The Ride

We woke around 5:30 to drizzle with moments of downpours, but it was warm and we were ready to go. The forecast showed the band of rain stopping by 9:00 am and sliding north with clearing skies over Islamorada. We just had to make it to Islamorada. So we moved the vehicle over to to the Caribbean Club, paid our $20 and struck out in the rain.

From Key Largo to Islamorada there is a bike path completely separate from the roadway. This was a sign of good luck. We moved right at a good leisurely pace with our along lights on as the sun would rise behind us in an hours time. Just as expected the storm broke right as we approached Islamorada. we stopped at the Starbucks in front of the Postcard Inn which is almost complete in its renovations post-Hurricane Irma. I don't normally stop at Starbucks, but in this case, I feared no other options further down the road and we were hungry. Half an egg & Cheese biscuit would get us going.

1st stop Starbucks for a jolt and a biscuit

After this quick break, we motored over the first tow long bridges on to Conch Key where we reloaded our water bottles at the Bay View Inn and Marina. I was really excited about the bridges, but we quickly realized we were going to be pushing into a headwind all day. At that point, bridges lost their luster as they provided no shelter from this headwind, and we still had seven-mile bridge to contend with. All in all though, at this point we're still feeling good and about a third of the way through the ride.

The one other cyclist we came across on this day

Seven-mile bridge, where the wheels came off for one of us. Seven-mile bridge is pretty much the halfway point. We did make a quick stop right before the bridge to fill the water bottles again and sort everything out before continuing on to the bridge. Once you're on it, you're committed. There is no turning back. I lead the two of us onto the bridge. We kept a good gap between us as there would be no drafting this day. About a quarter of the way we passed a woman riding solo. Other than that it was long and uneventful. The cars didn't bother me, but they did my partner Jim. We kept our eyes out of debris and occasionally peaked over the side to see people fishing on their boats. I did see some large Rays swim by as well.

Rays on the right

You pass the 40-mile marker just before you finish crossing the bridge. We're under half way now. I stopped to wait for Jim and when he caught up he said he was starting to feel the effort. add to that the sun was beating down on us and even though it was windy it was still pretty warm out. Jim was feeling the extra effort from the wind as well. We needed some food to get us through the rest of the ride. We just had to cross the bridge over Bahia Honda and we could catch a break from the wind as we veered north for 3 miles towards Big Pine Key. As soon as we rounded the curve into Big Pine Key we found a restaurant and bar to grab a bite and rest.

29 miles to go. Big Pine Key has a nice trail off the main road heading down and it's fairly sheltered with trees to the left and mangroves to the right. This allowed us to keep a nice pace and cruise along in peace. The food helped a little, but the ride was getting long and in our still damp clothes I was starting to feel a bit saddle sore. We took another break under some shade with 17 miles to go. Not much was said during this break, another squeeze pack of apple sauce and some water that's all. I did mention that we should try and knock out seven miles, then we could split the last ten into two manageable fives, one of which would be through town and go quickly.

We did just that, crossing the road, as usual, finding the trails as we could and hiding from the wind and sun until we reached the outskirts of town. From here five miles out, you can smell the finish and the brain takes over. We rode the wide sidewalk along the water into the heart of the town on along Roosevelt which turns into Truman Ave. Once it becomes Truman the sidewalk becomes too narrow and full of pedestrians. So back onto the road, no worries the speed limit is ten miles an hour at this point. From Truman, we made a left on Whitehead and within minutes we were finished with the ride taking a selfie at the Southernmost point in the US.

We did it! 

Garmin says 107 miles

Whew, it was over, and boy does my ass hurt, not from the ride necessarily, but from the saddle sore caused by the wet clothing. I'm going to have to solve this problem soon, but not before a couple of beers to rehydrate at the Tipsy Rooster. I'd met the bartender on a previous trip while paddle boarding. He was previously a chef in New York, but had burned out and dropped it all to move to the Keys. While paddleboarding he told us about the Tipsy Rooster and said that even though he wouldn't be in the next day, he'd let the staff know and that they'd take care of us. True to his word they did! That's the main reason for the stop there after the ride, the other...its the closest bar to the Southernmost point.

First stop after our ride, The Tipsy Rooster

Remember our wives. They were supposed to be arriving at any moment on a plane from Tampa with our clothes and sundries for the weekend. Well, that wasn't going to happen. A large storm (the one we would get in about 4 hours) was passing through Tampa. So large it shut down the airport for 4 hours and canceled all the flights into Key West. We were on our own for the weekend in Key West. Much to the dismay of the wives who were going to miss out on the fun.

This same storm shut down Tampa International earlier 

Knowing we would be on our own, no clothes except what we are wearing we had to modify our plans a bit. After a couple of beers, we headed to the Heron House Court to check in. Jim stayed and showered while I headed back out on the bike to find us some clothes. Two swimsuits, two T-shirts, Two pair of flip flops and I was back on the bike headed to our hotel. Mind you I did not sit on the saddle the entire time. My saddle rash was getting painful. I took a quick shower, met Jim in the lobby and handed the outfit just purchased.  The rest of the items we'd need could wait until later.

Once changed and ready we visited with our host at the hotel who told us there was a happy hour still going on at the large property, the Heron House.  Free drinks in Key West yes, please. We walked over gingerly and met up with the host of hosts at the Heron house properties, Roman. Roman was pouring the wine as the happy hour was winding down. I introduced him to Jim and we told him and the rest of the guests at the happy hour the story of our ride and our wives missing their flights to Key West. We all had a good laugh.

We ate the Pizza before I could take a photo

By this time it was around 7:00pm and we were ready to replenish some of those 5500 calories burned earlier on our ride. As we walked towards Duvall we came across Clemente's Trolley pizzeria. Wow! We had one outstanding pizza. We give it 4 thumbs up. It is a very small place so don't expect to bring in a party of eight and find a table quickly.  While we ate, the storm that had ended our wives plan to fly down from Tampa was just hitting Key West. When the rain subsided for a few minutes we darted in the bar next door, The Roost where we had a very nice old fashioned. After this, we paid a visit to CVS where I bought some very necessary Gold Bond to make it through the night.

One necessary stop at CVS

Our last stop of the night was Margaritaville, where we had two before calling it a night.

One last drink for the night.