illjustride

Hi everyone. Gonna be out in Fort Lauderdale for a weekend in a few weeks. I wanted to bring my road bike and try to get in a few early rides. I wanted some insight into how road cycling is there. I understand that it's flat. But anywhere safe to ride along the coast and put in some good miles? Any local club or group rides I can jump on.

Dan333SP

Don't know about Lauderdale, but I'm from Miami and rode there frequently before moving a few years ago. Drivers are absolutely trash in South Florida, so be prepared to ride extremely defensively. Try to plan any rides you do at dawn, as traffic is lighter and it's slightly cooler.

Don't know if you have facebook, but there's a group called South Florida Cycling that has a lot of posts about group rides and such in the area. Despite the limited cycling infrastructure and aggressive drivers, there are a ton of cyclists up and down the coast and there are huge group rides just about every weekend, shouldn't be too much trouble to find one.

datlas 

I visited my grandparents there MANY years ago and took my road bike. I recall that the cycling was awful. The road had potholes galore, minimal shoulders, drivers all over the road. I finally found a semi-abandoned retirement community and did laps around that instead of going from point A to point B which was too dangerous.

I hope it's better now. Please be careful.

merlinextraligh

A little bit north, toward Del Ray, you get a nice bike
lane along the beach. Personally, I won’t ride ft lauderdale and south

Bassmanbob

I live on the Treasure Coast (about a 90 minute drive north of Ft. Lauderdale). I've ridden in Ft. Lauderdale a couple of times and swear I never will again. I must admit that I don't know the cycling community there, nor the roads intimately, but unless someone I trust specifically has an area they've ridden and trust, I won't ride down there again.

If you have a car and don't mind driving 90 minutes north, the Treasure Coast Cycling Association has a 7:15 AM Saturday morning ride (B and B+ rides) out of Stuart Beach which is right next to the Elliot Museum. We ride up to the jetty in Ft. Pierce and back (about 38 miles), then go to the local bagel shop for breakfast. There usually is another ride out of Chris' Hurricane Wings parking lot on Sunday mornings in Palm City, but I'm not sure what time they ride.

rower2cyclist

How is the riding in West Palm Beach? I will be visiting in mid-April and looking for group rides Sunday-Monday-Tuesday. People say A1A is nice to ride bu drivers are not so friendly west of 95.

inspclouseau

Call around the shops. There's a Strava group called A1A cyclists or something to that effect.

I know folks that split time between where I am in Central Florida and South Florida. Jupiter and Palm Beach area is supposed to have some good group rides.

I wouldn't venture out solo down there, but finding the right group I suspect is fun.

Miami has several groups too, check out Ziel cycling club.

And Hang on tight, some fast dudes and dudettes down there.

Dan333SP

Miami basically has one place to ride safely- Key Biscayne. It has bike lanes that are protected or at least clearly marked the length of the island, and on weekend mornings there are many large/fast groups that will do laps there.

floridamtb

I o look I’ve in FTL, lots or riding on the edges, either east along A1A north from the beach to Boca or Delray or out west from Parkland south to Weston. Ignore the people that say don’t ride alone, you’ll be fine. 8000 miles in Broward last year mostly solo. But do look out for drivers, they do suck

wheelreason

Don Pan, max out your insurance first though...