FlipFlop900 Day10b - Back To The Hotel

FlipFlop900 Day 10 - The Rookie Earns His Stripes

FlipFlop900 Day 9 - Expect The Unexpected

FlipFlop900 Day 8 - Just What I Needed

FlipFlop900 Day 7 - Sunscreen Mandatory

(Stuart to Fort Lauderdale)
After an uneventful night in the flight path of the Stuart airport (which has a surprising amount of private jet traffic) we were greeted by foggy conditions in the morning. The plan was to get going about an hour earlier and try to beat some of the heat and wind. There wasn't much traffic at 730am on the Six lane US1 but the traffic we had was angry!  In only a couple of miles three or four disgruntled rednecks put themselves squarely on the naughty list.  By mile 8 we were on a pretty busy bike trail. Scott was showing off with all the twists and turns. I think bike path designers don't actually ride their creations or they'd be a lot more gentle with the corners. Anyhow, we were soon off the trails and knew we had found the right roads. There was a ton of bikes out and we blended in nicely. Traffic was light and the scenery was just amazing.  There were several sections with full canopies of trees overhead.
We cut through Gomez Road to South Beach Rd enjoying most every pedal stroke. We had stumbled upon cycling nirvana on our way towards Jupiter Beach.  The road was full of even more cyclists of all abilities.  We even had a passenger hop on board our train. A short wait at the giant drawbridge and we were back on our way. As we got back onto A1A we were passed by a couple that were obviously A level cyclists. (I say that with certainty since they were passing us. 😆)  In a rare display of self restraint I didn't up the pace and engage in the "Shiny thing! Shiny thing!" chase. Of course there was no shortage of verbal badgering from my riding partners as I held strong.
We entered West Palm Beach and the roads remained wonderful. There was either a good bike lane or minimal traffic for the first 45 miles; it was really nice. Combine that with a more than reasonable pace and you've got the recipe for an actual recovery day.  Another drawbridge crossing and we met Ericha on Bingham Island for our daily pit stop.  The wind had picked up a little and it was enough to topple Scott's 14 lb bike with a good gust. That was not the best time to be around him!  🤬
We clipped back in and were soon passing Mar-a-Lago.  I was hoping for a nice photo opportunity but instead we found some very nice Secret Service agents so it was all good. That stretch of A1A was ridonkulous! (I know that's not an age appropriate word but it applies here.)  I've never seen so many ridiculously nice houses with perfectly manicured landscape. Traffic was an intermittent mix of Porsches, Ferrari, and the odd Bently to mix things up. It was a lot of fun. As we made our way to South Palm Beach is was time for the sun to make its mark on our ride. The temperature had been creeping up and we were entering the broiler zone. The wind wasn't horrible and I dare say that it offered a bit of relief. 
There were a couple more drawbridge to navigate. As we waited for one of them a young lady asked if I was from Portugal. I was wearing a souvenir jersey from a Portuguese race so she made that connection. We had a nice chat and they were soon on their way. The rest of the ride was pretty straightforward as we just kept the effort steady. We weren't trying to win the battle with the wind today, just not lose it.  Traffic got a little more spicy as we entered the urban areas of Fort Lauderdale.  The plethora of stop lights wrecked our modest average speed but hey, it's just a number. At the end of the ride we all felt good and ready for the run to Key Largo tomorrow. 

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Mike Desmelik

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FlipFlop900 Day10b - Back To The Hotel

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