Many times I wonder, while biking the Everglades, on one of my favorite South Florida levees, why in the world do I love being out there. In all honesty, it's a flat landscape as far as the eye can see in almost every direction. It's rough; no paved roads for the majority, if not all of the trip. You're technically in "The Wild" with all sorts of alligators, birds-of-prey and pesky over-sized bugs to keep you company. God forbid you have the wind blowing against you on the return ride, after the levee has chewed you up & spit'cha out like old tabacky!
It's actually all those reasons, AND SOME, that I love being out there!
Well everything except that wind ..anyone who rides alone can vouch for me.
I guess it's because you can ride just a few miles and actually escape the city limits and the stressful mania. There's no other sound except for whatever tunes you bring along, nature ..and of course the occasional sound of gun-fire in the distance from "Loco Coco's"* close to US 27 in western Broward County.
The truth is, I believe many more people would absolutely love biking the Everglades trails and be as hooked as I am. To start, very few folks know about the levees, and even fewer ride them on their bikes. In my 18 years of exploring these trails & levees, I have only run into a handful of people out there. The reaction is always the same ...we stop and ask "which trail & direction do you hail from?" This kinda sizes them up to see how far they can go, you know a macho thing. Funny thing is, occasionally I get turned on to trails I have never taken before. For example, one of my absolute favorite trails was told to me by another rider(a doctor!) that happened to be at the Levee Crossroads(by the entrance to Mack's Fishing Camp) one day. He told me how he got to this location and it blew me away because I had never taken his route and he was about 15 miles away. I figured if this guy who didn't know about all the other trails I mentioned to him did it, this new trail should be a piece-of-cake ..right?? riiiiiiight!
Let me put to this way, the trail he rode on to get to his house to the point we met, I call Man's Trail. Ladies don't be offended, I bet if you rode it, you'd call it the same. It's an FPL utility road(unpaved) that bounces you around like a basketball, even with a full suspension bike. It's become one of my all time favorite trails though and again, you're in the middle of nowhere enjoying all that our beautiful weather & climate gives us.
I still can't over how far that other biker rode and there are NO shortcuts either..homie rode Man's Trail the whole way ..and some.
Every ride you witness something different, whether in your surroundings or within your own thought. These are not easy rides, so your body will reach that "high" all runners & bikers get when it's just you and your thoughts. More importantly, you need to take plenty of water and snacks, preferably energy bars & such. Tubes &/or a patch kit and a pump CO2 cartridge(best) are also a must. Remember, you're out there, it can literally take hours for someone in a car to get to you, if at all. I've done over a thousand rides and usually the biggest challenge you'll encounter is a flat tire. It'll take about 10 minutes to change with some practice, but luckily there hasn't been anything worse happen to me or my bike. Single track parks, like Markham & Oleta, will break your bike components sooner than riding long distances off-road.
Look out for more posts as I go more into individual levees and trails in the near future.
Till then, enjoy yourself & Happy New Year!!
Juan Cortina
*That's not really his real name, but anyone who knows who I'm talking about has heard the barrage of shooting he fires within his property. One of those Ted Nugent types sans the rock-star status