Day 2: “I think I’m sold on this bike touring thing”

May 17, 2021

We’re about 35 miles into the day’s ride, standing outside a Dollar General (to resupply “snacks” and give Kath’s bike a small charge) and she exits the store and tells me, “I think I’m sold on this bike touring thing.” Ladies and gentlemen, bike touring fans in the world have just increased by 1. Well, maybe more than that but I can only confirm 1.

The breakfast at the Springhill Suites was carbs, carbs, carbs, and coffee. So we decided to ditch most of it in favor of a McDonalds 1.5miles out. True, it may not have been the healthiest, but there’s nothing like the local McDonalds to bring out the local flavor of an area. Two EggMcMuffins in my framebag and we were off to find a nice spot to devour them.

Our serendipitous detour to Mickie-D’s gave us this sweet path along the lake to get back to our route

Monday morning, and there’s hardly any traffic on this divided 4-lane going past Florida polytechnic. Didn’t matter thought, because we had a freshly paved bike path parallel to the road

Around 20 miles into the day’s ride we hopped onto the Teco Auburndale Trail. A mile in we take a break at a rest stop and have a very nice conversation with a gentleman pushing a walker. We tell him our plans to take the trail north to Deen Still Rd and then travel due East to Kissimmee. He tells us his uncle used to live on that road and it used to be dirt. Kath asks about alligators on the trail and he tells us not on the trail but would probably see them on Deen Still.

There’s nothing that says “bike touring” like second breakfast. Here we enjoy the view off the trail

Now we reach the trail junction with the road, and hang a right. Deen Still is a 2-lane, 50mph (so vehicles are probably traveling 60+ and it’s a narrow 2-lane. And 9 miles of it. Thankfully, it’s not too badly traveled but it does spook Kath with the closeness of the semis. Unfortunately, there wasn’t an easy alternative to transition from Lakeland to Orlando. Oh, and I did spot an alligator about 10’ away in the drainage ditch but pointing to it was met with a “keep riding, keep riding” [1]

Once we made it to the junction with the major road, we navigated past 1/2 mile of distribution centers full of truck traffic, but much easier to navigate than the 60+mph dump trucks. We stop at a gas-n-go and get some Gatorade to keep us going.

And the first picture of her as an official “sold on bike touring thing” adventurer

I have no idea what this used to be. I think it may have been an old restaurant which fell out of popularity when the big chains moved in

While our original plan for lunch was to visit the international food truck emporium (or something like that) in Orlando, our energy levels were sapping and telling us to eat now. So, with kath’s E-bike sinking lower in charge, and me needing some food, we decided to get something to eat in Celebration village. Now if this town looks Disney-esque it’s because it was planned and managed by Disney up until a few years ago. So the pathways are resort-like, the village is very art-deco, and of course it’s all a clean façade.

We found boardwalk pathways through the celebration neighborhood.

We hit the village portion (where the commercial section is) and picked up a sandwich and ate by the water. For bike tourists, just another lunch in a great spot

The village is super clean and very adorable

This tower won “most attractive 3-story tower in Celebration” for the past 15 years. Actually, I have no idea if that’s the case, and I have no clue what this tower is, I just liked it

Don’t be fooled - Kath is actually trying to strangle me after making her ride on Deen Still Rd

Ok. So lunch over with. It’s about 2:00 and we have about 14 miles to our hotel. Now we get to face real Orlando traffic. Nothing out of the ordinary except tourists driving in cars failing to see cyclists, high-speed merges through bike lanes, and all just to make sure one is super-vigilant while riding.

One of the most peaceful rides in Orlando (riding out of celebration)

3 miles out from our destination, Kath’s battery propels her for the last pedal stroke for the day. Good news, is after 62 miles, she can still pedal the bike the final 3 miles to the hotel. Such a trooper!

Then, a dip in the pool, shower (and shower “laundry”), tapas dinner and a glass of wine, and now we’re back at the hotel planning tomorow’s trip

A small spritz of rain on our walk back to the hotel

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[1] the alligator was lying in the water and was probably about 4’ to 5’ in length. I really wanted to stop but we made the decision to keep going. I do really find it fascinating when wildlife is seen in the wild with no fences or barriers between you and the wild “beast”. Also, I find alligators particularly dinosaur-istic as they look as though they haven’t evolved in millions of years.

Today's ride: 65 miles (105 km)
Total: 115 miles (185 km)

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