by Brian Renaud
Cold, dark, wet. That basically describes Ann Arbor, Michigan from the beginning
of November, onwards. By the morning of Wednesday, December 6, the temperature
was about 15° F with a wind chill around 0° F. The picture at the left looks out
eastward from my apartment. It was taken at about 9am -- you can see the
typically lovely sunrise. (Yes, I'm sure the sun is up, it's somewhat lighter
than it was a couple of hours earlier.)
However, this day would end well. That night I flew to Orlando, where my
parents met me and drove me to their home on the Atlantic coast. Thursday
morning was much nicer than Wednesday morning.
Thursday morning was sunny, but chilly. By the late morning, when I got out to skate, it was partly cloudy and the temperature was in the low sixties with a ten mph wind. I skated for a little less than an hour, three loops around the community, and never really broke into a sweat. Later in the day, wearing pants and a long-sleeve shirt I went with my parents on their regular four mile walk and was actually cold! This weather was better than Michigan's, but not exactly what I was hoping for.
On Friday though, I finally felt like I was in Florida. Around noon I skated the same route and I was hot! The sun was in its glory, the winds were still and the temperatures were in the low to mid seventies. It was fantastic, I was sweating, I could smell the plants and there were actually bugs flying around. (Ok, that last part wasn't so fantastic.)
After fattening me up for a couple of days on my mother's great cooking, my parents drove me back to Orlando to meet the tour group on Saturday the 9th. (I have wonderful parents!)
I was somewhat nervous as we approached the airport terminal meeting point. I had just started skating the previous August. On the positive side, I had been to the Zephyr Skate Camp in September and had skated regularly through October. I knew I could handle the basics (like stopping) and had an acceptable stride. However, the weather from early November on had kept me from skating much ... and did I mention that I had just started skating in August? I knew that many of the skaters on the tour had been on previous tours. I envisioned them as superbly toned skating machines with years of experience, perhaps just a step or two below championship caliber.
At least I knew a couple of people on this tour: Andrea, one of the guides, had
also been an instructor at skate camp. Another skater, Marty, had been a student
at the camp. Marty had convinced her sister Miriam to join the tour. I figured
that I'd at least be able to skate with them while the Olympians went ahead. If
nothing else, I conjectured (correctly) that any tour with both Andrea and Marty
on it had to be lots of fun. 
I went into Terminal A and walked towards carousel 1. There was a group of people over there in the corner, but no Zephyr signs and I didn't recognize anyone. Getting closer, but I still didn't recognize anyone ... Marty! Well, at least I had found the tour group.
Looking around, I felt a little better. At least they didn't all look like
skating gods. (Actually, I'm not sure exactly what I expected a skating god to
look like. Kind of Nordic I think -- with lots of prominent muscles -- sort of a
blond, slightly toned down Arnold Schwarzenegger kind of look (appropriately
gendered). Of course, now that I've met Barrie, I know what a superbly toned
skating machine looks like :) 
After a bit, our guides, Andrea, Barrie and Kris , showed up. Finally, we got all of the luggage and skaters loaded into the vans and took off for our first skate. (Fortunately, I was in the van with the food.)
Eventually, we reached the Clarcona Horseman's Park where we would start our skate on the West Orange Trail. We piled out of the vans and starting putting on our skating gear. Wow, lots of five wheel skates and hydrations packs! Oh well, it was a nice day to skate and I shouldn't be so competitive anyway.
Our basic skate was ten miles to the Winter Garden Station. There would be another five miles out/five miles back loop to the start of the trail for those who wanted to go on. The guides gave the basic route talk, made us introduce ourselves (so I could forget twenty-one names all at once) and sent us off.
The trail was wide enough to skate two abreast without a problem and had a nice surface. The scenery was pretty, with only a modest amount of the industry one might expect for an ex-rail line. Oh yeah, a number of the other skaters had nicer, more controlled strides than I do, but everyone seemed to be out of shape or just not inclined to set a hard pace, so I could stop worrying about being left far behind. A group of six or eight of us skated fairly close for the first leg. We skated at a decent, but not particularly painful pace.
Like every day on the tour, we had a lot of sun and temperatures in the mid to upper seventies. There was a little bit of wind, but nothing terrible. It was just really a nice skate.
I do want to clear up one Zephyr-induced misconception about these Florida trails. They state The skating is entirely flat. Well, this just isn't true for either the West Orange or Withlacoochie trails. The grades were reasonable and none of the hills were terribly long, but in no way were they flat trails!
We hung around the Winter Garden Station for a while, drinking water and eating lots of the trail food that Zephyr provided. After a bit, a bunch of us started off on the optional ten mile loop. The path went right through Winter Garden -- it was nice to be able to look around while skating through a town, not having to worry about pedestrians or cars (except at the crossings). About two and a half miles out, my knee and ankles were bothering me a lot, so I decided that was the time to turn around. By the time I got back to the Winter Garden Station I was pretty tired. I think that four or five skaters did the full twenty miles that day.
After the skate, we drove to Inverness, where we were staying in the Crown Hotel. The hotel was moderately sized and definitely not a mass-produced "corporate" kind of hotel. I was reasonably pleased with the accommodations, except for the spiral staircase, which shook every time I went up or down it. (I guess I should have eaten less trail mix!)
We had dinner at Stumpnocker's Restaurant. I had the house special fried catfish dinner. It wasn't special. On the other hand, Andrea, who was sitting next to me, had crab legs, which she really seemed to enjoy. (Although maybe she was just enjoying spraying us with chitin shards.)
After dinner, some of us went to the restaurant bar (where 'last call' lasted
about one and a half hours). Barry told some of his infamous doctor stories and
we were adopted by Mike the speed golfer who regaled us with tales of his life.
As usual for my hotel stays, I woke up after just four or five hours of sleep. After pretending for a while that I would fall back asleep, I finally got up and used the extra time to stretch a little. Ouch. Around 7:30 or so, I figured the sun should be coming up and looked outside ... I couldn't see anything! Well, ok, I could kind of see the street and there did seem to be some buildings out there too, maybe. Fortunately, we weren't going to start skating for a while.
We were scheduled for breakfast in the hotel, but ... oops ... the hotel's vision of breakfast was pretty minimal. Fortunately the guides were able to improvise quickly and we headed off through the fog to Deb's Cockadoodle Cafe which was about a hundred yards away. The service was quick, the glass of OJ large and the pecan pancakes acceptable. Since I was going to be out on the trail fairly soon, I avoided the frequently offered coffee refills.
There was an optional skills clinic before the trail skate. Since I figured that I could tolerate only a limited amount of time on my skates each day, I didn't take advantage of any of the skills clinics. It's too bad -- I hope that I'll be in better shape for my next tour.
Instead, I decided to walk a mile or two around Inverness. The small downtown
seemed typical of a small town with a reasonably large tourist business. On one
side of the hotel, there was a busy street with lots of fast food places (I
don't recommend walking that way). The houses were a mix of well-maintained and
rather shabby abodes, but there a bunch of great live oaks with Spanish moss
hanging off them. Fortunately, I happened to be walking on a street with some of
them as the fog was burning off.
We all assembled at the park, about a half mile or so from the hotel, where the Withlacoochie Trail intersected the town. It was a beautiful day again.
We were scheduled to skate north to Citrus Springs, stopping after eleven miles at a small deli along the way for lunch. After lunch we would head up another five and a half miles to the trail end at Citrus Springs, where we could stop or double back either to the deli or all the back to Inverness. I thought the sixteen and a half miles to Citrus Springs would make for a good day's skate for me.
I set off with the lead group. However, they were practicing roller jam moves with Andrea and I felt like skating hard for a while, so I pushed ahead. The trail surface was again wide and smooth, really ideal for skating. This path wasn't as pretty as the West Orange Trail. The better parts of the trail were scrub forest but there were a number of industrial sites scattered through it.
Of course, after a while, I started to hurt (especially on the flat parts of the trail that went up). However, by then testosterone poisoning had set in, so I kept pushing on. Unfortunately, I pushed on quickly enough that I beat the support van to the first stopping point. I didn't see the deli (which, as it turned out, had closed anyway) and the maps didn't really show where we should stop, so I just kept skating. Eventually, I hit the trail head at Cedar Springs. At least they had water and some shade there.
After a
bit, Kirk came rolling in too -- he had also beat the support van to the lunch
stop and foolishly assumed I knew what I was doing. We sat down and chatted for
a while ... and a while longer ... and a while longer. Finally, some other
skaters started dribbling in. That's when we found out that the lunch place was
closed.
Some of the other skaters were starting back towards the south and I had
rested for quite a while, so I decided that I was ready for a (slower) skate.
The stopping point was only five and half miles, and maybe I could even make it
all the way back to Inverness. I skated behind Diane and Richard for a while --
I really admire the way they skate in perfect synchronization. The only way you
can tell there are two people in this photo is by looking at the twin shadows.
I stopped to talk to Kris somewhere early on in the skate back and at
that point it still seemed possible that I might be able to make it all the way
back to Inverness. However, after a few more of those upwardly angled
flat sections, I finally admitted to myself that my knee and ankles hurt
and I was really tired. I stopped at the magic road crossing and spent quite a
while annoying Andrea while we waited to see who would want to get a ride from
that point. Finally (not that I was getting impatient) we rode up to the
trail end and hung out for a while longer. (But with a bathroom.) Eventually we
got everyone who needed a ride into the van and went back to the hotel.
Dinner that night was at the hotel restaurant. I had the baked grouper, which it turned out, was the baked breaded grouper (no doubt that was on the menu -- that attention-to-detail thing sometimes eludes me) which was pretty mediocre. At least the drink from the bar was stronger than usual. By the end of dinner, I was pretty tired, so I just went back to my room to get my suitcase in reasonable shape to leave the next day and read for a bit before going to sleep.
Off to Deb's Cockadoodle Cafe for breakfast again. It was busier today, but I managed to get into a booth with some of the other skaters. Again, the service was quick. I decided to get back to my more typical fiber-laden breakfast, so I just stuck with oatmeal this morning.
After
breakfast we went to "Wild Bill's" for a review of his private zoo and an air
boat ride. I was sad to see so many big cats in small cages. However, it was
really neat to be so close to them.
The air boat ride was fun. We saw quite a few large alligators. Unfortunately
my camera lacks an optical zoom, so, out of the five or six pictures I took, I
had a bunch of vague lumps and only one recognizable alligator.
Our skate that day was from Inverness to Floral City six miles south, stop for lunch then skate to a sixteen mile loop to Nobleton and back. (With optional additional mileage tacked on south of Nobleton.) I was pretty tired and started out fairly slowly. Fortunately, Greg, Kimberly and Pat felt pretty much the same way, so we took it fairly easy going to Floral City. However, that didn't stop us from collapsing in the gazeebo when we got there. We were movement challenged for a while, just socializing with those who wandered in.
Eventually, the combination of Andrea's energy and seeing Wes and Tom's sandwichs got us up to go forage for food. (Or ice cream, in my case.) We skated down to the gas station/convenience mart/deli. I wasn't that hungry, so I went for the hundreds-of-calories ice cream snacks instead, including a Klondike Bar. This would have unforeseen consequences.
We set off again along with Neil and Mary Ann. This part of the trail
was prettier than the northern section we skated the day before. There were more
mature trees and some nicer houses, rather than factories. We kept a moderate
pace up to "Nobleton". (Which actually turned out to be a highway with a sign
pointing to Nobleton.) At that point, Andrea, Pat and Neil decided to do some
extra skating south of Nobleton, while the rest of us would go back to Floral
City. Just as we turned around, Barrie drove up in the van, so we had another
excuse to stop, eat and chat some more. Eventually we decided that we had to go
if we were going to get back in time and took off for Floral City.
A little ways north we ran into Kris with a gaggle of skaters. An orgy of group picture taking ensued. Mary Ann had escaped before the cameras came out, so I ended up skating the rest of the way back in a group with Greg, Kimberly and Barry. We finally reached our favorite gazebo and collapsed again. We waited quite a while for everyone to return.
While we were waiting, Andrea returned. After seeing me eating the Klondike Bar at lunch, she had spent the entire afternoon lusting for one. She went to the gas station and returned with her treat. Unfortunately, it was while eating it that she suffered a meltdown, so to speak. I must say that the Zephyr guides really go all out to make the tour memorable.
Once again we climbed into the vans, this time for the long trip to Dunedin. Due to some logistical rough edges and traffic problems, we didn't arrive in Dunedin until after the scheduled start of our dinner. Fortunately, they were flexible enough that we were able to check in to the Yacht Harbor Inn hotel and shower. (By that time, the shower was a higher priority for me than the food ... and food was a high priority.)
We walked up the block to Sea Sea Riders for dinner. I had the "Mahi Mahi Key West" (mango and pepper sauce) which was pretty good. As usual, it was nice chatting with everyone.
Afterwards, Barrie and I agreed that dessert and coffee really sounded good. Unfortunately, it was after 10 pm on a Monday and the restaurant, and apparently, most of Dunedin was closed. Fortunately, Bob and Della, who had joined the group for dinner, swooped to the rescue and took a few of us out to an ice cream place. Someday I will learn not to go for the large size. Really. Maybe.
After I returned to my hotel room, I decided to see what it looked like out the back door. I opened it and saw ... water! We were right on the bay. Cool.
The water was beautiful in the morning. I went out around 7 am to
have some coffee, stretch and watch the birds. The sky was cloudy, but the
temperatures were still nice -- close to seventy even at that time of the day.
(The bay would still be beautiful in the afternoon.)
We ate breakfast at the hotel. They had a small breakfast room where one of the hotel staff served us from the breakfast bar. This was really weird. Their selection was about what you'd expect -- single serve cereal boxes, some fruit, muffins and juice from a machine. It was adequate.
Due to my typical inability to follow instructions, I really started off wrong for the skate that day. I missed part of the route talk, then was pre-occupied with getting some tender spots on my feet taped, so I didn't really absorb the parts of the talk that happened while I was present. Then, because I was running a few minutes behind, I missed the first group out. Fortunately, I was able to skate up to the trail with Pat and Mike, who told me in which direction I was supposed to go. (Yes, I had a map and a compass, I could have figured it out, but it's so much easier just to find a competent adult ...)
That day we were skating north on the Pinellas Trail from Dunedin. I intended to skate the intermediate sixteen mile Dunedin to Honeymoon Island to Tarpon Springs route. Fortunately, Zephyr had given us the very nice Pinellas Trail map. Unfortunately, I really had no idea where I was supposed to turn off to go to Honeymoon Island. I figured that I would catch up with the first group out and go with them.
Sadly, I was just too slow that day. I did see a "Honeymoon Island" sign, but it wasn't painfully obvious to me that there was a skating trail going in that direction, so I just decided to go ahead and hope that there was a more obvious turn later. At least if I got to Tarpon Springs, I was pretty sure I would recognize when the trail ended.
The trail itself was pretty nice. Some of the pavement was a little rougher than what we had been skating on in the days before, but still much better than the stuff I usually skate on in Michigan. There were lots of street crossings, which was annoying, but I could generally roll across them after slowing down to check for cars. The scenery was mixed, the trail goes through a much more residential area than the previous two trails we had been on.
Eventually, I reached Tarpon Springs. Of course, since I didn't go out to
Honeymoon Island, I was way ahead of the support van. I went ahead and skated
over to the famed Sponge Docks. They were ... "touristy". However, their Chamber
of Commerce building had roll-in public bathrooms, so I decided that the place
was ok. I skated around (literally) the area for a couple of minutes. I wasn't
hungry yet, so I decided that I would head back.
Thus, I was able to run into everyone else on the trail while they skated up to Tarpon Springs. Explaining my attention deficit problem became annoying after a while.
All through the morning and early afternoon, fogs were sweeping in off the Gulf. At one point I took these pictures from the same spot, one looking forward on the trail into the fog and one looking back where it was still (relatively) clear.
Even though I was tired, I was quite determined that, this time, I
would get out to Honeymoon Island. As I was going out to the island, another
heavy fog rolled in. Visibility dropped to about fifty feet while I was on the
causeway. I wondered if I would actually see any of the island. Fortunately, the
fog burned off quickly and I was able to see clearly. By the time I got to the
state park, my water had run out and I was pretty cranky. I decided that I had
enough skating and that it was time to turn around and get back to Dunedin. As
it turns out, this was probably fortunate, since those who went into the park
said that the pavement was lousy.
I skated back to Dunedin without further misadventure. As I was skating through town trying to decide where to eat, I happened to pass an art glass store. I saw some nice abstract art panels and backed up to get a better view. As I was looking at them, Bob (who worked in the store) suddenly appeared in front of me and said hello. I had managed to run in to the only person I had ever met from Dunedin. The joys of small town living.
I showered and then went to Casa Tina's for an excellent Mexican lunch. Then I hustled back and put on my equipment for Bob's skating historical tour of Dunedin. I enjoyed the talk, although I'll admit to being a sucker for pretty much any sort of historical information.
That night, one of the skaters, Barry, who lives in the Tampa area, and his
wife Vivian hosted the dinner at their house. This was a wonderful setting for
the final tour dinner, much quieter and more relaxed than a restaurant would
have been. I was just too tired to hang out in the hot tub (it's so tacky to
drown after one's host has put that much effort into having a nice party), so I
went back to the hotel with the early crowd.
Ok, I already showed you that picture of the bay. It really was
beautiful though, and the tranquillity of it reminds me of the morning skate.
I elected to do the 7 am optional skate on that last morning. I had the pre-breakfast of champions (coffee and a Power Bar) and met up with Barrie, Kris and Scott in the parking lot. Barrie and I went out skating south on the the Pinellas Trail. Something about the skating in the cool, quiet pre-dawn, with Barrie providing good company and a decent, but not exhausting pace really made for a wonderful experience. We skated through Clearwater, but decided to turn around after about a half hour when we found ourselves on a narrow cement sidewalk next to a busy road. Shortly afterwards we ran into Joe who joined us for the skate back. We kept up the pace, only pausing to have Barrie demonstrate sprint starts, the double push and other racing techniques. We looped up about ten minutes north of Dunedin and finished with about an hour and a half of trail time. This turned out to be my favorite skate of the entire trip.
After getting cleaned up and having another adequate
breakfast served by the breakfast bar guard, we checked out of the hotel, loaded
up the vans and took off for De Soto State Park for the final part of the tour.
The group took over the picnic pavilion. We went out and skated the park trail while Barrie and Kris got everything set for a picnic lunch. This time, the path was, in fact, flat. Once again, the trail was wide with a nice surface and plenty of ocean views. (I just haven't found any trails in Michigan with a decent ocean view.) The weather was perfect -- upper seventies and sunny.
I basically skated it the four mile trail twice over the space of an hour (with quite a few photography stops). It perfectly sealed a wonderful day of skating.
The only negative to the final skate was the fact that there was no
hotel shower to return to before getting my flight back. I ended up wearing a
bathing suit, using the outside shower and just air drying. (I, and no doubt my
immediate neighbors, were thankful for that shower during all the
weather-induced waiting time I eventually spent on the airplane during my trip
home.)
As usual, while we were having fun, the guides were working. They put
together a large picnic lunch. (Enough to satisfy an equal number of eighteen
year olds, definitely more than enough for us.) I was immensely thankful for
that big lunch while I was on my delayed, two pack-of-peanuts flight home.
And then, it was time to go.
I'm sure some of those with whom I was at skate camp are wondering if
this tour would be right for them. I think anyone who enjoyed skating (and other
skaters), who could stop effectively and was comfortable skating for at least a
half hour at a time would enjoy the tour. The skill range of the skaters varied
significantly, so there was plenty of opportunity to skate with others at any
skill level. (Assuming, unlike me, you can follow some basic instructions.)
I was able to average about twenty miles day, which had been my original objective. Better skaters could (and did) get in even more miles. I could certainly imagine skating this tour again, shooting for fifty to seventy-five percent more total miles.
As you might expect, given that this was the first time Zephyr has run this route, there were some minor logistical issues, but nothing serious enough to significantly detract from the experience.
The facets that really stand out for me were that the weather was essentially
perfect, the trails were nice, the other skaters were congenial and the guides
were great. Overall, I was quite happy that I went on the tour.
Brian Renaud
December, 2000