2 days. 1 night. 3 boys. 110 miles. This weekend my brother, Caleb and I traveled the Suncoast Trail in its entirety. the whole damn thing from trail head to trail head and back. totalling just over 110 miles in total.
We thought about it the night before because weve been talking about doing it for a couple weeks now. Ive been prepared in the sense that ive had my shit ready to go for just such an occasion. But it was coming down to the "lets go" that we were lacking. We set out at about noonish from the house, which seemed kinda late but we knew that we still had several hours of sun light. We packed up the bikes... a bit of gear and headed out.
I told Caleb that we were going for a bike ride.. ha. Im not sure if he knew what was about to happen. We rigged his trailer to carry his bike with and old yakima roof rack tray, some square aluminum tubing, a c-clamp, and some zip ties. We stopped by Bill Jackson's in St. Pete and picked up a tent. I have an 8 man tent ive had for a few years but it was going to be way too big and heavy. It was a wise choice. I purchased a Eureka Tetragon 7, 3 man tent. For the price it is very light and packs down very small. We headed from there to CBE to get the gear together. I decided that some panniers would do us some good so i picked up some Trek Interlock panniers which i mounted to my Surly Long Haul Trucker. We picked up a few extra water bottles and readied the bikes and trailer.
We headed out from the shop on bike at around 2pm and headed for the trail head. Caleb rode in the trailer for the trip down Dale Mabry for safety sake, but when we got to the trailhead in Lutz we let him out to ride his bike. So we were off... not sure how far we were going, just looking to have a good time, enjoy the ride, share some beers(me and Chris of couse) and spend the night out in Florida's wide open.
We had never been out on the Suncoast Trail before so it was all new to us. We had a great view of farm lands and forests to one side, and to the other side... the Suncoast Parkway. The fact that we never left the road for more than a few hundered yards at a time was a bit disappointing. Within the first 10 miles down the trail Chris had a flat. I had a spare tube... but my frame pump prooved disappointing, I used a CO2 trying to pump it up but I only had one more left. I knew that we would have to get another pump, but luckily we were just a few hundred yards away from a Target in Land O Lakes. We stopped in, grabbed a tube, a bite to eat, a few other things we thought we might need, watched some beautiful women wander in and out and then headed out.
A few hours later when it was starting to get close to dark we decided that we needed to find a place to stay for the night. We were getting frustrated because we still hadnt eaten a decent dinner and we really didnt know where we were. We kept a watch for the street signs on the parkway so we knew we were nearing Spring Hill. We rolled into Spring Hill just before dark and sat down to eat some pizza at a little pizza place in the Publix plaza. In the back of our minds we were worried about where we were going to spend the night. As per usual it was impossible to get Caleb to eat his food, even though i got ravioli which I thought was as good as it was good for him. We finished dinner well after it was dark so we decided to find a place close by to set up camp. We considered the woods behind the plaza, a patch of woods across the street and going back to the trail. We ended up going back uo the trail in a desperate attempt to see if we had missed anything. By this point we were getting really tired. At last we decided to go a little firther down the trail. Luck would have it there was a trailside rest spot with a covered picknic table and a clearing in the woods just behind it. Perfect.
We set up the tent as if we had done it a thousand times before and I was very suprised how roomy this little tent was. We were worried about getting into trouble for camping there so we tried to hide the tent as best we could behind some brush. We put the cooler and food on top of the pavilion to keep the critters out. I put Caleb to sleep in the tent and gave him a glow stick as a night light to sleep with, which was a very good idea. I repacked the panniers to leave room for the tent and pillows, for a speedy departure in the morning, and we locked up the bikes behind the tent just a few yards behind the pavilion. After Caleb was in the tent and sleeping we threw back a few brewskies, played a few hands of gin rummy, and reflected on the days ride.
I woke up a couple times durring the night but for the most part I got a good nights sleep. Caleb seemed to sleep well despite kicking me several times and grabbing Chris' face durring the night. The next morning we tore down camp and packed quickly. We had breakfast at the Rams Diner which was next door to the pizza place from the night before. We were headed back down the trail by 10am. We decided that we would try to go all the way to the end not realizing how much further we had to go. The hardest part was that we were just getting into the hills and the weight of the trailer springing back and forth was strarting to wear down on my brother as he was pulling the trailer, Caleb and his bike through the hills.
We had hope that the trail went all the way into Crystal river as we approached. But as I had not done any research we realised very suddenly that the trail ended in the middle of nowhere. We were hoping for a place to stop and relax and eat. After two more hours of riding we realized that we had to turn around and go back through all the hills to Spring Hill, where we had just left and spent the night. The hills were murder because we decided that Caleb would be in the trailer while we tried to go as fast as we could through the hills. When we got back to Spring Hill we were so tired that we spent an hour resting and eating lunch. We knew that Caleb could not ride in the trailer again at least for a little while.
Throughout the whole trip we saw a variety of wildlife. We saw a deer down by one of the rivers. We saw what we thought was a ring tailed lemur run accross the trail in front of us. Turns out after research it was a fox squirrel, an animal i never knew existed. This thing was as big as a cat but long like a ferret with a really long tail. We saw a gopher tortoise, several birds, and a neon green anole.
We made it back to the trailhead in pretty good time. Caleb rode the whole way from Spring Hill to the trail head in Lutz with out getting in the trailer. It was a victorious place to be, though we still had about 10 miles to go through city traffic. We made it back to the shop at about closing time around 7. We stopped in, shared a few beers, a couple stories, and packed up the car. In all we travelled just over 110 miles I want to guess that Caleb did more than Half of that, probly some where in the 70s... hes a real trooper. It was a great trip. We learned some lessons, and will apply those lessons to our next trip. We hope to do the Van Fleet and Withlacoochee trails next. This time we hope to be better prepared, but experience is the best teacher. untill next trip!
2 days. 1 night. 3 boys. 110 miles. This weekend my brother, Caleb and I traveled the Suncoast Trail in its entirety. the whole damn thing from trail head to trail head and back. totalling just over 110 miles in total.
We thought about it the night before because weve been talking about doing it for a couple weeks now. Ive been prepared in the sense that ive had my shit ready to go for just such an occasion. But it was coming down to the "lets go" that we were lacking. We set out at about noonish from the house, which seemed kinda late but we knew that we still had several hours of sun light. We packed up the bikes... a bit of gear and headed out.
I told Caleb that we were going for a bike ride.. ha. Im not sure if he knew what was about to happen. We rigged his trailer to carry his bike with and old yakima roof rack tray, some square aluminum tubing, a c-clamp, and some zip ties. We stopped by Bill Jackson's in St. Pete and picked up a tent. I have an 8 man tent ive had for a few years but it was going to be way too big and heavy. It was a wise choice. I purchased a Eureka Tetragon 7, 3 man tent. For the price it is very light and packs down very small. We headed from there to CBE to get the gear together. I decided that some panniers would do us some good so i picked up some Trek Interlock panniers which i mounted to my Surly Long Haul Trucker. We picked up a few extra water bottles and readied the bikes and trailer.
We headed out from the shop on bike at around 2pm and headed for the trail head. Caleb rode in the trailer for the trip down Dale Mabry for safety sake, but when we got to the trailhead in Lutz we let him out to ride his bike. So we were off... not sure how far we were going, just looking to have a good time, enjoy the ride, share some beers(me and Chris of couse) and spend the night out in Florida's wide open. 
We had never been out on the Suncoast Trail before so it was all new to us. We had a great view of farm lands and forests to one side, and to the other side... the Suncoast Parkway. The fact that we never left the road for more than a few hundered yards at a time was a bit disappointing. Within the first 10 miles down the trail Chris had a flat. I had a spare tube... but my frame pump prooved disappointing, I used a CO2 trying to pump it up but I only had one more left. I knew that we would have to get another pump, but luckily we were just a few hundred yards away from a Target in Land O Lakes. We stopped in, grabbed a tube, a bite to eat, a few other things we thought we might need, watched some beautiful women wander in and out and then headed out.
A few hours later when it was starting to get close to dark we decided that we needed to find a place to stay for the night. We were getting frustrated because we still hadnt eaten a decent dinner and we really didnt know where we were. We kept a watch for the street signs on the parkway so we knew we were nearing Spring Hill. We rolled into Spring Hill just before dark and sat down to eat some pizza at a little pizza place in the Publix plaza. In the back of our minds we were worried about where we were going to spend the night. As per usual it was impossible to get Caleb to eat his food, even though i got ravioli which I thought was as good as it was good for him. We finished dinner well after it was dark so we decided to find a place close by to set up camp. We considered the woods behind the plaza, a patch of woods across the street and going back to the trail. We ended up going back uo the trail in a desperate attempt to see if we had missed anything. By this point we were getting really tired. At last we decided to go a little firther down the trail. Luck would have it there was a trailside rest spot with a covered picknic table and a clearing in the woods just behind it. Perfect.
We set up the tent as if we had done it a thousand times before and I was very suprised how roomy this little tent was. We were worried about getting into trouble for camping there so we tried to hide the tent as best we could behind some brush. We put the cooler and food on top of the pavilion to keep the critters out. I put Caleb to sleep in the tent and gave him a glow stick as a night light to sleep with, which was a very good idea. I repacked the panniers to leave room for the tent and pillows, for a speedy departure in the morning, and we locked up the bikes behind the tent just a few yards behind the pavilion. After Caleb was in the tent and sleeping we threw back a few brewskies, played a few hands of gin rummy, and reflected on the days ride.
I woke up a couple times durring the night but for the most part I got a good nights sleep. Caleb seemed to sleep well despite kicking me several times and grabbing Chris' face durring the night. The next morning we tore down camp and packed quickly. We had breakfast at the Rams Diner which was next door to the pizza place from the night before. We were headed back down the trail by 10am. We decided that we would try to go all the way to the end not realizing how much further we had to go. The hardest part was that we were just getting into the hills and the weight of the trailer springing back and forth was strarting to wear down on my brother as he was pulling the trailer, Caleb and his bike through the hills.
We had hope that the trail went all the way into Crystal river as we approached. But as I had not done any research we realised very suddenly that the trail ended in the middle of nowhere. We were hoping for a place to stop and relax and eat. After two more hours of riding we realized that we had to turn around and go back through all the hills to Spring Hill, where we had just left and spent the night. The hills were murder because we decided that Caleb would be in the trailer while we tried to go as fast as we could through the hills. When we got back to Spring Hill we were so tired that we spent an hour resting and eating lunch. We knew that Caleb could not ride in the trailer again at least for a little while.
Throughout the whole trip we saw a variety of wildlife. We saw a deer down by one of the rivers. We saw what we thought was a ring tailed lemur run accross the trail in front of us. Turns out after research it was a fox squirrel, an animal i never knew existed. This thing was as big as a cat but long like a ferret with a really long tail. We saw a gopher tortoise, several birds, and a neon green anole.
We made it back to the trailhead in pretty good time. Caleb rode the whole way from Spring Hill to the trail head in Lutz with out getting in the trailer. It was a victorious place to be, though we still had about 10 miles to go through city traffic. We made it back to the shop at about closing time around 7. We stopped in, shared a few beers, a couple stories, and packed up the car. In all we travelled just over 110 miles I want to guess that Caleb did more than Half of that, probly some where in the 70s... hes a real trooper. It was a great trip. We learned some lessons, and will apply those lessons to our next trip. We hope to do the Van Fleet and Withlacoochee trails next. This time we hope to be better prepared, but experience is the best teacher. untill next trip!
