Bicycle Messengers Leave White House 70 Years Ago When Pearl Harbor Was Attacked

A Ride For The Birds

I am in a little rut with my bicycle routes these days so I thought I'd try a trail-laden ride that includes the Suncoast Trail to the Starkey Park trail and eventually I bike through New Port Richey and Tarpon Springs to the Pinellas Trail. I followed Sunset Point road from Dunedin east to McMullin Booth and eventually hit Drew Street to Bayshore in Clearwater to the Courtney Campbell Causeway and its frontage roads.

I've done this 84-mile ride before and it was good to see the water, which allowed me to see some amazing birds.

I saw this guy on the Suncoast trail south of State Road 54.


Gorgeous roseate spoonbills were frolicking in a watery area off the U=Path trail that links the Courtney Campbell Causeway at the Hyatt with Cypress St. in Tampa.


I looked up while cycling the U-Path trail outside Tampa International Airport and the big birds were landing overhead.


Whoa nellie, that big bird is close.

New Bike Lane Alert

It's always a thrill to see a new bike lane in the Tampa Bay market. I discovered this one in Pinellas County on my Bridges Ride Sunday on 49th Street. It was only a stretch of about a mile or so but any new bike lane is welcomed

He Likes Bicyclists and Confederate Flags

On eastbound Morris Bridge Road about a mile east of I-75, a resident who lives in this trailer with a confederate flag matching the size of a U.S. flag has a yellow sign that says that the next bicyclist who dies could be your relative.




Here's the exact language of the sign.


On Thanksgiving day last week, I saw a car in front of the trailer and the door was open so I got off my bicycle and asked if anyone was home. I asked the trailer resident -- a guy who lookd like he was in his 40s wearing long shorts and no shirt -- about the sign.

He said he posted the sign in response to the dangerous-driving motorists after Dr. Robert Niedbalec, a Temple Terrace bicyclist, was killed about three miles west by a speeding motorist in February.

He said the sign is designed to be read by the drivers on Morris Bridge Road.

Flatwoods Park Entrance Gets Work

For those who use Flatwoods Park off Morris Bridge Road outside Tampa, you will appreciate the county doing work at the entrance to improve the entrance and exit into and out of the park.

Patch.com Story on Pedal America Coming to Seminole Heights

Patch.com did a nice story on Pedal America coming to Seminole Heights to film an episode on the Seminole Heights Bicycle Club,

On Dec. 10, the SHBC bike ride is 8:30 am to 10:30 am from Seminole Heights to Hyde Park Village and back and then a bicycle=theme art show will be at 11 am to 1 pm.

The bike ride starts from the Seminole Heights Garden Center at 5800 Central Avenue. Please show up at 8-8:15am for bike ride. The art show will be at 5801 9th Street in Seminole Heights.

Bicycling Magazine also did a story on the Seminole Heights Bicycle Club two years ago.

Happy Thanksgiving From Bicycle Stories

Giving thanks from Hanna's Swirl on the Hillsborough River, Seminole Heights Tampa, Fla.