Climbing a Bridge on My Recumbent Bike, Also Clearwater Beach

I get one question about the Cruzbike S40 more than almost any other: how does a recumbent handle a real climb? So I set out to answer it on the biggest incline the Tampa Bay area has to offer, then kept rolling across to Clearwater Beach for some sugar sand and a couple of pop culture landmarks along the way.

The Climb Everyone Asks About

I started from Coachman Park in downtown Clearwater, right on the marina next to the Intracoastal Waterway, with the causeway rising up ahead of me toward Clearwater Beach. My plan was simple: just roll the camera and climb it straight through, no stopping to collect data, so you could see for yourself whether the bike bogs down or crawls.

The causeway starts with a tight circular ramp to gain the first bit of height, then settles into a long, sustained climb the rest of the way across. I stayed in the same mid-range gear the entire time and never had to downshift or stop. I was breathing hard by the top since it's a genuinely long climb, but the bike itself never struggled - the only real challenge was threading through a couple of pedestrians right at the base of that spiral ramp.

Two Pop Culture Landmarks

Rolling into Clearwater Beach, I passed the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, which used to be a small rehab facility before it became famous as the home of Winter the Dolphin - the rescued dolphin fitted with a prosthetic tail who inspired the movie Dolphin Tale. The aquarium expanded significantly on the strength of that story, and you can still see the newer wing they added onto the original building.

Further along the beach I stopped at Hogan's Hangout, the restaurant owned by Hulk Hogan, who lived just up the road and had passed away only a couple weeks before I filmed this. He was one of my childhood heroes, so it was a genuinely bittersweet stop to make.

The Sugar Sand

Clearwater Beach earns its reputation - the sand really is like powder underfoot, nothing abrasive about it at all. I walked the bike along the main sidewalk past Pier 60, the playgrounds, and the big water slide, and you could still see bird tracks crossing the untouched sand. They even hold a Sugar Sand Festival every April where sculptors build massive sand creations right on the beach.

The Ride Back

After exploring the beach I turned back toward the causeway, and by the return climb it was pushing 90 degrees Fahrenheit - a proper Florida summer furnace. If you'd rather skip the causeway parking altogether, there's also a $3 passenger ferry that runs from the Clearwater side, which gets you a nice little boat ride across instead. Bottom line: if you've been wondering whether a recumbent can handle real hills, this one settled it for me.