Being the first morning in Florida after you arrive from the UK you can never sleep in. I was up and about well before dawn and had breakfast and was ready to ride just as the sun was coming up.
I planned a circular route up to Intercession City, Loughman, Davenport, Poinciana, Kissimmee Waterfront and back. In the end I had to cut out the Kissimmee Waterfront bit as I needed to set off for the airport at 11am as I was flying to Atlanta later to see Steel Panther in concert and catch up with Steve “Larry” Lamb, an old school friend who I’d not seen since I was 18 and in the Upper 6th at Alty Grammar.
At this time of the morning it was still relatively cool and perfect to ride your bike in. The best part of the ride was down the old red brick Old Tampa Highway, which was very rough going but great fun.
In Davenport my route planning came a bit unstuck as it took me on a sand road. If you are ready this and wondering what a sand road is, it’s an unpaved road than instead of being gravel is literally just loose sand, and almost impossible to ride a road bike down. Here’s one I went down:
Next, the route took me down a less than salubrious road with wooden shacks on both sides. To add insult to injury, a dog decided to chase me with a view to taking a chunk out of my ankle! Thankfully it was easy to out pedal it. Phew!
The rest of the ride was much more un-evenytful and I headed up Poinciana Boulevard from Poinciana Town Centre to cut short my route and ensure I got to the airport in time for my flight.
I ended up with 37 miles on the clock and a really fun ride in a totally different area than normal. The whole route was essentially flat, which was a welcome change from the relentless climbing in North Yorkshire on Saturday.
Route: click here
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