Saturday, January 23, 2021
Withlacoochee State Trail
50! Fifty! 50! Fifty! In case you missed it, today's the day! The day I turn 50!
The Withlacoochee State Trail runs 46 miles from Dunnellon to Trilby along the Withlacoochee River. For my commemorative birthday ride, we chose what looked like the best 25 trail miles, for a 50-mile out-and-back ride between Inverness and Ridge Manor.
Fifty miles or bust!
We wanted to be on the trail by 9 a.m., but morning rain delayed our departure more than an hour. By that time, the rain had passed, and we hoped the next line of showers would miss us, but no. We ducked under a shelter for 15 minutes or so before pressing on, riding in the rain for about an hour. Once it stopped, we quickly dried out again.
Just getting started
Raining on our parade
We rode the most rural section of the Withlacoochee State Trail, through forests and past farms and ranches and a few small “old Florida” towns along the way. The path is as flat as a Florida pancake, a perfect choice for our high-mileage ride.
After picnicking at a pavilion at the 25-mile mark in Ridge Manor, we reversed course and had an even nicer, non-rainy ride back to the truck. We saw turtles, sheep, cattle, birds, and the biggest treehouse in Florida, but no alligators today. Gators like to lay out in the sun, so they may have stayed submerged on this soggy day.
I like turtles!
Along the rural trail
Biggest treehouse in Florida, so the sign says
Jana and her trusty steed
Finishing strong
At the conclusion of our ride, we took a ridiculous number of celebratory pics, loaded up our bikes, then headed across the street to Liberty Park to walk a boardwalk overlooking the beautifully swampy Lake Henderson.
Celebrating 50 miles
Celebrating 50 years
Liberty Park boardwalk
Inverness likes turtles!
It was dark o'clock by the time we got back to the hotel, where we took long, hot showers and ate yummy leftovers from The Stinky Rose for my birthday dinner, along with some charcuterie from the nearby Publix and, of course, several accompanying beers.
We've met a lot of friendly, quirky folks so far on our trip, and today was no exception. Florida is like one big, open-air Walmart!
Tom
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