Day 6 - Ride with the wind
Day 6 - Key Largo to Key West - 104 miles - Elevation gain: Lots of bridges
We reached our destination! After 6 days of riding, we made it to Key West! Today we started in Key Largo following a path that ran parallel to Route 1. Thankfully the wind was on our backs for this ride, so we could cruise. All day we bounced from the trail to the bike lane. The trail jumped sides of the road, and sometimes the surface of the trail was rough. We started on the right side of the road, but then bounced to the left as we followed the trail. When the trail turned into a sidewalk and then ended on the left side, there was a service road with a nice smooth surface that was also away from the traffic.
When the service road ended, we rolled back to the right side and stayed there for most of the remaining ride. There was one bridge which had a pedestrian bridge on the right, so we used that to cross and then it was back to the right side. The trail kept bopping and weaving from along the road, to becoming a sidewalk, and at one point away from the road with a hedge of bushes on either side. At a certain point the road was marked with a bike lane, and that is where we headed for the remainder of the ride.
At the 7-mile bridge it was very tempting to want to ride on the nice pedestrian bridge, but I’m glad we did not take it. About a 1 mile down the pedestrian bridge it stopped with a big gap before the next section of bridge which was closed. I was in the lead for the bridge and there is just something about being on a bridge and having fast traffic pass you that just makes you want to not stop pedaling until you reach terra firma again.
Before reaching our hotel we stopped in the middle of the road to take a picture with the Key West sign. At the hotel we refilled our water and picked up the two cyclist that road in the sag vehicle for the last 50 miles, and we made our way through town to the southern-most point for a picture with the marker.
It was a great trip overall. We all agreed that the traffic around Miami was the worst part. And the sections where we went through nice neighborhoods or along the water were our favorite sections. We had zero flat tires, one brake issue that a shop fixed, and one bike collision at a stop sign that made its mark on 3 bikes but did not render them unridable. We had long days in the saddle, but we made it to each destination with time to enjoy the water (we love heated pools) when the temperature reached above 65 degrees. Overall it was a great trip and gives me some ideas for future bike trips.
