Day 3. Who said Florida was flat?

March 6, 2025

I give you the rolling Suncoast Trail

6:30 AM I got out of Dodge when I departed the paddle tail Lodge. With my windbreaker on, I felt just fine even though the temperature was 49.

The sculpture in this park that you see shows that the town is known for its manatee

As I made my way to the trail, I had to climb some - this was foreboding of what was to come. The climbs were not over, they were far from done. By the end of the day, I climbed 2,141’

Nine miles after I navigated out of town I hit the Suncoast Trail, which you can see is up and down

I took a break with 26 miles done. The trail is rolling, but it’s kind of fun. The trail, which was a very smooth roll, parallelled the highway where I watched vehicles pay their toll.

I smiled at them and they approached me. They said “heehaw” and I said, “DON-KEY!”

As the trail heads south it repeats going down and up. Did I earn every climb? I’d have to say, “yup”

Had the best break here and I ate an orange… Nothing rhymes with orange…

I felt like the weather today was quite the transporter. I had a nice tailwind moving me along from my right rear quarter. The storm blew in sustained winds and thereby there was hardly a single cloud in today’s sky.

Stopped here to use the restroom - the leak had the attendant swimmin’. He said, “Men’s room closed. Use the one for the women.”

After 60 miles I bid the Suncoast trail goodbye. With the winds now directly behind me I began to fly. Only three miles was the speed intense and it ceased when turning onto a “stroad” where traffic was immense. Six lanes of traffic with a turn in the middle. Is this some kind of joke? Some kind of riddle? To let all the cars go through the intersection in a safe way it takes about 5 minutes to cycle them but it seems to take all day.

Though my route ahead looks miserable onward I plowed; the ride was unpleasant and somewhat loud

For the worst parts of the road I had to balk and chose instead to surf the sidewalk. The most dangerous part was parking lot exit zones because drivers aren’t paying attention and they’re on their phones. I forgot about the bad drivers and quit my bitchin’ once I got my pizza at California Pizza Kitchen.

How much effort did I put myself through? Well, today’s calorie count is 2,902. Combined with the altitude it was quite the day. And I do it all tomorrow, 11 hours away.

Heart

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Today's ride: 81 miles (130 km)
Total: 234 miles (377 km)

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