Shakedown in Rearview

That’s the turn on my Wahoo bike gps that lead me out of the Florida Keys. A cool 66 degree morning that looked something like this from the top of the Lake Surprise bridge:

A morning of bewildering choices… huh?…

… and surprising views:

I immediately hit construction—at one point I was shoehorned in to a six-inch shoulder. Yikes! Luckily a massive dump truck carrying fill (out of frame left) slowed traffic down to my speed of 12-15 mph.

Later all northbound traffic was diverted to one lane, and I got free reign of two lanes undergoing construction:

Headwinds again made for a tougher ride, and the scenery looked much like this for 15 miles:

I forgot to mark the 100-mile point, but I sorta’ like the symmetry of mile 111.

Great for bird watching: snowy egrets, great blue herons, ibis, and what looked like ospreys to me from afar—but most birds wanted nothing to do with a bicyclist-errant fending off gusts on a desolate highway.

See, that’s me, your host staying clear of the rumble strip:

This was a sight for a sore ass needing a break:

Good-bye keys… I entered the county of thee old hometown. I can already taste the Cuban home cooking. But first, a lot more of this:

And here’s the craziest street crossing yet—an insanely busy US 1 at Florida City:

On the South Dade Trail for another 20-miles of traffic-free riding:

A stop at my cool uncle’s and cooler aunt’s place for Cuban coffee and brief ass-pain relief… groovy, man!

… that man makes a mean latte, Cuban style; and she is a gifted artisan of all things yarn and jewels…

… and now I spy my mother’s (tall-building festooned) neighborhood in the distance…

only 3 miles to go… and a new dayglo green bike lane went in this week…

… and I’m finally at my mother’s place on Biscayne Bay—with the Key Biscayne bridge in the distance that stood in for the 7-mile bridge, et al., on my training rides:

And! I’m done with the Keys, and the ass-tumescence.

In fact, I was so tired I almost inadvertently used this as underarm deodorant:

Oy! Let’s just call it a good first 3 days!

Day 3
Start: Key Largo, FL
End: Miami, FL
Miles: 56.34

Tomorrow (today) is an ass-rest and gear reevaluation day. (Yes, my ass status is an intentional leitmotif here… until it is no more—then you will no longer be saddled [heh!] with it again).

What I’m Reading:

Even when I write about events in my own life . . . it’s not really me. 

— Susan Sontag / “The Art of Fiction No. 143” / The Paris Review