Riding on the levees

[lconley]

I have been doing more riding on the levees in the last few weeks. Both days this weekend. Yesterday was Turkey Vulture Day. They were all over the levee, I think they were resting - very windy. There were a few today also - today's were less skittish - they just walked aside as I approached, didn't take off. Even saw one deer today. I also found a bench on the levee today, still no shade, but at least a place to sit that wasn't in the dirt.

The bike has gained more parts from the stash. Ergon GP-3 grips on Nitto Wavie bars. Way more comfortable than the Rustines grips. The Nitto Jitensha bars were too narrow at the ends to get the Ergon grips and brake levers on. The 26.0 Dirt Drop stem was switched for a 25.4 Dirt Drop to match the bars. Brooks saddlebag added also. Just a multi-tool in there now, but need to dig up a spare tube, pump and tire iron as my distance increases. The miles seem to go by a lot quicker for some reason on the levees than on bike paths or the road. Not really riding much faster, though, up from 7.1 mph to a blistering 7.8 mph.

Laing

Delray Beach FL

[frank_a]

 Laing,

 It looks like  you're getting hooked. It's a wonderful place to ride on many levels, the more time you spend out there the more you appreciate it.

- Frank

[Paul Clifton]

I've been following this topic with some interest. I don't get over to the east coast of FL much, but I ride around on the panhandal a couple weeks a year. I've kind of run out of out the door routes though, but I found this site today, and it has some amazing looking routes that might be close to you Laing: https://www.singletracksamurai.com/ssp-events

Definitely not day rides, but I bet some of the routes contain some section-rides. I may try to make an overnight out of part of the trans-florida route along the panhandle next time I get down there.

Here's my baby bubbe in the swamp:

Gonna be 15 deg F here this weekend.

Paul in I wish I was elsewhere AR

[lconley]

Thanks for the info.

Most of those rides appear to be in north and central Florida, where I rode for 40+ years (lived in Daytona Beach, Gainesville , Tallahassee). I remember back in the 70s or early 80s, the UF Cycling club (or maybe it had morphed into the Gainesville Cycling Club by then) did a ride we called the "Hell or the North" (name was ripped off). It was mostly on dirt roads north of Gainesville. Many of us were still riding on sew-ups at that time - others were on narrow 27" tires - 700C was barely a thing in the US at that point. Not the best tires for the roads, but we managed. 

I am working on getting my VO Neutrino up and running now - has 20x2.4 tires and will fit in the Honda Fit better than the Rivendell (which fits OK in the Honda Element). Also a single speed.

Here is a kind of fuzzy picture of my old DTT Sam Hillborne on the Cross Florida Ride (note the misspelling of "CITRUS" on the Welcome To Polk County monument) - This is on a short section of brick road of the old Tampa-Orlando highway:

Wheel dipper patches from the Cross Florida Ride:

 Laing

Delray Beach FL

[Craig Montgomery]

You better be careful out there Laing, cuz  "When the levee breaks, we'll have no place to stay"

Craig in Tucson where it hasn't rained in weeks. 

[Eric Daume]

Last time I went to the levy, I drove my GM car, but it turned out the levy was dry.

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[Paul Clifton]

Those photos are great. Thanks for sharing. I'd love to see that old brick road! I finally looked where Delray Beach is, a yeah, that's way south. Prob much different riding down there. Florida is a pretty fascinating chunk of geography!!

Paul in AR

[JAS]

Eric, I'm wondering if you saw any "good old boys drinkin' whisky and rye."  (Thanks to you, I'll have that song in my head all day!)

[lconley]

Rode both days this weekend, strong southern wind on Saturday, strong northern wind on Sunday, pictures from Sunday.

Laing

On Sunday, March 6, 2022 at 2:56:15 PM UTC-5 lconley wrote:

[Patrick Moore]

Lovely photos, of a landscape so very different from others I've enjoyed. Thanks for sharing.

Pray, explain "levees." I anticipate that these are earthwork bulwarks against river or sea; please explain, and tell us where this is.

Patrick Moore, who got up at the ungodly hour of 5:15 real time/6:15 MDST to do required chores in time to ride to church early and set up the kitchen for the post-liturgy agape, in "spring-is-trying-but-not-succeeding" ABQ, NM.

(And: who rode the 2015 Matthews 1:1 Road Bike for Dirt.)

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Patrick Moore

Alburquerque, Nuevo Mexico, Etats Unis d'Amerique, Orbis Terrarum

[lconley]

Yes, the levees are earthen bulwarks against the Everglades (which is actually a wide, shallow, slow moving river and not a swamp - see The Everglades: River of Grass by Marjory Stoneman Douglas - yes the same Marjory Stoneman Douglas that the infamous high school in Parkland is named after - the high school is just east of the levees, maybe 20 miles south of the picture below). In the picture below, looking north, the levee is on the east, to the west of the levee is the canal where the sand to build the levee was excavated from, and to the west of the canal is the Everglades, which is NOT dry land, it is actually water, a foot or two deep, with vegetation growing through it. From the air, you can see the sky reflected from the water through the vegetation. 

The levees and canals are simultaneously what make the large population of south Florida possible but are instruments of large scale ecological disaster for the Everglades. The Everglades watershed starts south of Orlando near Kissimmee and the Everglades proper starts south of Lake Okeechobee and flows to the Florida Bay at the south end of Florida - north of the Florida Keys.

The picture below was take just south of Wellington, FL which is maybe 15 miles to the southwest of the Donald in Mar-a-Lago which is basically due east of the southern tip of Lake Okeechobee. This is the easternmost reach of the Everglades today. 

Without the levees, south Florida would seasonally be under water. The levees and canals are used to divert the water east and west to prevent this seasonal flooding, depriving the southern Everglades of its natural water supply. The levee and canal system was started about 100 years ago and efforts are underway to try and mitigate some of the damage that has been done. The Everglades is a unique ecology that exists no where else on earth. There are hundreds of miles of levees and I am just stating to explore them - basically the only place to ride in south Florida where you can get away from the cars.

Laing

Delray Beach FL

On Sunday, March 13, 2022 at 7:32:41 PM UTC-4 Patrick Moore wrote:

Lovely photos, of a landscape so very different from others I've enjoyed. Thanks for sharing.

Pray, explain "levees." I anticipate that these are earthwork bulwarks against river or sea; please explain, and tell us where this is.

Patrick Moore, who got up at the ungodly hour of 5:15 real time/6:15 MDST to do required chores in time to ride to church early and set up the kitchen for the post-liturgy agape, in "spring-is-trying-but-not-succeeding" ABQ, NM.

(And: who rode the 2015 Matthews 1:1 Road Bike for Dirt.)

[Patrick Moore]

Ah, the Everglades. I think yours are the first photos of this landscape on this list. Again, lovely -- tho' I expect there is humidity and mosquitos in summer?

Between Scottish highland glens (forget who posted those) and the Everglades, with Arizona desert (Craig) and NW US forests, and of course the iconic California hillsides from RBW,* we've had some wonderful photos.

Let's see some more. I will wait until the bosque starts leafing before trying again -- my photos are generally incompetent, but I will try again -- for my contribution to the album.

Others, please add shots of your locations. (Please label them with name of state, city, and particular location.)

When I first drove out to the Calabasas area for college in August 1973 (campus then on old Gillette estate, now probably state park along with old 20th Century Fox Ranch) I was struck by the peculiar So Cal hills, more stark and rounded versions of those around Rivendell HQ. And there were the tighter, rockier hills in the Malibu hills, with great riding possibilities. Lovely, at least back then. Much has probably been built over since.)

On Sun, Mar 13, 2022 at 1:48 PM lconley <lco...@brph.com> wrote:

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[Patrick Moore]

Oh, and we've had Japanese hills and I think at least one set from Singapore.

Would be nice to get these photos into a single album.

[lconley]

Finally saw an alligator this weekend - actually 5 of them. All at the northern end of the easily accessible levee system. 11 miles north of where I get on, there is a fence blocking the road at a huge pumping station. All the alligators were gathering there - big ones, not monsters though - I would say in the 8 foot range. Kind of hard to get a good picture with the phone camera at this range. This is near Wellington, west of Palm Beach where rich equestrians and their horses spend the winter. Bill Gates has a house there - his daughter is evidently into horses.

Laing

On Sunday, March 6, 2022 at 2:56:15 PM UTC-5 lconley wrote: