Gainesville to Ichetucknee Springs State Park
Daily Miles: 46.2
Total Miles: 155.8
Avg Pace: 11.3 mph
Max Speed: 22.4 mph
Time Riding: 04:04:46
Apparently my bike computer keeps track of all those stats above. I’ll post them from now on as a reminder of how much of a turtle I am on a loaded touring bike.
I was glad to be inside last night. The sky opened up and unleashed a fury of rain and lightning and thunder on Gainesville. The wind whipped into the side of the hostel like a runaway train. The rain was so bad I found multiple tin and plastic pots lying in the hallway, collecting drips of water from the ceiling. Each plink and plunk was a reminder that the hostel needed a new roof.
I went to bed early, not because I necessarily wanted to but because I passed out. I suppose I was a lot more tired than I thought I was. My legs ached, especially my quads, and of course my ass, which was tender to the touch, hurt even more than the previous day. My biceps and hands were also sore and moving them at all brought to me a great deal of discomfort. All of these ailments were proof of my lack of bycicle riding leading up to the trip. But that’s okay. It will pass.
I woke up this morning with drab skies and wet ground, the wind hammering into the palm trees in the courtyard, and a sense of mallaise at the thought of rising from my comfortable bed and riding my bycicle.
I laid in bed for awhile before I got moving, but eventually got all my stuff together and was riding by about 8:45 AM.
I rode through the streets of Gaimesville on a lazy weekend morning. There were some cars out but not many, and the bike lanes were wide and generous which made for a pleasent ride out of the 130,000 people city.
After a good 10 miles of riding I finally breached the city limits and found myself in the country again, on pleasent county roads, with little traffic and good, safe shoulders. The temperature at this point in the day was actually the high at around 50 degrees, and even though the sky was dark and overcast, I felt warm with my leg warmers, jacket and beanie on. A feeling that would not last for too much longer.
I finally reached Alachua, the next town, which was small and nondescript. It had three different dollar stores to choose from (Dollar General, Family Dollar, and an independently owned store called Just a Dollar). Most of these towns are pretty much the same. The dollar store is king in small town USA.
After Alachua, I cycled on crappy highway 441 for 6.5 miles. It provided a good shoulder but the traffic was dense and fast moving and it was not enjoyable. I spotted a Dunkin Donuts and took a break eating a bagel and drinking a nice warm coffee. I watched people coming in from the I-10 freeway to grab a snack for their weekend drives. The temperature at this point had sunk to about 42 and it was hard to leave the D&Ds. I chatted with an employee smoking a cigarette before riding away, and he informed me it’s never usually this cold during the afternoon here in central Florida. He had a winter coat on and gloves and looked dressed for an Antarctic expedition.
Per Toby’s (The hostel owner’s) recommendation, I got off the Adventure Cycling route in High Springs and left 441 behind for a much more pleasent county road 27. It would have been a very nice ride but of course I had to battle 20mph headwinds and a few hills.
After getting battered by the wind for an hour, literally having to pedal downhill because the wind was pushing me back so hard, I arrived at Ichetucknee Springs State Park, my destination for the day. I snapped a few pictures of the springs, which some people were enjoying, and then headed to a nearby private campground where the promise of an enclosed cabin for the evening awaited me.
You see, the forecast was calling for a low of 25 degrees for the evening, and the thought of being in a warm cabin trumped any thoughts of sleeping in a cold tent. I was able to somehow get a discount on the cabin, probably because there were hardly any people at the campground and the nice lady at the store maybe felt a little sorry for me having been out in the wind and cold all day.
But that’s okay. I’m warm and well fed and sore. Tommorrow is another day of riding through the back roads and not so back roads of Florida, to see small towns with too many Dollar stores and battle more debilitating headwinds. At least it’s suppose to be sunny. I’ll take that small victory at least. I’ll take anything I can get.
