Renting a Bike in Naples, FL — sam way explores

Mar 8

Mar 8 Renting a Bike in Naples, FL

I had plans to fly down to Naples, Florida to visit my mom for a few days. My friend, Sarah, and I flew down last Wednesday morning and we were met by my sister and her friend a few days after our own arrival.

I love being able to ride in and explore new areas (especially ones that are not NYC and especially, especially ones that are flat hehehe) so I knew I wanted to rent a bicycle during my short stay. There were a few different places with rental options, but most only offered beach cruisers, which made sense, given the locale. Some shops offered road bikes for rental but many of them did not have any frames near the size I would need (hey rental shops, short people ride bikes too!).

After realizing that I would not be able to find an ideal frame size, I decided to go with a rental from Big Momma’s Bicycles. The smallest frame they had in stock was a 50 cm Bianchi Via Nirone 7 and since my current road bike is a 50 cm frame, I figured I’d be alright.

I arranged to pick up the bicycle on Thursday, right before the shop closed, so that I could get an early morning ride in the following day. The shop screwed up the dates for my rental but luckily had the bike in the store when I arrived. I had to wait a few minutes while they prepped it and switched out the flat pedals for SPDs, since I brought my cycling shoes with me. They tried helping me with the saddle height but since I brought my multi-tool on the trip, I said I would make more adjustments myself. After that, we loaded the bicycle into my mom’s car for the ride back to her place.

I got up early the next morning in an effort to try and beat the heat but mainly so that I could have more time in the pool later in the day. My mom and Sarah saw me off but they both said my departure was anti-climatic since I wasn’t actually sure which direction I needed to head in and wound up doing a few u-turns right in the street in front of the house until I figured it out. SORRY, next time I will set off with a better understanding of my route.

The route I planned would take me south to Marco Island but I started by doing a lap of the development that my mom lives in. The streets were nice and quiet and I spotted a lot of wildlife, including white Ibis, a variety of herons, some egrets, a wild turkey, and a deer! A little different from my sightings in Brooklyn.

After the lap, I headed south on a magical, albeit short, bike trail that intersects with the entrance to the development. I felt like I was in the jungle, riding on this thing! This trail runs parallel to a main road that does feature bike lanes but I wanted to stay off the road as much as possible.

After getting through this portion of the trail, I wound up on the main road. There are dedicated bike lanes in both directions on this road but they were unprotected and rather narrow. Eventuallyyyyy, I did have to use these lanes and I was greeted by this:

What’s more dangerous, panthers or NYC traffic?

I did not let this warning dissuade me from venturing through a nature preserve but I was definitely on edge, expecting to be attacked by a variety of animals. I ran into two cyclists heading back out of the area and that leant me a bit of relief. I wasn’t sure how far this trail would take me and so I took a short break where I thought it ended.

Turns out the trail didn’t end there so I took the road about a quarter mile or so further and wound up at a bay. There were a couple of cars collecting their kayaks and one of the people complimented my bicycle! I let them know it was a rental.

In the spirit of adventure, and pretending that I wasn’t completely terrified of panthers attacking me at any given moment, I decided to ride a bit down a hiking trail that took me further along the bay.

Weeeee

After a quick stop by the water, I rode back out of the preserve and in case anyone was wondering, the scariest wildlife I came face-to-face with was a raccoon.

Alas, this was the last bit of the ride that was truly enjoyable. I continued down to Marco Island, expecting a subdued and relaxed vibe but it was really just a tropical version of Long Island (basically, my personal hell). At first I didn’t realize there were multi-use trails throughout the island but even when I DID realize, it was difficult to follow them; they often switched sides of the street or started and stopped without warning. Also, about here is where the pain started to kick in.

I knew that riding a 50 cm frame wouldn’t be TOTALLY comfortable but my own road bike is 50 cm and I rode distances on that bicycle prior to having it fitted last summer. I kind of assumed that one ride on this bicycle wouldn’t be too much of an issue but after knowing what a comfortable riding position feels like on a properly fitted bike, the pain became very obvious. I had a big reach from the saddle to the handlebars, which caused a lot of pain in my upper back and neck. Before getting off the island, I took a short break to fuel/die momentarily.

Many people stopped to ask if I was ok, which was nice, but I should probably avoid just stopping and laying down on the sides of roads when I take breaks.

While there was very little elevation gain along this route, the bridges to and from Marco Island were VERY steep. Fortunately, I was able to take in some nice views while I recovered at the top of the bridge leading me off the island. I am fairly certain that I have some symptoms of Long COVID, including shortness of breath, so it did take me a few minutes of rest after this climb. Not gonna lie, I was jealous of the people on the boat underneath me.

The road from this bridge leads down a long corridor running through more nature preserves. On top of the pain I was experiencing, there was also a lovely headwind for this portion of the ride. Cue the mental breakdown. I had been giving myself pep talks along this part because a lot of times, barriers can be mental, more than physical, but they were of no use. After a few pep talk stops, I finally had to pull over and just CRY. I was pedaling and pedaling down this long, empty road in the middle of nowhere and felt like I just wasn’t getting anywhere. It was daunting and annoying and I just didn’t want to ride anymore. At this point, I called a friend because clearly my own pep talks were not working out. He suggested I call for a ride home but that was enough motivation for me to get going again. I knew I wanted to finish this ride and get the mileage in. The pain wasn’t totally unbearable and I was hoping that after getting out of this corridor through the nature preserves, the wind might be less of an issue.

Though it seemingly took forever, I did eventually make it to the main road where there was in fact, less of a headwind. It was sort of a scenic route? To the right, there were small streams filled with so many beautiful birds but also a lot of garbage. It was flat, which I think was the only thing that kept me going to the end. With the precipitous drop in enjoyment also came a lack of photographic evidence. I eventually made it back to the path closest to my mom’s house and knew this was the home stretch!

Since I didn’t have my kitchen floor for my traditional post-ride crash, I settled for the pool and a cold drink with Bella, and set to work on my bike tan lines.