How'd you like this ride?

The weather is lovely and I want to ride my bicycle, but it needs some servicing.  So I'll share some images of bicycling throughout the years in Tampa.   It's great to see the old bicycles, however I am even more amazed to think of the conditions early cyclists faced in Tampa back in the day.

Leo Day, Postal Telegraph Messenger, 12 years old, and a very knowing lad. (See report of L.W.H.) Location: Tampa, Florida.

Under the bridge downtown

My friend Cesar of CesarDPhoto.com recently posted some pictures on his blog that caught my attention.  I enjoy taking my bicycle out for the occasional leisurely ride down bayshore or through downtown and sometimes I even ride it to work.  One of my biggest gripes about bicycling from South Tampa / Bayshore area into downtown is the difficult and sometimes dangerous trip over the river.  Maneuvering the one-way bridges and narrow and steep curving sidewalks that lead to them are not easy for a casual or new rider.  So I was surprised to see Cesar's photo of the pedestrian path under the Platt Street bridge, I thought that one may be there but never took the time to check for myself.

For easier browsing of the Burgert Bros. Collection try...

http://www.lamartin.com/BurgertPivotCollection/index.htm

If you haven't already stumbled upon this great website, check it out today.  The library's searchable database is a little cumbersome and slow when it comes to looking at the Burgert Bros. online collection.  Mr. LaMartin has created a wonderful index site.  Now you can instantly see the photos you are searching for.  You can browse by year if you wish, or see all those photos that weren't tagged with a year to find something that a search won't.  The site requires the  Microsoft Silverlight plugin.  Thank you Mr. LaMartin.

As the caption clearly states there are over 13000 digital images of photos from the Burgert Bros. Collection on the Tampa library's website, here they all are tiled out for your searching enjoyment: