Would this be a good place to do a long term house rental during a sabbatical? Say, April May 2011 for 8 weeks or so? Riding options, running routes, swimming? Florida panhandle experts please chime in. If not, what’s a better locale in Fl.?
Thanks in advance
The riding is horrible. Assuming survival is one of your priorities…
I agree the riding is awful, You could go farther west to the Alabama coast, riding in Fairhope, AL is great. You can open water swim in the bay and cottages are easy to rent on a monthly basis. Plus your close to the beaches if that’s what your looking for. The Grandman is also usually around the end of May also and the Pensacola 3-mile bay swim is around that time.
http://www.cofairhope.com/vis_lodging.php
Kind of surprised to see the panning of the local riding. I’m like the biggest bike wuss ever and I’ve got no problems other than the same five usual suspects of routes get a little repetitive after a while. If you go north of the bay, there are a couple of good safe bike routes out of the Niceville/Bluewater Bay area. Route maps in the menu on the right here:
And local bike club. Since we’re a smallish area, the trifolk and the roadies generally cross polinate in order to get a decent turnout.
Inland riding is pretty similar to what you get for IMFL, even those small bumps that folks down here consider to be hills. CR 30-A east of the Sandestin resort/outlet mall is also generally a good ride early in the morning before the touristas are too active. I think the bike route rep is bad because people think US 98 when the truth is that few of the locals consider that rideable and hit the usual alternate routes. Some people will ride the Mid Bay Bridge, and the shoulder is wide enough to be pretty safe, but there’s so much debris you’re asking to shred a tire.
Running’s pretty straightforward, and you’d be getting down here before the heat got bad. Open water swimming is pleasant that time of year. I’d check with Dragon Sports to see if they’ve still got an open water group.
Pools are actually the hardest part. Unless you’ve got a Department of Defense ID (nice big 50M pools on the Air Force bases) or your resort has a lap pool you’re limited to the Destin YMCA and its irregular hours, the Ft. Walton Beach YMCA, or buying a short term membership to the Bluewater Bay Pools network. I’d get in touch with Bluewater Barracudas and/or the YMCA and see if they’ve got a masters option. I’m pretty sure there were some tri swimmers out at the Destin Y when it was open.
http://www.bwbswimteam.com/Home.jsp?team=sesbwb
In addition to Gulf Coast, I’ve seen some info about a possible 70.3 at Navarre Beach that time in 2011. If you like flat (as in the highest point on the course is five feet above sea level) and windy, it’s the perfect course.
If you’ve got more questions, give a yell!
Thanks for all the good advice. I’ve heard Fairhope, Al. is a nice place. Little bit of cultcha’?
Another area I’m curious about is Amelia Island on the East coast. Relaize that’s a fur piece form the panhandle, but interested. I do want to be able to ride so, if the roads are treacherous it will rule me out. I’m more than happy to venture inland and off the coast highways which are notorioulsy bad anywhere (even here in Oregon).
Try Pensacola Beach (Santa Rosa Island). We have VERY good conditions for training. Can do OWS in the Gulf or in a mostly-protected Sound on the other side of the barrier island.
Riding and running is easy as well. The Island is arranged so you could get a nice 56 mile “loop” in if you rode form one end to the other and back again.
It is FLAT though. If you want some rides with climbs then this is not for you.
Check out the new company that will be starting there soon, their brochure lays it out nicely…
http://www.multisportperformanceinstitute.com/
And, here is the local tri club…
And actually, if you want to get some hills, then you just drive a little bit north of Pensacola to Milton, and you’ll get some there.
I live in Fort Walton. I prefer not to ride 98 or 30A due to traffic. However, once you head North to the mainland there is some great riding on non-crowded rural roads.
http://www.eccyclists.com/rideinfo
Knox hill Century, Freeport South and Redbay are all very nice. I would get off of 331 at 20 and stay off as much as possible. 20 has a wide shoulder and is pretty nice riding. You can take 80 North in Bruce for some nice mileage. I think the Panama City groups rides out of Bruce pretty frequently and the folks at Robins bikes have an organized ride on Saturdays.
Destin also has a new Y that has a couple nice pools. I think the Bluewater pool requires a pricey membership.
I have some friends with a place in Fernandina which is connected to Amelia Island and raced the Atlantic Coast HIM there last October and really enjoyed it. I can’t speak for daily riding and training but the roads weren’t closed during the race and there were no problems, not a lot of traffic by the beach, the downtown area is quaint and once you go west over the bridge you’re in normal society again. It’s a nice little beach town, I enjoyed it. The main beach road, I assume A1A, stretches from Fernandina Beach down to Amelia Island and on the southern point is a state park so there’s some nice quiet riding out that way.
Certainly one to consider.
Bluewater prices for year long membership, and if you do a year, it’s less than $40 per month. They do kill you on short term pool fees though.
However if the short term rentals in Bluewater Bay include pool access, it really is a great set-up for a triathlete- pools are generally not crowded, some really good 2-5 mile running loops through the development proper with relatively few intersections and cross traffic. You’re essentially right there for bike routes along Hwy 20 to Freeport and Range Rd, and only a short and pretty safe ride west across Rocky Bayou to pick up the popular (and hilly for these parts) Hwy 285 to Mossy Head.
You’re also close to White Point Park by the toll bridge office, which is a nice spot for open water swimming when you don’t want to deal with the Gulf. And if you do want to be down by the Gulf, it’s a straight shot across the bridge to the Crystal Beach part of Destin.
I’d give them a call or e-mail about pools-
http://www.bwbresort.com/index.htm
Disclaimer- I live out there and love it and tend to go into cheerleader mode about the area.
If you do go the Fairhope route, check out http://fairhopebicyclecompany.com/, Joseph is the man.
And it sounds like you aren’t tied to any one place in particular, have you considered north georgia? Hills, quiet roads, much cheaper, not quite as hot, plenty of racing. All around cool place.
I just got back from a week in the Seaside/Seagrove Beach area which is not far from Destin. We were there on vacation and I brought my bike. I met a couple local tri guys who were very nice and introduced me to the tri scene in the area. It has a couple of nice things going for it. A pretty active scene of triathletes. Several group ride options but also plenty of folks training solo. I did both. Great running paths which go for miles. It is also only a 20 minute drive from the PCB aquatic center AKA Frank Brown pool. An outdoor heated/cooled pool which is set up long course from 6am-9am daily. It is great. Many tri folks go early and swim/bike/run from there. While I was there the masters group was also putting on an open water swim in the gulf. Look at Seaside, Seagrove, Alys Beach, Santa Rosa, Rosemary Beach…all right around each other. Good luck.
Someone already mentioned this but definitely hook up with one of the group rides from Robin’s Bikes out near the outlet mall. In addition to the Saturday morning ride, I think he also had a Tuesday and Thursday ride. I use to do the Saturday morning ride with Robin’s group when I was stationed in that area and the ride was always fun. The April/May timeframe is probably one of the best times to be riding out and around the Destin/San Destin areas. Traffic should not be too bad during those months. Much more enjoyable then when the hot summer hits hard in late May/June and traffic gets super busy.
I literally just moved to the area. I would highly suggest Niceville or Crestview. Give me a PM, I found some excellent training around here.