Hi. I will be in Clermont for a little riding and swimming (and running if I have the energy). I have been there before and have done some good rides including the Buck Hill/Sugarloaf area, Dewey Robbins and Austin Merritt as well as some “head down” boring, but effective riding on that long, straight rail path west of Clermont.
What else should I do? Am I missing a good area?
Thanks,
David
San Antonio, Fl. A bit always from Clermont but typically 50 to 70 riders rolling out of the athletic field parking lot in small groups between 7:30 and 8am on Sat and Sun to ride the hills…just as good as Clermont. Sun has a big roadie ride/race with folks getting dropped throughout.
There’s another rails to trail; West Orange trail I believe 26 miles to Apopka. It’s a little less boring. You can stop by the little town of Winter Garden for great coffee (Axum) and eats.
San Antonio isn’t or wasn’t for pushovers. The police and drivers are not cyclist friendly there.
I am very familiar with both locations. I did a tri camp in Clermont in Jan 15 and have been out to San Antonio several times in the past few weeks. I feel far safer on the roads around San Antonio. The cops are only an issue for those roadies who insist on riding 2 and 3 abreast. The Florida Gran Fondo was in San Antonio on Mar 29. People didn’t care that they were holding up traffic. They don’t get that “car back” also means move the F over…or they flat don’t care. The truth is that there are jerks on both sides. I ride alone 90% of the time and have no issues out there and have seen countless courteous drivers. The police crack down on boorish cycling behavior was several years ago.
I am very familiar with both locations. I did a tri camp in Clermont in Jan 15 and have been out to San Antonio several times in the past few weeks. I feel far safer on the roads around San Antonio. The cops are only an issue for those roadies who insist on riding 2 and 3 abreast. The Florida Gran Fondo was in San Antonio on Mar 29. People didn’t care that they were holding up traffic. They don’t get that “car back” also means move the F over…or they flat don’t care. The truth is that there are jerks on both sides. I ride alone 90% of the time and have no issues out there and have seen countless courteous drivers. The police crack down on boorish cycling behavior was several years ago.
I was at Gran Fondo on March 29 and I can confirm there were definitely some inconsiderate riders who would essentially refuse to move over for cars for whatever reason. I actually heard some other cyclists yell “get the f$@#!” over when cyclists weren’t responding to “car back”.