Monday 14 December 2009

Welcome to Miami

A truly seminal moment! 'New York to Miami' has a certain ring to it. All at the same time we feel relieved, euphoric, exhausted and daunted by the 12,000 miles that still lie ahead. Sticking with the theme of euphoria, today was a whisker shy of being the perfect cycling day, even after spending 5hrs and 53 mins in the saddle and completing 80 miles we were still in a higher state of consciousness.

... So we left Palm Beach Shores this morning, slightly concerned that the scorching hot sun, clear blue skies, light fluffy clouds and the cool gentle breeze rolling in from the North, may ruin our cycle down to South Beach in Miami. Not far into the trip, we entered South Palm Beach and realised we need not concern ourselves with the meteorological conditions, as they were perfect. Of much larger concern, bewilderment, astonishment or just plain “… what the @&*%!” was the scenery. We have never seen houses so grandiose you’d think Elton John personally designed each one: gardens so groomed to perfection that Steve Davis would have been comfortable lining up trick shots on the front lawns; moored Yachts so magnificent the QEII would resemble a pedalo in comparison; and private beaches so pristine even the waves had to dampen their enthusiasm before they were allowed on the golden sand. With all or senses overloaded with wow!, OMG!, holy crap!, check that out!, no way! (actual expressions of wonder not included) we made it out of “Candy Cotton and Butterfly Kisses land” feeling privileged to have witnessed the American Dream.

No kidding guys, we can’t fault the ride. The roads, hard shoulders, bike lanes, views and all were perfect. The only thing that tainted this potentially perfect experience was the ride down Collins Ave. Those of you familiar with Miami will know that Collins Ave is not meant for cyclists. After a couple of close shaves with the numerous 90-year old ladies blindly driving their Mercedes S-classes, we decided to get off the Ave. and take Ocean Drive all the way to the Hotel… a much better experience!

Unpacked and settled into the hotel we were keen to replace some of the 6260 calories we burnt off today and so promptly headed back out to Ocean Drive for some Pasta, Seafood, Bloody Marys, Lemon Drop Martinis, all finished off with M&M’s from CVS. We’re now in the hotel and stuffed like pigs!

Good Night.

Us x

P.S. Sorry for the late posting of this blog (not again…) but we only managed to get ourselves online this morning.

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