The 25th anniversary of the Florida Coast to Coast ride was upon us. The start of the festivities was the pre-ride dinner at the Olive Garden in Brandon. A great turnout of over 80 showed up for the chance to tell tales and get ready for the ride.
Saturday morning was warm but not hot! Cloud cover keep the early morning rather nice. We rode up to the Holiday Inn Express in Brandon for the start of the ride. It was a 7:30am start. An arrival at 7:15am should be just fine...NOT! Over 300 participants were there to sign in, mount up, and get going. Needless to say, we were not at the head of the line.
The ride takes you from the west to east coast of Florida on out of the way roads of central Florida. With few exceptions, turns occurred every 2 miles! Many of the MTF riders were there... Grizz (Mike), Sarki (John), and Rocky (Pat) allowed me to join their group. Tom Lowdermilk of the Sidestand Up radio show also joined in on our merry chase through the rural areas of Florida.
John was our leader and did a great job of not getting us lost. A bit displaced at times but never lost. His GPS was determined to circle a few times regardless of correctness. The first leg was a bit over 110 miles; direct route was 70. We arrived at the American Legion on Lakeshore Blvd in Kissimmee just after 1:00pm. Four hours to go 110 miles.
A brief stop to roll the dice and we were off for leg two. A quick stop for gas and a longer stop for food at Crabby Bill's and we were on the road again for the remaining 50 miles to Cocoa. Not quite as many turns on this leg as "you can't get there from here" is a statement of fact. We rode the last four miles along the Indian River. Needless to say, the majority of the homes were not only beautiful, but well out of our price range!
A final stop in Cocoa for the dice roll and we were done. It was a nice 190 mile ride with great friends and great scenery.
The majority of the group reconvened at the Holiday Inn Express in Cocoa for the wrap up and awards. Many shared stories of a U-turn (or two).
Door prizes from some of the sponsers and awards in various categories. James had previously won the youngest participant. Getting older has its price. No longer is he the kid.
The awards finished, and a few goodbyes and we headed off for our hotel for the evening.
Cruz'n Al did his remarkable job again with the route, planning, and organization. THe end result was that all had fun and $3,000+ was raised for the Lukemia Association.
as we look back on the ride, the only thing that comes to mind is... it's only 364 days until we do it again!
