An amazing thing happened in Florida this weekend.
The sun came out. The temperature climed into the 70s. And people came out of their homes and automobiles to greet this first, encouraging, sign of spring.
After a long, long, cold winter, this was the sort of weekend most of us live in Florida to enjoy. I spent the weekend driving the back roads, beach cities and small towns of Volusia and Flagler counties. As ride coordinator for this year’s Bike Florida spring event, it is my job to calculate distances and plot lines on maps so several hundred cyclists will be able to find their way from one night’s campsite to the next. For the most part it’s a tedious and time-consuming job. But on this weekend in particular, it was a joy to get out and enjoy the best that Florida has to offer.
I saw people paddling canoes around Hontoon Island State Park. On Sunday we took a lunch break and sat under an awning at Bonnie’s Dockside restaurant, on the lazy St. Johns River, watching bass fishermen drift slowly past while a local musician sang Jimmy Buffet songs on the deck. Cyclists were out in droves riding The Loop. And Deland, renown for having one of the most attractive downtowns in Florida, was alive with strollers, diners and window shoppers. For a while I got out of the car for a fast bike ride between Lake Bearsford Park and Blue Spring State Park. Volusia County is in the process of linking up various parks and springs with an impressive and growing greenway system.
The lighthouse at Ponce Inlet. Part of the route for this year's Bike Florida tour
Oh yeah, and because Bike Week is coming up in Daytona Beach, the roads were already teeming with overweight, aging, Harley hipsters.
It was, in short, a perfect Florida weekend. The first sign of spring. And more to come. By the time Bike Florida’s Blueways and Greenways Tour rolls around, spring will be in full bloom and the cycling will be sublime.
You need to see it to believe it.
Interesting piece of writing. I genuinely really enjoyed reading through it.