Day 4 - Back to my Door

The wind is a fickle mistress! When she's got your back, you're in for a good cruise. But when she gets in your face, or if she decides to swirl around the buildings on the intracoastal, she is one miserable bitch! Today she was miserable right up until the last 8 miles of my ride. The ride yesterday was from Freehand on Miami Beach to my house in Parkland. 49.99 miles according to my Garmin when I shut it off last night. The wind was out of the NE and ENE the entire way. If you've never ridden a bicycle in the wind, it's quite the experience. Even on my 16 lb carbon fiber bike, the front wheel gets pushed from the side when you get a break in the buildings. Then the wind swirls, from both sides, from the back, and worst, from the front. All a cyclist wants to do is get into a pedal cadence and maintain speed and cadence. But with the wind swirling it's a serious challenge as you're pushed, pulled and cajoled in many different directions! And when she's in your face, it's like pedaling in mud! It's exhausting. Hills are hell, but at least you can set a cadence and push through. But the wind, she'll never leave you to your own devices.

I chose to wait until today to post since it's a rest day, a needed rest day. 63 miles tomorrow to Johnathan Dickinson State Park. Camping tomorrow night, then who knows what happens from there? That's all I've got planned for now until I get into Daytona to stay with Zach in a few days. I'll have to figure it out as I go. They'll be more weight tomorrow as I forgot my computer and I'll need the food to cook that I didn't have to worry about with the hotels and restaurants from Key West. It may get a little dicey north of Daytona Beach as that is when I truly get out into the woods! Of course, everything is relative and it'll only be back roads with the resultant backwoods stores and restaurants. 130 miles to the Florida border, then 360 give or take to Seneca, SC. And I need to get there before 4/23. That's really the only difficult deadline. From there I've got until 6/9 to get to Portland, ME for my brewer's retreat.

Have I not told you about that yet? My friend, Aman, and I are participating in a brewer's retreat put on by Craft Beer and Brewing in Boothbay Harbor, ME. The opening day is actually a happy hour at Allagash Brewing in Portland, ME where they're picking up the participants. We're taking a bus to Boothbay Harbor, ME and will stay at the Spruce Point Inn where we'll be brewing beer and enjoying the weekend before heading back and starting again from Portland to make my final dash to my place in Hartland, ME and then on to Fort Kent, ME to get to the northern end of Route 1!

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