Things I Bike About

Week Three

January 25th, 2021
Sarasota, Florida

I’m writing this mid-week as it seems this week has flown by.

The first three days of the week had me back tracking out of the keys. One thing I neglected to say last week was how nice a lot of the keys was to ride. It's technically called the Florida Keys Overseas Heritage Trail. The best parts, to me, are the nice covered parts. Some of it is so grown it's almost touching vertically. Like they're trying to high five each other!

I was lucky to snag two great stealth camping spots, one was behind the same catholic church I did coming in and the other was off a dead end road.

Now, I can’t prove it, but I think one of the Key Deer ate my bike. If you could see the markings and see how forward the deer were around people, just waiting for food. I didn’t see any other critters the whole time I was out and I doubt it was squirrels as it definitely happened at night. Either way, I was lucky they didn’t gnaw my brake housing, as I have hydraulic brakes and that would’ve been a doozy to fix!

On Thursday, I set sail to the Tamiami Trail. Coming north on 997 was a very nice ride. Great road and bike trail that sat aside it. Some of the best riding outside of some of the covered trails in the keys.

Today was the first day of issues I’ve had with the bike. One was my fault, as I wasn’t paying attention and slammed into some brush that was in the bike lane. Apparently it was enough to break a spoke in the front, so now I have a little hop in my wheel until I can get to a bike shop. I’m kind of glad this happened as a few spare spokes and a spoke wrench is something I should already have.

The other was a big nail that I didn’t even see. When I pulled it out with my multi-tool, it was so long and bent around, I couldn’t believe it. I got my spare tube out and of course, that failed as well. This one was on me again, as the tube was pretty old and patched. I should’ve just gotten a new one and thought about it before I set out. But no. I had to rely on past-Aaron's unreliability and use a re-patched tube. It at least held until I got to the campsite.

Bad things come in threes and this time, it was my phone. My state of the art, 3 month old phone decided it wanted to die the moment I got into camp. It acted like it was glitching out and then bam, it shut off and it won’t turn on again. I do hope there is a manufacturer’s warranty. I also hope the Best Buy in Naples (if there is one) has my same model. So yeah, tomorrow will be a long day with just me and my thoughts.

My saving grace today came in the form of a 70 year old woman named Doris. She is a retired nurse from Chicago. She came over to chat with me. When she started talking to me, I was in no mood. I just wanted to eat my beans and salami in peace. But as I unloaded on her, I felt better. I noticed I was doing so and apologized for my complaining. But she just laughed and said "Well, you haven't had anyone to complain to, so I understand!" Good point, Doris. We talked a bit about what I was doing and our respective fields. She said that she might have a tube for me and a short walk back to her camper later she did! I planned to get one tomorrow, but it’s nice that I have a fresh tube ready to go just in case. It’s 50 plus miles to Naples.

And of course, after the campsite, the tire eventually got flat again...but that's okay because I had a new tube! I was able to put it on and it seems to be holding just fine. I did sit in a pile of fire ants while putting it on but...that's just the icing on the cake.

At any rate, the Tamiami trail going to Naples was gorgeous. I highly recommend it, even if you're driving. I would've taken some pictures of gators and birds, but my phone was dead that day. I did manage to snag a couple from outside of a gift shop near Miccosukee Indian Village.

After I got into Naples, I headed over to Peggy's house. Peggy is a professional photographer who is getting ready to uproot her life due to the impact COVID has had on her business. It's a shame to, she does great work! Don't take my word for it, check out here stuff here and you can watch some of her ace tutorials on YouTube here. We got to talk about so much and I got to cook her stuff that was just lying around the kitchen. She kept saying she didn't have food, which I always interpret as a challenge. At any rate, we had some chicken, veggies and buttered noodles. I was relieved she liked it.

I also was able to fix my broken spoke, get some new tubes, get a stem raiser to experiment with (supposed to help with your hands) and after some fiddling with my phone, got it to kick on again! Whew! It must've just been a crash because when I plugged it in and hit a certain button combo, the reboot screen kicked on. So, we're back in action with pictures, podcasts and navigation.

I meandered around downtown Naples and it was very fancy and very nice. There was a farmers market and an art walk and oh so many shops and boutiques. I have never quite understood Florida's stereotype of being where everyone goes to retire. Maybe it's because I was in Orlando and that is a pretty youthful city. But after being here for a couple days, I think I see it. Not just any type of retirement, but retirement with money. I guess everyone has to go somewhere!

After Naples was Fort Myers where I was able to surf with Alvaro. Alvaro is a couch surfing ambassador, which means he is supposed to embody couch surfing values and uphold guidelines. Basically, he's an ideal host. This title was certainly warranted because Alvaro was beyond accommodating. We started our time together with him preparing some killer beef, rice and lentils, then eventually moseyed on down to downtown Fort Myers where he gave me a tour of some of his favorite spots.

Overall, it was a good week. I am starting to get into the swing of the trip. Biking half the day is starting to feel normal. There is a part of me that wants to be 'done' with Florida, but I'm not sure why. It was my choice to do the state like this, I knew it was going to be long. But I think it's more just that the further I get, the more excited I get to cross that state line. I've never done that. I've also never biked this long before. It's almost like everyday, I'm breaking an old imaginary record. Onward and upward.

In this section, I want to talk about things that have really helped me and things that have frustrated me, both surprising and expected. Here are some from this week:

Headwinds:

• Coming back from the keys - I was in zombie mode a bit coming out of the keys. The headwinds were the worst yet but, I was ready for it. Still sucked.

• Money - Sadly, I'm out of my budget for this month. Having to get some gear and some of it is my own "lavish" spending. Oh well. Here's hoping February evens out some.

• Fiberglass rash - I got from being on Eric's dingy. He warned me about it but it was too little, too late. It spread in a couple areas as well. I'm hoping it starts to dissipate soon. I'd hate to have to get some urgent care type prescription.

Tailwinds:

• Great hosts - Peggy was wonderful. A great intro to this side of Florida and just a great person from every angle. Alvaro was amazing. If I don't get a host for a while, these experiences will keep me full.

• Gear - Even though I had a flat, had to replace a spoke, and almost thought my phone died, I'm going to put this as a tailwind since I've remedied all of these. It could've been a lot worse. I felt like these things got me on my toes, so I'll be even more prepared next time.

• Bike adjustments - Since my visit with Eric, I've been doing micro-adjustments. It's helped. Anything to get the comfort level up. I know it'll never be a laz-e-boy but I also don't want to have lingering pain off the saddle.