I had high hopes for this ride. A riverside road followed by a nice winding section finished with a beach side cruise was expected, but that didn't happen. This is a ride to take if you are absolutely bored and just happen to be in the area. Wouldn't be one that I put on my list of regular cruises.
Our starting point today is shortly after you head south from JTB at Solana road. Get comfortable since you will be on this road a good portion of the ride. This is where I expected to be right alongside the intra-coastal, and in a way I was...only I was blocked by some impressively large houses. The speed limit here is decent, but there are tons of houses right off of the road. More than enough reason to take it easy to keep some of the older folk from pulling out in front of you as they leave their mansions. That is really all you're going to see here anyway, so you might as well just take your time and take a good look. I heard that there is a pretty good sea food joint by the name of Lulu's that is near the beginning of the straight section along the river. Follow Solana all the way down and follow the signs to get to Mickler's road. This is perhaps the most interesting stretch with some nice curves here and there, but again you'll have to handle blind driveways and neighborhood entrances. Basically you'll stay on this until you reach the beach and veer left. At this point you will be heading north back towards Jacksonville. On the map, this stretch looked like the promising beach side ride, but again you will be blocked by enormous houses and condos. While these are impressive to look at, they completely take away from the ride. Since there are so many and the road also runs alongside a golf course, the speed limit even gets reduced down to 15 mph for a long while. Follow this trail of unnecessary demonstrations of money until you reach Solana road again and take a left. This will take you back to 1A and another right will take you back towards JTB. If you miss Solana, don't sweat it since Ponte Vedra Blvd leads straight to 1A after a while.
If you do decide to go on this one, you're looking at 15 miles round trip with a run time of about 30 minutes depending on how aggressive you are and traffic. If you want to make it a little more interesting, try it at night. The dark can be quite enveloping in some areas.
Like a said before, I had high hopes for this one but I think this will have to be my first 1 out of 5. Boring roads with potentially good views blocked by enormous houses does not make for a good time. More posts are sure to follow, but I think my search for roads is going to have to extend more into the "surrounding areas" of Jacksonville now since I feel all leads have been exhausted now locally. Until next time, keep the shiny side up and be safe since we are well into the cold season now.
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