Chocolate Elvis….

Posted by Greg on July 18, 2009

Today I biked 32 miles, getting up early to beat the afternoon heat and the intense thunderstorms that define the sub-tropics of central Florida. My favorite trail winds around low rolling hills and orange groves and past huge oaks draped with beards of Spanish moss that sway in the hot breeze. Hidden among the hills are an amazing number of lakes.  Today’s ride was unremarkable, although I did have to swerve to miss a six-foot corn snake that was fully stretched across the path to absorb the intense heat.

Each year I have to become re acclimated to the heat of Florida.  It was really bad in past years when I returned from my circumnavigations of Iceland and Newfoundland, being adapted to much cooler weather,  to face the August Florida heat.  In mid-summer it stays hot even at night, although the mornings and frequent rain showers provide some relief. The heat wraps around you and saturates you. It almost suffocates you.  When I finish a good paddle or ride, I can literally ring the sweat out of my clothes.