Back in March of 2018, while wrapping up logistics for the Arizona Trail Race, I had the fun idea to one day ride from the GA/FL border all the way down to Key West, primarily on Highway A1A. It’s a pretty direct 600 mile jaunt down the Atlantic side of Florida, moseying your way through desolate wildlife areas, sleepy coastal towns, and a handful of large cities. I based my route mostly off of Florida’s East Coast Greenway, adding in some variation in regards to the daily mileage I hoped to achieve along with a few pitstops to visit friends and family. I had no idea when I was actually going to do this ride, I just knew I wanted to do it and filed the Strava route away into the “Future Trips” folder and moved onto the AZT750.
Many years went by until March of 2023. I was talking with my buddy Ismaila Traore, who co-owns Coral Studios and it just so happened to be their 10th anniversary. They partner with the Great Barrier Reef Foundation and send some sales proceeds to them as well as educate the public on the GBRF’s message. We came up with the idea to ride for Coral Studios & GBRF to support a coral planting project being worked on and to get some buzz going for Art Basel, which happens in early December every year in Miami. The seed was planted and now I just had to grow it the rest of the year until blast-off. My other buddy Matt Nein, who does art design for Coral Studios, worked with me on the cycling jerseys and some really cool promo to use leading up to the ride. I also linked up with Jolly NYC, a new caffeinated electrolyte brand, to test some of their product and take pictures (this brand is now defunct). About a month before Art Basel, I finally solidified everything and reached out to my brother in laws to see if they wanted to accompany me on the ride. It was very last minute, but Kevin operates in that space regularly and I knew even with little to no training he would knock out the 100 mile days with me no problem. Kevin was onboard and we got the travel logistics buttoned up a few weeks before the ride and the stage was set! We dubbed this trip, Ride for the Reef (RFTR).
Day 0 - Travel Day (PGH > JAX > Kingsland)
This was by far the easiest travel day I’ve had for a bike trip. Cycling in Florida in early December is lovely, so my pack list was incredibly small and much different than most bikepacking adventures or races I’ve done recently. Everything was packed into a large cardboard bike box - the bike, bags, cycling shoes, 2 pairs of bibs, 2 jerseys, 1 change of street clothes, extra pair of underwear, 2 pair of socks, a windbreaker, helmet, water bottles, bike lights, and my bike tools. I took the handlebar bag as my personal item onto the plane and in that was the drone, my phone, sunglasses, cycling computer, and all the charging cables. The clothes I wore on the plane acted as my second pair of street clothes along with the slides on my feet. It couldn’t have been easier. I had a direct flight from Pittsburgh down to Jacksonville and had no troubles that morning.
I arrived at the airport, got my bike box from the airline oversized pickup spot, and moved over to an out of the way spot near the baggage claim pickup. I spent the next 40 or so minutes rebuilding my bike and getting my bags attached and packed up. There was a dumpster out back that I tossed my bike box in, and then I hit the road! I had a roughly 28 mile ride from the airport up to Kingsland, Georgia, where we would be staying the night. This was the closest hotel to the border, which was about 5 miles away. Kevin got in much later than I did and took a Lyft up from the airport. He joined me at the hotel and put his bike together while we watched the Jaguars / Bengals MNF game. He got his rig dialed in and we were good to go for the next morning! Our goals for the trip were to make it to Key West on time and in one piece, have fun, and have a beer each night at dinner. The beer each night at dinner was a little dig Kevin’s dad (my father in law). He used to cycle heavily and one time doing an MS150, he had a beer at dinner the first night and it totally wrecked him the next day and he always tells us not to drink on these trips. The alcohol doesn’t effect either of us in the slightest, so we decided to take a picture toasting our beers each night at dinner and sending him the photo (which you will see at the end of each gallery)! Time for bed.
Ride Stats: 28.64 Miles | 1hr 53min Cycling Time | 15.1mph Average
Day 1 - GA/FL Border to St. Augustine (87 Miles)
It was 48 degrees at 7am on the first morning and we were happy we brought the windbreakers. We left the hotel, weaved through some neighborhoods, and then got onto Highway 17, which took us back the way I rode yesterday. We crossed over a bridge and there was the glorious “Welcome to Florida” sign. Kevin and I snapped a selfie here and now it was officially on! The morning was really awesome once we got off 17/200 and got to Amelia City. This first stretch of coast isn’t very populated and the riding was great. There were some fun bridges with views of the ocean and a ton of little islands dotted the sea horizon. We were feeling great and averaging about 16-18mph for the first 2.5 hours and then disaster struck.
We were crossing Little Talbot Island and all of a sudden Kevin couldn’t pedal. His crankshaft was spinning freely on one side while the other side stayed put. Definitely not good. We pulled over and messed with his bike for 15 minutes or so and determined it was unfixable with anything we had on us. A kind gentleman with a pickup truck pulled over and offered us a ride down to the port (we were riding the ferry across the St. John’s River in Mayport anyway), so we hopped in and he took us a few miles down the road and dropped us off. We got on the ferry and rode over to the ferry landing and took a seat in the parking lot. Kevin called around to a few bike shops to see if anyone could help, and a bike shop in Jacksonville Beach thought they might be able to get his issue figured out. The only issue is that was about 11 miles away and Kevin’s wheels wouldn’t move. He ended up calling an Uber and stuffing his bike into the guy’s trunk while I got back on my bike and said I would meet up with Kevin somewhere down the coast.
I arrived in Jacksonville Beach a short time later and took some time to hang out by the ocean while Kevin was finishing up at the bike shop. The shop owner miraculously had ordered the wrong crankshaft for his own bike a while back and had it laying around the shop, and it fit Kevin’s perfect. Kevin bought that and got it installed and met back up with by the beach and we were back on our way! The rest of the ride through this section was uneventful but very beautiful. Unfortunately, I was starting to bonk about 10 miles from the finish, but I kept quiet about it. The first day on these trips is usually my weakest because my stomach does not want food or hydration. I always find myself in a hole and behind on fueling about halfway through the first day, and today was no different. I pushed on and shook it off. We crossed over into St. Augustine and made a pitstop at the Castillo de San Marcos monument for a little history lesson. A short ride later over another bridge and we were on Anastasia Island, which was the ending point of Day 1. I recommend the Holiday Inn Express there, it was very clean and had a nice little pool and hot tub. We housed a huge dinner at a seafood place within walking distance and hit the hot tub, facetiming a few family members before repacking our bikes and heading to bed.
Ride Stats: 87.02 Miles | 5hr 36min Cycling Time | 15.5mph Average
Day 2 - St. Augustine to Titusville (100 Miles)
Today was the first of a few 100 mile days on the docket, so we were up early around 5:30am and hit the road about an hour later. We road the first hour in the dark, with the rising sun poking up over the ocean to the left of us. The sun was finally up and we had strong daylight as we came into Flagler Beach, about 30 miles into the day. We made a good little pitstop at the 7-Eleven, took a few pics, ate a quick breakfast, and were back on the bikes. Things started getting a little congested once we reached Ormond-By-The-Sea. The further south we were getting, the more built up the coast became. Kevin took lead from Ormond down through Daytona, setting a great pace and getting us through lots of yellow lights so we didn’t have to keep stopping. At one point when we stopped for a sidewalk break, Kevin ripped off a palm frond that was on the side of the road and attached it to his saddle bag, vying to keep it on there the rest of the way to Key West. Only time would tell on that one.
Once out of Daytona, we turned westward and crossed over into Port Orange and had a leisurely ride down through New Smyrna Beach, Edgewater, and Oak Hill before reaching what was going to be my favorite part of the day - a ride down Kennedy Parkway through Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and Cape Canaveral. The standard cycling route deviates from the coast in New Smyrna Beach, but we actually stayed on Highway 1 to catch Kennedy Parkway. The only issue was, when we got off US1 and onto KP, there was a big blinking construction sign that said “Bridge Closed Daily” or something to that effect. The Haulover Canal Bridge, about 7.5 miles down the Kennedy Parkway, was being worked on daily from sun-up to 3pm. This wasn’t listed anywhere when I was planning the route, so I called the park office and they confirmed it had just gone into effect a few days prior. We were sitting there at 12pm with a handful of options; ride down to the bridge and see if anyone would let us cross (person on phone said highly unlikely), ride down to the bridge and wait over two hours for it to open (not very fun and we got an early start so we could finish early and chill), backtrack up and catch the typical cycling route to our final destination (another crappy way to burn 2+ hours and lose time), or just stay on Highway 1 and bomb into Titusville (slightly dangerous option due to skinny shoulder and cars going way too fast). We contemplated quickly and decided to go with the Highway 1 option.
I can’t say the riding was great, but the road was in great shape and very fast and we made excellent timing knocking out the last 23 miles in about 1hr 15minutes. The cars were definitely a bit sketchy and I’m sure they don’t see too many cyclists on that road, but we didn’t run into any issues and took turns pulling on the long, straight highway. We concluded our ride at the Ramada Kennedy Space Center in south Titusville, which was an eclectic hotel. There is a Denny’s attached to it and accessible through the lobby, and the front desk workers messed up something with our reservation which delayed our room significantly. We finally made it to our room, complete with a flatscreen TV hanging halfway off the wall, and showered up and relaxed for a bit. I bounced back with my fueling today, which was a great sign. We got a good routine down of stopping before we were hungry or thirsty for supplies and checked in with each other constantly to make sure we were both doing alright. We decided on Denny’s for dinner, since it was attached after all! No beer at Denny’s for the daily toast, though. Womp womp. After returning to our room, we checked in with family and hit the hay for a good rest.
Ride Stats: 100.51 Miles | 6hr 19min Cycling Time | 15.9mph Average
Day 3 - Titusville to Vero Beach (79 Miles)
We got a later start this day, as it was the second shortest day and the riding was super straight forward. We slept in, took our time packing up, and ate a big breakfast at Denny’s before heading out. The first 20ish miles zigged zagged a bit through Titusville, but once we got onto South Merritt Island, we had a pretty much straight shot almost the whole way to the finish line in Vero Beach. The reason for this day being shorter was we were staying with my cousins in Vero Beach that I hadn’t seen in about a decade. I didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to see them as we passed through, as well as have a comfortable place to stay for the night and get our laundry done proper.
We linked up with our main route in Melbourne Beach and it was pretty uneventful riding for a while, albeit pretty. The miles ticked by quickly and we passed over Sebastien Inlet at Mile 58. We were making really good time, so we determined we could make a pitstop at the beach and see the ocean, fly the drone, and relax for a little bit. Up and over some sand dunes we went and we were at the ocean. Took a few pics and video, zipped the drone around, and then it was back over the sand dunes to the road. I was back on my bike for no more than 20 seconds and I realized I had a flat. There were some exceptionally spiky plants along our bike push across the dunes, and one of the needles from a plant punctured my rear wheel. I was hoping to make it the whole to way to Key West without a mechanical, but things happen! I got to work changing the tube out and we conversed with a gentleman from the UK for a bit that was also riding down to Key West at a slower pace. After the repair, we gave it a little gas to make up all the time lost and got back on track.
We entered Riomar, about 4 miles from today’s finish, and there were so nice wide sidewalks going down our route. It was nice to get a break from the road and traffic every so often, so we hopped up onto those and were cruising for a bit. The only issue was, every time one of the residential streets came out to the main road, the sidewalks had a slight S-pattern to them with a little lip. Kevin was going super fast ahead of me at one point and he mishandled the little curve in the sidewalk and took a decent spill. His left shoulder and elbow took the brunt of the impact, shredding his jersey and skin a bit. He got up and shook it off and we rode another mile or so but his tire felt funny. He took it off and we reset the bead and aired it up and it was good to go. Up and over the 17th Street Bridge we went, made a pitstop at a gas station to get some Michelob Ultra’s, and then we reached my cousin’s house shortly after. We hung out by their pool for a bit and drank our beers, and then my whole Florida family came over for a big dinner and we all got to catch up for the evening. It was really great to see them and I am very thankful we built a stop at Christine & George’s place into our ride. We got showered up, watched some bad Steelers TNF football, did laundry, and then hit the hay in preparation for an early start and our longest day of the trip upcoming.
Ride Stats: 79.11 Miles | 4hr 50min Cycling Time | 16.4mph Average
Day 4 - Vero Beach to Boca Raton (104 Miles)
We were on the bikes before the clock struck 6am, knocking off some easy miles down quiet roads south of Vero Beach before crossing a bridge in Fort Pierce and linking back up with A1A down the coast. We got a pretty sunset and some good ocean views before the ride got heavily residential, then commercial, as the world came alive and the streets got busy with traffic. We also had another issue pop up - SEVERE headwind. I remember Kevin and I exchanging some looks with each other a handful of times as we pushed on. The thing about headwinds, or anything difficult that pops up on ride, is that you don’t want to be the first to mention it. It makes you sound weak, or makes you sound like you’re complaining. I don’t remember who said something first, but we decided it would be good to pull over for a few minutes and eat some food and take a look at the forecast. We hopped off the route next to some swampy area and started refueling. I checked the Windy.com app and it looked like we were about to be in for a very long day of constant headwind and crosswind. I broke the news to Kevin, and we determined that we will just have to each take some good pulls today and tuck in behind one another to conserve some energy for said pulls. We started to get eaten up by some swamp flies, so we mounted our bikes and hit the road again.
The route makes a hook inward at Seawall’s Point, and we got to ride residential for a bit through Stuart. The best part about this area was it gave us a slight break from the wind. That only lasted for about 45 minutes, and we were back on the coast at Jupiter Island and into the wind again. A lot of the roads this day were out on islands, and the roads just dead end at the ocean with no bridge to get you to the next one. You have to turn west and go inland over those bridges, ride through towns or neighborhoods for a handful of miles, then turn back toward the ocean and get onto the next island. We did this a few times and made it down to Jupiter. A quick pitstop at the Mobil in downtown got us fueled up and a nice break from the wind. We stayed inland for a bit and then headed back out to the coast at West Palm Beach. Now, we were contending with both the wind and lots of traffic. The drivers here weren’t super stoked on sharing the road with cyclists, and we got a lot of horn honks and people yelling out their windows as they sped past us. There were also a ton of stop signs and traffic lights, and we did our best to roll through them safely or get a start through the intersection before the green light so we could get in front of the cars and back over to the shoulder before traffic got going.
That strategy worked well for the next handful of miles, but we ran out of luck when we got into Boynton Beach. At one particular three way intersection, we had a red light and were sharing the road with traffic. We moseyed our way up between the cars to the front of the line so that we could safely take the lane and get to the shoulder across the way before everything started flowing again. The light was about to go red for oncoming traffic, and this was our usual time to get through the intersection while every light was red and all traffic was stopped. As we started inching up to the white line and taking our feet off the ground, we heard a few loud honks behind us and we stopped for a few seconds. We didn’t bother looking back, figuring it was another cyclist-hating driver upset with us pushing to the front of the line.
I told Kevin screw it, let’s just go while every light was still red, so we rode through the red light and we were immediately greeted with the sweet sound of police sirens. We pulled over into a neighborhood and awaited our fate. The officers were initially pretty pissed and grilled us on why we decided to go through the red light even after they honked at us as a warning to stop. I took the lead and pleaded our case, letting them know we’ve been in heavy headwind all day and battling inconsiderate motorists and just assumed it was another person hating on us, and that we weren’t actively trying to defy orders or run from the police. Their demeanor shifted after we gave them the rundown and they ran our licenses. It turns out, quite a few cyclists have been hit at that intersection over the past year and the police were cracking down on rolling through red lights and stop signs there. We all shook hands and went on our way with only a warning. The rest of the ride was uneventful as we minded our P’s and Q’s and got to the hotel in Boca Raton in one piece, but Kevin did lose his (dying) palm frond that he wanted to make it to Key West with. This was definitely the longest and most exhausting day so far, but also rewarding knocking out 104 miles and getting to 370 total on the trip, a good chunk past the halfway point. Showers, dinner, and an early bed time were on tap for the rest of the evening.
Ride Stats: 104.23 Miles | 7hr 21min Cycling Time | 14.2mph Average
Day 5 - Boca Raton to Cutler Bay (72 Miles)
We were up early again today, hoping to knock a ton of miles off into Miami before noon so we could hang out with the Coral Studios gang at Art Basel for a little bit before heading south to the hotel for the night. This was a scheduled 75 mile “chill” day, and we were pretty excited to ride down by the beach and do some sight seeing at 15mph. The weather was pretty much the same as yesterday, warm and windy, which was unfortunate. Little did we know we were in for another battle on top of the prevailing wind once we got going. The early miles weren’t so bad, but then we got stopped at a few drawbridges that slowed us down significantly. We pressed on into the wind and were jealous of some big cycling clubs flying past us the opposite direction, taking advantage of the tailwind. All of the big houses along the coast between Boca Raton and Fort Lauderdale had their Christmas lights on, so that gave us something pretty to look at while the wind whipped our faces.
The real challenge came after we skirted the Fort Lauderdale - Hollywood Beach airport grounds and popped back out to the coast. Not only did the wind pick up significantly, but all the beach goers and morning runners/bike riders were out on the boardwalk. I was definitely looking forward to this section in my head for a few days, but the whole 20 foot wide walkway was littered with people and we were going anywhere between 5mph-10mph for a bit, weaving between pedestrians and dog walkers and trying not to get hit by electric scooters and eBikes. Kevin had to hit the restroom South of Hollywood Beach, and while he was in there I was assessing the situation. We would lose so much time going this slow the whole way down the boardwalk and into Miami Beach, which was our current plan. I wasn’t up for an aggravating ride after the 100 miles of headwind and police yesterday, so I decided we would pop out onto the road parallel to the boardwalk and ride that down to Miami. We were able to keep a decent pace down through Beverly and Golden Beaches, but once we hit Bal Harbor Village the riding got miserable.
Miami is NOT a road cycling city, I don’t care what anyone says. If there weren’t bike lanes, we had maybe 6-8 inches worth of shoulder to work with and the Saturday morning weekedn traffic was not in the mood to deal with cyclists. We had to stop at so many stop signs and traffic lights, it really felt like a million. Unclipping, waiting a minute or two, re-clipping, trying to get comfy and fight for space with cars for a few minutes until the next light, then stopping and doing the whole process over and over again. We were at war with the city and it was a losing battle. At one point, we pulled over across from the Fontainebleau for a mental break. The ride sucked today, we were not having fun and still had about 5 miles of city riding down to the Miami Beach tip and back up the inlet before we could get off the coast and go inland again. I texted Ish to see if him and the Coral Studios gang was up for meeting for brunch pretty much at that exact moment, and they weren’t able to. So I said screw it, we are going to take the next available bridge across the bay and shave off those miles and get the heck out of Miami. Kevin happily obliged and we took the Venetian Causeway Bridge over to downtown Miami. The riding through the actual city was better than the beach but still not very fun, and we were so happy once we hit Coconut Grove and things opened up a bit. The traffic was calmer and we had some residential roads to ride and spirits were elevating.
We got rained on a bit south of Coconut Grove, but nothing terrible. A few gas station stops and short while later, we arrived at the Motel 6 Cutler Bay. Upon check in, the front desk crew explicitly told me we can’t have bikes in the hotel, which obviously presented a huge problem. It was way too late to get a refund and go elsewhere, and after some pleading and smooth talking, the lady at the desk told me that if we could get through the lobby and to our room (on the top floor) in the next few minutes before the manager was back, we should be fine. It really seemed like the workers didn’t like the manager at all and they went the extra mile to show us where the service elevator was for the cleaning crew so we could sneak around. There were legitimately “no bicycle” signs plastered all around this hotel. We scooted to the service elevator and got on, excited that we made it with no issue. However, halfway up, the elevator stopped and the door opened. Someone from room service stepped in and looked surprised to see us standing this with our bikes in full cycling gear. She quietly stood in the corner as the doors closed, and as we went up, she got on her radio and said something in Spanish to whoever was on the other end. I heard “dos bicicletas” which was “two bicyles” in English and my stomach dropped. The door opened for our floor and we scurried out and ran to our room, got in, and closed the blinds. A few people were walking around but nobody ended up trying to speak with us about anything. Phew. The rest of the night was uneventful, a dinner stop at Buffalo Wild Wings, and purchasing some Miami Dolphins hats so we could be fake fans for the Monday night game in Key West. We made some phone calls to bike shops down in Key West and had a few places hold bike boxes for us to pack up when we finished. Then, our very slow and high stress day finally came to a close with some sleep.
Ride Stats: 72.81 Miles | 5hrs 26min Cycling Time | 13.4mph Average
Day 6 - Cutler Bay to Marathon Key (95 Miles)
Today was the day. The penultimate ride. The day we get to finally remove ourselves from mainland Florida and all of the city riding and have the glorious ocean on both sides of us down through the Keys the rest of the trip. We had one roadblock first - getting out of this hotel with the “illegal” bikes in tow. I was stressing about it while we packed everything up, and Kevin kept telling me not to worry about it. What were they going to do to us now that we were leaving? Kick us out? Didn’t matter. I still ended up devising a plan where I would put my street clothes on and distract the front desk crew upon checkout while Kevin took the bikes out the side door and made our escape. You’d think there wouldn’t be much happening at 5:30am in a hotel lobby, but there ended up being a line and no side door to go out. Kevin leaisurely strolled past everyone with both bikes out the front door unbothered. I checked out and the workers gave me some looks but we were out and on the road at 5:42am without incident. We got some cool pre-sunrise miles in for about an hour, stopping at Dunkin and then RaceTrac gas station, which was the last service stop until making it out to the island chain.
Card Sound Road is a 17 mile, nearly straight road that connects the mainland to North Key Largo, save for one bend, and no shoulder. Thankfully, it wasn’t travelled much the morning we used it. A handful of vehicles did go ripping by us no less than 100mph, but we had lights on, the jerseys were brightly colored, and people can see you from so far away. This might be nerve-racking for some people but I was comfortable with it. The funniest part about this hour on the bike was me just chilling behind Kevin as he set the pace, and then about 45 minutes down the road he dropped back, asking me to take a pull in the wind since he was getting fed up with it. I genuinely didn’t know there was a decent headwind since he was breaking it all for me and I was getting pulled along nicely. I apologized and took lead until we crossed over into the Keys. We were officially on the island chain, and ahead of us was one of the best days ever on two wheels. The shoulders were super wide, and we had beautiful ocean and bridges to work with. Wild iguanas were running around, chickens were everywhere, and sea birds soared in the skies above us. We zoomed down through Garden Cove, Key Largo, Tavernier, Plantation Key, and Islamorada. There was hardly any wind, we felt safe, the sun was out, and vibes were incredibly high after two crappier days of riding. At every pit stop we made, people kept telling us to stop at Robbie’s to feed the Tarpon, so we added it to our itinreary.
We crossed the bridge from Islamorada and saw Robbies down on the water to our left. The place was absolutely bumping and was a good pit stop. We parked the bikes, paid for some fish to feed the tarpons with, and hit the docks. We took turns dangling the bait as hungry tarpon swarmed below the netting and chomped our fingers. After that, we grabbed some drinks and hit the road again, very satisfied with that unique experience. If you are ever passing through via car or bike, make a a stop at Robbies! The Overseas Highway from Robbie’s down to Layton was killer (in a good way). Outstanding views of the ocean and we got some drone footage crossing the bridges. It was crazy to me that this 100 mile stretch of highway on the Keys was built over the ocean and we marveled at the power lines and infrastructure. On the outskirts of Layton, Kevin wanted to stop and get down to the water and take a break and have some fun. We found a cool pull off that was water level, and I dipped my toes in the water while he hung out over the water on tree limbs, trying to catch lobster and fish below us. He got outsmarted quite a few times and got really close, but came up empty handed. We ate snacks, re-hydrated, and hit the road again, not upset with a long stop since this day was purely amazing, we were about 25 miles from today’s finish, and we were already making great time.
The rest of the day was uneventful but beautiful as we rode through Conch Key, Duck Key, and Key Colony, before wrapping things up in Marathon at the Kingsail Resort. Earlier in the morning, Kevin was talking about how he was ready to stay up late tonight and not go to sleep early for the first time all trip. He wanted to catch the football games, so we found a wing place a short walk down the road and we hunkered down there for a bit to watch football and eat. We went back to the condo to watch the SNF game, and I ended being the one to fall asleep early, missing the end of the Eagles/Cowboys game.
Ride Stats: 95.31 Miles | 6hrs 8min Cycling Time | 15.5mph Average
Day 7 - Marathon Key to Key West (50 Miles)
The final morning! We “slept in” slightly and didn’t hit the road until 6:45am since we had a shorter day ahead of us. It wasn’t even really a day, just the morning. The sun was on the verge of coming up and the wind was in our favor. Nothing left to do now but rip it to the finish! Our ride immediately started out with the Seven Mile Bridge crossing, a literal seven mile bridge above the ocean. It was both impressive and a little eerie not having anywhere to stop for support for seven miles on a bridge just chilling seven miles long in the middle of the sea, but it ended up being fine and we made good time. We cruised down through Bahia Honda State Park, Big Pine Key, Summerland Key, and Cujoe Key. We made one final stop on Big Coppitt Key for snacks and a restroom break, and then before we knew it, we were crossing over the little inlet bridge and onto Key West! We rode with traffic for about 3 more miles and made our grand finish at the big buoy, the Southernmost point in the continental USA.
I often speak about the end of these trips or big physical tasks. It’s kind of lackluster if I’m being honest. You get to the end and stand in line to take a picture, or pack your stuff up and head home. The real feat, the true journey, and most of the joy is in the task itself and not the finish. It’s in the blood, sweat, and tears along the way. It’s in all of the calls back home, all of the DMs and text messages with words of support or encouragement, the money raised for a good cause, and in the mental and physical hurdle of doing the task itself. Not all finishes are boring, but this one kind of was. We waited in line at the buoy for about 30 minutes so we could get our picture taken for 10 seconds, and then it was back on the bike, riding to the hotel, thinking about the twenty things we had to do in the next hour so we could relax later.
Once at the hotel (Blue Flamingo Key West Resort, highly recommended), we stashed the bikes and got an Uber XL to take us to the bike shops holding boxes for us. We obtained those, got a ride back to the hotel, and packed everything up. We got cleaned up, and now it was time to relax, then to party. We enjoyed a few brews poolside, reminiscing on the trip and our favorite moments while laughing at our bad tan lines. A couple vodka redbulls later and we were taking the hotel shuttle down to Mallory Square. We ate at a great oyster shack (Half Shell Raw Bar), then ventured down to the Conch Republic for a proper dinner and more brews. After that, the sun was setting and we wanted to hang where the locals did, so we talked to a few people that said Pickles Pub was the spot. We got a couple seats at the bar, had some more brewskis, watched the Dolphins MNF game, and took charge of the pool table, beating all of locals hanging out there. It was a really fun time at Pickles. After that, things got a little blurry but we ended up on Duval Street for a bit, did some kareoke, and saw some live music before an Uber ride + unexpected foot travel landed us back at the hotel a little worse for wear at 1:15am.
Ride Stats: 50.69 Miles | 3hrs 14min Cycling Time | 15.6mph Average
Final Thoughts & Reflection
This ride was pretty awesome! We saw the majority of the Atlantic coast of Florida in a week, raised $1,568 for the coral reef planting project, and had lots of laughs and camradarie along the way. The lack of elevation gain on the trip (I think maybe 1,000ft or less over 600+ miles) is hysterical, as I regularly do that much on a 10-15 mile ride back home in PA. That does present its own challenge, however, as you are constantly peddling with no time to coast. The days were very similar to riding the GAP Trail minus the road traffic.
Final Ride Stats (including travel day): 621.32 Miles | 38hrs 50min Cycling Time | 15.2mph Average
Our route and daily mileage was structured around seeing family one night, and hanging out at Art Basel in Miami another day (which ended up not happening), so if I were to do this again or help someone else prep for a ride down A1A, I would arrange it pretty differently. This is assuming 90-100+ mile days are in your wheelhouse. I would probably do it like this:
Day 1 - Take the water taxi across the St. Mary’s River on the border to Fernandina and start at the true northern most part of the Florida Coast. Finish around Crescent Beach area (~100 miles)
Day 2 - Crescent Beach down to Cocoa Beach area (~100 miles). I would keep the Kennedy Pkwy / Merritt Island detour on the schedule for something fresh.
Day 3 - Cocoa Beach to Stuart area (~100 miles). No route deviation here, everything was good when we rode these areas.
Day 4 - Stuart to Hollywood (~90 miles). No route deviation here either, what we rode on works fine.
Day 5 - Hollywood to Key Largo (~80 miles). If you don’t care about spending time cruising the boardwalk around Hollywood and Miami, seeing South Beach, and experiencing all of that*, then I would get inland a bit starting at Hollywood and bypass everything that has to do with the coast. This will get you out to Key Largo and set you up for a really nice ride through the rest of the Keys the next day, finishing in Key West.
Day 6 - Key Largo to Key West (~100 miles). This is the classic 100 mile ride most people do in a day on the Keys. I’d start it very early so you can make multiple stops, but it would be a fun, long day. If you didn’t want a super long day to finish things out and wanted to enjoy the Keys more in depth, finish Day 5 around Islamorada and that trims off another 20-22 miles from the final day.
*If you were into the South Beach scene and wanted to take your time there, then by all means go down the boardwalk and meander through there. In this scenario I would end Day 5 around Cutler Bay like we did, do Day 6 out to Islamorada, and then do Day 7 to Key West.
My Gear Setup:
Bike - Giant Contend (2017) | 34/50t gearing and Claris parts. 28mm tires. Wahoo Element Roam computer. My bike is old and clunky but gets the job done!
Saddle Bag - Revelate Terrapin 14L | I kept my two changes of clothes + extra cycling kit, windbreaker, and spare tire in here. Flip flops were bungeed to the outside. Red rear blinker light attached to the back of the bag.
Handlebar Bag - Brand Unknown | I had my drone + controller, charging cables, wall block, and sunscreen in here. If I wasn’t carrying my drone, I could have scaled this down to something minimal like my Rapha bar bag. White front blinker light attached to front of bag.
Frame Bag - Revelate Tangle | In here I had my tire pump, toiletries bag, pack of wet ones, and extra snacks from gas station stops. I had lots of leftover space in here and ended up moving my socks and underwear along with two teeshirts from the saddle bag into it to fill space and take some bulk out of the saddle bag.
Top Tube Bag - Revelate Jerrycan | This was the bike parts bag, I can squeeze in two tubes, two tire boots, multi tool, small chain lube bottle, and some electrical tape.
Handlebar Bag (Left) - Revelate Feedbag | Electrolyte packets in the mesh pocket, whatever my sugary hydration drink of choice was in the main pocket, and my phone slips into the inside mesh pocket.
Handlebar Bag (Right) - Bedrock Wingman | In here I kept my big charging brick, wallet, and my iPhone cable.
Kit/Wearables - Coral Studios jersey (Jakroo). The Black Bibs Ultimate Adventure Bibs. The Black Bibs base layer mesh top. Giro socks. Shimano SPD shoes. POC Omni Air helmet. Blenders sunglasses, Amazfit T-Rex watch Whoop fitness strap. I kept snacks and extra drinks in the back pockets, along with my iPod touch (major long distance cycling hack is getting an old iPod touch for super cheap, then downloading a ton of playlists from Spotify offline and using wired earbuds run up through your jersey. I think I charged the iPod once and had hundreds of hours of music and podcasts loaded up).
