check www.windermereroadies.com for a group of riders of various abilities who ride through that area regularly if she wants company. There is a 10 mile modestly hilly dirt road (called 5 mile road I believe) off of SR27 just south of Clermont (S of Hartwood Marsh).

The GFT course hits all the major climbs in the area. The other roads/route she might want to check is Clermont to Grassy Lake to Buckhill to Sugarloaf. Lake Mary has some nice routes but I don't know them. There are two nice trails in the area, Van Fleet (48 round trip from start at route 50) or Withlacoochee 96 round trip. Both are pretty flat though.

Feel free to email me if you have any other questions, if she's basing out of the NTC there are sure to be some athletes to meet up with.

---

Marty Gaal, CSCS
One Step Beyond Coaching
Triangle Open Water Swim Series | Old School Aquathon Series
Powerstroke® Freestyle Technique DVD

Come over to the NTC and check out our pool and track. At the store inside the NTC "Gear for Multisport" George, the owner, will have all the information you will need about where to ride and run.

The weather is GREAT in Dec. - 70-75 degrees during the day - down to 55 at night. Very little humidity and not much rain. If you do stop by the NTC, please ask for me! See you in Dec. Tom Ziebart

Hi Francois--Does your digital map to which you have access have elevations? Is it accessible over the internet?

Thanks

BTW--Be careful, there will be a lot of kind hearted triathletes here who will offer to show your wife around Clermont :)

Francois,

Hit the www.windermereroadie site as Marty recommended. The bulletin board usually has discussions about the weekly ride plans. We always love more company . . . and promise to be nice to the spouse. ;)

Hi Francois--Does your digital map to which you have access have elevations? Is it accessible over the internet?

The maps I am using are from Garmin (city select north-america) to be used with GPS with mapping capabilities. I use the Garmin 60CS http://www.garmin.com/products/gpsmap60cs/ . This is one of the coolest gadget you can ever get. With a bicycle mount, it is a good 120 grams heavier than a standard bike computer, but you get climbing profiles and detailed maps as you go along as long with of course all the functions of a standard bike computer. Impossible to get lost. I will enter the bike routes you guys provided (thanks !) in the unit and my wife will be setup for her training week. Than, of course, you can upload all your data in the computer, or on web sites like motion-based.

To answer your questions more precisely:

- the product is not available on the internet although there is a online viewer that allows you to see the entire north-american data. Go to http://www.garmin.com/...ource/cityselect.jsp# and select to the right the map source viewer. The actual product is better than that and contains all roads and streets, including addresses and many data such as gas stations, food places etc. The more you zoom, the finer the details will be. Click on 'more details' on the viewer.

- city select does not have topo but you can get the US topo maps to also upload in the GPS map. http://www.garmin.com/...y/mapSource/topo.jsp# look at the map viewer to the right for sample. You can zoom on Florida until you get the definition you want (nice view of Sugarloaf Mountain) Really, really cool on the bike to figure out exactly where you are on the climb.

This is the future of bike computers.

Francois in Montreal

PS: thanks for the picture, I had a good laugh with my wife !

Thanks to all of you for the very useful info. She and her training friend will likely join the windermere roadies for a few rides and definitely check out the store at the NTC, and look up for Mr.Ziebart.

If any of you is in the Montreal area, make sure to let me know !

Francois in Montreal

On Wednesday nights at 6:15, out of the world famous South Lake Bike Shop (Washington/SR-27; ph. 352-394-3848), the South Lake Runners/Triathletes run a 40 minute loop around Lake Minneola and downtown Clermont. Various speeds and abilities. All are welcome and beer, water, soda, and pizza are always served after thanks to Mr. Marshall!

Thank you Francois, for taking so much time to respond.