Lake Wales FL and surrounding
 

I am moving from Minneapolis to Lake Wales Fl. I am looking for someone to ride with just to show me around. Ideally I’d like to find some 20-100mi plus routes. I’ve done some searches and comparatively Central Florida has nothing for trails. I’d prefer to avoid as much traffic as possible.

Try looking for cycling clubs.

Lake Wales might be far enough away from major population centers that you could find good riding roads without too much trouble.

There is a road race each spring in the neighboring town of Alturas .... lots of rural roads through orange groves, not a huge amount of traffic.

Not a lot of bike trails. I know there used to be a long, straight, flat trail (https://www.floridastateparks.org/pa...ee-state-trail) which a friend used to use for out-and-back centuries. and some short MUP trails in some towns---nothing like a century or even a metric century .... , a rails-to-trails near or through Orlando ....

I used to ride daily in and around Orlando. Road riding in Central Florida has vastly improved, but if you don't like cars ..... well ..... Lake Wales is west of there, and safer still.

There are (last time I was there) some decent semi-rural roads with light traffic .... worse near intersections and towns, but pretty safe and enjoyable for most of the length.

I'd suggest contacting regional clubs. Not sure how many are still active in these days of the CCP disease.

100 Central FL bike trails
 

take a browse at this link ...

{edit] Since I've been mostly a lurker here, I'm not yet allowed to post a link to another site. Do a search for 100Floridatrails dot com --> Trails --> Central Florida Region. There you will find detailed maps of a number of decent trails in the area.

I'm in Lakeland. Not too far from Lake Wales. You'll find a decent amount of paved trails in Polk County. The development of the road infrastructure here did not anticipate bike lanes. I no longer ride on the roads here.

24+ Bike Trails, Central Florida. E-Z Map Links, 100's Photos This is a great site for Floridians, glad someone posted it.

Be warned, these are not all paved trails.

For paved trails I have ridden Fort Fraser Trail and the Chain of Lakes Trail. Good routes but short. There is an extended route off the Chain of Lakes trail which includes some roads which have a little traffic but hardly any, where a local club used to ride every Sunday.

Circle B Bar Reserve is really not for riding---it is a nature preserve, and mostly the trail is full of photographers and strolling families. This is one for your balloon-tire single-speed, and 5 mph max.

There’s a paved trail that starts in Polk City, just north west of where you are going, and ends in Mabel. I rode it when I was there for Disney.

Its 35 miles from start to finish. So 70 round trip.

Get ready for the Horrible Hundred in November 2021!

A very good bike shop called Road and Trail is probably around 20 minutes from you and has a Saturday morning ride ranging from around 30 - 60 miles. I bet there are folks there from the Lake Wales area.

No Trails would be wrong here in Central Florida there are plenty of long paved trails. West Orange Trail, 30 miles one way, Seminole Wekiva , and Van Fleet to name a few.