The group decided to meet at Naples Cyclery at 8 AM for a ride to explore Lover's Key and Barefoot Beach. The group included Bob Smith, Bob Wood, Dennis Whitney, Bruce Kirschner and yours truly.
We headed out on Vanderbuilt Drive towards the beach. Bruce hit a hazard and ended up with a flat tire. Unfortunately Bruce pulled a muscle while doing that so he is on the injured reserve for the rest of the week although he was able to finish this ride. Feel better Bruce.
We headed up Bonita Beach Road which turns into Estero Boulevard. Not a lot of shoulder on this road and there are a few Florida hills....bridges to cross before we made it to Lovers Key. We arrived at Lovers Key and had a to pay a $2 a bike entrance fee which we gladly paid to explore the area. It is a state park and a small one. Here is the link with information.
http://www.floridastateparks.org/loverskey/
There is a lot to do here even though it's a small park. The first place we stopped was the boat launch area. You can kayak here in the brackish water ( with the alligators...no thanks) and paddleboard. There is hiking at the Black Island section of the park which was our second stop. It's a 2.6 mile flat ( surprise surprise) walk where you can see Gopher turtles burrowing their holes for protection from other predators in the area. This is where I saw my first one! Since we had cycling shoes and the surface was sandy/packed dirt we decided to pass on this and head to the beach area.
There is a concession stand where you can rent bikes for the beach.
Bob Smith and I took the tram to the beach area. We could have walked it but the tram was faster and would get us back on our way a bit quicker. The rest of the crew stayed with the bikes. The beach was small and rather non descript so no photos of it.
We left Lovers Key and headed to the entrance to Barefoot Beach. We rode about a mile or two on pavers. Now I know what it must feel like for the riders of the Tour to ride on cobblestones. Not fun. However the sites of the houses and Barefoot Beach itself took our minds off the bumpy ride. We stopped at the nature pavilion where Bruce picked up some information about tours, etc. We did not go on the beach here as it would have been a long boardwalk walk to the beach. Road shoes were not made for that!
We headed back towards the entrance on your bikes but stopped along the way at one of the manatee viewing areas to see if we would be lucky enough to see one. Someone let us in ( there is a locked gate at the dock where were could look for the manatees ) but we had no luck this day.
On the way back to the ride start we stopped for a quick cup of coffee at a 7-11 and after that dropped Bob Wood off at his home. We got the grand tour. Very nice Bob!
Once back at the ride start we went our separate ways knowing that the next ride would be happening very soon.
Bob Smith and his wife Meg and I are planning to visit Al Porter on the east coast in South Beach next week for a ride there and a late lunch/early dinner before heading back to the west coast. Although Meg doesn't ride she will have lots in South Beach to keep her attention. That will be the subject of the next post.
Stay warm in NJ while we ride our bikes in sunny warm Florida!
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