Day 5; best 55 miles yet

May 20, 2021

Over the past three days I felt as though I had negative vibes about the whole tour, and that’s just not true. I have my touring buddy with me (and who is now sold on the whole mode of travel, so I’m happy), we’ve had some good meals, seen some sights, slept in some comfortable beds (well, one will sleep almost anywhere and very well during a bike tour). Today, though, was a really enjoyable ride.

We started in Titusville 7:10 and made our way to the rail trail at .2 miles, and hopped off at 1 mile for the bagel shop. 1 split egg and bacon bagel ( and 2 cups of coffee) and we headed NNW on the trail. Basically, our route for about 15 miles the W winds blew at our 4:00 position, so it was to the right and slightly behind. Not bad at all. We were pushing 12.8 avg compared to 10.2 on day 3.

The trail for the first 15 miles. Much of it was even more rural

Kath has the advantage of having more pictures of her riding because, well, I take more of her than she does of me (and she’s better looking, too :-))

At that “magical” 15 mile mark, we make the first directional change since getting on the trail, and it’s a right hand turn, which does two things for us. One, it points us ENE which makes the wind from our 1:00 position, and two, gives us a named trail in the Central Florida Rail Trail. So, yeah, we can say we rode that.

If you’ve ever wondered about what a bike touring break looks like on the Central Florida Rail Trail, your curiosity has been satisfied. You’re welcome

This section navigated past a horse farm

This path took us all the way into New Smyrna Beach and once there, a quick stroll on downtown Canal St and Kath found us a place to get a chicken curry salad lunch to fuel us for the remainder of the day. Our lunch was at 11:30. Not that we were keeping time because as all bike tourists know, we can pretty much eat anything whenever we feel like it, so this was more of an observation. We had completed almost 40 miles by that time - much faster than any other day on this trip. I found a street lamp outlet that was juiced and provided power to give her e-bike a quick 30-min charge to make sure there was no loss of power for the remainder of the ride.

From there, we wound along the river until we reached the causeway. We found a separated sidewalk devoid of pedestrian traffic and made our way over separate development from the cars by a 3’ tall wall of concrete - ace us feel much safer. Once over, we cruised straight onto Daytona Beach. Yes, the beach. If you’re not familiar, the beach is famous for cars being able to drive it’s length. So, naturally, I felt inclined to do so on a bike. Yes, with the tide rolling in. Yes, with the sustained 13mph W wind.

Heading towards the causeway to the resort-centric Daytona Beach

Kath gettin’ it approaching the causeway (you can see the bridge directly ahead of her)

On the beach, and Kath flags down an ice cream truck. Because, why not?

The wind was blowing hard, and the sand, while packed enough for automobile tires, was a little too much for the 700x38s we were running, so we ditched back on the A1A and headed to the hotel. Bu 2:00pm. Earliest arrival yet on this tour.

We check out the beach and the water behind our hotel

Not a lot of dining options if you’re trying to avoid fried foods and burgers. We ate at a pub downtown which was “palatable” but while there, we still talked about the lamb sliders at the tapas place in Orlando.

Tomorrow is the last riding day on the trip. It’s bittersweet but I’ll write about that when it happens. Until then, I’m enjoying every moment in the moment. Cheers!

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Today's ride: 55 miles (89 km)
Total: 229 miles (369 km)

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