Anyone on this Forum live in SO FLORIDA and LIKE It … ?
I just learned that Broward and Miami Dade is Hit & Run Capitol of US …
I also read that SO FLORIDA is #1 in Bicycle Related Deaths … Is that true?
Thx
The biggest problem is you’re asking for two things that don’t match up well…near the beach AND good safe cycling. Need to pick one or the other.
In southeast FL you can’t go east (ocean) and you can’t go west (swamp). So what you’re left with is a 20mi wide strip of usable land that is highly crowded.
We just went to FTL for vacation, which was great, but I would never want to live/bike there. We visited both Clermont and Ocala for several days, which seemed brilliant for cycling/tri. Basically you need to move inland if you want good cycling. Good cycling and urban sprawl usually don’t mix well no matter what state you’re in.
I think people lump “Florida” into one big assumption that you’re near the beach…but there’s tons of inland cities/towns that are totally different than the beach cities/towns. Beach usually equals crowded. Clermont/Ocala and Fort Laud are two totally different worlds. Yet you can still drive to the beach in an hour if you want to
I do and I do.
Come a bit further north from Ft. Laud, it gets better up here. You aren’t going to find the “sleepyness” from the towns you mentioned you lived in before, the tri county area is like the 4th largest megalopolis in the US if you take WPB, FTL and MIA, that’s like trying to find a good place to ride in Chicago.
That said, I ride regularly on A1A starting in Deerfield Beach (anything south of there is sketchy for bike lanes and traffic IMO) and heading north, it gets better and better the further north you go, Boca to Peanut Island makes for a nice 60 mi loop and you go through some great parts of Palm Beach. If you’re gonna get hit by a car, best it be a Bentley coming out of an $20MM Oceanfront mansion! 
Yes, it’s not totally safe, but up here there aren’t too many club goers trying to get home (as you find on Rickenbacker) though you have to be aware of the old folks. There are SO MANY riders on A1A on the weekends in the early morning that I feel safer, every car on the road knows there are cyclists around.
As to why I like SoFla…thats for another thread.
If you want to PM me I’ll give you more details on the area and some of the triathletes up here, happy to show you a good ride.
yeap, I love it. You should move
What … ?
I don’t understand …
Maybe slightly north of Tampa where it would be easy to get onto the Suncoast Trail?
http://www.dep.state.fl.us/gwt/guide/regions/westcentral/trails/suncoast.htm
I lived in Delray for a couple of decades. Liked the area and the ride north from Delray is ok but it get’s real boring doing the same ride over and over again can’t count the times I rode from Delray to P.B then down to Port Everglades then home to Delray, makes a good ironman training ride. Left delray for Charleston S.C. more variety for riding but a little scary sharing the roads with the local bike haters. Moved to Sydney Australia back in November the locals here think the drivers hate them I just laugh and say let me take you to Charleston or South Florida! If you are looking for good riding you probably have to get out of florida maybe California or better yet South of France or Northern Italy!
I train in Melbourne Beach over summer and love it. The part of A1A from Melbourne Beach south to Wabasso is a two-lane road with a great bike shoulder. 50-ish miles round trip with ZERO traffic lights. On average for this ride I see ~20 cars each way and never any issues. It’s flat but still a great chance to get aero and just ride straight. There are lots of places to run free of any traffic issues and this barrier island is between a river and ocean, and I swim in both.
I lived and trained in Miami for four years and would have to say that the complaints about cyclists and traffic need to be balanced by two factors 1. Lots of people are riding on the roads morning and evening 365 days a year and in places like Key Biscayne that can include thousands of people on the weekends. Having lived in Tennessee I have to say Tennessee is several orders of magnitudes more dangerous and terrifying to train in and if more people trained there far more cyclists would get hit. In Miami cyclists are hated but expected on may routes in TN noone was expecting a cyclists and many of the drivers felt they it was there responsibility to run you off the road. Have ridden extensively on key Biscayne I have seen some really dangerous riding and accidents involving cars where the cyclists was to blame. That being said all the fatal accidents I know of were drunk drivers and hit and runs where the driver was 100% at fault so safe riding doesn’t prevent tragedy. The route south from Miami to Homestead and Flamingo via Roberts however is almost traffic free with great long straight roads and the best and safest training ride I have ever done and the only accident I ever saw on the route was due to cyclists stupidy and didn’t involve cars.
Florida is a terrible state for riding. I live in central Florida. The heat and shitty terrain are not the problem. The drivers are the problem. Drivers view riders as a nuisance. People drive like they are running late for a merger, when in reality, they are going to red lobster or the olive garden to stuff their faces.
Just curious, where did you live before moving? I just spent a week in PVB and am thinking about retiring there in a few years.
I just bought a home in St. John’s County north of St. Augustine. I specifically chose the area because there is ton of cycling roads. There are mapped loops that over 120 miles long, and I’ve seen a lot of cyclists and some fairly safe roads. It’s not Wisconsin with all the safe farm town roads that are make it a cycling mecca, but I think the upper east of the State has some fairly good safe cycling.
Having said that, is there truly any road that is safe for cycling? We are sharing them with cars.
how old are you?
sounds like you are not working and retired. or are you working out of your house?
anyway, point is, if you are 55 or older (with some exceptions) you should consider ‘the villages’ just south of Ocala in central florida.
we don’t have a great tri group but plenty of good riders. there are really good roads inside the community and some good quiet rual roads outside the town. there is a masters swim team and plenty of pools. Lake Weir is nearby (where they had the HITS Tri a few weeks ago). good running along ‘golf cart trails’. and all in all a pretty safe place. it’s kinda crowded from Jan to Apr but very quiet in the summer.
we are about 40min drive from Sugarloaf and ususally get a group going out there once a week. there is also the Van Fleet trail (30mi) about 35min drive that is great for TTing. Also, Silver Lake is a great TT course.
let me know if you have any questions.
the safest place in florida to ride is on a trainer in front of your TV
or in clermont
.
I train in Melbourne Beach over summer and love it. The part of A1A from Melbourne Beach south to Wabasso is a two-lane road with a great bike shoulder. 50-ish miles round trip with ZERO traffic lights. On average for this ride I see ~20 cars each way and never any issues. It’s flat but still a great chance to get aero and just ride straight. There are lots of places to run free of any traffic issues and this barrier island is between a river and ocean, and I swim in both.
I usually have more than 20 cars go by me on the way from Ocean Ave to Vero/Wabasso…but I agree that it is a very nice ride with a decent shoulder no traffic lights and quite a few gas stations/bait shops to get food and Gatorade. Sometimes when a F-350 with a trailered boat blows by you on the way to the inlet it wakes you up too…
I live just a little north and like riding this route here.
http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/63479728
The only hairy part if when you are crossing the 520 Causeway from Merritt Island back to Cocoa Village. Other than that, nice shoulders for the roads that do have traffic, plenty of roads with light vehicle traffic, and plenty of places to stop for something to eat and drink. Usually there are other cyclists that will cross paths rather frequently in case you have any problems on your ride.
Anyone here living in CORAL GABLES ?
Coral Gables seems like one of the better neighborhoods in Miami in terms of clean, nice, safety and centrally located, and decent for Road / Tri Biking or Training. The other day, I saw tons of people riding from Brickell over the bridges to KEY BISCAYNE and back … Seems like a great area to live and ride. Am I missing something … ?
Thx
Trails. FWIW, I read somewhere that Florida has more trail mileage then any other state. I ride the West Orange Trail in the Apopka area all the time. You have some intersections but it gives 22 miles of relative safety as long as you can dodge people walking their dogs. Plus it connects to the South Lake Trail in Clermont for more mileage as needed.
Maybe think about the west coast of Florida? We live on Sanibel Island, off the coast of Fort Myers, and between here and Captiva Island, and adding in the causeway/ bridges, you can get in 40 miles with very few stop signs, zero traffic lights and maximum speed limit of 35. Very quiet here most of the year (except for Feb thru April, tourist season), no nightlife which is fine with us (although if you want it you can go off the island to Ft Myers or Naples). Pretty close knit community, most people are very friendly and share a love of nature and the outdoors (over half the island is preserved land). We have a state of the art community rec center with a nice 25 yd outdoor pool open all year (heated in winter, cooled in summer). And to top that off, we have world famous beautiful beaches. And no, I’m not a real estate agent
Good luck with your decision.
+1 on FL West coast, North of Tampa. Sure the roads suck (watch out for the great southern migration of Buick’s every fall) but there are places to ride safely. I live on the Gulf in Hudson and ride the Sun Coast Trail most of the time - leaving from Starky Park rides of up to 100 miles are possible on very smooth pavement. The trail is around 50 miles long, with NO cars, and some (minor) hills at the North end. All Florida weather is truly awful in the summer though.
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sebring florida, many back roads, light traffic and good paved roads. lakes all over the place. orange groves and cattle country.