Disclaimer: This 46-Mile Upper Tampa Trail and Tampa Bay Causeway Tour recap contains affiliate links…
Finding the Perfect Route
At least one bike ride while visiting family in Florida was a must and I left designing the route in the capable hands of my husband Bill. After a little research, he landed on a route that would take us on two trails, one wooded and similar to our trails at home, and one along Tampa Bay.
We drove to Citrus Park, Florida to the trailhead of the Upper Tampa Bay Trail where we found ample parking in a gravel lot edged by lush ferns. Even though it was a Monday morning, some sort of event was going on with two ladies checking cyclists/runners in on a huge chart. We chatted with them for a couple of minutes and they warned us of the horrible hill we’d soon be climbing (it ended up being a 4% grade where the trail crossed a road LOL).
Ten miles into our ride, we connected to the Courtney Campbell Trail. At this point we followed our GPS directions for about four miles through residential and industrial streets until we turned onto the nine-mile long path on the causeway at Tampa Bay. Once at the end of the causeway, we turned and reversed our route back to the parking lot.
Our first significant outdoor ride since riding from Key Largo to Key West, it seemed appropriate to break out our Conch Republic Mile 0 jerseys we’d picked up at the end of our epic adventure in January.
Reunited and it Feels so Good
We didn’t need to rent bikes or travel with our own because last summer when we upgraded our gravel bikes to our Cannondale Topstones, we gave our old Salsas (mine was the Journeyman) to our son and daughter-in-law. It felt so good to ride Zephyr (Salsa > Red Hot Chili Peppers > The Zephyr Song). She’s such a perfect fit for me – I upgraded for a lighter carbon frame and electronic shifters.
We took our Garmins (affiliate link) and Varia radars (affiliate link), and the respective mounts; however, I didn’t take my pedals and used the flats we’d put on when gifting the bike. As a result, I left my bike shoes at home and wore regular sneakers.
Ride Overview
- • Ride With GPS Name: 46-UpperTampaBayCauseway
- • Ride with GPS: Link to turn-by-turn navigation cue sheet
- • Location: Hillsborough County, Florida
- • Start/Finish: Citrus Park, Florida
- • Course Type: Out and back
- • Course Surface: Paved
- • Bike: Salsa Journeyman
- • Distance: 46.61 miles
- • Time: 3:27:48
- • Average Speed: 13.6 MPH
- • Maximum Speed: 23.8 MPH
- • Elevation Gain: 479 feet
- • Elevation Range: 7 to 125 feet
- • Temperature Range: 72° to 82°
- • Course Map:
Fun Pictures From Along the Way
The following pictures were taken either with my iPhone (affiliate link) or my husband’s iPhone (affiliate link) because we had forgotten to bring along our GoPro (affiliate link), our usual trusty cycling camera.
It was a beautiful morning for a ride starting at the Upper Tampa Bay Trail…
The early part of the trail was mostly shaded until we eventually crossed Rocky Creek and soon left the tree-lined trail for long stretches of open trail running along the creek and a canal…
The first restroom we found was about 4.5 miles into our ride at the Channel Park Pavilion where we stopped to refill our water bottles and grab a little fuel…
Glistening with sunscreen and zooming along the open trail…
First sign marking the Courtney Campbell Trail…
After seeing the sign for Courtney Campbell Trail, we rode through residential/industrial areas for several miles before seeing this sign leading us onto the actual trail…
Riding along upper Tampa Bay on the causeway…
Zephyr with a beautiful blue backdrop…
Unlike riding across Seven Mile Bridge on our way to Key West, there was no need to have a death grip on my handlebars while 55 MPH traffic whizzed by because pedestrians and cyclists have their own bridge parallel to vehicular traffic…
Happily riding along without the worry of getting blown off the bridge by a car…
Smiling from the safety of my own bridge…
Taking a break on the beach along the causeway on the other side of the bridge…
Once we got to the end of the causeway and onto a sidewalk running along a very busy highway (no picture), we turned to finish the last half of our ride…
Stopped for a quick rest and picture of the trail sign…
LOL, this looks like photoshop gone very bad with my head getting pasted in front of my body. Anyway, we stopped for a selfie along the causeway…
Stopped at the overlook on top of the bridge on our return trip…
Luckily, we didn’t need to use this bike repair station, but it’s always nice to see them along trails…
Cruising…
We would have loved to stop to sip on a drink and get our feet wet at this adorable little tiki bar…
We stopped for a soda and Bill got a coconut flan at this little market. Oh how I wish one of these was in our neighborhood…
We realized right away that we had made a wrong turn, but took a picture of this lovely scene before getting back on the right trail…
No words…
Looking below the trail at a path where I’m pretty sure alligators were lurking at every turn…
Closing in on the end of our beautiful ride…
Garmin Stats
Post-ride Garmin (affiliate link) picture…
Garmin map and elevation graph…
Final Thoughts on the Ride
Bill and I had a lot of fun on our little adventure and it worked out well to go on Monday while our son and daughter-in-law were working since it took much of our day (including drive time). I would highly recommend this ride if you’re in the area, and hopefully, the kids will take the Salsas back for their own adventure.
Questions:
- • Flatlanders, what do you think of 4% grades?
- • Floridians, do you put much thought in running across an alligator when out on a run or bike ride?
- • Do you stop and relax occasionally to fuel or take pictures, or barrel on through when on a long run or ride? ~ Both for me depending on the circumstances…
You have really morphed into quite the cyclist! I love to read about all of your adventures with Bill
Thanks, Deborah, we’re having a blast!
Oh, now I’m missing my long bike rides of summer! We usually make several pit stops for for “fuel” and food (and potty breaks, LOL) when we’re on long rides. I honestly don’t even know what a 4% grade would feel like…I am on so many varied rolling hills and inclines, I just go with what’s there.
Your long rides will be back before you know it! In the western part of our county where the terrain is much more hilly as it approaches the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, our climbs are often over a mile long and of the 6 to 15% nature. Now those are hills!
This looks beautiful! I want to run across that causeway someday- was it all asphalt?
To answer your questions, a 4% grade is a lot in our area of Florida, but I’m sure you giggled about that. And, it’s very rare to actually see an alligator. There are signs near all bodies of water warning about alligators, only because they COULD be there, but they rarely are. Every once in a great while there’s a story about an alligator showing up in someone’s pool though!
I’m glad you had a chance to do this ride. You can do it again (and stop at the tiki bar) next time you visit : )
Yes, it was a beautiful ride! Our entire route was paved – the trails were asphalt, but the few sidewalks we had to get on and the bridge was concrete. I would love to stop by that tiki bar sometime, but not when I have to get back on my bike and ride back to the parking lot. LOL
What a wonderful ride, Debbie!
We used to have an apartment in Naples, Florida, and I loved our flat bike rides there! We always had a coffee stop before our return ride home (for a 30-mile ride).
You did an out and back, so I’m expecting the pattern on the elevation chart to be symmetrical. Or maybe the Garmin is just not recording the elevation correctly?
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Wow, good catch on the Garmin elevation chart not being symmetrical since it was an out and back. We just checked my husband’s Garmin’s stats and his chart looks exactly the same. I have no idea why it looks like that…
We have four different couples friends who have either retired to Naples, Florida or winter down there. It’s a beautiful part of Florida.
Coming from a landlocked country, I always love photos of water! What a beautiful adventure you and your husband had and I do hope your kids are inspired to follow suit!
Thank you, Shathiso! Yes, our sons and daughter-in-laws all love the outdoors and are very athletic and enjoy running, hiking, and biking.
That looks like a really lovely ride, Debbie! Thanks so much for sharing it with us.
My cousin & her daughter (not together) live in FL. The daughter (who has young kids) sent my cousin a photos of the alligator in their backyard . . .
Eek, alligators in the back yard? I read your comment last night, but didn’t get a chance to reply until this morning. I had a dream that Pablo and a neighbor’s dog were playing in his front yard and I looked out and saw an alligator coming toward them and ran outside to protect the pups. No humans or pups were harmed in my dream! 😀
What a fun adventure! I’m very much a novice cyclist so I don’t know how I would handle a 4% incline! I’m hoping my husband and I (and little one) will do more cycling this summer!
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I bet your little one would love to go on some bike rides this summer (we had a Burley trailer for our sons when they were her age and they loved it!). We cycle in a very hilly area in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains so the short 4% grade was a bump in the road for us; however, if you live in an extremely flat area it would seem significant.
What a lovely ride! Thank you for sharing this fun adventure with us. That alligator signage would have freaked freaked me out.
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Yes, seeing the alligator sign was pretty wild.
This sounds awesome! I love how you are able to explore so many cool areas by bike.
Thanks, we had a fantastic time!