Recumbent Bike Ride through Brooksville Florida

This one's a 57-mile out-and-back on the Cruzbike S40, starting at the State Road 50 and Suncoast Parkway trailhead and heading east through Brooksville, picking up a good chunk of the Withlacoochee State Trail along the way. It was late June, temps climbing from 78 to 87 degrees, and about as good a stretch of Florida trail riding as I've found.

Into Brooksville

From the Suncoast Parkway trailhead, the route heads east along the Florida Coast to Coast Trail toward Brooksville. There's a pedestrian bridge on the way in that turned out to be the closest thing to a real climb I'd get on this ride - I dropped a couple gears off my cruising gear and went right up it, no issues. Not exactly scientific climbing data, but a decent impression of how the S40 handles an incline.

Once in the city, the last stretch before Tom Varn Park got a little confusing - a few turns weren't obviously marked as the official trail. Google Maps bailed me out, but it's worth knowing going in. Tom Varn Park itself is a nice section with water refill spots and picnic tables, and shortly after there's a bathroom near what looked like a sports complex with tennis courts - another good place to top off water before continuing on.

The Good Neighbor Trail and Croom

After Brooksville, the route picks up the Good Neighbor Trail, which meant leaving traffic and sharp turns behind for a while. I passed an old railroad facility that looked like it now operates as a museum before continuing into the Croom Wildlife Management Area - genuinely one of my favorite sections. Deep forest, birds chirping, not a car in sight. That's the kind of riding I go looking for.

Answering Questions Along the Way

I used some of the flatter miles to answer a couple of questions I'd been getting in the comments. One was about getting on and off the S40 - since it doesn't have the same running start you'd use on a Bacchetta, I just stand over the saddle, get my hands on the bars, squeeze the brakes, sit, and push off with a leg up. It's a different technique, but nothing that's held me back, even starting on an uphill.

Onto the Withlacoochee

At the Croom junction I turned south onto the Withlacoochee State Trail to explore a stretch I hadn't ridden before - miles of shaded trail that made a big difference in the late-June humidity. A crew of kids running a lemonade stand near the south end of the trail was too good to pass up, and buying a cold drink from them felt like the right way to spend a break.

My turnaround point was the Owensboro trailhead at the south end of the Withlacoochee, right around the 25-mile mark. I was running the stock 32-wide tires the S40 came with, two water bottles with electrolyte powder mixed in, and a couple of Larabars for fuel - my go-to setup for anything over about 30 miles.

The Ride Back

Heading back, I stopped at the Ridge Manor trailhead for a snack break in the shade of a pavilion - restrooms, a nice spot to reset about two and a half hours in. By the time I rolled back into the Suncoast Parkway trailhead, the total was 57 miles and the temperature had climbed to 87 degrees. Even so, the shade through Croom and the Withlacoochee kept most of the ride comfortable. Brooksville itself was the trickiest part - somewhere around 20 road crossings and a fair bit of zigzagging - but the trail sections more than made up for it, with plenty of hydration stops along the way.