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!
Well last night’s accommodation wins the best of the trip award, lovely old Florida House owned and run by a retired Swiss police officer who rides a Harley. Immaculate, still what would you expect from a citizen of a country that gave us cuckoo clocks?
ReplyDeleteLeast said about the loud guy from Minnesota (or wherever he was from the better!!)
Onto the broken spoke …. This is the second one in about 6 weeks, the last one was my road bike in the UK, I think the world is telling me I need to loose some weight, that said we have been in some proper bumpy roads in the last few days….. So we arrive at the cycle shop in Trinity and I do the “we are doing the C to C and we broke a spoke, can you fix it please?” She says,”sorry the bike mechanic only works Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays”. SLACKER thinks I but remained silent…. “Do you have spokes?” asks I. “ yes we do” says she “but not for a tandem wheel”. “Ok” says I, “wheels are pretty much road bike wheels with thicker spokes, let me get the wheel off and take it from there”
Take all the luggage off, tip it upside down, take the wheel off …. Bear in mind I never changed a spoke before in my life!! Goes back in the shop, she produces spoke. “We only have black not crome, how did you break that spoke, it’s very thick?” “ look at the size of me, it’s not hard to imagine …”
Anyway off comes the tyre and in goes the spoke, back on with the tyre and on with the wheel and Viola, bike fixed (good enough to finish the tour). 3 USD plus tax!! Restorative Cuban sandwich and we were on our way. Need to learn how to build a wheel I think. 🤔. All’s well that ends well…