LAKELAND, FLORIDA
I was hoping this would be similar to my Richmond-Williamsburg train/bike rides. I settled on Kissimmee-Lakeland or Lakeland-Kissimmee, depending on wind direction. Last week I made reservations for both directions. Yesterday I did a final check of the weather and decided I would ride from Kissimmee to Lakeland and take the train back.
I had mapped out my ride on RideWithGPS. RWG uses Goggle Maps and its algorithm to find bike trails, bike paths, bike lanes, and generally safer options when one must ride on the road. On a scale of 1-10 where a 10 was completely safe like a dedicated rail trail with no traffic and a 1 was not if I was going to die but when, today’s route had elements of 3 and 4.
I parked at Kissimmee Station and headed out of town. City streets for a couple of blocks. Then a bike lane. Then a bike trail. This was going well.
I had only gone 10 km (six miles) when I went over the road I would next travel on. I could see that it was two lanes with no shoulders. It was Old Tampa Highway and had steady traffic. I could see my next turn was in 10 km and I started looking for an alternate to this road. I found it by a Gatorade plant/factory and rode on Fla. 17 for the next three miles (5 km). It wouldn’t last because I had to turn onto Osceola Polk Line Road for another four miles (six km). Anytime there was a pulloff, I pulled over to allow traffic to pass and continued only when I didn’t see any additional vehicles.
I arrived at Champions Gate, the location of the MS-150 I had ridden in 2023. I got off course and am not sure what happened to my ride directions. Since I had ridden here before I knew this wasn’t ride. I reset my route and continued on.
I turned on Deen Still Road and it was buckle up for the next 11 miles (17 km). Another two-lane road with no shoulders but with more trucks. I made it safely through there and came to the Van Fleet Trail. Nice and wide but some real crappy pavement at the southern end. It turned into the Polk City Trail which became the Auburdale Trail. The latter two were in better shape than the former.
The final 15 miles (25 km) were a mix of a dedicated bike trail next to the highway to a road into Lakeland with a supposed bike lane but was often more dangerous than being on the road.
In town I found a Jimmy Johns. This would have been very helpful on my way to Lakeland because I was close to bonking. After not finding outdoor seating, I took my bike inside. No one blinked. I spent the next 90 minutes there relaxing.
I returned to the train station 30 minutes before the scheduled train. It looked deserted and I found the elevator to the track level. I went to the platform and leaned my bike on a stanchion. About 10 minutes before the train the Amtrak station attendant came up and said something. I heard 10 minutes, so it was either the train would be there in 10 minutes or it was another 10 minutes late. There were three of us waiting.
When the train came I walked to the middle of the train where the door opened. Broom Hilda looked an me and asked, “Are you taking a bike on the train.” I acknolwedged her to which she replied angrily, “You had to check in with me first. Then she added, “You can’t because you have to pay to take a bike.” I showed her my pass and bicycle had been paid for. Most importantly, why so surly, Amtrak?
That begs many questions. Where was she when I went to the platform? Why didn’t she question me she first showed up and saw me sitting there with a bike? Why wasn’t she prepared for a customer with a bicycle? Being a station attendant, why wouldn’t Amtrak provide a list of boarding customers and any baggage requirements? Or was that available and she didn’t check?
The entire interaction added a whole lot of angst that could have been avoided if she had questioned the bike before the train arrived. She had gone back inside and made a baggage claim ticket. She then instructed me to walk it to the baggage car which was probably 150-200 meters at the back of the train. I walked it down to the baggage car and lifted it up to the guy inside. She then gave me a ride back to boarding on her little golf cart.
I showed the conductor my boarding pass but, unlike the Richmond train, he did not scan it. I took a seat for the 40-minute ride to Kissimmee. When I deboarded, I was the only one, I had to walk back 200 meters to get my bike.
This was so much different than the Richmond train, where the four-car train has a bike rack inside each car. She said, “Yeah, they don’t have a baggage car.”
Summary: The roads were much too dangerous for a repeat on the same roads. The rail experience was also different from what I am used to. I don’t think I would do this again but do understand the requirements should I find myself here again. In Williamsburg the station attendant always sees the people with bikes and approaches them for staging on the train. This attendant was lazy and inattentive.
DISTANCE: 63 miles (101.4 km)
AVERAGE SPEED: 17.2 mph (27.7 kph)
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