My work has quested me and the family (wife & 5yo) to take on a 2-3 year US venture, relocating from Barcelona, Spain. Relocation budget was approved this week, and visa process has commenced now. Initially considered San Diego, CA - but time difference is a challenge, as I still need to work with EU/Asia customers.
So considering South Florida, and I have colleagues (that I can benefit being close to) in Ft Lauderdale, Pompano Beach, Boca Raton.
I can see that Boca Raton has a thriving triathlon environment, with a seemingly good tri club.
I love to ride somewhere with not too much traffic, maybe even some nature gravel/running, if possible. Also, not being too far away from the beach
Open to suggestions. Any help here is much appreciated
I lived in South FL for many years, mostly around Fort Lauderdale, Boca, and Boynton Beach, and I really enjoyed it. I rode my bike quite a bit as a secondary sport, although canoe and kayak racing were my main focus. The training environment is excellent overall, with warm weather year-round, good access to the ocean, and plenty of places to stay active.
Back then, I was riding around 300 miles a week, all year long. I would not do that now. Traffic has increased too much, and Fort Lauderdale and Boca have become very busy, especially for riding outdoors. If I had to move back today, which we have actually considered a few times, I would probably choose the Palm Beach area. You still get good training options and a bit more space.
Riding your bike in the United States is not the same as in Europe. Drivers are less used to sharing the road, and you need to be more cautious and selective with routes and timing. I am probably spoiled now, since where I live the weekend roads are super quiet and perfect for long rides. When everyone is at Church, I am riding my bike
Still, for triathlon living, South FL is hard to beat if you plan your training early in the morning before traffic and heat build up.
I’m in Palm Beach County (north of where you are looking). I would not want to do a lot of riding in Boca, Ft Lauderdale, etc. Too much traffic and too many stoplights. My buddy lives in Boca and he only rides on his trainer. It’s a lot of stopping and going and not a lot of just riding without interruption. Going North gets better but traffic has increased dramatically since I moved here in 2011. You can really only ride in the mornings. I only ride outside on weekends due to traffic, time management, and my job. There’s also not a ton of routes to choose from. You either go north along the beach, or south. A lot of people have started to ride gravel more inland to get off the roads. But it’s just miles and miles of flat hard packed gravel.
We may not have hills, but we do have wind. There’s nothing quite like a 20-25 mph headwind coming home for 30-40 miles.
I’m much further north up in between Jacksonville and St. Augustine. I live in a master planned community that is consistently named one of the best places to live in Florida every year.
I have a 28 mile loop that I ride. I never leave my neighborhood and 85% of the ride is in a bike lane. We have a competition swim pool in the neighborhood for lap swimming, and countless miles of running paths and trails.
Not to mention four K-8 schools, two high schools, two water parks, a dozen community pools, a town center shopping area with grocery stores/restaurants/shops, golf cart paths to everywhere, and four miles from the ocean.
I live in Alaska but visit my mom in Palm Beach Gardens every year. There is a nice gravel bike path from Palm Beach Gardens to Jupiter with trails at the end in Jupiter that you could ride a gravel bike on. I think it’s a very nice place to ride. I am mostly scared to ride on the roads there except short bit to get to the gravel road. There are a lot of really nice outdoor pools including one in Palm Beach Gardens and one in Jupiter. You can basically drive to a triathlon just about any weekend it seems. The races I have done are really nice - put on by Game On or Integrity Multisports. I go back and forth on whether when I retire I want to stay here in Alaska where it is beautiful and not crowded and I can ride outdoors on a nice bike path or mountain biking trails from right outside my door, but it is cold, to thinking I want to retire to Florida where it is too crowded and the biking outdoors would probably be limited to mostly gravel ride but outdoor lap swimming in warm sunshine and the heat sure is nice. But so much traffic… But any weekend you want you can take a road trip to do a tri.
Not South Florida but its pretty hard to beat Clermont area for triathlon, like everywhere else its gotten way busier in the last couple of years but still some great bike routes and if you REALLY don’t want to deal with cars the Lake Apopka wildlife drive is closed to vehicles Mondays-Fridays(still have to deal with the alligators though ), you’ve got the National Training Center and Waterfront park for swimming, and a bunch of great rail trails for running. Bonus fact your entire April-October is heat prep just by walking out the door!
Sarasota? I was riding there today and came up on a Triathlon Bike smashed into a truck on the John Ringling Parkway. Rider was gone in an ambulance so only the fire truck, police, the truck, his bike and his helmet left lying on the ground.
When you are down here, go ride on Hutchinson island. It’s one of the best places to ride down here. Wide bike lane, not a ton of traffic, little interruptions.
If you are open to anywhere in the eastern time zone, l bet folks here could give you many, many good suggestions. I do not live in FL, but l have spent a lot of time there. In my opinion, l would try somewhere else in the eastern or central time zones, if you are given the choice.
A few FL problems:
summer heat is intense and inescapable if you value training outdoors
hurricanes, only getting more severe with time
auto traffic is very heavy
a huge number of very, very old and senile drivers
a lot of crazy drivers too
flat as a pancake, no good climbs
geography and ocean limits the directions you can ride
), you’ve got the National Training Center and Waterfront park for swimming, and a bunch of great rail trails for running. Bonus fact your entire April-October is heat prep just by walking out the door!