Orange Blossom Gravel
I spent this last weekend 1200 miles south of my little town in Connecticut. I left behind the 27 degree temps in favor of some nice mid 50s in Tampa, Florida. Cold by Florida standards but delightful to me. I got an invite to the Orange Blossom Gravel event last year and it wasn’t in the cards. This year, I got another invite and I made it work. Steven shuttled my butt around and filled me in on the local history, points of interest and the best coffee around. I managed to sneak into an Air BNB with some good friends. The pieces of this puzzle all fell into place. I brought my Surly Straggler as my ride of choice. Single speed and flat bar. A less is more approach takes a lot of stress off for me when traveling. I guessed on the gearing and I got it right. A little skill and a little luck I guess. I planned on doing the 50 mile route. That sounded reasonable for my current lack of fitness. About 15 minutes before the start, I loaded the 90 mile route into my GPS and I deleted the 50. Can’t bail out if I don’t have the route. Haha. The mind games I play with myself. I felt like I was going to miss out if i didn’t do the big one. And off we went. The route was excellent. Lots of beautiful red dirt roads flowing through the orange groves. Got to ride with a bunch of old friends and got a bunch of miles hanging with new friends. Finished the ride up with Christopher from Atlanta. He was smart and suggested we stop for ice cream 100 yards before the finish. Wise move. Then we rolled into the finish and had a quick celebration and some more food. Then, back to the Air BNB. I was at mile 97.5 so I oped to do a few laps around the neighborhood. I rolled into the driveway at exactly mile 100. This was the first time I ever did a single speed century. I’m feeling proud of that one. Glad I made that last minute decision to go for it. The rest of the weekend was relaxing, hanging out, drinking more coffee and saying goodbyes. What a weekend. I highly recommend Orange Blossom Gravel. Here are some pictures I took with the LightLeak lens on the Sony.