April 20, 2023: Marianna to Tallahassee, Florida – 85 miles and 2,988 feet of elevation

Today included a very long ride with relatively warm temperatures, into the mid 80’s. The route took us a little off of route 90 in Florida, and we took a number of back rides through some rolling hills. Just after our first SAG stop, we entered into the Eastern Time Zone, which gave us all a little encouragement for the progress we are making. After SAG one, the path routed us just a few miles from the Georgia border, and finally entered Tallahassee from the north, wandering through some city streets to avoid busier downtown roads. The final few miles took us through the Canopy Roads of Tallahassee, which was a quite scenic 3 mile stint, marred only by a fair amount of car traffic. I started out at 7:30, and finished around 4:15pm, enduring some relatively heavy head-winds for the broad majority of the ride. It will be a quick turnaround, however, as we have a 77 mile day planned for tomorrow, from here to Live Oak, Florida.

One of the towns we cycled through today was Quincy, Florida, and extremely beautiful city with a number of homes and buildings that are included on the National Register of Historic Places. There have a very quaint town square, and beautiful antebellum homes with large, expansive porches, all framed with very tall pine and oak trees. Just on the outskirts of Quincy stands the Old Greta School house, which functioned as a school from 1908 to 1935. It still stands today, with only minor changes to the original design. It consists of three (3) rooms on the first floor and one great room upstairs with a stage on one side. I’ve included a picture of the school today, as well as a photo I found on the internet of some of the children who attended the school back in the early 1900’s.

As a quick update, Josh’s bike, (the one with the completely cracked top tube), remained intact again today, giving the impression that his home-made repairs might just last through the remainder of the trip. Dena, one of the other riders, however, experienced three, count ‘em, three flats today, and was assisted by the mechanic and several other riders. Dena is one of the riders that typically finishes first, and then spends 4 – 5 hours afterwards online, on conference calls and working on her computer. She was quite frustrated by the punctures which slowed her down, but thankful for the assistance. My bike, however, remains intact, and is performing pretty well, and for that, I am eternally grateful.

Our host city for tonight, Tallahassee, serves as the state capital, and is also home to Florida State University, one of the largest universities in the country, with a student population of over 70,000. Tallahassee is pretty large, with a population of over 200,000 people. The terrain here is surprisingly hilly, and I felt each and every bit of elevation in the city today. While most people point to Jim Morrison (singer, poet, and songwriter) as one of the most famous people from Tallahassee, I am more impressed that Wally Amos is from here. Of course, you know Wally as the founder of “Famous Amos Cookies”! Ah, we all have our heroes!

Truth be told, I think everyone on the tour is ready for our trip to end. Secretly, while I’m certainly up for the 77 mile challenge tomorrow, I wouldn’t be offended if they shortened it to 7.7 miles. In the next few days, we have a 77 mile ride tomorrow, a 55 mile ride on Saturday to Oleno State Park, a 80 mile ride to Old Palatka on Sunday, and then finally a 35 mile ride from Old Palatka to St. Augustine, where our tour will end. Apparently, there are all kinds of processes and pageantry planned for the last day, including wearing matching jerseys and a planned parade, with all of the riders coming in en masse. Frankly, I’d be fine with taking a limousine, or even an Uber on the last day, however that particular tactic might just be frowned upon. For that reason, I’m planning on complying with the group, though I am a little worried that my bright yellow feather boa might just get tangled up in my spokes. I’d hate to make a spectacle of myself at the very end. So for now, it is “BAU” – Business as Usual! More to write tomorrow, I promise!