I left Sunny Isles about 8:30 am on Saturday and pedaled south down Collins Ave, A1A. Southbound steers you to Harding Avenue in Bal Harbor. While riding in Miami Beach I passed a few pelotons of road riders headed in the other direction, there was a fundraiser going on for cancer research. I went over the Venetian Causeway into Miami proper and rode among the towers of Brickell Avenue.

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   I decided to use the East Coast Greenway route down toward the Keys. Adventure Cycling Association also has a route, there are some deviations. I tried using the Adventure Cycling app after purchasing the last part of ACA’s Atlantic Coast Route. I found the app a little glitchy with my Google phone. The paid version of RideWithGPS works well with my phone and the ECG route is loaded onto the OSM Cycle layer in the app. RidewithGPS also records my route and moving time.

   The GPS directed me toward the elevated Tri-Rail. The path goes under the train, unfortunately the path was under reconstruction and there were many detours. At one point I went around a barrier and ran into the only spot where construction was actually happening. The payload operator was overly belligerent. I informed him it wasn’t my first time on a construction site and I was leaving. I put on my blue collar shirt and we exchanged a few choice words. I don’t like bullies. The Tri-Rail path re-emerged and it was pleasant, in the shade of the elevated railroad above it. The path did seem to take me right through a few station entrances.

    When the Tri-Rail terminated I found myself on the South Dade Trail.

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The South Dade Trail is a paved path that runs alongside a dedicated two lane bus road a few hundred feet from Highway 1. It was relatively quiet although there was very little shade.  I passed a few former bike tourers who had traded in their panniers for supermarket shopping carts. Near the town of Princeton I passed and doubled back to an outdoor market. I bought a Crocodile Dundee-style hat with a neck flap for six dollars, and a tamale lunch for under ten. Probably the only bargains I’ll find on this trip. I pedaled toward Homestead drifting to the east side of the road to catch the shade from the warehouse walls and the occasional line of trees.

    I did a quick hotel search and found the Floridian near the trail. A clean but tired place, that was only twice as expensive as it should have been. The Mrs. was okay with it. We grabbed a media noche in the Cuban joint a few doors down and assisted a woman who passed out while drinking her sugarcane juice. We waited with her till the ambulance arrived and told her we couldn’t take her to her car if she couldn’t get there on her own. Jennifer said she had blood sugar issues. Homestead was happening. With feet up on the 70s furniture at the Floridian we checked hotel prices for our potential future destinations and were quite shocked. We decided to press on.