Sunshine Bike Tour in Florida

​The bike tour sold out in 2 minutes.  I delegated the task of reserving us spots to the Pedal Across Wisconsin (PAW) inaugural Sunshine Tour, a fully supported 6-day group bike tour on paved bike paths on the gulf side of Florida in the winter to my husband, Ron and he called in at the exact day and time and got us in.  Anyone who hesitated had to wait until next year since the ride was capped at 86 riders.  We quickly learned that when meeting fellow tour participants at the hotel breakfasts, daily happy hours, or rest stops the appropriate ice breaker was “what other PAW tours have you done” since everyone there was a previous PAW participant.  The organizers announced the tour to their list of alumni and there was no need to publicize it any further.  

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States and ages of the tour riders

​Jerry Goldman, known as Dr. J. Pedal, his son Ken, his family and crew have been offering bicycle trips in Wisconsin since 1985.  Trip offerings have expanded outside of Wisconsin over the years to other locations such as San Juan Islands and now two trips to Florida so we can have a reason to bike outside the months that are most popular for cycling in Wisconsin.  Their tours feature scenic, quiet backroads and trails, food stops, emergency SAG support, que sheets, rooms at mid-priced hotels, luggage transfer and one group dinner.  From mostly word of mouth, they have developed a loyal following of a fit and active older demographic of cycling enthusiasts that hail from across the country.  This was our third PAW ride.  

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​The route started in Tarpon Springs, Florida and traveled south on the Pinellas Trail to Clearwater Beach and then returned.  The next days we biked to Brooksville, Lecanto, and Inverness and then returned, biking on the Pinellas, Withlacoochee and Good Neighbor State Trails. 

I highly recommend the PAW Sunshine Tour for the following reasons:

• It was over 80 degrees in Florida in February with no rain and we were riding in short sleeves and shorts with sun glasses.  Need I say more?
• We biked from hotel to hotel and our luggage was shuttled each day we changed hotels.  There was no limit to how much luggage you could bring, only that each bag be less than 35 pounds.
• The route was on mostly flat, on well-marked and maintained paved trails with a few animal sightings (i.e. tortoises, snakes, cranes, cows, horses).  For the most part motorists yielded to cyclists when the trails crossed roads.
• The route was provided in advance for download on Ride with GPS files for your cell phone and the turn-by-turn spoken instructions made it hard to get lost.
• Except for the first day which was a shorter ride to the ocean, each day had a rest stop at a park shelter where PAW provided snacks, water, and rest rooms. 
• Since the western side of Florida does not have many tourism amenities (i.e. restaurants, ice cream shops) the organizers arranged for buses to take participants down the road to where we could select a restaurant for dinner.
• Midway through the tour everyone boarded buses to go to the Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park.  We were on vacation so it is nice to mix it up with a little off the bike activity and to see animals unique to Florida.
• Each hotel offered a nice hot breakfast buffet to get you started before the day’s ride.
• There was one group dinner included in the tour that included transportation via bus.
• The PAW traditional daily happy hours with plenty of beer, wine, soft drinks, and snacks were again offered.
• We biked a maximum of 50 miles per day, a total of 235 miles, skipping the optional out and back loop of 35 miles mid-week.  

Biking over the causeway towards Clearwater Beach, Florida

​This was the first time this tour was offered so there might be some lessons learned incorporated in future tours.  Here are some areas for improvement:

• We took the same bike route both outbound and inbound.  The second time around you notice things you did not see the first time, and the infrastructure is what it is, but it would have been nice to take a different route when returning to our cars in Tarpon Springs.
• This was not the area of the country to explore the cuisine of Florida.   You had to leave the trails if you wanted to stop for lunch and even then, the options that were listed on the cue sheets were mostly fast-food chain restaurants you could get anywhere.  Hotels were located in a food desert.  To the credit of the organizers, they provided busses on two of the nights to take us to areas where there were a cluster of restaurants we could choose from. 
• At the end of long, hot ride you just want to check into your hotel room, take a shower and put your feet up, but hotel rooms were not available for most riders when they arrived and some had to wait in the lobby up to 4 hours for their rooms to be cleaned.  PAWS made reservations for us, so it was not as if they did not know we were coming!  Hotel (mis)management blamed the delays on staff shortages.  

Some of the wildlife in Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park in Florida

​We drove down to Florida with our bikes in our minivan and planned an additional 3 days each way to travel but took advantage of our passing through southern states to include a little additional site seeing.  We spent a night in Memphis and took a tour of Graceland, the home of Elvis Presley, which inspired us to listen to Elvis music the rest of the trip.  We were disappointed that many other attractions in Memphis such as the Blues Hall of Fame Museum and Beale Street were closed or limited due to Covid.  On the way home we made a stop in Cave City, Kentucky to tour Mammoth Cave.  We were lucky we elected to purchase our tour tickets a month before because tours are operating at reduced capacity due to Covid and they were sold out on the day we arrived.  

Elvis Presley's restored Pink Cadillac on display at Graceland in Memphis, TN

If you are a fan of bicycle touring that includes staying in hotels and letting someone else do all the planning, check out the PAW tours.  For a glorious exposure to warmth in winter, put the Sunshine Tour on you bucket list.  When you see the tour announcement, be sure to call or email immediately.  Pack plenty of sun screen because the tour name was spot on.