Image courtesy of Ines Hegedus-Garcia at Flickr.com
Key Biscayne is an island almost three miles Southeast of the coast of Miami City, and both points are connected by the Rickenbacker Causeway. It is surrounded by the Bay of Biscayne and the national park of the same name. This bike tourism route in Florida extends through 17 miles between the access bridge where you must cross the toll booths and the lighthouse that is located at the end of the island, inside the Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park. We’ll also go through Virginia Key, the Crandon Park and the City of Key Biscayne. In the end we will return to the entrance in Miami. This route takes about two hours to complete.
Regarding the bike ride, it is a classic one among the biking enthusiasts in the city of Miami and the entire road has special lanes for these vehicles.
The route itself goes over the Rickenbacker Causeway since its beginning in the US 1, shortly before the toll booth in the entrance of Key Biscayne, going through the first bridge that falls over a small island that functions as a link before getting to Virginia Key, through the spectacular 6-lane wide viaduct, 25 meters above sea level. Right next to it is its predecessor, almost at sea level, and that is used today as a fishing pier. Its northern side has been dismantled piece by piece. Virginia Key was part of a barrier island that hurricanes modified during the course of centuries. In 1849 topographer Frederick H. Gerdes realized that the island was not in maps of a decade before and gave it its name. Through this zone we can also see the magnificent and renowned Miami Sea aquarium, the now disused Miami Marine Stadium or the historic Virginia Key Beach Park, a landmark of the struggle for African-American civil rights in the not very ancient time of racial segregation. In this park, parts of Jim Carrey’s movie “Ace Ventura” were filmed.
Crossing the third bridge we’ll finally reach the Biscayne island as the road becomes Crandon Boulevard. We will then ride past Crandon Park, the golf club and the renowned tennis club that has been the setting for so many sportive prowesses. Shortly we will be in the city of Key Biscayne, which we will cross in a matter of only one and a half miles. Next we will enter the Bill Baggs State Park, through the same street, until the sea, which is right at the end of the parking lot. There we turn left along the coast on a dirt track and as the semi circle of the Southern shore of the island closes, we will start seeing the silhouette of the white, 95 feet-tall lighthouse. A road between the trees will guide us until the base of the tower to end up in the parking lot again. From that point on, everything left for us to go through will be familiar: it's time to go back to Miami.
Regarding the bike ride, it is a classic one among the biking enthusiasts in the city of Miami and the entire road has special lanes for these vehicles.
The route itself goes over the Rickenbacker Causeway since its beginning in the US 1, shortly before the toll booth in the entrance of Key Biscayne, going through the first bridge that falls over a small island that functions as a link before getting to Virginia Key, through the spectacular 6-lane wide viaduct, 25 meters above sea level. Right next to it is its predecessor, almost at sea level, and that is used today as a fishing pier. Its northern side has been dismantled piece by piece. Virginia Key was part of a barrier island that hurricanes modified during the course of centuries. In 1849 topographer Frederick H. Gerdes realized that the island was not in maps of a decade before and gave it its name. Through this zone we can also see the magnificent and renowned Miami Sea aquarium, the now disused Miami Marine Stadium or the historic Virginia Key Beach Park, a landmark of the struggle for African-American civil rights in the not very ancient time of racial segregation. In this park, parts of Jim Carrey’s movie “Ace Ventura” were filmed.
Crossing the third bridge we’ll finally reach the Biscayne island as the road becomes Crandon Boulevard. We will then ride past Crandon Park, the golf club and the renowned tennis club that has been the setting for so many sportive prowesses. Shortly we will be in the city of Key Biscayne, which we will cross in a matter of only one and a half miles. Next we will enter the Bill Baggs State Park, through the same street, until the sea, which is right at the end of the parking lot. There we turn left along the coast on a dirt track and as the semi circle of the Southern shore of the island closes, we will start seeing the silhouette of the white, 95 feet-tall lighthouse. A road between the trees will guide us until the base of the tower to end up in the parking lot again. From that point on, everything left for us to go through will be familiar: it's time to go back to Miami.
Image courtesy of joiseyshowaa at Flickr.com
But before, if we look south from the lighthouse, we will see that a mile from there is a group of houses that is literally in the sea. The area has been known since the 1920s and 30s as Stiltsville, after the pillars that hold the structures at about 10 feet above sea level. The complex is inside the Biscayne Bay National Park and currently there are only seven of these curious buildings. Their most splendorous time was the decade of 1960, about 27 buildings existed then. In the beginning they were social clubs, from simple fishermen's associations up to lobbies for important influencers.