Fickle Florida

Yesterday we went to South Beach and checked out the beach and the local characters. It was a ;perfect day: mid 70s, nice little breeze off the ocean and sun and blue skies. Couldn't ask for a better beach day. Today is our last full day and Susan planned a day with her sister while I wanted one last ride on roads without snow and ice. So last night the weather folks were talking of a cold Canadian air mass and I assumed they meant for New Jersey...apparently such cold front have a long reach. I waited until 11:30 to get on the road but it was still only 54 and with a nasty headwind when I headed toward Palm Beach. Amazing how quickly one can get used to these balmy temps. Of course it never occurred to me to bring anything like arm warmers, heavy jerseys,,,etc. I did have a long sleeve shirt but was watching all these Floridians dressed like I might be in NJ on a day 20 degrees colder. In any case, there was no snow (!), the sun did come out, and by the time I was coming back to our apartment I had found a tailwind and the temperature had gone up to 65 - balmy by my standards. Meantime we have learned that there is about 4 feet of snow in our driveway - we did put in an order to have it ploughed - and can only imagine what we will find after our two weeks in the south...Given all that I am hearing about the NE weather today might have been my last real ride for quite some time....

Scene along th way...

The weather report for New Jersey is for snow tonight - on top of the snow we left behind of course - and continued cold. We had temps in the high 70s again today, plentiful sun, and only a little breeze out of the south. Florida is really a kind of winter paradise for a couple of northern refugees fleeing the cold and ice and snow of the past several weeks. I was out on the bike again today and even with the limitations of Florida cycling the ride was sheer pleasure. I am basically riding variations of the same road - one day south to Fort Lauderdale, another kind of halfway south and then circle around north. Today I left Pompano Beach and headed due north to Palm Beach. The highway is a good one - amazing what a lack of ice and salt can do for a road - but is two lane all the way with only sporadic bike lanes. On one side is the ocean and on the other is the inter-coastal waterway - can't beat that except that almost every available square inch of land has a hotel, townhouse, or highrise complex and the resulting traffic is a bit of a challenge.The good news is that while there is a heavy residential concentration there is very little commercial (that is all several blocks inland) and the drivers and the cyslists seem to have arrived at a kind of stand-off of live and let live - just don't let down your guard. The beach shot (finally some bikinis) is at Palm Beach although the scene could have been taken at any number of public beaches I passed . The house was in Boca Raton and, again, was one of a great many along A1A that were of this size and magnificance - and it comes with a private beach too. Makes you wonder how many hedge fund managers and professional athletes are taking residences in Florida...And ditto for the yacht...that was tied up on the inter-coastal and also was one of a great many similar boats either docked or out on the water...it is truly a grand and wonderful country. All in all I did 50+ miles today so I'm up to about 150 for the vacation so far - sure beats the stationary bike and ESPN!!!