February 2, 2016
Treasure Island to Tampa: Ybor City
A beautiful morning suitable for short-sleeved jerseys! And it promised to get warm today, very warm. So we got decked out and headed for the Treasure Island beach walk (for lack of a better name since it doesn't appear to have a name!).
But before we got too far, we needed to get breakfast. We passed on Waffle House (OMG) and went for Ricky T's, about a 1/2 mile down the Boulevard. Good choice!
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
That was good and hit the spot! But we were both anxious to bike. The rest day is good for two reasons. You rest, but then you yearn, yearn to get back on your bike. So we then headed down Gulf Boulevard, just to see what we might see. Which, in a beach town, is pretty predictable lol. But that's OK. It was warm and sunny, and we had a bike lane! And no agenda really except to get to Tampa.
No agenda until I saw this, which I had to have . . . and did.
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
I regret now, in retrospect, not getting a candid shot with my face in the Twistee Cone . . . an excuse for another trip!
So on we rolled. All the way south to Pinellas Bayway. I was not expecting a toll bridge, but we were waved through, which I did expect! What surprised me most was the access to the sidewalk, which was nonexistent. We approached on the mainline roadway, where there was no sidewalk or trail, passed the toll plaza, and were presented with a nice shoulder but no access to the protected sidewalk. I don't think I'm THAT blind. Well, maybe. Anyway, we rode the shoulder.
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
So, the City Trails system for St Petersburg seems pretty impressive. We were on it for most of the way through the city. It started after we crossed the toll bridge and then continued north through residential neighborhoods and several delightful parks. And even through USFSP and along the bay . . . Tampa Bay.
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
After a pleasant ride through the St Petersburg neighborhoods came the final crossing into Tampa, the Gandy Bridge. Long and no bike lanes, but the shoulders were adequate!
I'm not sure when we entered Tampa, but I assume it was after we crossed the Gandy Bridge. We entered a residential neighborhood almost immediately and made our way to S Manhattan Avenue, which we were to follow north to Henderson Boulevard. Henderson would then take us northeast to the city's core.
But Manhattan was a broad street with a good amount of traffic. So while observing this, I also observed on my Garmin that there were plenty of minor streets to my right and northeast that, while a longer route, would get me where I needed to be. So I went rogue. Happy was behind me a bit, so I was on my own, just following the street grid through very bikeable residential neighborhoods. And when I got to Henderson and saw it was worse than Manhattan, I followed the same pattern.
So that turned out well and was a lot more fun. I'm not sure why RWGPS would route us the way it did, especially on Henderson. But there was still one more challenge, a detour on the road leading to our river crossing. I was mostly concerned the bridge itself would be closed, but that turned out to not be the case, so over the Hillsborough River . . .
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
And I had to get a picture of the rolling bascule span next door so I can explain this to my non-technical friends!
So I crossed downtown and headed for the Ybor City Historic District, where Happy had situated us for the night.
Today's ride: 41 miles (66 km)
Total: 1,244 miles (2,002 km)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 1 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 0 |