Former helicopter pilot to bicycle East Coast Greenway route both ways through Florida
Albert E. Melvin, 63, a native of Milton in the far western Panhandle, will become arguably the first cyclist to bike the Florida route of the East Coast Greenway both ways in a single journey. He plans to start October 1st and will dedicate his ride to improved awareness of military veterans health issues.
“Sure, somebody may have made this ride before,” says Trail Coordinator Eric Weis of the Princeton, NJ-based East Coast Greenway Alliance. “But if so, they never told us.”
In a nine-year U.S. Army career, Melvin, during the war years of 1968 to 1970, served as a Cobra helicopter pilot in the Central Highlands of Vietnam and then as an air ambulance pilot with the Army National Guard. He later flew for Mobil Oil in the Gulf of Mexico, for the Florida Division of Forestry, and worked as an air traffic controller in Anchorage, Alaska and in Leesburg, Virginia.
Melvin says he learned about the 586-mile route of the East Coast Greenway through Florida by online research for “a route that had a beginning and an end that I could handle in about a month. So much the better keeping the ride entirely in Florida because people need to know about this kind of route happening in our state, even if it’s as far east as you can get from where I live.”
About 200 miles of the route between Fernandina Beach and Key West are now off-road and paved, the balance mainly along Highway A1A, along quiet roads and streets that parallel the shore road, and otherwise along roads closer to U.S. 1 than A1A.
Melvin plans to park his car in Port St. Lucie and then begin riding about 50 miles a day, first north to Fernandina Beach, then south to Key West and north again to Port St. Lucie.
He’ll ride a Trek 830 Antelope, equipped with lights, pulling an Aosom [cq] two-wheel tag-along bike trailer that will weigh about 80 lbs. when loaded with lightweight clothing, tent and sleeping bag, first aid and shaving kits, batteries, high energy snack bars, water, and emergency equipment. He will wear a Camelback hydration system, helmet, and gloves. A handlebar bag will hold additional person items. A locking, weather resistant hard-side cargo bin mounted on his rear bike rack will hold repair gear.
“Depending on the weather, I plan to camp along the way, to rough it as much as possible,” says Melvin.
However, as cyclists have gotten word about his ride, offers have been coming in for home stays. In Fernandina Beach, Amelia Island Trails has invited Melvin to speak. In Miami, the advocacy group Green Mobility Network plans to organize a meeting around his time there.
Between now and the start of his ride, Melvin, unemployed and 30 lbs. heavier than he wants to be, is soliciting sponsors and donors to help meet his expenses but also to raise funds for the American Legion’s veteran assistance programs. Donors can channel contributions for either purpose through American Legion Post #78, 6025 Spikes Way, Milton, Fl 32570.
Melvin will begin his trip as an ordinary non-Spandex-togged cyclist in shorts and tee shirt. He says “I've occasionally biked the Blackwater Heritage Trail here in Santa Rosa County. Other than that, my riding has been limited to local area exploration, with no trip more than five or six hours.”
Melvin ended his flying career piloting the same type helicopter that he cut his teeth on 35 years before. He calls the Cobra "a rocket ship with rotor blades that also became part of my body, an extension of a seventh-sense, difficult to put into words, but nevertheless experienced at the cellular level.
“When that bird soared, my spirit soared. When she shuddered and didn't feel right, I was out of sorts and apprehensive as well."
His love affair with the Cobra ended after nearly 10,000 accident-free flight hours when he twisted his back trying to keep his machine from damage ahead of an advancing thunderstorm.
That led to surgery for three fused vertebrae
Melvin says, “Having spent most of my life looking down on earthbound creatures, and capable of accurately predicting where I would be at a given time, I now find myself grounded in reality, walking and pedaling like everyone else, looking up frequently, and wondering how on earth anyone ever gets around without a helicopter.”
Of this ride, Al's wife of 38 years, Sylvia, a teacher and freelance writer, jokes, "Most men have a midlife crisis in their fifties. Al waited 'til his sixties."
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“I acknowledge that in this perilous economy, veterans are perhaps just another group that competes for our attention; but few other folks in this nation have ever been required to lay everything on the line the way they have, often at the risk of permanent disability or death, and often unable to adequately provide for themselves and their families. If the politicians that are so quick to dispatch our soldiers all over the globe were first required to serve under similar circumstances, I'll bet we wouldn't have this problem of veterans in need. Nor would it be so bad, if so many of our leaders didn't exhibit the attitude that our soldiers are an expendable commodity, if for no other reason, just because they are volunteers. These attitudes contribute to the problem of inadequate funding for veteran treatment - hence, the reason for this trip.”
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Al Melvin
6053 Arnies [A r n i e s] [cq] Way
Milton, Fl 32570
Home: (850) 626-8778
Cell: (850) 529-4473
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EAST COAST GREENWAY THROUGH FLORIDA
PORT ST. LUCIE-FERNANDINA BEACH-KEY WEST-PORT ST. LUCIE
TENTATIVE SCHEDULE
DAY STARTS*
Oct 1 Port St. Lucie
Oct 2 Melbourne
Oct 3 Titusville
Oct 4 Daytona Beach
Oct 5 Crescent Beach
Oct 6 Jacksonville Beach
Oct 7 Fernandina Beach
Oct 8 Ponte Vedra
Oct 9 Ormond Beach
Oct 10 Titusville
Oct 11 Melbourne
Oct 12 Vero Beach
Oct 13 Port St. Lucie
Oct 14 Palm Beach
Oct 15 Ft. Lauderdale
Oct 16 Miami
Oct 17 Florida City
Oct 18 Key Largo
Oct 19 Long Key
Oct 20 Big Pine Key
Oct 21 Key West
Oct 22 Bahia Honda Key
Oct 23 Long Key
Oct 24 Key Largo
Oct 25 Florida City
Oct 26 Miami
Oct 27 Delray Beach
Oct 28 Jupiter Island
Oct 29 Port St. Lucie
* DAILY SCHEDULE SUBJECT TO CHANGE DUE TO WEATHER & MAINTENANCE.
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