Alapattah Nini Ligiton: In, Around, and Out of St. Pete

The ride to St. Petersburg started out quite nicely. We crossed Tampa Bay via the Courtney Campbell Causeway on a beautiful, wide, and smooth dedicated 9 mile trail, punctuated in the middle with a 45′-high bridge, with all the traffic to our right and the bay on our immediate left. There were several places we could have stopped to wade but withstood the temptation. At the end of the Causeway we immediately connected to the North Bayshore Trail, then to the Ream Wilson Trail, then a few blocks on the Duke Energy Trail, then about four miles on city streets, and then the Pinellas Trail in Clearwater which would take us all the way to St. Petersburg.

But as we neared the Pinellas Trail, in Clearwater, while going up a hill and attempting to shift into an easier gear, Diane’s chain moved too fast too far, jumping into the space between the freewheel and the back hub, bringing her to an immediate stop and a fall in the lane of traffic. She got up quickly, while a pedestrian ran over to help get her bike out of the lane. The two cars right behind her had stopped in time and pulled around, and a local police car pulled into the lane to completely block traffic in that lane. Luckily, the only thing hurt was Diane’s pride.

She explained to Rob what had happened as he repositioned the chain onto the freewheel, and we proceeded, intending to examine the derailleur travel when we got to the Pinellas Trail, which we did. Rob made an adjustment, decreasing the travel of the derailleur. We continued south on the trail. We were doing fine until we got to where the trail makes a very abrupt climb (about 10% grade) to pass over an arterial street. Diane had a hard time getting up to the top of the overpass because her derailleur would not shift to the easier climbing gear.

Then we came to another such overpass, and once again it was arduous for Diane. Rob wanted to readjust the derailleur travel, but Diane pleaded with him to leave well enough alone until we got to St. Pete’s. But we did not know how many more overpasses there were ahead. So Rob made the last ill-fated adjustment (shame on him) and instructed Diane to get into that climbing gear before we confronted another overpass. Unfortunately, the chain came off the climbing cog, and buried itself between the freewheel and the rear hub. Also, this time, the chain chewed through the aluminum spoke guard. See picture.

After some effort, Rob was able to free the chain and get it back onto the freewheel, but then had to remove, with substantially more effort, the mangled spoke guard.

Once again, we headed south, and arrived at the Cordova Inn in historic downtown St. Pete’s in relatively good shape. But upon further inspection, Rob determined the nine external spokes on the drive side had been scored and most likely needed to be replaced. So, the next morning we rode the bikes to the closest bike shop for assessment. Indeed, the spokes needed to be replaced. This meant that after replacing the spokes, all the spokes needed to be re-tensioned and the wheel trued. Luckily, the shop owner/mechanic could fit this work into his day, but our plans for exploring St. Pete by bike were scuttled. So we did some sightseeing on foot.

In particular we toured the Sunken Gardens, which are amazingly beautiful and education. The Gardens cover about four acres of botanical gardens that have existed for more than a century. Moreover, the Sunken Gardens are one of the oldest roadside tourist attractions in the United States, which in its early days featured alligator wrestling! We also traversed the Crescent Lake Park, home of a spectacular old Banyon tree. It is hard to believe such a tree derives from a simple fig that takes over an existing tree. Amazing!

We were able to get the repaired bike (including a new old stock metal spoke guard) by five. It passed the “drive test ride” with flying colors, and we set off with confidence this morning for our 35 mile ride to Tarpon Springs.

We had a great day, and Diane was able to easily climb each of the 11 overpasses between St. Pete’s and Clearwater. The Pinellas Trail north of Clearwater was even more beautiful than the southern portion. Tomorrow we will ride the Suncoast Trail, and will enjoy good weather while we have it. Current weather predictions have us biking all day in the rain and into the wind on Tuesday, April 2.

Hi All, Some selected pics from our trip so far. (Editorial comments and excuses are all mine.)

Rob

Day 1. From Tampa to St. Pete.