Cruising in PCB- Panama City Beach or ‘The Redneck Riviera’
I try to get out every day for a 2-3 hour ride, plus a shorter
one or two to run an errand or just rejoice. I generally start it out for a
quick zip down to Thomas Donuts, a km west from our condo on Front Beach Road
for my brekky- a bagel- and some coffee with my buddies. I attached a Route I
did today as recorded on Map My Ride. It’s a great app for your smart phone.
Then on to the main route. I head north on Vestavia to #98 or
locally Back Beach Road. Here I wait
patiently for a break in traffic, and then make the ‘Mad Coyote Dash’ across
the two eastbound lanes, then wait for westbound traffic to clear and complete
the suicide run. Back Beach Rd has bike lanes, but I am not suicidal enough to
actually ride them.
I am now in an industrial park with great pavement and very
minimal traffic then to Griffin Rd where I turn north towards the PCB Conservation
Area, again great pavement and very light traffic.
1. The Conservation Area is a large nature park with miles and
miles of trails- hard gravel to loose sand, boardwalks, wetlands, pine forests,
and wetlands. One of the main functions is the disposal of waste water from the
sewage treatment plant several miles away. There are several discharge
structures scattered through the park where the waste water is bio-processed by
vegetation and recharges the water table before surplus flows into the streams
feeding into the inland waterway.
I haven’t seen much wildlife up here but there are populations
of black bear, bobcats, alligators, wild hogs, and lots of birds. A great
feature is at the gate. It is a lovely rest station with water fountains and
sanitary facilities. There is also a picnic area, maps, historical information,
and garbage disposals. It is a great place to stop and process that extra cup
of coffee and fill up your water bottle.
2. From here I head down Gayle’s Trails (Named in honour of
Gayle Oberst, PCBs long time mayor and a very classy lady. This paved path is
the right of way over the waste water pipeline. There are several options to
follow but today it was a straight shot east across # 79 (Crossing Lights) past
the Frank Brown Park Trail, past Nautilus, and the end of the trail in a
residential sub-division near Holiday Golf. There are plans in progress to develop
several more miles of trail from this point on east.
3. Now I’m at Back Beach-98 again and time for another “Mad
Coyote Dash”. Sometimes the wait is a few seconds; sometimes it can be 5
minutes until a break. Crossing on a recumbent trike is I find much easier than
with my old MTB. Once across I take the sidewalk east. Next to no pedestrian
traffic here so I have yet to be threatened with incarceration.
I continued east and took a cross street Lyndell, down past
the Seniors Centers and Library. These facilities are heavily used by the large
Snowbird Community in PCB.
Then cross over Middle Beach Rd that is pretty busy at times -4
lanes w center turning lane.
4. And on to Front Beach Rd then west, a pretty straight shot
back to the condo. Front Beach Rd has bike lanes and several traffic lights on
it. The pavement quality is variable as some has been redeveloped and the rest
is scheduled for upgrade this year or next. There are quite a few manholes, ‘bumps
& dips’ you have to watch out for. Traffic can be busy, but generally is
not fast and the traffic lanes are wide enough that vehicles have lots of room
to move over and they do. Haven’t had a close call on this route in the two
years I have been using it. There are quite a few other bikes. During holidays
like Spring Break there are a lot of bikes, scooters, and golf carts, so it
actually keeps the speed down. There are no sidewalks along much of Front Beach
so lots of pedestrians in the bike lanes.
This a solid stretch of condos, shops, tourist attractions,
restaurants and is always interesting. Huge Shopping Center at Pier Park and
Andrew Besant Park there hosts many festivals, etc. Emerald Coast Cruisin’ had
a couple thousand classic cars, muscle and custom hotrods on display there in
November. Made all us old trikers drool, remembering our youth.
One last stop at McD’s if my bladder or appetite need
attention and then on home. Often I alter my route by detouring into some of
the residential subdivisions. Pleasant settings, smooth pavements, and next to
no traffic.
Rained hard this afternoon so I shortened up that chain- just
took out about a 3 inch piece between two masters- and worked out tearing
around and up and down the parkade. Everything working well. First time I had
ever taken apart one of those SRAM Master links. It’s a snap. Here’s a link to
a video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNqtRleH1WE See never too old to learn.
Still working on editing my video… soon…maybe.
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| A screen grab from my May My Ride App |
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