Training Ride on Lake Okeechobee

April 16th, 2009

This morning dawned clear and relatively cool (60F) with only moderate wind (9mph N), almost ideal conditions for a long bike ride. And I need to put more training miles on the recumbent to figure out all its kinks before flying off to Canada/Alaska in just 3 weeks…

After dropping off my son Philip at school in Wellington I park my car near the bus station and take the Palm Tran 40 line out to Belle Glade near Lake Okeechobee. This gives me the option of either riding all the way back or hopping on the bus again on the way back.

Parking my car at bus terminal and unloading Seiran

The bus ride takes about 50min, during which I call my parents back in Austria for a quick chat. Then the ride starts in refreshingly cool morning air. I will only ride a short section on the levee due to the headwind up there and also some fortification work which closes sections off. I take a short video clip with my little Olympus Stylus 790 SW digital camera.

On the East side of the lake I arrive at the tall bridge at Port Mayaca at 9:45am. From here you have a good view of the lake, the canal and surrounding sugar cane fields.

Seiran at Port Mayaca, Lake Okeechobee

Seiran at Port Mayaca, Lake Okeechobee

After about 2 more hours of riding and enjoying the scenery I reach the town of Okeechobee on the Northern tip of the lake. There I search for wireless Internet access points using my iPhone. I locate one Gourmet Coffee shop and ride there, only to find that this shop doesn’t seem to exist anymore. However there is a McDonald’s with Wifi. I can also use the Super-sized drinks they offer – with free refills 🙂 – and so I treat myself to a BigMac meal and write this Blog post.

There will still be a long ride (3-4 hrs) ahead of me on the way back, but this time with tailwind. Looking forward to that; but now I need to apply some more sunscreen not to get burned this afternoon…

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