December 24, 2015
Ft Lauderdale to South Miami
First days can sometimes be brutal. Or, as (the despicable) Donald Trump would say, you got schlonged! Well, I didn't entirely. Just a five-mile detour. But it could have been worse! But I get ahead of myself.
Bob and I rose early. That was not easy after last night. But he had an 8:55 AM flight to Tampa to see family for the holidays. And I needed to rise so I could retrieve my bike from the locked bike room. That required the one fob he had, which he would (obviously) need to take with him. So he rose at 6:00, and I rose at 6:15 since my agenda was a bit shorter!
So Bob's cab came at 7:00, and we made our goodbyes. At that point, I could leave when I pleased as long as I had everything out the front door. The bike was now in the garage locked to a miscellaneous pipe, waiting to be loaded up. So I threw a load in the washing machine and laid back down for a 30-minute nap! Waking up at 7:45 (and, amazingly, I did manage to doze off), the clothes went in the dryer, the coffee was started and I hit the shower. So it all came together slowly but surely. By the time everything was downstairs and loaded up, it was just shy of 10:00.
Except for the wind, the first nine miles were pretty much a retrace of Monday's ride to Bob's. Last time I was here, a good part of Route A1A was under construction. That was all done now, and the bike lane was contiguous all the way back to the 17th Street bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway.
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The wind, which I had noticed Monday coming in from the airport, was blowing at a pretty brisk pace. Mostly off the shore, but at times from my left front quarter point. It dissipated a bit where Route 1A1 divides into one-way pairs and inland around the airport but came back when I returned to the beach.
I only made one stop, and that was for breakfast at Primanti Bros., a pizza place off Sunrise that does breakfast till 10:30. I made it under the wire, but for grill service, it seemed to take forever to get the food. But it wasn't bad, and it was certainly cheap: $7.00, which included the tip!
After crossing the waterway, I continued on my way, mostly from memory (the Garmin can be hard to read in bright sunshine). Unfortunately, that resulted in a missed turn, which was not the end of the world and allowed me to see some new parts of the city.
Back on track, I didn't stop again until I got to Haulover Park, where I took a picture of my favorite building along this route.
From Haulover Park, it was pretty much a straight shot down to Miami Beach and my favorite crossing, Venetian Way. Last time we came through, we had to navigate around substantial road and bridge construction on the east approach. That was all done now, and all that remained (or so I thought) were miscellaneous construction signs and barricades.
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Not that I missed the sign, I just assumed it was old news the way it was set off to the side like that and up so high. Wrong!
I also think that deep in my heart, I would find a way through or that pedestrians would at least have passage. But an open draw span is tough to navigate! So back I went. Fortunately, there is an adjacent span further south that accommodated me just fine. If only FDOT had been so kind to sign it!
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So finally I was in Miami proper. After recovering the route, I made my way to the South Dade Rail Trail, a bikeway that follows the Metroline, and then bussed it all the way to Homestead, FL. I was only going partway today, but it made for nice riding.
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My only criticism is where the trail passes through the station areas, riders are forced to co-mingle with passengers using the station. In those areas, the trail material changes to station tiles, making wayfinding difficult. More signs are needed! But I made it through!
Today's ride: 58 miles (93 km)
Total: 67 miles (108 km)
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