January 29, 2016
Silver Springs to Crystal River
A bright and sunny morning. Finally! But still cold, more cold than I was hoping for, given this was our fourth day out, but I can live with the sunshine. One step at a time, and we were headed south anyway, and that is always a good thing in January. So, the usual outfit today: long-sleeved jersey and my yellow (bright yellow) rain/wind jacket. I still have not used the leg warmers and didn't feel the need, although it was somewhere in the 40s. But it was Florida 40s, which is warmer than Arlington 40s!
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
So we headed west on FL 40. We had lost our shoulder when we entered Silver Springs yesterday, to be replaced by curb and gutter but no bike lane, which is a little unusual for Florida. And no bike lane appeared as we progressed toward Ocala. Not that there wasn't room! Barely a mile down the road, just a hair past the DQ I had made a pit stop at yesterday, FL 40 widened out nicely to include a very wide and nicely landscaped median. Too bad they didn't accommodate bike lanes.
But we were not on FL 40 for long before we turned onto NE 14th Street, which turned out to be the only street we rode in either city that had a bike lane. So our turn onto NW Martin Luther King, Jr Avenue was back into the travel lane. And by now, Happy was warm enough to doff his jacket.
I kept mine on, as there was still a slight breeze, and I liked the visibility.
At that point we got "lost" in a maze of residential streets trying to find a route that would minimize our time on FL 200. The connections that Google thought were there were not, but we managed. But ultimately, we had to tackle FL 200. Not a pretty road. Not at all. Three lanes of traffic in both directions with no bike lane but plenty of turn lanes, curb cuts, and side streets. We rode the sidewalk past the interchange at I-75, after which bike lanes appeared! Traffic also dissipated some.
And also, the sidewalk stretches got much longer between interruptions, so we pretty much rode there all the way to our next turn onto 80th Avenue Road (where do they derive these names?!). By now we were in the country. And while there was a shoulder, it was pretty minimal. But it sufficed as far as Dunnellon.
Apparently, Dunnellon is known for its river, the Rainbow River, which is very nice!
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
We grabbed lunch in Dunnellon, which had many choices, so it seems to be a destination point. I'll need to return in the future and explore more in warmer temperatures! After lunch, we really only had two more legs to do: W Dunnellon Road and N Citrus Avenue. I'm not sure which was worse! W Dunnellon was heavy on traffic and essentially had no shoulder. It was in such bad repair. N Citrus had lower traffic but no shoulder!
In the final analysis, W Dunnellon was worse. The shoulder would have been doable but for the fact it was in poor repair — with many potholes, raveling asphalt, and uneven patches — which made for rough riding. And then there were the trailers, my number one nemesis in Florida. I think people drive like they don't know it's there! Particularly if they're pulling a boat. And the lanes on this road were narrow enough that occasionally a driver was using the "shoulder" for the right wheel of his trailer!
At some point, Happy had an equipment failure requiring a stop, so I grabbed this pic, which shows the shoulder a bit. The equipment failure we could live with as far as Crystal River, so we continued on our way.
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
N Citrus Drive was fine. I have to take responsibility for this route, as I suggested it as an alternative to FL 40 and US 19, both to cut some miles and because I thought it would be nicer roads. My bad! But we arrived in good order and found our hotel, the Crystal Manatee, to be well-situated for the evening's pleasures: Burkes of Ireland for pre-dinner drinks and Vintage on 5th for dinner.
Today's ride: 47 miles (76 km)
Total: 1,102 miles (1,773 km)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 0 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 0 |