The Brothers’ Bike Ride

Adventures in cycling through the US and Europe

  • Home
  • About the Trip
  • The Beer Page

Day 5 Vero Beach to Jupiter. The Wind Keeps A Coming.

Posted by Tim on March 5, 2020
Posted in: Tim. Leave a Comment
Day 5 Sendoff Photo.

First Rest Stop along Rt. 1. It’s always a banana.


Spring Training Game in Jupiter. Cardinals vs. Astros. Some Yankees fans were brutal chanting ‘cheaters’ every time an Astro player or coach was near them. I guess that is what the Astros will be in for this season.


View from my room in Jupiter. Lovely setting.


Day 6. Jupiter to Fort Lauderdale Beach.

Posted by Tim on March 5, 2020
Posted in: Tim. Leave a Comment
Morning Sendoff. We are ready for another day in the saddle. Getting butt callouses.



Rode thru some run down areas of Palm Beach. This was our first stop at a closed former gas station at a major intersection.


Another rest stop. Since we were in metropolitan areas, the library was literally our rest stop.



It was so hot today, we ran out of fluids and had to stop and replenish Gatorade and water as we passed a Walgreens.. We were on Rt 1 for most of the day.until the last 10 miles when we got to A1A.



In order to cross over to Fort Lauderdale Beach, you have to cross over the inter coastal waterway. This is a draw bridge in the up position to let a couple boats pass.


End of the day and I am settled in my room. You can’t see it in the picture but the ocean is way off in the distance. Lots are freighters are visible on the ocean. There is a pool on the other side of the hedge that was delightful.



This was one of the hotels across the street from our little two story hotel. IOur hotel was a nice little hotel with a pool and garden area outside the rooms.
We finished the day with a visit and dinner with Arlene Sullivan in Deerfield Beach.

Day 6 – Jupiter to Fort Lauderdale

Posted by Brian on March 4, 2020
Posted in: Brian. Leave a Comment

This was the hottest day on the bike yet and even though the ride was only 62 miles, I ran out of fluids again. This time we stopped at a Walgreens right on U.S. 1 South and I purchased 3 bottles of water and 1 bottle of Gatorade. Today we mainly used U.S. 1 South, but we also used U.S. 5 South for a stretch, which was nice since there was very little traffic on U.S. 5 and we were somewhat shielded from the wind. Here are today’s photos.

One of our stops today was at Boynton Beach, where I propped up my bike against a trash can, right along U.S. 1 South.

We finally got off of U.S. 1 South and were headed to A1A in Fort Lauderdale by around 1:45 p.m., when the drawbridge was opening for boat traffic.
We had a nice happy hour in the courtyard of the Elita Hotel in Fort Lauderdale.

We finished the day by having dinner with Arlene Sullivan, a cousin who lives in Deerfield Beach.

We have a ride of about 64 miles to Florida City, our last place on the mainland before heading to the Florida Keys. Hopefully it will be our last day of riding into the wind.

Day 5 – Vero Beach to Jupiter

Posted by Brian on March 3, 2020
Posted in: Brian. Leave a Comment

Today’s ride was 55 miles and, while we had a head wind, it wasn’t too much of an issue until the last 5-6 miles, when naturally it was uphill also! But overall, it was a good day of riding and it was the first time we were actually hot while riding. Here are today’s photos.

We stopped after 20 miles into the ride just south of Fort Pierce, FL. At this point the winds were probably 10 mph in our face.
Here is Tim eating one of Nancy’s excellent sandwiches at our second and last stop, somewhere around Stuart, FL. This was 40 miles into the ride.
It’s always nice when you can see the sign for the hotel at the end of the ride. It’s a very nice place and is only about 5 or 6 years old.
We made it to a Grapefruit League baseball game of the Cardinals versus the Astros. We only saw the game from the 6th to the 9th inning, but still had a very nice time at the Card’s spring training ballpark in Jupiter.
Tim, Beth and Brian relaxing at the Cards versus Astros game.
I had a turkey dinner tonight at MaCarthy’s Pub in Jupiter. It was delicious! Plus blueberry pie for desert!

We have a 66 mile ride to Fort Lauderdale tomorrow and the winds are again predicted to be in our face. We’re going to try to get away even earlier tomorrow morning.

Day 4 Titusville to Vera Beach. A Challenging Day.

Posted by Tim on March 2, 2020
Posted in: Tim. Leave a Comment
Obligatory picture. Beth took and no finger in the picture, even though Nancy says her finger is special.
First stop of the day after 15 miles. We were along Rt 1 Not very scenic rest stop.
This is what a 19 mile head wind today looks like. It was a challenging day
We met these two guys from Atlanta who were biking from Orlando to Key West. They are camping. We hope to see them on the road again since they will end in Key West on Saturday also.
It was a challenging day battling the 19 mile per hour headwinds this afternoon. We didn’t get in until after 5 PM. This was my view from the balcony of my room on the 5th floor of our hotel in Vero Beach. Vero Beach is a place I would like to come back to.

Day 4: Titusville to Vero Beach

Posted by Brian on March 2, 2020
Posted in: Brian. Leave a Comment

What a tough day! Tim and I left before 8:30 AM and did not make it to Vero Beach until after 5:30 PM. We rode 78 miles into a 19 mph wind for most of the day. It was definitely one of our most difficult rides. Well, anyway, here are the photos I took on the ride today.

The scenery on U.S. 1 was not much to look at, but the sky was expressive. However, we did not have any rain today.
Tim eats a yogurt every day. Here he is eating his yogurt on our first stop of the day, 15 miles into the ride.
Tim at our 2nd stop of the day before Melbourne, FL.
This is the bridge on Florida 404, which links SR A1A with U.S. 1 near Rockledge, FL. This was our 2nd stop of the ride, after about 30 miles. Shortly after that, Tim got 2 flat tires.
This is typical of the scenery by the side of U.S. 1, on the way to Vero Beach.
Flags at the Landing Site of Ponce de Leon, on A1A. Unfortunately, we were headed into the wind, and not with it.

When I was a kid walking to school in the morning with Mark, whenever it was really windy, I would wish for a glass half dome to come down over Drexel Hill and block out all of the wind. That’s what I was wishing for today. It would have made today’s ride much easier.

Tomorrow’s ride is about 55 miles, and the winds are predicted to be 17 mph, in our faces again. So we’re going to try to leave early, since the winds pick up in velocity as the day progresses.

Day 3: Ormond to Titusville

Posted by Brian on March 1, 2020
Posted in: Brian. Leave a Comment

Tim and I got an early start this morning, leaving at around 8:15 a.m., and riding through the southern end of Ormond Beach into Daytona Beach. Shortly into Daytona Beach, we left A1A and went over a bridge and onto U.S. 1 South. We stayed on U.S. 1 for most of the ride today. Believe it or not, there were some grades we had to climb. I wouldn’t call them hills per se, but the entire ride was not flat, the way it was our first two days. Here are some of the photos I took today.

Tim is pulling out a map on our first stop at New Smyrna Beach, FL, 15 miles into the ride.
A fisherman in an orange boat in the waterway we crossed in New Smyrna Beach.
Another fisherman in the New Smyrna Beach waterway. There were about a half dozen fisherman in this waterway early on Sunday morning.
We got a chance to sit down on our 3rd and last stop, which was in Mims, FL. Here Tim is enjoying his 2nd of Nancy’s excellent sandwiches. We were about 15 miles away from Titusville and our hotel.
Nancy took this photo of me relaxing at the pool at the Hampton Inn, Titusville. I took a nice nap after coming back into our hotel room.
Dinner tonight was Dominoes pizza, one plain and one pepperoni.

Tomorrow we bike to Vero Beach, which will be almost an 80 mile ride. Tim thinks we’re going to have a head wind – I really hope not!

Day 3. Ormond Beach to Titusville

Posted by Tim on March 1, 2020
Posted in: Tim. Leave a Comment

Riding across country with Brian and Mark, a few years back, we all concluded Florida had the best roads by far. That observation continues. Most roads we’ve been on so far have been wonderful. We encountered some bumpy roads today that were better than most roads up north. We also road on some sidewalks thru one stretch where the shoulder got narrow and bumpy. We also were on the East Coast Greenway (Maine to Florida) for a short distance today. We saw more bikers on that trail, which was parallel to Rt. 1, than we saw all 60 of our miles today.

First of our stops today. This is along Rt 1. Most of our ride today was on Rt. 1

Our final stop today. We had a nice smooth log to sit on and lean our bikes against. US 1 is about 100 yards down this side road.


Tomorrow is the toughest ride of this trip simply because of its length. The winds will be out of the south so no help there. Lots of sleep planned tonight.

Jacksonville to Ormond Beach – 2 days of riding in February 2020

Posted by Brian on February 29, 2020
Posted in: Brian. 2 comments

On Friday morning 2/28/2020, Tim and I started riding from Jacksonville to St. Augustine, FL It was on the cool side when we left, about 37 degrees F, but I was prepared and dresses appropriately. I had assembled my bike the afternoon before in the room at the Hampton Inn. I got everything right, but somehow I criss-crossed the cables for the gears and was not actually able to shift any gears at all. But fortunately it was flat and we at least didn’t have any wind in our faces, so it was OK. We made it to our hotel around 2:15 p.m. It was the Casa Monica Hotel in St. Augustine, FL, and it was built in 1887. But it was really really nice. Here is a photo of what it looked like from the parking lot.

The view of Casa Monica hotel from the parking lot.

From inside the hotel, especially from the pool, the hotel reminded me of the French Foreign Legion fort in the 1939 movie Beau Geste. All that was missing was the French flag. Here is a photo in the stairwell of the hotel. I really like this picture because the moon is not full – in movies and TV shows and most pictures, the moon is always full, so I really liked this picture.

Nancy and my favorite picture in the Casa Monica Hotel, St Augustine, FL.

After getting to the hotel, Tim and I drove to Island Bike Shop at St. Augustine Beach, where in about 2 minutes, the bike mechanic diagnosed and fixed my gear problem.

The ride today was, as a result, much easier. The entire ride was on A1A South, so there was no chance of getting lost. We only stopped twice, and the first time was at Fort Matanzas, an old Spanish fort that was constructed in 1740. We didn’t take the short ferry ride to the fort – so we just took some photos from the National Park we entered right off of A1A. Here is a view of the fort.

Photo of 1740 Spanish Fort Matanzas on the way out of St. Augustine, FL.

The next time we stopped was at Flagler Beach, where the colors of the beach and the Atlantic Ocean were very striking. Here are two photos I took at Flagler Beach, where Tim and I sat at a picnic bench and ate the excellent sandwiches that Nancy made for us. Today they were turkey and cheese, much better than the peanut butter and jelly we ate on the ride yesterday, since it was the first day of Lent.

This photo captures some of the vibrant colors of Flagler Beach, FL. It was better in person, trust me. 🙂

We made it to our hotel in Ormond Beach at 1:15 p.m. and had to wait until 2 p.m to check in. So Tim and I sat at the hotel pool reading while Nancy and Beth made a run to a local Wallmart. Once they were back, we showered, went to the 4 p.m. Mass at St. Brendan the Navigator Church in Ormond Beach, and then went to dinner at the Black Sheep Pub, also in Ormond Beach. Then it was back to our hotel for a refresher course in blogging from Beth.

Day 2 St. Augustine to Ormond Beach

Posted by Tim on February 29, 2020
Posted in: Tim. Leave a Comment

We had a delightful stay in Casa Monica, formerly the Coronado Hotel It was built in 1887 in the heart of St. Augustine. 2nd day was another relatively short one at a little less than 50 miles. Perfect way to start such a long trek.

Obligatory morning photo at about 9:30. Later start than usual for us. No buffet at this hotel. Sit down breakfast
Plague Brian was photographing. Couldn’t do anything about the shadow
One of many vistas of the Atlantic Ocean today.
Lunch stop. Brown sand.
Covered table and bench for lunch today I doubt we will be this lucky every day.

The girls caught up to us at a traffic light less than a mile from tonight’s hotel. Right on the ocean. Tomorrow is our first of two long days. Supposed to have a tail wind again. Time to go to bed.

Posts navigation

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →
  • Recent Posts

    • Windsor Locks to Media – Day 5: Easton, PA to Media, PA and home!
    • Windsor Locks to Media – Day 4: Matamoros, PA to Easton, PA
    • Windsor Locks to Media – Day 3: New Paltz, NY to Matamoros, PA
    • Windsor Locks, CT to Media, PA – Day 2: Salisbury, CT to New Paltz, NY
    • Windsor Locks, CT to Media, PA – Day 1
  • Recent Comments

    • Beth on Windsor Locks to Media – Day 4: Matamoros, PA to Easton, PA
    • Nancy Sullivan on Windsor Locks to Media – Day 3: New Paltz, NY to Matamoros, PA
    • Mark Sullivan on Windsor Locks to Media – Day 3: New Paltz, NY to Matamoros, PA
    • Nancy Sullivan on Windsor Locks, CT to Media, PA – Day 2: Salisbury, CT to New Paltz, NY
    • Beth on Windsor Locks, CT to Media, PA – Day 2: Salisbury, CT to New Paltz, NY
  • Archives

    • June 2022
    • March 2020
    • February 2020
    • August 2019
    • August 2018
    • August 2017
    • August 2016
    • April 2016
    • March 2016
    • February 2016
    • March 2015
    • February 2015
    • October 2014
    • October 2013
    • August 2013
    • March 2013
    • February 2013
    • January 2013
    • March 2012
    • February 2012
Proudly powered by WordPress Theme: Parament by Automattic.