Another Windy Day on Route A1A 

Joan's View

We both slept sound last night thanks to the workout from Mr. "HeadWind".  Tony, being the morning person that he is anyway, decided that we should leave even earlier today so as to beat the heavy winds.  It actually paid off!  

The gusts picked up though and we did some serious pedaling.  We had some nice scenery on the route though.  Tony's route took us on some stunning side streets.  More Florida mansions, of course, but we ended up on one street that was a tunnel of Banyan trees called Bent Banyan.  It was like out of a fairy tale!  We ended up on 2 other streets that were similar, but this one was the supreme.  

We had to take more breaks than usual today and found some direction on one of our breaks.

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Another beach park break had this inviting trail that led to the beach.  It had flowers and plants with a great smell as well, reminding us of Hawaii.  >>>

Tony was concentrating on pedaling so much that, at one point, he pushed himself close to exhaustion.  We stopped again, but this time at the closest Diner to refuel.  

I learned much on this trip, and especially today that the civil engineers that designed bridges don't always have bicyclists in mind.  The interlocking metal part on drawbridges is extremely slippery for bikes.  We walked the bike on the one bridge where the sign said to walk bikes but rode over the others.  Tony says as we are approaching the metal part of the drawbridge, "Don't move" so I quit pedaling and try to sit entirely still.  Also, some civil engineers (not Choice One Engineering, I'm sure) provide absolutely no room for the bikes to ride on so we are riding in a car lane and sometimes on 4 lane bridges.  I am saying my prayers then.

One of the highlights today was a stop at Kite Beach where the kite boarders or kite surfers were

gathered and playing.  Probably 20 of them at a time were on the surf.  We got to talk to some of them as they were leaving and hosing off their equipment.  They introduced us to James McGrath, this teen guy who is one of the top ranked kite surfers in the nation.  Here is a you tube video on him if you want to see him in action:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ul0nbfEfAk8.

Fun day, hard day, great day to be in Juno Beach!

Tony's Side Notes

Yes, today was windier than yesterday with 18mph winds. Bad news is tomorrow's forecast for wind is coming from the south at 25mph. Oh no! Stats for today are: 51.5 miles, ride time 4 hours and 4 minutes, rest time 2 hours and 37 minutes (yes this time is going up, tomorrow I suspect more rest time), average speed 12.65mph (better than we thought).

They had complimentary Pop Tarts at the last hotel and I went for them for a sugar rush when I was exhausted. I had to take a picture for Megan at work because I give her such a hard time when she is eating them. When we were watching the kite boarders, I had to text pictures to Ben VanTreese because when I see crazy things, I think of him. Yes, that is something he said he plans to do. It was cool how they handled the high waves and actually flew 30 feet or so in the air. Well, we are getting up even earlier tomorrow to get a head start because of the wind going into Fort Lauderdale. Oh yea, did I mention that there are threats of thunderstorms tomorrow?