Wind Blown

Oh those blasted north winds! Well, mostly out of the north but constantly shifting often out of the East Northeast too, but never at my back—nary a tailwind. 

I knew it would be memorable when first this morning, going over the intracostal out to Fort Lauderdale Beach, this small bridge felt like riding up Everest. I was buffeted by 20 mph headwinds—in fact I slowed down so much a runner caught up to me at the apex of the bridge before I was able to coast downhill. Oy!

But the way I see it, winds that severe now will make me stronger for the elevation throughout the northeast on the trail. No mountains, but some stiff hills in Maine. Anyway, the wind is the controlling motif today—note the palm fronds blown sideways to the west. But what I really enjoyed was that at 7:15 am, there wasn’t a single Spring Breaker in sight in FtL Beach. Yay!

I’ve noticed a number of beach communities reminding people that this is turtle nesting season, but with this much beach development it’s a wonder that all still goes well.

Deerfield Beach was a nice rest stop this morning, but here is where I started to see rip current advisories and “dangerous conditions” flags.

Look at the wind… 26 mph gusts. I checked my weather app everytime the wind blew me sideways to gauge the gusts.

Did I mention the wind?

Yay! Fourth county in four days… welcome to Palm Beach County at Delray Beach.

Did I mention the wind? 29 mile per hour gusts in Delray Beach. I asked a number of folks today if they could do something about turning off the wind machines. They were all nonplussed. (Look at the flag on the left & the palm fronds)

Look, that’s me, your host stopped for an early lunch after 29 miles in north Delray Beach.

So this lifeguard shack is flying the dangerous rip current flag, but you can’t see the solid red and the solid purple flags that indicate high hazard conditions and dangerous marine life, respectively. Huh? Man o’ war? Great white?

Where’s the flag for Orange Ogre with a bad combover?

At Ocean Ridge I took a Red Bull break in this convenience store and a 30 mph gust toppled my bike.

This was the end result. My bespoke handlebar grippy tape lacerated. Oh the humanity!

So I stopped at a Publix a mile north, in Manalaplan, and bought gorilla tape, a protein shake and got to work:

Not pretty, but it’ll hold. All’s well in handlebar land, let’s move on…

… but this is seriously problematic…

And the weather starts to look nasty as I get nearer to a nasty place, and it starts to spit rain in West Palm Beach…

…  and believe it or not, I’m routed right by the Orange Ogre’s house. I thought something was up when I saw dozens of police cars (marked and unmarked) and a football field-sized compound filled with vehicles, satellite links, and cameras. I hightailed it over this bridge heading west off the beach, the only time the wind was at my back and it virtually rocketed me over the intracoastal. Couldn’t come fast enough. (I naturally wouldn’t waste memory space on my phone with pictures of that level of crap.)

Instead you get semiotics… lots of signs, shadows, gratuitous bike pics, and you figure out the signifiers. The East Coast Greenway and United States Bike Route 1 (USBR 1) are virtually the same route from Florida to Maine (except the gaps).

Why would anyone?

The Civil Society Brewing Company…

Tacos El Viejon food truck… oh, what excellent take out for tonight’s dinner! (Chicken burrito with salsa verde)

See the chicken burrito packed up on my rear rack? (My goodness was it good!) This is my Air BnB endpoint for the day. The casita in the back.

This tiny house set off on its own…

Here’s a panoramic shot of the inside (you can’t see the bathroom)… and there’s always room at the inn for the bike. Another good day, even as windblown as it was, and even though I had to see the Orange Ogre’s abode.

Day 6
Start: Fort Lauderdale
End: West Palm Beach
Miles: 47.96

What I’m Reading:

the world burn is total
last sky will empty itself of airplanes and war jets to make room for our spirits

— Fargo Nissim Tbakhi / “Last Sky World Burn”