I heard through the grapevine that it was going to be another foggy morning this morning so I did not even bother unpacking my lightweight jacket. Other then one semi truck it was another beautiful morning ride. The fog was light and I still had some visibility, which was nice. I was roughly 10 minutes down the road when I realized that I forgot my toothbrush. It was not worth going back because it was getting worn out. I simply thought that I would skip my extra snack at my stop tonight to compensate.
The morning’s ride was amazing. I was hauling down the road at a really good clip. I kept focusing on my distances to Jacksonville because it was a stretch to make it for lunch so I wanted to make sure I could do it without hurting myself. So when I saw a 10 miles to Jacksonville sign I was on it.
By this time the nice morning had given way to an extremely hot day. It was 86 degrees with 100% humidity at 10am; by 1pm it was nearing 100 without the addition of the heat index. I had thought my lunch stop was 10 miles away so once I covered that distance and saw another sign that said 10 miles to Jacksonville I was a little upset. I now had to go even further on a fairly empty tank and little water.
I was just entering Jacksonville and had planned to take route 1 alternate because it is usually more bike friendly. When I got onto the exit I had two options Main Street or the alternate route. My gut told me to go down Main Street so I did. I was very pleasantly surprised. Jacksonville is beautiful. Nice palm lined streets with very clean buildings. It even had a bike path for most of it. The town itself went for these more classic building into the new financial district that you had a view from everywhere. I knew I had to cross a bridge eventually, which is always interesting because you take a shot in the dark guessing which one is bike friendly. In this case I had 5 options and managed to pick the only one that was bike friendly the first time.
Once over the bridge I was on my way out of town. I was still feeling good so I pressed on another 3 miles down this road that had stop lights every 50 metres, but they were timed perfect so it did not cause any issues.
I got to the subway and started to order my lunch. By the time I got to pay I felt like I was going to black out. I started to feel light headed so I started to walk towards my table. As I was walking my vision started to blur. I got to the table and just sat with this horrid feeling for about 10 minutes. After finishing my lunch I tried to think about the miles leading up to lunch. I then realized that I could not remember anything. My body had shut down everything except my legs, which scared me.
After getting food and a lot of drink in me I was on my way. At this point it was even hotter. I had 30 miles to St. Augustine and it sucked. I went through 7 litres of water in that time, and was soaked by the end of it.
I got into the motel and asked for a room and the lady looked at me as if I was a bum. In all honesty I look like one. Unzipped jersey, exposed nipples, dripping in sweat, and filthy dirty from road grime all added to this lovely motif.
Usually I just chill out after getting showered but today was different. I trued my rear wheel because it was rubbing and went to explore the downtown. It was awesome. This town has so much heritage and lovely architecture. Everything from early Spanish building to a British fort. This is not to mention the riplies museum.
It does not look like I will rest in Dayton beach tomorrow because it is only 4 miles away but if I decided to take a rest day that will defiantly be the place. Florida has defiantly lived up to my expectations already. I mean in one day I went from banjo picking music to listening to chromeo on a pedestrian walkway.
Trip Distance: 187km
Ride Time: 7:55hr
Avg. Speed: 23.67km/h
Total Distance: 11259km
Total Ride Time: 527hr
Destination: St. Augustine, Florida
Unfortuantly it looks like I missed a yacht ride while I was here because I had no wifi.
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