Cycle New Smyrna Beach to Stuart

Sunday 22 January 2012

Cycling Florida

Here's a last little video of our brilliant trip. We cycled 164 miles from New Smyrna Beach to Stuart. Then Robby & Brandi headed home. While Mike, Tara and I collapsed in New Smyrna for a few days, and then headed south to the Everglades, Miami South Beach. Key West and Key Largo. The cycling surprised us all - there was more diversity and beauty in Florida than any of us expected. Cycling is definitely the best way to see the state. We will be back!

Sunday 1 January 2012

Day 4 - Vero Beach to Stuart

38 miles on our final day! Today was a struggle, maybe because it was our last day so everyone was celebrating mentally before 10 miles were under our belts. Also the sun was relentless and the shade was sparse. No matter, all in all it was a wonderful wonderful ride with a great group of people! Thank you everyone for joining me and Mike. Love Vanessa

Captions by Tara and Mike:

Floridians hard at work

Tara slaves over the blog whilst Mike cozies up to his ipad

Mike is never very far away from his SPF 50 sunblock, one never knows when a stray ray of sun might attack.

Our fearless navigator, readies his pointing finger. Robby found us the best route everyday - big thanks to him !!!

Our first break, and one of the only public access spots to the beach we have seen almost the whole time.

A lucky find !

Nature scene 1

Causeways were the one tricky bit of our entire trip, fortunately not too many of them. Here Mike masterfully establishes domain.

Nature scene 2

The Canadian and the South African - Spot the difference

We took a lot of breaks on this day .. and we enjoyed them !

Once again, Robby politely yet impatiently waiting for the rest of us .. sorry Robby! We'll do better next time :)

Sumo says "no sun block"

We're here !!!!!! Our final gateway. 164 miles total in 4 days !!
We are gods.

Our unsung hero, Brandi, and her chariot. She diligently transported our stuff, picked up our supplies, scouted our hotels, and kept Robby enthusiastic. Big thanks again !!

Robby's strange gorilla feet

Smiles all around for New Years' Eve and the end of the journey.

A quiet moment staring at the jumping fish at Indian River

Baby Love as Miss New Years' eve 2012

Honey Bunny tries to be taller than her celery stick

Beautiful B !

Our greatest hope for 2012 !!

Friday 30 December 2011

Day 3 - Indialantic - Vero Beach

Gorgeous Sunrise Day 3 - the view from our hotel

Tara in quarantine, patient zero (Note the tissues on the ground). After fending off a cold for 2 days now, it finally caught up with her.

Hi, Tara here ... Today our route kept us along the coast of Merritt Island (The Kennedy Space Center is located here). We had 37 miles total to do from Titsville to Vero Beach. Early on, the road took us through a quiet neighbourhood where everything seemed to be normal ...

The old "North Pole bear attends a college pep rally" Christmas Float routine

The last piece of Vanessa's fantastic ginger cake - it single-handedly kept us all going through the first 3 days

The conquerors !! Stopped for coffee on one of the few public access beaches we passed.

Earlier today, we found a bike shop for supplies, Tara bought a horn - Sumo Man squeaks from his bum - very manly

Click on the video to see us cycling along the Indian River

On another break ... Vanessa lay down in an ant hill to get this shot and what are affectionately known as "crazy" ants attacked. Mike used his ginger-caked fingers to try to stop them from crawling up his leg but the cake only made matters worse .. suffice to say, we rode away quickly - the wildlife in these parts is surprisingly sturdy.

We're now in Vero Beach. Beautiful Oak country. The area looks to be a fairly high end place with million dollar homes and lots of shiny SUV's.

Robby and I head onto the beach after the end of the ride.

4 hrs later and that's it for the day. We were lucky today with the wind at our backs, we managed an impressive 15 miles per hour average speed (at least impressive to me). We still had most of the day to relax and enjoy the sites.

Vanessa loved her meat ball submarine. Tara tried to feed the seagulls pickled peppers and Jalapenos, not sure she understands birds yet.

Out for dinner, we found an old fisherman's bar right on the river

Another hero shot - our usual reward for all the cycling. Even Vanessa likes this brand.

Florida wildlife 1

Florida wildlife 2

Florida wildlife 3

The end of another perfect day

Thursday 29 December 2011

Day 2 - Titsville to Indialantic

Cheetos break!

Day 2 kicked off cold! - about 50 degrees Fahrenheit, which is not cold by UK or Canadian standards, but we were well layered up. The first half of the ride (about 20 miles) wasn't really exciting - cloudy skies, nippy air, suburban streets. But the second half was glorious!!

Click on the video above for a bit of Merritt Island magic!

Robby's GPS system - big and brilliant! (Sorry that you can't see the map in this pic)

Checking out the route on the GPS

Mike cycling off the bridge over the causeway - very very busy road!!

Even in rich neighbourhoods they dump TVs by the road!

Behind me is a community of pelicans taking a siesta in the sun.

Putting our bikes away at the Sea Scape Motel - very pink, very Florida.

Mike looking for sea shells

Wednesday 28 December 2011

Just a few thoughts on Day 1 ...

Day 1 of the ride - cycled 45 miles - matching blue bike, jacket, shirt, gloves and running shoes - glad I avoided wearing blue socks as already took a great deal of chiding from supposed "friends and family"! We started the ride strong, maintained well but I finished a huddled mass of grumbling and limping, which I kept mostly to myself to present a strong front for the others, to avoid more chiding. Vanessa took lots of pics as usual, only almost falling off her bike once as a result. Robby led with aplomb and style, Mike was a trooper despite some knee pain - he stiff upper lipped it and inspiringly set the pace for us all. All around a great day had by all !! Tara :)