Distance: 123.1 km
Ride time: 6:34:30
Average: 18.7 km/h
Max speed: 36.7 km/h
Total: 38131 km
I left Key Largo early after saying goodbye to Ron, thanking him for making the first cycling days in the US so fun. If this is an indication of how cycling through the US will be, I’m in for a treat!
I was crossing one more bridge before I was back on the Florida mainland. At a remote stretch of road before reaching the outskirts of Miami, a friendly guy pulled over and said: “It’s more than 30 miles to Miami man, I better give you a ride!”. I tried to explain that I was happy to cycle and planned to ride all the way to Maine. He looked at me with eyes full of compassion and asked if all was OK and if I had money. I assured the worried driver that all was indeed very much OK. In south and central America I was seen as a rich tourist. I now understand that a guy on a bike in the US is probably seen as the opposite. I guess I am in fact homeless, but voluntarily so 🙂
I was riding into Miami using the Greenway, the bike path that goes all the way to Maine and will be my home for the next months. I must have crossed the same number of traffic lights today as I have in the whole central and south America combined. I felt safe enough on the road, but it took it’s time.
Then I was suddenly in downtown Miami among all the skyscrapers. An urban landscape very different from cycling down in the Keys. I took a few photos and continued towards the famous Miami Beach.
After a final hour of riding along the beaches, I was meeting up with Pete once again. It was Pete who had picked me up in Fort Lauderdale airport a week ago; now I was back to square one at Pete’s house, but this time I arrived by bike and not on an airplane.
We ended the day at one of Pete’s favourite blues places in town. The US has most certainly been the most social place I have cycled so far!
Great pictures! I miss Miami…been there 3 years ago.
You are a very fortunate man! Enjoying the ride with you.
Guess I’d better start calling you a hobo, Thomas. 🙂