Day 1: Fort Myers to Siesta Key, FL (84.2 Miles)

The day had finally arrived. We were to ride from Fort Myers to Siesta Key, Florida!

Good Morning

At 5:30 AM on Tuesday, December 26th, I got a call from Ryan (@bananaskin) to let me know that he was on his way to my place. It's a good thing that I was too excited to sleep that night because I was already up and ready to go.

At 6:00 AM he arrived, unloaded his bike from the truck, and we topped our tires off with air. We spent the next hour checking the map to make sure that our route would be as bike friendly as possible, and adjusting our packs. As this was occurring, our excitement and anticipation was building up as every minute passed.

7:00 AM arrived, meaning it was time to go!

Getting Through Fort Myers, FL

Fort Myers is a great place to visit and live! It's sunny 80 percent of the year, the temperature rarely drops below 50 degrees (F) even in the winter time, and it has a fair amount of interesting history. The only problem with this area, being such a tourism hub, is that we end up with a lot of seasonal litter like glass bottles, aluminum cans, flip-flops, and other garbage left on the side of the road (aka the bike lane). My first flat of the day happened about 10 miles away from home...

My second flat happened about 1 mile after that one (so happy that Ryan is a seasoned bike mechanic)...

Luckily, that was the last flat for a while because we were finally starting to get into North Fort Myers!

About 15 miles after getting into North Fort Myers, we were entering Charlotte County.

Brunch Time

We had our sights set on having lunch with a friend in Port Charlotte, but sadly he was unavailable for the time we would be getting in. So instead, we stopped a little earlier at a Cuban food truck on the side of the highway. The man running the truck knew very little English, only had two fingers on one hand, and was very confused by our double order of Cuban Sandwiches and Cafe con Leches, but he made one hell of a good meal. Probably one of the best Cuban Sandwiches I've ever had!

Arriving Punta Gorda

35 Miles into the trip, we arrived in Punta Gorda, FL! We met a couple of really cool older cyclists that took our picture in front of the welcome sign and told us about this amazing bike trail that we ended up taking all the way into Port Charlotte.

Loved the cycling infrastructure here!

Riding To Venice

We also loved the double wide bike lanes along US-41 through North Port. Too bad that quickly went away as we started getting into heavy construction zones in town, but luckily we arrived in Venice, FL, in no time! Enter the Venetian Waterway Trail.

This is such an amazing trail to ride. As we approached Sarasota, the Waterway Trail became the Legacy Trail (a path that used to be a railroad), which took us to a point that was very close to Siesta Key.

Towards the tail end of our ride on the Legacy Trail, we got a little unexpected rain. Luckily, we had our rain gear ready to throw on. The rain actually felt great, and it washed most of the grime off our bikes. It stopped about 20 minutes away from our hotel. Just enough time to dry off.

We Finally Made It

Ryan and I made it to the hotel right at sundown! We stayed at a Best Western Plus that was less than a mile from the beach, and half a mile from quite a few great food options (especially for cyclists that just rode 84 miles).

One option being the famous Munchies 420 Cafe!

Munchies 420 Cafe

This place is amazing!!!! Both Ryan and I ordered the "Fat Sandy". It's a "sandwich" with fried mozzarella cheese sticks, fried chicken, fried onion rings, French fries, Mac and cheese, and two full hamburger patties. It was massive and delicious!!

I almost ate the whole thing!

Cole, the bartender, introduced us to my now favorite beer, Pulp Friction by Motorworks Brewing Company. It's a pretty bitter IPA with a blast of sour grapefruit in there. I'm not one for fruity beers, but this stuff was great!

After we had finished what we could of our massive sandwiches, Ryan ordered us a shot called The Brain Hemorrhage (seemed right for a couple of road cyclists). These things looked pretty gross, but they tasted amazing! Tasted just like sweet peaches and cream.

An Early Night

The half mile walk back to the hotel from Munchies 420 Cafe was great! We walked through the shopping plaza, and found this sweet photo-op at Bed Bath & Beyond...

Very soon after arriving at the hotel, we passed out! It was definitely one of those days where we did all that could be done.

The Story Continues

That was Day 1 in a nutshell. Day 2 is filled with more eating, a lot of beach walking, and a bit of drinking. Be sure to stay tuned to learn about our beach day adventure in my next post!

Thanks for reading! Keep Adventuring!

Happy New Year!!

See some of the tour highlights here: Instagram, Strava

Be sure to follow Ryan on Steemit! He will be sharing the story from his point of view on his blog this week. Be sure to check it out!

Scott Kelly
@adventureforme

My First Bike Tour

-My First Bike Tour (1/5)
-My First Bike Tour: A Brain Hemorrhage With Cole! (2/5)
-My First Bike Tour: Too Many Daiquiris... at the #1 Beach in the USA! (3/5)