Chilly, wet ride from Winter Garden to Groveland, Florida

1/20/26

Hello from Longwood, Florida! I’m back in “touring mode” (haven’t been in this mode since 2022!) so I’m adjusting to days of cycling followed by evenings with hosts. That doesn’t leave me much time to write posts (how did I do this almost every night for a year back then?? I am out of practice!) so I’ll make this pretty short, but I wanted to share all these photos to take you all “on the road” with me.

I had left my cat sit in Lake Nona on the 17th, biking a total of about 20 miles (32 km) combined with two long city bus rides, to get to a hotel near where I was to join the trail in Winter Garden the following day.

The next morning, I set out and biked a few miles to the trail, then headed west all the way to the end of the trail, in Groveland. Then I backtracked several miles to my Warmshowers host Tom’s house in Minneola. I had a healthy dinner and some nice conversation, followed by a good night’s sleep, and then set out yesterday morning to rejoin the trail heading north and east, to reach the home of my current hosts, Lee and Sharon, here in Longwood. I’ll post about yesterday and today soon, but for now, here are the photos from the 18th. My total distance in the saddle was about 29 miles (46 km).

The trail was beautiful and smooth, so I really enjoyed the journey. The challenge was the weather. Florida is having a cold snap. The day started a bit chilly, but sunny and pleasant.

But then, a storm started brewing:

At one point, you can see in the photos that the weather “felt like” 35F/1.7C. At that point, it was also raining steadily, and windy enough to knock my “standing” bike over (I wasn’t on it) while it was attached to the trailer.

I waited out this “weather experience” in a small, wall-less shelter in a park for about an hour and a half.

I was not at my happiest, though I did get to have a phone conversation with Johnny during that time: we had pre-arranged the time, so in that way, the weather was well placed.

And the rain and wind did eventually relent–and the temperature increased slightly–so I set out again. The sun even peeked out again a few times.

One cool surprise: a sighting of a pair of endangered sandhill cranes in a front yard along the trail! Then, just a few minutes later, I saw a mural depicting a pair of them!

As I was getting close to the end of my day, the mercury started dipping again, so I was very glad to get inside and warm up.

It feels very different to be on the road, vs. cat sitting. It’s nice to be able to have the mix. I will continue to have a mix for the rest of my two and a half months here in Florida.

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