A First Day's Ride

Time to start riding to the Everglades. I rode my bicycle; Ellen drove Speedy. Today's destination was Kathryn Abbey Hanna Park, a city park in North Beach. It is a coastal section of the city of Jacksonville. It will probably be my shortest ride at just under 32 miles, including a ferry across the St. Johns River.


View Fort Clinch To Hanna Park in a larger map

Ellen chose to go directly to Hanna Park, even though it was going to take me on my bicycle about two hours longer than Speedy. It was her first time taking Speedy by herself in quite a while, so she wanted to get used to handling it on smaller roads and finding her way to our planned destinations. She had hoped to stop at some of the Great Florida Birding Trail sites along the way but they were all state parks with an entry fee. Since by mid-day (when bird life quiets down), they probably had nothing that couldn't be seen at Fort Clinch or here at Hanna Park, she passed them up.

I just plodded along, shedding clothing as I went. It was pretty cool when I started out so I had on a wind jacket over a long sleeve shirt and then a short sleeve bicycling shirt as well as zip-off long pants. The long sleeve shirt came off by the time I got to the end of the Fort Clinch entrance road. The jacket and zip-off legs were off within the next five miles. Isn't winter cycling grand?

The ride itself was about what I expected—flat. The only hills were going over bridges. According to my GPS, I climbed a total of 120 feet in 30 miles. Given that there was also a southwesterly breeze, it meant that there wasn't much coasting either. The route was mostly along Florida A1A which had bicycle lanes the length of Amelia Island and a good shoulder the rest of the way. Once the road left the beach community in the north part of Amelia Island, it was mostly through woods on both sides or open views of marshes out to the sea. The route ran the length of Amelia Island, across Big Talbot, Little Talbot and Fort George Islands, over the St. Johns River to Mayport and, finally, around the Navy Station at Mayport and into Hanna Park.

For a Saturday there was very little traffic. I was passed by several groups of cyclists (as I mentioned, I just plod along at 10-12 mph) and there were plenty of motorcycles as well. The only dicey part of the ride was just after coming off the ferry in Mayport, not far from Hanna Park. I was riding on a long curve and the highway department put reflectors and bars across the shoulder all the way along the curve. The bars were like a continuous series of speed bumps so I moved over to the edge of the fog line. As I was riding along, concentrating on keeping next to the fog line, I looked up to see a car coming toward me, passing, on the curve, over the double line ... and it was only about 20 feet away. No problem, he missed by at least a foot. After that it was a much more attentive ride the last couple of miles to the park.

When I arrived Ellen was waiting at the campsite. She'd arrived a couple of hours earlier and had a chance to make a few phone calls and relax. After we had lunch, she went off for a bird walk and I went off to the showers. Not long after, it was time for dinner, writing of journal, downloading GPS data and editing photos.

Tomorrow brings another 40 miles as we head to St. Augustine and Anastasia State Park.

Yea! We have photos today!