Florida Cycling

When we were doing the XC ride we had a couple of folks from Florida and we all wondered how they could train for the mountains and the climbing we had to do through the Western states especially. So I finally managed to get out on the roads here in Florida today and I think that it may just be irrelevant. The day was so nice - sunny and temps somewhere around 75 - that I think the hills just don't matter. When you can ride all winter and also go as far as you want then I think maybe the frequency and distances more than makes up for the lack of hills. Which I did notice on the ride by the way: think of Nancy who conquered everything with style and grace. Anyway I took off on Highway A1A on the Eastern coast this morning and felt like I was joinging a bicycle parade. There were literally hundreds of riders on the road flying both north and south with the Atlantic on one side and the Intercoastal on the other. I started in Hillsboro Beach and headed north - there was a headwind and I wanted it on a my back for the return trip. The road is flat, the traffic horrendous (lots of "cue tips" pulling out of condominium driveways) but they have decent bike lanes most of the time and there are so many other bikes on the road that drivers are at least aware. Thanks to the weather in New Jersey I haven't been on the bike in a couple of weeks and so my plan was to do maybe 30 miles and come back another day. However my computer kept quitting on me and I lost track of how far I went. When I got to the city limits of Palm Beach I decided it might be time to turn around. So I ended up doing a nice little fifty mile hike and was actually ready for more...Nice day, nice ride - I could get used to this.