St. Anthony’s Triathlon Course Opens Window to the City

In seconds, they can look to the left and see the new St. Pete Pier, which opened July 6, 2020, jutting into the bay. The Pier approach is set off by the picturesque St. Petersburg Municipal Marina, dotted with countless moored yachts. 

Two prominent museums are also visible at this point in the race – the back of the Museum of Fine Arts, with its exhibits spanning thousands of years, and the St. Petersburg Museum of History, founded in 1920, documenting the city’s past. Highlights include a standing “Little Cooperstown” exhibit on the history of baseball, certified by the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest collection of its kind. 

Just past the Pier, Demens Landing Park – a placid gathering spot built by Peter Demens in 1889 – comes into view on the bay side. And straight ahead is the former home of spring training, converted into a permanent base for the Tampa Bay Rowdies – Al Lang Stadium, a 7,500-seat waterfront facility built in 1947. 

When the St. Anthony’s Triathlon made its downtown debut, the stadium was still being used during the spring by the St. Louis Cardinals and its Florida State League Class A affiliate. For the record, the last spring training game was played there in 2008, and the Rowdies began playing there three years later.

Nestled in the same general vicinity is another hallmark sight – the ultra-modern Salvador Dali Museum, with its surrealism-style blend of curved, blue glass panels and concrete frame. The museum is home to more Dali masterpieces than any other museum in the world. Riders also will see Tropicana Field, home to the Tampa Bay Rays.

Doubling back on First Street S, cyclists head up First Avenue S moving west – quickly passing the Florida Holocaust Museum, at its current location since 1998. The museum features three floors of exhibits, dedicated to spreading awareness and educating the public on the history of the Holocaust. From there, the views blend into St. Petersburg’s everyday cityscape – passing eventually beneath Interstate-275, turning around at 28th Street S, and veering to the south on Fourth Street.

In short order, a stunning glass structure rises on the right – Lynn Pippinger Hall, which since 2017 has housed the University of South Florida’s Kate Tiedemann School of Business. The scenery begins to change after Fourth Street S curves into Sixth Street S and the bike route follows 45th Avenue S and Country Club Way S to the wooded Boyd Hill Nature Preserve, with its three miles of trails, natural habitats and tropical landscapes.

Traveling south on Dr. M.L. King (Ninth) Street, the next aesthetic destination is the southernmost tip of the county, Pinellas Point – home of the legendary Pink Streets, the distinctively pink neighborhood roads dating back to the 1920s. In the distance, the Sunshine Skyway Bridge crosses the bay and connects with Manatee County. 

Riders begin their return to Vinoy Park along 39th Avenue S, soon passing Coquina Key on the right. The route takes them by the eclectic Chattaway Restaurant, which was established in 1951, before dipping east to Third Street S – experiencing the sudden drop of famed “Thrill Hill” in St. Petersburg’s Old Southeast neighborhood. The exhilarating bump was created – as a bridge over Salt Creek – at the turn of the 20th century with the introduction of a trolley line.

Minutes later, cyclists pass by Albert Whitted Airport, a busy downtown aviation hub for small aircraft, which opened in 1928. It’s named after U.S. Naval lieutenant and St. Petersburg native James Albert Whitted, a World War I veteran tragically killed in 1923 when his plane crashed in Pensacola.