Miami Florida is no Mooloolaba

I chose to include “Florida” in my title because when I tried to look up the weather for “Miami” I found that a surprising number of cities share the name (Arizona, Missouri, Indiana and Canada).

This weekend I’ll be racing in the Nautica South Beach Triathlon Presented by Toyota for my second time (Last year it was titled the “Inaugural Nautica South Beach Triathlon Presented by Toyota”).

I’m avoiding actually talking about being in Miami because it’s really a step down from Santos, Honolulu and Mooloolaba. Whoever designed the Miami metropolitan area just didn’t have  cycling running and swimming in mind. There are exceptions to this, of course. The Hall of Fame Pool in Fort Lauderdale, for example, is awesome. And the abundance of uncrowded golf courses make for decent running (if you can avoid being kicked off or hit with a ball). So far, I have not found an exception for cycling. Yesterday I rode circles in a business park for an hour with my friend Jesus (Who is giving me a place to say – in return I’m writing a blog talking trash on his city. He can talk trash on Seattle only after he visits me.). Apparently this particular business park hosts several criteriums and is a well known training center for the local cyclists. I have to admire that dedication – a single week is going to push my limits.

The area is laid out as a giant grid of 50mph boulevards that are half a mile wide and which make it impossible to walk, run or ride to anything. The automobile is king, and those in their automobiles will make you violently aware of that with horns, verbal threats and intentional close calls. Jesus used to ride work, but decided it was too dangerous after the fourth or fifth person told him, “next time I see you I’ll run you over.” He was just riding a bike!

My response to this type of person is normally, “I’m sorry, was my 42cm wide bicycle making it difficult for you to carry around those four empty seats?” But the prevalence of 20,000 ton American branded mega-cars makes me think twice about making these drivers realize their own stupidity. I value my life more than the satisfaction of being right.