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Wild ride across Florida: 800 miles, alone on a bike

 
Graham Brink completed an 800-mile bike race across the full length of Florida. [JOHN PENDYGRAFT   |   Times]
Graham Brink completed an 800-mile bike race across the full length of Florida. [JOHN PENDYGRAFT | Times]
Published July 3, 2015

Spindly legs dangle from the frame of my glasses. A black body rappels down a silk filament, itsy-bitsy arachnid feet tickling my nose.

I throw down my bike, and rip off my glasses and helmet. My head convulses in a futile bid to jar the web loose.

The spider drops into my open collar. It's only 3 inches long but might as well be a Humboldt squid.

"Truck!" I wail, or a word that rhymes with it.

In a frenzy, I slam my palms against my chest.

My spastic war dance ends with spider guts oozing into my shirt.

I'm shin deep in muck on a flooded trail somewhere east of Orlando, less than halfway through the 800-mile Florida Divide Race. It's dark out, which adds to my anxiety. So does the snake that swims past my front wheel.

This butt-chafing bike race follows back roads and trails down the state's spine. The clock starts in Georgia and doesn't stop until the Everglades, not even for the occasional obstinate alligator. Riders haul their own gear, find their own food and sleep in the rain. The race has no prize money, no medals, not even a T-shirt.

That authenticity might be the appeal. Or maybe it's leftover Neanderthal DNA itching for a physical challenge in an age of drones and driverless cars.

Or maybe it's a depraved twist on the classic midlife crisis, substituting a pre-owned mountain bike for the new red Corvette.

On the soggy trail, I have no clear answer to that simple question:

Why am I doing this?

Read the whole story here.