The Andre 360 Breakfast Run - Part Three
The ride out of Tampa had been changed due to the need for fuel and once we found it we were totally off course. I asked for some direction to the an expressway I knew would take us to SR60 and was surprised that it was more than 80 blocks away and in a direction that I hadn’t suspected. So, we were off again.
I verified instructions as we drove through the city. Traffic was light and the ride wasn’t bad. It gave us a perspective of the complicated group of islands, inlets, and connecting roads of the Tampa area. Reaching the Gautney, we road across a beautiful causeway that hovered 20 feet above the water. It was possibly the most relaxing and serene part of the ride. The bridge is a couple miles long and gives a great view of the city’s inside coast.
We exited the causeway and drove a few lights to the Cross-town Expressway. This would take us across water to SR60 in Brandon, but I had no idea about the new Brandon Expressway. labeled as Sunpass only, they must be releasing the gate on Sundays. This bee-line had one or two other cars on the entire road. We flew unimpaired all the way to Brandon where I felt a little more familiar with the area. We scooted through the Brandon Mall parking road to SR80 and were back on track for our ride.
One the way to Brandon we had caught a short shower for 30 seconds or so. It was enough to remind that the forecast in the Tampa area diminished as the day went on. Our plan was to be out of the area before any major storms occurred. We found the storms were there first. Much of the road we traveled now had evidence of rain from less than an hour previously. In the distance, we saw lightning as we progressed back to the east.
Our ride was looking good except for one cloud that insisted on blocking our path. It was dark and looked like heavy rain. I decided it was the right time to stop and let those that had rain gear put it on. Our temperatures were in the high 60’s to low 70’s and the extra clothing wouldn’t feel bad at those. We started up again with the weather making my decision the right one. While the storm lasted only 10 or 15 minutes, it was good to have rain gear on at parts of it.
Coming out the other side of the rain we found the temperatures had gone up 10 degrees. Now, it was too warm in the gear so when we found our stop at Yeehaw Junction it was an opportunity for everyone to get into cooler attire again. Andre got more gas and we were off. Someone had called home and found it was pouring rain in greater West Palm Beach in spite of nice skies in our current location.
It was at this point that I was disappointed a bit. The group shattered as we entered US441 and those with the need for speed found satisfaction. I stayed back and kept us together a bit until it was just Ian and me riding. The ride home from there is relatively simple and one that most bikers are familiar with . As an emergency vehicle passed us I thought about the worse case scenario and was relieved that none of our group was involved. In Okeechobee, they were actually waiting for us and we joined back together. The rest of the ride we looked much more like a group, though we still hit speeds that were not acceptable at time.
As we moved into Palm Beach County the roads began to get wet. We rode SR710 (the Bee Line) to Haverhill Rd. and by then it was raining. It was actually amazing that in the rain we still did not get very wet. Those with lower fairings were enjoying a basically dry ride in light to moderate rain. (Note to self: next bike has lowers) We rode through town and Ian peeled off to have dinner with his family. Good man. The rest of us continued to Nothin’ Fancy, a biker bar with some attitude and live music. Definitely a place that every rider visiting West Palm Beach should visit. After a beer I took off as did Andre.
Summarizing this ride is difficult. The first leg included making some new friends and then leading them through very dangerous conditions in the dense fog. It was the most intense part of the ride and could have been a good reason to call it off once we saw how bad it was. The second leg was great riding for Florida with hills, turns, and the Skyline Bridge soaring across the bay to St. Pete Beach. The final leg felt like the ride home as we had been out riding since before 6:00 AM to get to our starting point and leave by 6:30 AM.
If I have one recommendation for this ride next year it would be that we do not return on SR60. Brandon has grown with some of the other communities and this is no longer a pleasant ride on a country road. SR70 and surrounding roads will give us a more rural setting that takes us through hills and turns. It will also give us another chance to ride across the Skyline Bridge. Now, we have a few local rides coming up before February’s big ride in the SoFla360. I’m looking forward to these.