Cross Florida Bike Tour February 2026 Summary

February 8 - 12, 2026

5 Riding Days

240 miles riding

 

Sherri and decided to join  Crossroads Bike Tours once again for the late winter ride across Florida.  This was a great way to start the 2026 season.  As usual Crossroads provided the room reservations and route maps.   As typical, we carried our own gear.   We had done several short day rides in Florida before, but this was to be our first actual bike tour there.

 

Turns out Northern Florida has several hundred miles of paved and wide bike paths - very nice.   A cold front had moved thru the state just before we arrived, but the temperatures were just about perfect for our tour.   The only windy parts of the tour were at or near the coasts.   There was no rain on the trip, in fact Florida was experiencing one of its worst droughts in many years.

 

• February 7  Clearwater - Residence Inn

 

Crossroads typically makes accommodations for you the day before your tour starts, close to your tour end point.   This allowed us to leave our car parked at the hotel until our return. 

 

• Day 1 - February 8, Shuttle to New Smyrna Beach, Ride to Debary 45 miles

 

The shuttle picked us at 8 am sharp at our Clearwater hotel.  There was one other couple joining us on the tour.  And we passed the time on the shuttle ride sharing our various past bike touring experiences. 

 

The shuttle dropped us off right at the beach in New Smyrna.   The start was very windy and chilly, so we quickly put on our jackets and pants before starting.   The route took us through the side streets of New Smyrna, which was very busy with tourists.  The traffic here was not an issue.  We were shortly on the cross Florida trail system and riding thru pleasant shaded forests.  The route today was almost completely on trails with a few miles of roads at beginning and end.   We saw lots of different birds and a fox on the trails.

 

Mark and Sherri at the beach and ready to ride

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• Day 2 - Debary to Clermont, 50 miles

 

Today's ride was around the Orlando metro area.   Once again there were biking trails most of the way, but the route took us thru the metro area.   The trail had many (we lost count at about 40) street crossing, the majority of which were 6 lane busy roads.   And since we were on the tandem all the starting and stopping was very tiring.   The last 5 miles presented the only real climbing we had all the trip and was actually a pleasant change from all the earlier street crossings.  Not our favorite day.

• Day 3 - Clermont to Brooksville, 58 miles

 

Today was a pleasant change from the prior day, with lots of riding thorough remote areas and beautiful backcountry.   It was quite warm today and very dry.  At one point we asked a kind person for some water at a road side park because we had just run out.  He immediate produced several bottle of water and we were very grateful!

• Day 4 - Brooksville to Trinity, 60 miles

 

The route took us through beautiful remote forest over the first third of the day and for the last 20 percent, with a long stretch of trail paralleling the freeway in the middle.  At just about halfway, at Spring Hill, we got to see the Wind Chime Memorial Tree, where people place wind chimes on the tree limbs in remembrance of lost loved ones.  Today was completely on paved trails.   These trails are really wide compared to any other bike trails we have been on in the US.

 

The Wind Chime Tree

• Day 5 - Trinity to Clearwater, 28 miles

 

Most of the route today was on bike trails once again.   The first third of the day we rode through pleasant and quite parks.   As the trail turned south, heading to Clearwater, we paralleled the popular beaches and the trail become very busy with other riders, walkers, and runners.   We stopped at a coffee shop by the trail in Dunedin to relax and watch all the bikers ride by.  

 

We reached the Clearwater Residence Inn in time to clean up, head to the beach, and enjoy the sunset.

Prince Edward Island (PEI) Bike Tour September 2025 Summary

September 8 - 13, 2025

6 Riding Days

215 miles riding

 

Sherri and I were joined by Sherri's sister Carol for this beautiful, pleasant ride across PEI.  We used Crossroads Bike Tours for the room reservations and route maps.  All three of us carried our own great start to finish.   This was Carol's first multi-day bike tour and she did great!

 

PEI is a bit of well kept secret for bicycle touring.   The scenery was beautiful, the weather was just about perfect, except for one cold day.   There were great bike trails, and when on the road the traffic was very light to non-existent at times, and all the drivers were very polite - as all Canadians are of course.

 

• September 6 - 7  Charlottetown - The Great George Hotel

 

We arrived late on the 6th, driving from northeast US.   We met up with Carol and got settle into Charlottetown.    Took the next day off to both recover for our long drive and prep our gear and the bikes for the tour start the next day.

 

• Day 1 - September 8, Shuttle to North Cape Lighthouse, Ride North Cap to Mill River Resort, 32 miles

 

On the shuttle ride from Charlottetown to North Cape the driver proved a great diversion with much information on PEI.   Two interesting facts we learned on the shuttle ride.   First, we asked about the donkeys we saw mixed in with the cattle in the open fields.   Our driver told us that there are coyotes on the island and the donkeys are aggressive and will protect the cattle.   The second interesting fact, which is closely related to the first, is that the Northumberland Strait between PEI and mainland froze over in the early 1980s and the coyotes cross over to the island for the first time in history.

 

The ride from North Cape was mostly on isolated roads with some miles of beautiful shoreline. A wonderful sunny day with cool temps.  We had a nice tailwind most of the way.  We stayed at the Mill River Resort, which is a Golf Resort.   Exceptional rooms and food.   This was a great start to our trip.

 

Carol and Sherri at the North Cape getting ready to ride.

• Day 2 - Mill River Resort to Summerside, 45 miles

 

Todays ride was along a mix of backcountry roads and quite crushed stone bike trails.   The terrain was gently rolling and again the wind was mostly in our favor.   We stayed at the Microtel in Summerside close to the harbor.   After laundry was done, we found a great restaurant across from the hotel where Sherri started her week long course of seafood soup.   When in Rome …  After dinner we walked to the harbors edge seeking an ice cream store.  But the ice cream place was close for the season!  So we had to enjoy sunset at the waters edge.

• Day 3 - Summerside to Cavendish, 32 miles

 

With more great sunny weather it was another great day of riding.   Today's route brought the only real hills on the route.   We had some solid "rollers" over the last 10 miles with one 100ft 10% climb.   This kept the riding interesting.   The route took us along many small bays and inlets and beautiful country side.  There were many large homes in this area of PEI.

 

We stayed a Shaw's Hotel immediately adjacent to the Green Gable Heritage site.   Unfortunately the site was closed for the season.

• Day 4 - Cavendish to Brackley Beach, 27 miles

 

The route took us from our B&B directly to the beach where we had fantastic ocean views for the early part of the ride.  After leaving the beach front there were a number gentle rolling hills.   And the only busy traffic road on the whole tour was on highway 6 from Cymbria to our turn onto Portage Road.  It was a short day to Shaw's Hotel at Brackley, so we road on out to Prince Edward Island National Park at the beach.

• Day 5 - Brackley Beach to Rodd Crowbush Resort, 29 miles

 

Wow were we ever spoiled by the near perfect weather we had enjoyed so far.  Today was cold and windy!  With windchill down to 40F we got out all that cold weather gear we were wondering why we bothered to carry, and put every bit on!  Still there was a number of beautiful sites to see.  The route took us past Savage Harbour where we saw large floating oyster farms (as we learned later exactly what we were seeing).  Apparently Savage Harbour is renowned for its oysters, most famous are its Savage Blonde oysters.

 

Another golf resort for our stay,  and we were very happy to get out of the cold and into our warm rooms and hot showers!  Once again great accommodations and dining.

 

Sherri and Carol with "everything on" for the cold - but still smiling!

  

• Day 6 - Rodd Crowbush Resort to East Point Lighthouse, 47 miles

 

The morning was still chilly but the sun was out and promising to warm us up.  The first twelve miles, part on roads and then paved bike path along the bay, took us to St. Peters Bay where we stopped to warm up with a cup of coffee.   From St Peters Bay the trail turned to crushed stone.  The trail run in the forest for 30+ miles with a few cross roads but no services for the full 30 miles.  In fact, there were no services for the last 35 miles until we reached the East Point Lighthouse where there were bathrooms and refreshments.

 

From the lighthouse a shuttle took back to Charlottetown and our van.   Our car trip back home would continue from Charlottetown, but our bike tour of PEI was over.   We would definitely ride PEI again if it were not so far from home.

 

Carol, Mark, Sherri at the Finish

 

Resort to St Peters Bay

St Peters Bay to East Point Lighthouse

GAP Trail Day 4 - 6/11/2025

GAP Trail Day 4 - Meyersdale PA to Cumberland MD, 36 miles

The trail today had three long tunnels, one tunnel was 3300 feet long, three short tunnels, several open mountain vistas, the Mason-Dixon Line, and the Eastern Continental Divide.   Also we had a 20 mile descent from the divide to Cumberland.  And to top it off we had sunshine all day.   What a great way to finish the GAP Trail!

 The Eastern Continental Divide and Tunnel

Great Mountain View’s on the other side of the divide

Mark excited for the 20 mile downhill

The Mason-Dixon Line

We made it !  GAP Trail finish in Cumberland MD

GAP Trail Day 3 - 6/10/2025

GAP Trail Day 3 - Ohiopyle PA to Meyersdale PA, BnB, 41 miles

Another beautiful day on the GAP with cool temps on the forested trail making for pleasant riding.  The trail wound through the hillsides following rivers that are still at flood stage, including the Youghiogheny and then the Casselman.  The trail climbed gradually but steadily all day. 

The longest railroad trestle so far.  This one was 1900 feet long and 100 feet high.  Impressive to ride across. 

One of many small waterfalls along the GAP

Impressive stained glass doors at the 1896 mansion we are staying at tonight in Meyersdale.

GAP Trail Day 2 - 6/9/2025

GAP Trail Day 2 - West Newton PA to Ohiopyle PA motel, 43 miles

Beautiful  clear day!   No wind!   Very nice crushed stone trail.    And the tree cover along the trail kept us nice and cool. The trail stayed along the Youghiogheny river all day.   The river is running at flood stage.  So much water!  Being from the dry state of  Colorado - the amount of water is very impressive.  

On this trip we are using a company named Crossroads to provide us with the basic logistics of accommodations and route.  We are still carrying all our stuff, but staying at BnBs and motels.  After the Lake Erie ride we shipped our camping stuff back from Ashtabula OH. 

Snack Break

Youghiogheny River from one of several old railroad trusses now used by the trail.   The river is at flood stage with all the rain - no rafting or canoeing. 

 Bike with rail-trail crushed stone dust. 

GAP Trail Day 1 - 6/8/2025

GAP Trail Day 1 - Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) Start in Pittsburg to West Newton PA Bright Morning BnB, 35 miles

We waited out a passing rain storm this morning and left at about 10:30 am.   We had light rain off and on until about 1 pm when the sun came out for a while.   We arrived at our BnB and got under the porch cover just as it started pouring rain again. Whew!  The great advantage of weather radar on the phone. 

The route was on the GAP trail all day with the first 20 miles paved then very nice crushed stone for the remainder. 

At the GAP start.  Point State Park in Pittsburg.  The Ohio river behind us, the Allegheny river on the right, and the Monongahela river on the left  

Take a break from the rain under one of the many bridges

Lots of small waterfalls - this one with high sulfur level giving the orange yellow colors.  And it really stinks!

Our BnB for tonight

Lake Erie Day 14 - 6/4/2025

LET Riding Day 14 - Lampe Campground, Erie PA to Ashtabula OH, 55 miles

Another day with a stiff headwinds and temps in the 80s from the start.   This was offset by lots of great Lake views along the route, sunny skies, and two ice cream stops!  At Ashtabula we said good bye to the lake. 

This is the last day of our Lake Erie tour!  Thanks to everyone for following along. 

We start the GAP tour (Great Allegheny Passage) on June 8.  Stay tuned!