Not a cloud in the sky, warm, gorgeous day - what more could we ask for? At mile 20, we were to board a ten-minute ferry for the crossing from St. John's River to Mayport. The ferry runs every thirty minutes at :15 and :45 on the hour. Big Al was hot to make the 10:15 ferry - since we didn't sign out until a little after 9:00, we would have to ride hard to make it. I opted to take it slow and told the team that I would sign them out, giving them a few extra minutes on the road. I rolled out of the hotel with Larry, who almost immediately had a mechanical problem with his bike computer and pulled over to fix it. So, I rode on and caught Stuart, but he was riding a little slow for conditions, so I pulled ahead of him. Looking at my watch, I figured there was no sense in poking along, so I took off and time-trialed for the twenty miles to the ferry, covering the distance in less than an hour. As we waited for the ferry, a few more riders showed up - Stuart arrived just as they were closing the gates and a bunch of riders didn't make the time cut and were at the gate as the ferry departed; if only they had ridden a tad faster.
After departing the ferry, the newly united, Team Big Dog joined SR A1A towards St. Augustine; this part of the ride was busy commercial, strip malls, lining both sides of the road. Eventually, we found ourselves on the coastal road with large houses between us and the beach. One section of the road looked a lot like Ocracoke Island, with no houses, a long, sand dune on one side and marshes on the other. We kept up a nice pace into St Augustine and stopped at a SubWay for lunch before proceeding to the hotel. It was a fun ride, with the race to the ferry and nice roads to the end.
PS Someone referred to the bridges we've ridden over as the "Florida Alps!" The rest of the roads have been flat, flat, flat.
St Augustine, FL (1565)
Population 12,975; elevation 5'
The oldest continuously occupied European-established city and port in the continental US.
59.8 miles; 3:06 hours; 334' climb; 3,753 Calories.
Glad you made the ferry in good time. Too bad some of your fellow riders were a little late. As we say in the peloton, "You snooze, you lose." Team Bitey would definitely have made the first crossing...
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