Was just reading IMSPARTICUS’ post about this past weekend’s Safety Harbor Race & thought it would be cool if we all ended up meeting up one of these days for a ride and cook out or something. Not sure how many Mad Dogs are also ST’ers.
Anyway, just a thought. Hope all of you are enjoying “the off season”.
SemperTri,
Im new to the Tampa area and have been doing the majority of my training rides on the Suncoast Trail. Any suggestions of alternatives? Thanks in advance.
J.C
Welcome to Tampa!! I am sure some of the other folks may be able to give you better suggestions but I personally think the Suncoast Trail is the best area to ride. I say that mostly because you don’t have to worry about vehicle traffic or numerous trail interruptions/pedestrians AND you can ride forever.
Everywhere else seems to have the problems I mentioned. However, I’d also ride Gulf Blvd and Ft. DeSoto area. I’m jst paranoid about vehicle traffice though so I am probably leaving some good places out. Looking forward to seeing everyone else’s responses.
Shoot me a PM and let’s see if we can get out for a ride or welcome you properly to Tampa!!
I did the Safety Harbor Du as well.
My long rides are on the Suncoast Trail as well. I usually make it there on Sat mornings along with many others. Also, San Antonio is a common place to ride as there are hills there and there are 3 known routes, with one being 60 miles. I am going to do the 60 mile ride in early Jan.
We are also new to Tampa and any new altermatives would be good for us. We ride the Suncoast mostly on Saturday morning and Flatwoods on Sunday so I can run first. My wife and I would be interested in finding new places to ride. Anyone know of trails to run on would help also.
Im in pinellas and do most of my riding in palm harbor and clearwater(taking gulf to st pete and back, etc) but i make it out to san antonio or the suncoast every weekend, usually on sundays. I prefer san antonio because of the hills plus the suncoast can get a boring and you also have the recreational people to watch out for anywhere between 54(or fern lake) and 52. I’ll be out of town until next weekend but after that i’d be willing to do a ride, assuming the ride is at a solid pace 
Something i was thinking would be cool would be to get a bunch of people, get our wetsuits and swim the rainbow river from kp hole. I think its about 1.25mi downstream, would be good chance to use the wetsuit for those of us doing wetsuit races next year(i am in march).
I live in Safety Harbor, ride long once each weekend at the Suncoast Trail.
Any options on pools. i am currently swimming at the Brandon Aquatic Center but they are more interested in making olympians or at least selling at such. I can’t get into swim until 7 p.m. which makes morning runs tougher and it forces me to rush through my swim sets. The only problem after living in the North for 50 years i don’t want to swim indoors.
Sounds like some neat ideas. Thanks for sharing! We should definitely do that sometime after the holiday season when work, visitors and everything settles down.
I swim at my gym so I don’t really have any help for you here bud. Aside from that, I’ll swim at the North Shore Pool in St. Pete or in the Gulf. I’ll ask around for you though. I am dying to get out to Flat Woods to ride though. Let’s get together one of these days. My girlfriend is just getting into riding & she’s really excited about it.
My wife and I go to Flatwoods a lot and manage to to squeeze in about 28 to 35 miles there in a short amount of time. Like everyone else vehicle traffic down here frightens us even in the car.
If you are planning on getting a gym membership or already have one, i would see if there is an LA fitness nearby. The La Fitness i go to is priced the same as other gyms, has a scy pool with 4 lap lanes(only lap lanes, no recreational pool stuff) and the best part is they are open from 5am-12pm(might be 11pm during holidays?). The hours coupled with the fact that ive never had to share a lane make swimming much more convenient.
There is an LA fitness near me but I really want to swim outdoors if at all possible. My current pool is a great facility but since they have had Olympic medal winners come from the program they are marketing a dream . The area we come from in Pennsylvania was that way with track cycling and we had a 2000 gold medalist and all the parents bought into the same way the Brandon Aquatic center does. I know it is a business but there is room for one adult lane.
In Tampa you can try UT the YMCA and Robinson HS. They all have outdoor pools. In Pinellas there is the long center and north shore pool.
Unfortunately, Brandon Aquatic(formerly Brandon Swim and Tennis) is one of the only 50 meter pools in the county. I swim at the Campo Y in Bloomingdale. They have at least 3 lanes open from open(5:30) till close every day, except for the odd evening during HS swim season. Yes, it’s only a 25 yd pool but it is rarely crowded.
For those of you in Eastern Hillsborough, here is a 50 mile route with little traffic most of the way and wide shoulders. Yes, it is getting busier and more built out but we still have a couple years before it gets too bad. I use different variations of this route to get from 30-75 miles in. And a bonus is there are only 3 or 4 stop lights on the entire route.
Nice blog Chris.
Regards,
Mark
I may check into the Y pool. I am ok with short course I don’ want to swim inside if I can avoid it I love the Brandon Aquatic Center but the hours are too late for me to fit in my other workouts like running at 5:30 AM. I compromise everything to swim and it just is not time effective. Thanks for the help.
Both the Brandon and the Campo Y pools are outside. Lunchtime swims in the summer are kind of loud with all the kids but other than that, it’s been perfect for me.
We have a good ride on Saturday mornings that goes for about 50 miles. The average pace is about 21.5 due to the traffic lights, etc… At various sprints along the route you can hit anywhere from 28-32 but its a fun ride with the roadies that welcome the triathlete.
We leave at 7:30am from Panera Bread on West Bay:
2928 W Bay Drive
Belleair Bluffs, FL 33770