Fred Marquis Pinellas Trail (April 2022)

I was fortunate enough to join a friend on a work trip and was able to carve out enough time to bike the entire Fred Marquis Pinellas Trail in Pinellas county.  The trail runs through St. Petersburgh Florida from downtown to about 40 miles north of the city and then curls back toward downtown for a few miles. There are plans to make a loop out of the Pinellas trail and a couple of other existing trails.  

https://www.pinellascounty.org/trailgd/

Day 1:  52 miles from Clearwater to St. Petersburgh and back

I was staying in Clearwater, which is right at MM 23 on the trail. I picked up my bike from Chain Wheel in Clearwater the night before so I was ready to go pretty early on Saturday. The trip down to St. Petersburgh was tough,  I was riding into a head wind and could never really get going. I got passed A LOT...some of that were e bikes, I noticed that the batteries are getting smaller and easier to blend into the design of the bike, but overall I was just slow. 

At around MM 18 I noticed an "In memory of Bob Young" sign.  It's a common name, but I had a friend who died in the Station Fire in Rhode Island in 2003. I know his parents had lived in Florida around that time, so I wonder if that was in reference to him.  Again, common name. 

When I got to the end of the trail in downtown St. Petersburgh I was pleasantly surprised by a farmers market in the parking lot of a stadium for the Tampa Bay Rowdies (soccer team).  I ended up choosing the Twisted Indian Food truck.  Lamb Naanwhich was fantastic!  I also got a glass of Sour Sop juice from another vendor.  Overall I struck gold as the next 15 miles flew by.  I guess I didn't fuel properly in the morning. 

The most interesting feature of the Pinellas trail are it's overpasses. Some run for several hundred feet over busy roads or shopping centers. I ended up climbing 800 feel over the day. 

I did the 52 miles relatively easily in the 80 degree weather.  

Day 2:  The goal was to finish the trail on the second day, which was only 23 miles. I got out the door at 8:30 and rode about 7 miles before stopping for breakfast just south of Dunedin at Home Plate. I got a Bloody Mary (very good) and a skillet (also very good).

After breakfast I continued on-ward through Dunedin and Tarpon Springs.  Eventually the trail turns east and runs up the west side of Lake Tarpon over it and back down the east side.  Near the lake I came across a bunch of birds feeding off a road kill. Interesting to see how they organize themselves.  

At about MM 40 it connects with the Hillsborogh county trail network which will eventually be part of the Florida Coast-to-Coast trail which will run from the Atlantic coast in Titusville to the Gulf coast in St Petersburgh (273 miles).

https://floridadep.gov/parks/ogt/content/florida-coast-coast-trail

I was able to follow the construction of the loop trail from the end of the Pinellas to the Duke Energy trail riding on finished sections of the trail for about 2/3 of the time.    Pretty quiet mostly, the most interesting travelers were a father and son on their ATVs. Technically against the rules but easy to look the other way when someone is being a good parent.