Between the two Snipe regattas in February and March, I did a 1000 mile bikepacking “circumnavigation” of Florida. In the last few years, I’ve tried to do some kind bikepacking trip this time of year, mostly to avoid the cold at home, get in some great Z2 base training, see some different part of the country and test myself with a little adventure. This period of time was longer than the past because Lisa is now also retired amd the really cold winter we’ve been having in Maryland was grating on us, so we decided to spend the entire time between regattas away. But instead of slogging around in rural Florida on a bike, Lisa decided to say YES – every adventure starts with a YES – to the opportunity to go to New Zealand for three weeks with some friends who were already there. She said: “you have fun with that bike thing, I’m going on my own adventure”! That’s how we roll!

I was really looking forward to some “alone time” to relax on the bike. I find this kind of long distance, low intensity riding to be very therapeutic after a few months of gogo with traveling and the holidays. Basically a battery recharge for this “extroverted introvert”. I planned the route to start and finish in Ft Lauderdale because Lisa was flying from there and Park by the Ports in Dania Beach is a great long term parking spot. So the Tuesday after the Midwinters in Key Largo, I dropped Lisa at the airport, parked the van and headed west on my bike.

The basic route took me across the Everglades, up the west coast, but turning inland after Ft Myers because there was no great way to get over the Sunshine Skyway into St Petersburg. The route continued north through Arcadia, Dade City, Ocala, over to Palatka and up to Jacksonville. From there I took the basic AIA route down the coast back to Ft Lauderdale. In total, it was 19 days with 17 riding days and a total of 953 miles. Of the 16 nights, 12 were camping (State Parks, State Forests, and County/private RV parks), two were in hotels and two were with friends. Since this trip was so long, I only booked campsites about a week out, needing to make some ad hoc calls on the route based on what I could find, how I felt or any other logistical constraints. That certainly was a new experience, something that is critical for anything more than about 10 days. While I had the whole route on a single RideWithGPS file, I created the daily routes from Jacksonville south that I actually followed on my Garmin head until with the RideWithGPS app on my phone. It’s a process that is pretty straight forward and I’m glad I had a chance to practice it.

The weather was mostly nice but over this period of time there are bound to be several sequences of changing weather as fronts pass through. As I’ve experienced, northern Florida can be really cold this time of year after a cold front. After the nutty cold weather in Miami and Key Largo the week before (iguanas falling out of trees cold!), the temperatures moderated as a big high pressure system settled in, but it was not “south Florida hot”. The cool, dry air and fairly light breeze lasted first five days. On the sixth, there was a front rolling through that gave some great southwesterly tailwinds going into Dade City. Looking at the forecast for the passing cold front and since I had planned to primitive camp at the Green Swamp Wilderness area, I decided to get a hotel, have a nice shower and do some laundry. Good thing because that cold front had strong wind and rain that would not have been fun in a tent. The next day was a post cold front cool/dry day and was a needed short distance recovery day to Withlacoochee State Forest. From there it was north just past Ocala, over to Palatka and finally directly north to Jacksonville. For those last few days the breeze came around to the south again so I had some more great tailwinds.

Jacksonville is a little over half way at 10 days and was time for several days rest. As I’ve commented before the first three to five days is always the hardest because everything hurts (this time it was my triceps) and a rest day is usually in order and after that things settle in and stop hurting. On this trip it took a bit longer to get to that point because I really had been off the bike for almost two months between the Chile trip and the cold weather in January that prevented riding. I was definitely tired and had some, uh “irritation” in the undercarriage that needed a few days with no pressure to resolve. It fortunately did fully heal up by the time I left after two days rest. On bikepacking trips about the only thing that can stop you dead in your tracks are saddle sores if they get really bad.

Another cold front was on its way when I left Jacksonville and it was looking like a real doozy with strong winds and a huge drop in temperature. I had this smokin’ WNW breeze as the front was going through the morning I left and it was quite a ride to Jacksonville Beach and down to Anastasia State Park. I stopped in Jacksonville Beach to meet Brett Hack, another Ryan Van Duzer follower I’ve communicated with in the past. He has the suite of Priority adventure bikes and I got to ride his Gemini which I’m coveting as my next bikepacking bike. This test ride confirmed I would want a Large size.

It got really cold that night, down in the high 30s which was just at my limit and supposed to be even colder the next night so I booked a hotel room in Daytona Beach that was right across the street from the Speedway. Good thing because it was like 35 degrees that night. But after that front, the temperatures really started to moderate and for the last 3 days down the coast it turned into quintessential Florida, with much warmer temps in the upper 70s and humid. But the tradeoff for warmer weather was a strong southerly headwind. But I really enjoyed the trip down A1A even if it was just a little bit boring (the less populated northern section anyway), but at least it was a change from the dusty rural Florida landscape and riding along the beach warms my heart as I think it just reminds me of Cape Cod.

One of the great things about this trip was I able to stop along the way and visit with friends. Up through Bonita Springs, I had dinner with my riding buddy Aidan Murphy who is living there taking care of his Mom while he rebuilds his house in Annapolis. In Jacksonville, I hung out with Hal Gilreath for two days and we saw some sights around Jax. Coming into Jensen Beach, I saw Carol/Paul Cronin wing foiling (her version of bikepacking after the Midwinters) and that night I stayed with my old friends Rick and Kate Wood in Jensen Beach and we had a nice dinner in Stuart and got caught up on each others lives. On the last day I stopped in Deerfield Beach to have lunch with Dave Radulescu a college roommate I haven’t seen in 40 years. There were a few other opportunities that sadly didn’t work out. These stops were some needed social interaction after so many hours alone.

I often get asked questions about who I do these trips with and if I listen to anything while riding or get bored/lonely on such a long trip. In general most of the trips I have been doing have been solo, mostly because I don’t have any retired friends who like to do this kind adventuring on a bike and are willing to camp. The few that have been interested in doing this kind of riding are not retired. So solo it is. As I mentioned at the beginning, as an “extroverted introvert”, I have no problem going significant periods without face to face interactions. That said, the dearth of social interaction often motivates me to go outside my comfort zone and strike up conversations with strangers on the road, at campsites or in restaurants. I do find these ad hoc interactions interesting because you run into a lot of characters with oddball stories on these kinds of “off the beaten path” trips.

I don’t listen to any music or podcasts while riding. Do I get bored? Nope. Riding to me, especially these longer endurance kinds of efforts, is basically mentally regenerative meditation. I often have a song that comes into my head that repeats – it’s basically like someone meditating saying “ooooommmm” – or I start thinking about some topic that’s been ratting around in my head. When this happens, I have to make some notes at the end of the day or I forget what I was thinking about.

Off the bike is a little different story, but much of the time in the morning or after getting to a campsite is spent with all of the overhead associated with camping: making/breaking camp, packing, person hygiene, and meals. It’s all gotten to be sort of autopilot for me, but often in the morning/evening I listen to NPR (Morning Edition or All Things Considered) if I have cell data to get just enough taste of what’s going on in the world (but not too much!). The one thing about these trips in the winter in Florida is the lack of daylight as it’s getting dark at 7pm and light after 7am, and most of the times the bugs are annoying enough that you have to be in your tent after dark. That means a lot of time for reading and listening to podcasts, which I have downloaded in case I have no signal. On this trip I read 3+ books on my Kindle, the perfect device as it doesn’t need to be charged often and is easy to read in the dark. I read two John Grisham books (I’m at the tail end of a 10 book, eye candy Grisham binge), A Long Pedal of the Sea by Isabel Allende, which was especially interesting given our trip to Chile and my interaction with Catalans with Chilean history. After that, I started the latest John Irving book Queen Esther which I am looking forward to as a long time John Irving fan in general and Cider House Rules fan specifically. I rarely get this kind of time to read – really the uninterrupted time with few distractions – so this a real treat I associate with bikepacking.

There were several new things new in my bikepacking setup. I upgraded my sleeping bag from a down “quilt” that was really cold below 50 F to a down bag rated for comfort at 40 F. History showed that was necessary and boy was I glad I did. Because it is slightly more bulky, I swapped one of the Tailfin 10L side bags for a 16L Tailfin mini pannier. That worked well and at the risk of scope creep, I may also get another for the other side just to have a little space headroom. I also swapped out the top tube bag from the Apidura I’ve had for a long time because the zipper (and my subsequent repair) broke for a Tailfin 1.1L Flip bag, which worked really well and is very easy to open while riding so I can grab my phone quickly. There is enough room for my Dynaplugger, a small tube of sunscreen, some cash and a Cliff bar. Other than that, everything was exactly the same as I described in 2024. I did have to stop at Dicks Sporting Goods in Ocala to get some more dehydrated backpacker meals and to replace the drybag that raccoons tore apart at Cypress Glen (remember to ALWAYS hang your food bag!).

Other than the brief overview of the days above, a list of the individual days in the table below and some general thoughts about the trip, I’m not going to get into any long blow by blow detail about each day (you’re welcome) because frankly they all start to flow together. It’s no coincidence that I named this route a “circumnavigation” (beyond the obvious that it is a circular route) because the flow of this trip was very much like an offshore sailing trip where every watch sort of flows together, and while they all typically have something unique that happens, at the end of the day your recollection is they are largely indistinguishable. That said, the scenery and conditions change with the weather systems and distance down the track. As you travel from say the cold climate of New England to the warmer tropical latitudes, you see and feel that change happening slowly over days. On this trip it was very similar with the scenery slowly change from the Everglades, to the farm and horse lands, to the forests in central and norther Florida to the beaches on the coast. Both types of trips have the same rhythm and that’s what I have really learned to appreciate about these sailing and bikepacking trips. Not racing, but cruising…

The following daily summaries are from my Strava tracks each day. The first column links to the Strava track for the day and the ending spot links to more information about the stop.

Here is a link to the full unfiltered photo album that includes geotags on all the pictures: https://photos.app.goo.gl/5jzYCZUfuu52pU999

Riding Day Strava Link	End Spot	Miles	Moving Time	Summary
1	Mitchell Landing Campground Big Cypress (NPS)	66.5	5:16	Almost a big problem because the L-67A canal path was closed half way down for construction. The guy was not going to let me through but I somehow convinced him to let me go. Good thing as it would have wasted the day had I had to turn around! I did pick up a hefty nail that required a dynaplug. But nice to have a tailwind most of the day. This ended up being my only primitive campground. The usual trying to wipe off and did a bakepacker meal.
2	Collier Seminole State Park	50.5	3:58	A little shorter day today as I called an audible and stayed on US41 (aka The Tamiami Trail – the OG Alligator Alley) eschewing any additional gravel that was likely to be a slog. The first 3-5 days are the worst as everything hurts, nice to be at a full service campground with a hot shower and cleaning my kit. And plenty of drinking water which is an issue at primitive sites like last night. Another backpacker meal night.
3	Gulf Air RV Ft Myers	52.5	4:20	Once past the nutty development on the edge of the Everglades, it was a tour up the Naples burbs, Bonita Beach and Ft Myers Beach. It’s been a long time since I was there since we used to visit Frank and Vera. The RV park was a bit odd as it was basically in the middle of a city, but seems like there are a lot of those since that’s what’s sprouted in lower value areas after hurricane damage of the last years. Was awesome to have dinner and catch up with our friend Aidan Murphy.
4	Arcadia Peace River Campground	63.2	5:01	The first half of the ride was lots of “concrete single track” (aka sidewalks/shared use paths) through the outer Ft Myers area along some major arterials. The second half was a 35 mile slog up FL 31 with a bit of a headwind. The campground was a ORV place, something very different: one of these things is not like the other! I thought about going into historic Arcadia for dinner but ended up having another backpacker meal night.
5	Alafia River State Park	57.6	4:05	An easier day of road riding with side or tailwind. So much for the Florida State Park “no turn away” policy. I went down the road to the unguarded equestrian entrance, went up the trail, waited for dark and pitched my tent. My first stealth camp! Another backpacker meal night.
6	Dade City Hampton Inn	58.5	4:07	Today was a spectacular gift of a day. 60 miles fast at very little effort, a “no chain” kinda day. The scenery is definitely changing and becoming a little more interesting. Today felt like an early September Day with warm temps, dry air and everything looks parched as they have had little rain in Florida. Plus the last bit was through a familiar gravel riding area NE of Tampa (Green Swamp West Track – if you are ever here you have to ride there!). And the best part is a shower and a bed at a hotel. Had a huge pizza next door when I got there and went back for a big salad later for dinner.
7	Cypress Glen Campground Withlacoochee State Forest	21.4	1:45	A super short/recovery day up the beginning of the Withlacoochee State Trail to the Cypress Glen Campground. I got a puncture leaving Dade City that required a dynaplug. The Cypress Glen campground is near the Silver Lake campground I stayed at a few years ago, but quite a bit quieter as it’s further away from I-75. Didn’t hang my food bag and raccoons ripped apart my dry bag and food. Another backpacker meal night.
8	Indian Lake State Forest Campground	65.6	4:45	The first half of the day was the rest of the Withlacoochee State Trail which is quite pleasant and the second half was on FL 200, not bad but not so pleasant. I could have cut half of that off by going on the Ross Prairie Trail (part of the Marjorie Harris Carr cross Florida Barge trail) but I was trying to save some saddle time due to my irritation. Not sure it worked out as FL 200 was pretty shitty though Ocala, but I did stop at Dicks to get a new dry bag and some more Backpacker meals. The historic area of Ocala was nice, the rest not so much. But good to have a shower! Another backpacker meal night.
9	Rodman Campground (State Park)	47.1	3:09	Pretty nice day with mostly a SE tailwind into Ocala National Forest. The initial route took me on some unpaved forest roads that were no bueno due to deep sand and had to go back out to the road. I took a route that I did last year on NFSR 11, which is the nicest surface in the forest. This took me right up to the Rodman campground. Another backpacker meal night.
10	Gilreaths Jacksonville	62.5	4:16	Made it to JAX! Another great “no chain” day with a great southerly. Fortunate because a lot of it was on US 17 a divided highway but a decent shoulder. The northern part had a nice trail, but there was also a bunch of “concrete single track” (sidewalk). Stopped for an early lunch in Palatka to check it out and a rest stop Green Grove Springs. A little over half way done and now two days of R&R before heading back south on the east coast!
11	Anastasia State Park	65.5	4:40	A nice run down to Saint Augustine and Anastasia State Park. The cold front went through in the morning and the breeze came up hard out of the northwest so I had a nice tail wind. Met up with another Duzer follower Brett Hack, who showed me the priority Gemini, which is definitely my next bikepacking bike. Nice to have someone to ride with for a few miles. I detoured off A1A to go through Guana NWR for a nice 15 miles of easy gravel. I stopped for a nice Asada Bowl just north of the State Park for dinner. Fun to be at Anastasia again as it reminds me of the week Lisa and I spent here during COVID in 2021.
12	Homewood Suites Daytona Beach	55.4	3:49	After a very cold night at Anastasia State Park, I left later than usual so it could warm up a bit but had a nice run down A1A in a honking northwester to Daytona Beach. That morning I bailed on my Tiger Bay State Forest campsite for a hotel because it is supposed to be even colder tonight. I don’t mind the cold sleeping. It’s just that you have to get in your sleeping bag at 6 PM because it’s so cold out and staying in a sleeping bag for 13 hours is a bit much. Plus Tiger Bay was primitive so no services (shower). Yeah, I like not being sticky in my sleeping bag and can rinse my kit. I Went to Olive Garden for dinner.
13	Manatee Hammock Campground (Brevard Co Park)	61.7	4:21	A nice ride down to the Titusville area to the Manatee Hammock Campground. The first half was through residential neighborhoods south of Daytona, then some semi-rural roads and the second half was on the E Central Regional Rail Trail that connects into the Florida Coast to Coast Trail into Titusville that I did the other direction on the C2C route. Had dinner at a brew pub a few miles from the campground and made it just in time to see a SpaceX launch! It was the last really cold night and fortunately a guy I met gave me an old army blanket I put over my sleeping bag that really helped. Another backpacking meal night.
14	Long Point Park (Brevard Co Park)	52.1	4:09	Went a little off the beaten path today staying on some small roads (Ocean Dr) that parallel the water, rather than staying on A1A, definitely the right move as it was quite and very pretty. Jupiter Island is definitely where the rich people live. The last 20 miles on A1A was a grind onto a headwind. Another backpacking meal night.
15	Woods Jensen Beach	65.1	4:40	Woke up at 3:30 AM to raccoons rummaging through my stuff trying to get to the food bag which I stupidly did not hang again, but I chased them away. It was kind of weird with my headlamp shining on them having four sets of shiny eyes staring at me, but I got the bag hung up and all is well. Had a nice run down to Jensen Beach early enough before the thermal headwind kicked in too hard although the last hour was a bit tough. I stopped at Stuart Beach to see Carol/Paul Cronin wing foiling and then headed over to my friend Rick‘s house in Jensen Beach and we had a nice dinner out in Stuart on the water.
16	John Prince Park (Palm Beach Co Park)	64.9	5:27	The penultimate day. I definitely paid for the no chain days with a 20 mph headwind all day. I should have realized where I was because I got turned back on Palm Beach by guys with ear buds and black SUVs. There is only 1 road south by Mar-a-Lago and it was closed. But a proper windy, hot south Florida day. John Prince Park is in Lake Worth east of I-95 and seemed a bit sketch getting there, but was a decent RV park with nice amenities. I thought about going to find a restaurant, but was too tired to ride anywere on the local STROADs so another backpacking meal night.
17	Van*Tastic at Park By The Ports	48	3:25	The finale! Stopped in Deerfield Beach and had lunch with Dave Radulescu a college roomy have not seen in 40 years. And after almost 1000 miles of no rain, I got caught in a hailstorm with 3 miles to go! Fortunately I found some cover and it passed quickly!