Hilton Head / Savannah verdict?
 

All,

What's the verdict on HH? I've read past older threads on it. Seems to not be good for a road bike due to amount of car traffic and the MUPs being better suited for much slower cruise/beach bikes. Has anything changed? is it safe for a roadie trying to go 15-17mph? is there a place right outside HH island that offers better road biking? lemme know.

added: oh, what about Savannah? is it a good riding place for a road biker?

Savannah would be better than HH. Just south of HH is a MUP. The trail is mostly horrible. The pine tree roots have brought up the asphalt to make it very bumpy in sections and in other sections it uses residential streets without much direction on where to go.

Forget about it.
 

Anywhere else

so I take it, you tried it? :p

Thanks. anywhere in particular for Savannah?

Well, to be honest, I realize I made a mistake. You where asking about Hilton Head and I told you about the crappy riding that is in Myrtle Beach. So what I stated above doesn't apply to Hilton Head. Sorry. :)

Hilton Head is ok. It has a lot of miles of bike trails on it. They are in good condition but they cross roads everywhere. By the ocean they are busy and slow. You will probably not find it appealing as a destination to plan a trip for riding. Besides riding, or going to the beach the island doesn't have much of anything else to offer. If I was going there I would divert to the Spanish Moss trail in Beaufort first to at least get some miles in before getting on the Hilton Head trails. That trail is 10+ miles and it isn't heavily used. I prefer to run it than bike it though.

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Your best option for Savannah is to visit Perry Rubber bike shop. They put together group rides and they are awesome folks. I am confident they would be happy to string a ride together for you if you asked them for some help. Beyond that they have 5 or so trips on their group rides page. They also have a fantastic old Colnago hanging from the rafters to drool over.
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Savannah is a better location for spending a weekend in my opinion. I never factor the ocean/beach in; however, since I have it local already. Laying on the beach all day may be your thing.

i rode in an event there a couple months ago...65 miles. it started at 7:30am so traffic was none existing. I have travel to the island for decades and never realized how good the cycling is and i am not talking about bike paths. Look up the ride they call Pedal Hilton Head, you will be pleased.

Sorry for the necrobump, but didn’t want to create another thread and this was the most recent I could find.

I have a trip to Hilton Head soon and pondering whether to take my road bike or not (9 hour drive). I believe there’s only one shop that still rents road bikes, so if it is not worth it, which looks to be from previous comments, I’d rather take my chances with the rental possibility and not deal with the hitch rack and dragging my bike on the rack for 18hrs round trip. Thanks

I was there in late July/early August. This was my first visit to the island and I wasn't sure whether to take a bike or rent either. Packing for a family of 6 removed the bring-a-bike option. Instead, I packed to run, and this is just my observations from that perspective. I would get up early and run the trails on the northern end of the island (Port Royal) where it was much less crowded. I did see a lot more road riders than I expected on the roads at that time of the morning, but I also saw a lot more traffic than I expected. You could tell it was frustrating some of the drivers by the "angry pass" since they probably don't understand why that guy on the bike wasn't using all those wide, wonderful trails all over their island. The trails were definitely not the place to be either unless you were just enjoying them as a meandering family outing or a way to cruise around.

It may also depend on what you are used to and what you want to get out of it. I'm used to long loops through small towns, rural areas, and wide open farmland.

Ride it
 

I rode that ride 2 years ago and loved it. It is advertised poorly and getting information about it is damn near impossible. There is some nonsense about a lead out and certain areas where you have to slow down or go faster for something can't remember but that never happened. It's a road bike iveta Brown and definitely not a cruiser event unless there's one on a beach someplace that weekend. It starts right after the sun comes up and there's hardly any traffic on the road

Ride it
 

I rode that ride 2 years ago and loved it. It is advertised poorly and getting information about it is damn near impossible. There is some nonsense about a lead out and certain areas where you have to slow down or go faster for something can't remember but that never happened. It's a road bike iveta Brown and definitely not a cruiser event unless there's one on a beach someplace that weekend. It starts right after the sun comes up and there's hardly any traffic on the road

An alternative would be the Silver Comet and Chief Ladiga Trail.
Runs from Atlanta (Smyrna to Anniston, Alabama. Pave bike trail.
This is just under 100 miles but with side trips to Lodging and food you will be over.
Here is a link: https://bikesilvercomet.com/mileage-...x?cid=4&dir=up

Good luck

Just for future reference to others. I did not take my bike either, but it seems to be marginal. I did see some riders on north beach forest drive and groups of 5-6 riders going a pace line in the MUP :eek:. The rest of what I’ve seen did not seem that good to me. Definitely doable, but not worth the hassle of driving with a bike on the rack for 9 hours for a 3 day stay.

I've ridden in HH and Savannah (mostly Tybee Island and neighborhoods just in the mainland) and both places pretty much suck as cycling destinations. Now noodling around, stopping for a margarita, they're ok. But for putting your head down and getting a workout, it's not worth it.

BUT - I have no experience in this area, I don't live where it snows, but I understand that fat tire bikes can be fun to ride in the sand. It sounds a bit one-dimensional to me, but riding on the beach may be better than riding on roads/greenways in those areas.

HH was poor in my opinion.