I don't think I've mentioned this but I'm starting my winter break off with a bike ride to Sarasota. And once upon a time, this was happening in the ambiguous and comfortably far-off future. Now, I find myself less than a month away from it. Less. Than. One. Month.
I'm departing Gainesville December 13th, the day following my last day of exams. My bike'll be outfitted just as it will be for the summer tour and I'm gonna use this ride to, uh, break in my morale. And to see if anything goes absolutely, terribly wrong before I'm 3,000 miles away from home with nothing but my bike, [ideally] 25 lbs of belongings and no back-up plan.
I'll arrive in Sarasota on December 15th, just in time for my mom's birthday. Actually, just in time for her birthday dinner if the timing of the whole tour works out as planned. She doesn't know she has a birthday dinner planned yet, but oh Nina just you wait.
Then, I fly up to Washington, D.C. the 17th to visit my dad and my brother and I'll be bussing up to New York for New Year's. And all of the stuff I'm packing for winter break will have to fit in my bike panniers. Packing should be interesting. I'm planning on shipping up a box to D.C. and I gave my duffel bag and winter coat to my mom last time she came through town, so hopefully I can manage.
Alright, game plan:
View GNV - SRQ Bike Route in a larger map
DAY 1: GAINESVILLE - FORT COOPER STATE PARK 65 miles; 6 hrs.
I'll leave early morning December 13th and bike 65 miles to Fort Cooper State Park, where I'll spend my first night. This is also where I'll hook up with the Withlacoochee State Trail, recommended to me by the girl who sold me my bike; this is the route she took on her tour to Sarasota. Google tells me it'll take 5 hours and 14 minutes. I'm planning on stopping for a Pub sub for sure, so between that and panting/sweating/water breaks, I'll just round that up to 6 hours. Still not so bad. Camping at Ft. Cooper is $5/night and the entrance fee is $2.
DAY 2: FORT COOPER - SOUTH TAMPA 75.7 miles; 7 hrs.
Starting the day early -- this'll be the long stretch. I also have a weird premonition that I'm severely underestimating the hilliness of mid-west Florida. Whatever -- I'll be dealing with much worse on the summer ride so I'll have to be able to handle these. (I'm just really bad at inclines of any sort. Stairs suck. Ramps are fine.)
From a cursory tour of the paths once I diverge from the Withlacoochee, Google street view's showing me there isn't much in the way of bike trails or even shoulders on some of these country roads. But I don't imagine they'll be heavily trafficked; I'll just be extra careful and also wear *gulp* a neon yellow shirt. I find neon colors extremely unpleasant, but alas black is not a good color to bike in. So it goes.
I'll be staying with my friend Elizabeth in South Tampa this night. She's a boss for letting me stay the night and also for driving my laptop + charger down from Gainesville so I won't have to lug it that extra 140 miles. Shout out to muh girl.
DAY 3: SOUTH TAMPA - SARASOTA 61.5 miles; 5.5 hrs
The Victory Stretch. I anticipate this stretch to be filled largely with shopping centers and strip malls. But, I'm so excited to bike over the North Bridge on Siesta Key. That's where I've decided to pin as my finish line because a) it's beautiful, b) many a memory in and around that area, and c) proximity to ma's birthday dinner restaurant.
In total, it'll be 202 miles. I'm just tryna see if I can handle it, if I'm missing anything or if there's any way I could optimize my ride so summer's will be more bearable. I'm still waiting on some of my gear to come in, but once it has, I'll post up a full packing list.
The Sarasota ride is scary soon, but what's more frightening is the amount of stuff that has to be done between now and then: 3 exams, 2 projects, 3 papers, and the winter issue of Fine Print. There are ten more days of class left; let's not do the math.