We suck at bikepacking - Cycling to Key West EP1
This, is mile marker 0 off route US-1. It symbolizes the Southernmost point in the continental
US, but clearly the house behind it is further South. To me, the real reason to visit mile
marker 0 is to drive through the Florida Keys. From downtown Miami, it's an epic 3 hour
drive, starting with skyscrapers and ending in 7 mile long bridges through the Caribbean—or
the Gulf of Mexico depending on which car window you're looking out of.
The final stop is Key West, and it's worth the trip. If you like coconut trees, flip
flops, and stiff drinks, you may find no better place. Of course, relaxation was the last
thing on my mind when I agreed to pedal to Key West from my house in Fort Lauderdale.
I'm pretty sure it was Alex's crazy idea, and who could blame him? The poor guy has
been off his mountain bike since November, when he dislocated his shoulder. A road bike
adventure through the flattest state in the nation would be a piece of cake.
So we threw caution to the wind, did absolutely no research, and retrofitted our road bikes
with racks and luggage. Alex had a lot of camping experience, and I went through a road
biking phase a few years back. I was no stranger to high mileage. 200 miles in 3 days would
be easy. So the goal for day one would be a campsite 90 miles away in Key Largo. As
we set out from my house in high spirits, we had no idea how humbling of an experience
this ride would be. Alex and I fell short of Key Largo by over 40 miles on day one.
Allow me to summarize why that was the case.
Reason 1: Roady miles and bike packing miles are not the same. When you ride for training
of for the sake of riding you choose your favorite route. We were forced to ride through
Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, Hallandale, all of Miami, and Homestead, encountering ridiculous
amounts of stop lights, traffic, glass, and general treachery. City miles are slow and
frustrating. We were moving at a snails pace, which leads into…
Reason number 2: The worst route ever. I used Google maps to plan a route and tapped
the little bicycle icon. This is great for finding the closest bikeway, but terrible
for finding directions. Rather than have you ride for a mile on a less than ideal road,
Google would rather you get on a ferry. Sometimes it would want us to take a bikeway for a few
miles, make a u turn, and backtrack a mile to get on another bikeway—this instead of
just hopping over one median. For the record I now know the best route, but I can't go
back in time to Wednesday afternoon, which brings us to…
Reason number 3: A late start. We did some preparation in the morning and moseyed on
down to the coffee shop. We didn't start pedaling until around 11, since we wanted
to wait until rush hour was over. I don't know why it didn't click that we'd be
in South Miami during the second rush hour. Since my calculations were based on roady
miles, I figured we'd be in the keys by then, but I didn't account for all the stops,
craploads of extra weight, and….
Reason number 4: Mechanical problems. For the record I did one thing right, and that
was buy two really good brand new tires, and a reasonably sturdy rack with panniers. Alexander's
bike was f*cked. His tires were really old, and his rack consisted of 9 bungie cords and
some backpacks. The only thing on his bike that worked consistently was the horn. Alex
kept getting flats on his rear tire, and it took forever to take on and off the bike due
to the rear rack. Between stops to fix the rack, multiple flats, and a detour to restock
our supplies, we burnt through 2 hours of daylight, which brings me to…
Reason number 5: Bad luck, which I admit is sort of a cop out for bad planning. Google
Maps led us to a really jagged and rough fire road, which was out of the question considering
Alex's tire issues. So we tried to find a way around it and found ourselves trapped.
I
was going to do it, but Alex was actually the voice of reason. He might have saved both
of our lives. During the day, maybe. At night, it was sketchy.
So, 40 miles from Key Largo we decided to throw in the towel. Luckily, motels in Homestead
are about the same price as tent sites in the keys. We were pretty bummed out, and admittedly
doubtful that we would get to Key West on time. Both of us were on a time constraint,
and the next day was looking grimmer and grimmer by
the minute. After 50 miles of arduous urban pedaling, we needed something to boost our
spirits.
Our goal for the following day would be to make it to Key Largo and keep pushing all
the way to Marathon by the end of the day. That was a lofty 80 mile goal for day two.
Would we make it? Find out in the next video. Thanks for riding with me today and I'll
see you next time.
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