Days 4 and 5 of the Florida Ramble riding from Tarpon Springs to Historic Uptown, St. Petersburg, and then back home. Breakfast at Tula’s on the trail (boo-yer-dee) and 4th day of pedalling legs to start. Busy on the Pinellas Trail on the weekend, but managed to play dodge-ems and avoid kamikaze retiree cyclists!Shorter day so trying to take it steady, but still averaging 12.4 even with all the slowing down for trail traffic - at that rate we’d be at Hughes and Rafael’s in time for brunch!
Slowed down after that though! Had a puncture, again. We’d just come zooming down a concrete hill and luckily we’d then stopped at a bike shop for something else. We were off the bike and not zooming when we discovered the flat, thank goodness! The Engineer fixed that flat and we stopped for a restorative salad.
Then the last 5 miles across to the east and Historic Uptown, St. Pete, to Uptown Abbey for an overnight visit with Hughes and Rafael, much closer to dinner time. The weather was nice enough for one of Rafael’s dinners on the patio, lovely evening and company.
Last day, Day 5, started w/ a leisurely pedal / tour through Old Northeast and Downtown St. Pete for a balcony breakfast at The Hanger at the airport led by our tour guide, Rafael. Over breakfast we all watched an elderly lady climb into the front of an antique biplane and take off for a lesson - now that is inspiring! Said our goodbyes, making plans for next time and headed back up the trail for the last day.
Really good progress with short stops for water, coffee and a Safety Harbor snack stop. Unfortunately, as we got on busy 580 for a quick dash to the next trail, it must have turned ‘puncture o’clock’ as the front went flat for the 3rd time in 3 days. We were on the bike lane rather than the sidewalk and there was a waist high concrete barrier between the two so strip all the gear off the bike, again, and the two of us manhandled the bike up and over the barrier. Another tube was replaced and we started off over the bridge. And now it’s becoming comical, as we got to the far side of the bridge, the sidewalk had been washed away leaving an impassible section of approximately 50 feet and no way to cross it without going all the way back or lifting the tandem over the barrier, again (sigh). Steve calmly lifted up the fully laden tandem and I balanced it while he clambered over the wall and lifted it again down the other side. I scrambled over and we took off with fingers crossed against another puncture for the last 11 miles of the trip. Amazingly, there was frustration, but no ‘sense of humour failure’!
Made it home with no further ‘adventures’ and very happy to have had a successful trip (criteria for that is staying on the bike and no ‘incidents’!). Saw a gator, 12 tortoises, pedalled 250 miles and visited with good friends - what a treat!
