home.  Made it all the way to Linebaugh, just 3 miles from home, and then suddenly things started getting very, very wobbly!  Now we’d already had the broken spoke repair, so what now?  Another broken spoke and a flat tire!!!

Steve (Can he fix it? Yes, he can) flipped the bike over, took the wheel off, one tube out / one tube in, and we were off and pedalling!  Still wobbling, but we made it home!

Tandem is upside down in the garage and its wheels have gone to the shop.  Guy at the shop said, ‘Really lucky you made it back’, we thought the same thing!

Reflections on the C2C:

- Very different than European cycling tours in terms of places to stay at a reasonable price.  Very budget hotels / motels run $100+ whereas you can find a decent place to stay in a really nice old town in Europe for $80.  

- Cycling in the US, like many things, is not as mature as cycling in Europe.  This C2C at 249 miles is a long trail for the US.  You can go for thousands of miles on excellent trails in Europe.

- The food.  As much fun as Cody’s was last night, chain restaurants prevail here and finding little hole in the wall unique / local reasonably priced foodie places are much less easy to find.

The conclusion we’ve come to is that we’ll continue to use the weather here to ‘train’ for the summer season and tours in the U.K. and Europe, but we probably won’t be heading over here in the summer time to do a bike trip.

BUT, it was a great trip and we loved it!  249 miles in total, perfect weather, found our way w/out any signs and managed the odd mechanical - that’s a successful trip!

Florida C2C - Brooksville to Tarpon Springs

Lovely get up in a quiet room.  We slept 11 hours!  We did pedal 66 miles yesterday and were exhausted, but really surprised we slept that long!

Took us a while to find our way out of Brooksville.  The map and the route took a bit of synergizing - eg, they didn’t match at all!  We did find our way eventually out to the Suncoast Trail which parallels Route 589 and then followed that south for a very, very, very long boring, hot and noisy way!  After 30 miles, we turned into Starkey Park, which is an amazing 5-mile ride of undisturbed Florida countryside.  Good picnic spot as you come into the park, but there was a very loud cycling guy talking nonstop and loudly about all his many, many, many adventures in the Midwest - we had to move on after water, a break and a snack - 15 minutes tops!

It was wildlife day today, turtles, gators, deer, birds of many types!

The little brushing noise from the back of the bike, turned into a ticking noise.  When Steve checked how the rear wheel was turning, it was only turning once and then stopping.  There was also a spoke broken!  Okay, time for a repair.  Went to the Trinity Cycle Shop and found everything Steve needed - fixed the spoke, split a Cuban at Havana Dreamer (best Cubans ever!) and then we were on our way!

Easy run to Tarpon and then realised the hotel wasn’t where we (I) thought it was!  Not downtown, we were on US 19 - ack!  Oh well, not Hellas, so we’re having wings!  Actually, had a very nice night at Cody’s Road House, with wings, steak and scallops.  Steve enjoyed his first real exposure to 2-for-1 early bird drinks, and after a bit he liked them!

Guess we’ll have to come back for a Hellas visit.  55 miles today, much alongside 589.  Otherwise, it has been a brilliant trip so far and we’ve had a very good day!   

Florida C2C - Clermont to Brooksville

Well, today was the big day, the one we were most concerned about - close to 70 miles and across the ‘gap’ (the very busy Route 50 unfinished part of the trail).  Went from the eastern edge of Clermont to Brooksville.  

We’ve been working off two gpx files on Komoot.  The entire C2C route and an Alternative to cover what’s known as the SR 50 Gap which is an unfinished section starting at Groveland and running west for 25 miles.  Unfinished meaning no trail and no bike lane in that section with traffic whizzing past at 55 mph - ugh.  The Alternative reduces the amount of time spent on SR 50 to about 4 miles.  It’s a bit longer, but totally worth it!

Up early and out of the hotel, heading to downtown Clermont along the shores of Lake Mineola.  Had a nice eggs and roll ups brekkie - turned out better than several of the restaurant breakfasts.  Ran into loads of cyclists on the 8 mile run into town.  No smiling or waving, very serious.  Turns out there was a bike run, the Horrible Hundred from Clermont.  So that’s why we couldn’t find a hotel in town!  We did find coffee though! Then off into the countryside to avoid that SR 50 gap.

Once we got back on 50 after the Alternative, it was an easy trail alongside the (busy) road.  We did take a detour to visit the Richloam Country Store, been run by the same family since 1922.  In keeping with the nostalgic theme, had a Grape Nehi.

Made it through the Gap and got on the Withlacoochee Trail, from there it was only 15 miles to Brooksville.  Good provisions during the day - meat and cheese roll ups, orange slices and Lindt chocolate - hit the spot!  Needed plenty of water, got warm after 50 miles - the chocolate at the end got us through the last 5 miles.

Staying at the Arendale B&B tonight, an antique Florida house - wooden floors, antique furniture, cosy.  Nice change from the hotels / motels we’ve stayed at.  Managed to find a Sunday night dinner (these can be scarce, everything else in town was closed!) at the Florida Cracker Kitchen - beef brisket for me and ribs for Steve.  Just what we needed at the end of a long day!

Florida C2C - Sanford to Clermont

40 miles today so we’re probably about half way.  We have decided to go to the Tarpon Spring coast rather than riding to St. Pete because the weather is supposed to be atrocious on Wednesday.  Otherwise the weather has been and is projected to be perfect for cycling.

Had several ‘Florida hills today.  The highest point in the entire state is 345 feet.  The total up and down for the entire trip is only 2600 feet, we’d do that in a day on LEJOG and Steve will do more than that on an evening ride with Andrew!

Sanford was really just an overnight stop.  Next to I4 with some hotels and restaurants to service highway traffic.  The downtown of Sanford was about 8 miles off the route so we’ll save that for another time.  The Woodspring Suites hotels are a bit funny.  You get a mini suite w/ a stove, fridge, microwave, but there’s nothing in the cupboards to eat, drink or cook with - bring your own pans?  Odd.  Rooms are comfy and big enough to hold the tandem.

Had breakfast at Cracker Barrel, always consistent, and then headed out for our ride to Clermont.  Today was really a ride through suburbia, often parallel to I4, but not on it thank goodness.  Mostly on some quite nice trails.  The trail only disappeared completely once where we were forced to ride for about a third of a mile on a pretty busy road.  On the trails, we saw more people in a mile than we saw in a day on the way to Sanford.  It was a 3 tandem day today, the one we saw at Cracker Barrel and two we passed on the trail!

Stopped for lunch in Winter Gardens, really nice town w/ plenty of shops and restaurants.  Had a massive meal at a Mexican restaurant, won’t be having a lot for dinner!  Lost a bolt from the rear rack somewhere on the way (it was there when we left!) and a very nice guy from the bike shop gave us a new one!

In another Woodsprings Hotel tonight, still no dishes.  Having a wine and cheese evening, we’re both too stuffed to eat anything more.  Got a better sized bottle of wine tonight!

Florida C2C - Titusville to Sanford

So it looks like in America, your bike stays in your room…

After a breakfast visit at the diner next to the motel, serving massive omelettes (for me) and pancakes (for Steve), we headed out on the ‘real’ first day of the tour - a projected 42 miles.

35ish miles riding a very straight road through the Florida countryside - a lot of trees and fields interspersed with periodic swamps.  Very, very rural Florida.  Only saw a few people, mostly cyclists, no alligators.  35 miles to the first place we could find to stop for food, although we did find an interesting gas station shop at 30 miles.  Mostly really friendly folk along the way, but a few macho guys focused on ‘athletic-ing’ who were too involved to wave or say hello.  We did stay in the slipstream of a cycling club for a bit, until they pulled off for a drink.  Think they were worried we’d overtake them on the fully loaded ‘big green machine’!

Reminded of our very clear roles on the bike - pilot on the front handles steering / road hazards / a regular series of warnings to the back along with regular administration of the horn to oblivious ibud wearing walkers / cyclists and the navigator / logistics organiser / food and respite sourcer / head of communications (plus whatever we can think of) on the back. The new cockpit on the back is working very well!

All the curvy bits were saved for the last 4 miles.  Lovely twisty ride through the forest around Lake Monroe.  The Pilot had to pay attention there!

46 miles into a 42 mile ride, we arrived in Sanford.  We still finished by 1:00.  Had to wait for the room to be ready, not surprising, but they arranged for a 1st floor room for us which made getting the tandem in easier.  

Texas Roadhouse for dinner - Steak night!

And a night cap.  Steve got the big one!