March 19, 2007, Monday
DeLand to Flagler Beach, FL
Time to part with the car. One advantage of riding a tandem is that bike shuttles become much easier. Kerie drove the car to the parking area while I rode the Barcroft. For a change we got a relatively early start on the ride to Flagler Beach. On a previous Bike Florida trip in 2004 we had visited Flagler Beach, staying in a small hotel just outside of town.
We had a strong headwind for much of the ride through the flat terrain. The first rest stop was located at Spring Garden Ranch ("Come train with the winners!"), the largest horse training facility in the U.S. Several harness Standardbred racing horses were being run as we downed gatorade with various snacks. We saw friends from N. Va. who were also on the tour, enjoying the lovely spring day. Kerie pointed out the harnesses that some of the horses were wearing to train them to become trotters, in which the legs on each side touch the ground simultaneously.
As we headed east toward the beach the winds picked up. On our recumbent we're a bit more aerodynamic and we kept a steady pace. At one point I looked back to see a couple of other riders in our slipstream. For some stupid reason that was incentive to continue at a fast pace until the last rest stop.
A few miles before the end of the ride we stopped at the Carmelite Monastery, a very quiet place. We rode around the grounds where there were many “stations” with sculptures depicting scenes from the bible. Just before arriving at ride headquarters at Bulow Plantation campground we stopped at Plantation Ruins Historic State Park. It was a long ride down a rutted dirt road leading to the ruins and Bulow Creek. The sugar mill ruins are impressive, with the mill chimney reaching 3-4 stories into the moss-covered live oak. We took many photos before heading back to the main road and the end of the ride at the campgrounds.