SoFloGirl68

I did my first mini test tour last week of 45 miles out on the Withlocoochee Trail, an overnight camp and then back. Now I'm looking for a slight longer trip to try of 2-4 days in Florida. I'm interested in Key Largo to Key West but I've read mixed reviews on the that ride; some people says it gorgeous and wonderful and others say it really dangerous with the road traffic and distracted drivers. Does anyone else have any tour tips for Florida? I'm willing to drive to my starting point.

djb

You didn't get back on your front rack mounting problem, how did you sort it out?
it's always considerate to acknowledge folks taking time to help you out.

djb

I should have added right away that I hope you get some good advice on routing. It's great that you're doing test outings, and it makes such a difference with riding on more pleasant roads. Sometimes on a trip there are sections that are blah, but you just get through them, so I hope you find nicer suggestions for your working stuff out short trips.

SoFloGirl68

I'm really sorry about that. I think sometimes, I lose track of what I'm doing but I certainly did not mean to be rude and will try to improve next time. I did get the front rack on. I essentially decided that it was fine if it curved out a little. I could have straightened it with additional spacers but I decided not to.

Tourist in MSN

My information is pre-Irma, so I have no clue how things may have changed since 2017.

Traffic in the Keys is heavy because the Keys are like a giant city that is one dimensional, not two dimensions, everything is linear. But, the roads and bridges have more than adequate shoulders so cycling is no problem. There frequently are bike paths across some of the islands, but the signage is poor and I often found I was riding on the road when there was a bike path close by.

I did my Florida trip with a former co-worker, we are both retired so have plenty of time. Started at Marco Island, rode east through Big Cyprus, down into Everglades, then Florida Keys to Key West, and ferry back to Marco Island. He coordinated our state park camping on the Keys, I took care of our camping sites before we got to the keys. I do recall that we did have some campsites in campgrounds in the Keys that were quite full, one night we camped in a picnic area, set up camp after 6pm and had to be out by 8am. Key Largo stayed at at private campground, they were a bit hard to find but once we found it, it was pretty good. Stayed one night in a campground at Key West, that was horrendously overpriced and half of our campsite was consumed by a giant dumpster.

I think that some people took the bus (maybe Greyhound?, not sure which) back to the mainland after riding to the Keys, that is an option you could consider provided that the bus will carry bikes. The only mass transit we took was the ferry.

Campground in Key Largo was a large private RV park.



I do not recall which State Park this was, they had a small number of hike in sites, we rolled our bikes down a wooden walkway through the mangrove to our site which was this platform. My tent was not self supported, I had to jam twigs between the floor boards to put my tent up, as my tent normally relies on tent stakes.



Not a good place for a flat tire, fortunately all of our bridge crossings were uneventful.



Our grossly overpriced campsite in Key West, unfortunately my lens had a bit of a smear on it, so the photo is not great.



Another option for a short Florida trip would be to park your car somewhere near the front gate to the Everglades and ride to the other end of the road, there is a campground there. And back out later. Some parks have a parking lot near the gate, I do not know if they have that or would allow it.

We got lucky with a campsite in Everglades that had a shade tree.



Some of the chip seal on the Everglades road was a bit rough, so don't run your tire pressure too high.



Be ready for some great photos, this was in Big Cyprus.



I do not recall which state park in the Keys had this sunset.




Have a great trip.

SoFloGirl68

Thank you! That sounds like a great plan and I love that there is a ferry and it's also a loop. I'm going to look into that!!

djb

hey, no prob and thanks for getting back. I'll stick some shots of my bikes front rack with spacers on the other thread, and various spacers I found in my doo-dads containers.

I have to say, I'm jealous of you being able to do actual test little bike trips, we're XC skiing a lot (which we love), but on two wheels, it looks like this

from my commute up here in El Norte.

Tourist in MSN

Again, this was 2017, things may have changed. The same ferry company that goes to Ft Myers also has a ferry to Marco Island. We chose Marco Island because the ferry company did not charge for parking there, Ft Myers, they did. But notify the ferry company when you will return so that the parking lot operator does not think your car is abandoned. We stayed one night at a hostel before Everglades, do not know if they still operate or not.

We were retired, had plenty of time, so some places stayed for more than one night. And some days had short distances.

Map of our route below:



Some of our route between Big Cyprus and the hostel was on roads that were not the best for cycling. You might want to look at Google Maps with the cycling layer turned on to pick routing before the trip.

Total trip was 380 miles by bike based on GPS distance, not counting the ferry ride which is also shown on the map. The dates of where we stayed are on the map. But you could make better time if you have to get back to work.

We went to the state park by Marco Island, set up our campsite. Drove to the ferry location and parked the vehicle. Then rode the bikes back to the state park.

We were there in February when everybody wants to avoid snow. (As I am typing this, it is 9 degrees (F) above outside, it will be well below zero tonite.) So, campgrounds were mostly full. A few we went to in the Keys were full and would not make room for a couple cyclists.

Our bikes on the ferry ride at the end of the trip:

djb

(don't believe him, he was really riding his electric scooter the whole time)

did you ever see that goofy movie about the old guy who rode his lawnmower all the way to another state to see his dying brother? Was a neat movie, maybe from 10, 15 years back?

SoFloGirl68

What's all that white stuff lol?

SoFloGirl68

No panniers on the bikes on the ferry? Did they make you take them off?

Tourist in MSN

Company policy, the ferry staff loads the bikes onto the ferry and they wanted everything removed from the bikes. They allowed me to keep the water bottle and my coffee thermos on the bike. But, I had to carry the panniers and handlebar bag onto the ferry as carryon baggage.

Snow here was pretty soft and deep recently, gave me a chance to get the Alaskan snow shoes out of storage, have not used those for several years.

djb

ah, it's nothing but this stuff, we use it on donuts and sponge cakes.

indyfabz

The Straight Story

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Straight_Story

djb

Geez Louise, 22 years ago!
And from Mr Eraserhead to boot!
I'd forgotten that.
I do remember the film and vey much enjoying it. Almost certainly rented it years afterwards though as we had our hands full of kids around then..

hfbill

Watch out for fishing hooks on the bridges. The bridges in the Keys especially are loaded with them. For what it's worth, I had one too many near death experiences in Florida so I don't bike there anymore. Be very careful!

indyfabz

Bassmanbob

Key Largo to Key West:
I did a Key Largo to Key West Century ride in February 2018 (after Hurricane Irma), and it was pretty much fine. I say pretty much because there were two areas that still stick out in my mind. 1. The Seven Mile Bridge: There is a nice shoulder for you to ride on, but there are also 18 wheeler trucks driving by you at 50-60 mph. It was a butt clenching portion of the ride, but I would do it again. 2. Marathon Key: It is commercially built up with lots of traffic and no good bike shoulder/ bike lane. We cycled on the sidewalks (legal in Florida unless posted in major cities). Fortunately Marathon Key is not a marathon long. It was about 107 miles from the Florida Keys Visitor Center in Key Largo to the Southern Most Point in Key West.

I did a nice overnight Withlacoochee Trail tour with my dog in the summer of 2017. It's a great path to do your first test tour.

If you are considering a one way tour and you're from southern Florida, here on the Treasure Coast, you can start in Palm Beach County, just north of Riviera Beach and camp at Jonathon Dickinson State Park in Hobe Sound, cycle up A1A (not US1) along Hutchinson Island and camp at the KOA in Fort Pierce. This KOA is not too cozy, but it's there. There is also a newer KOA being opened soon about four or five miles west of the KOA on US 1 in Ft. Pierce. Then you can cycle up to Sebastian River State Park. An alternative would be to bike west on route 70 from Ft. Pierce to the Okeechobee KOA on 441. That's a much nicer KOA too.

The current problems with some Florida campgrounds are availability. Many are completely booked solid. I've heard that with the pandemic, people are camping more so they don't have to go to hotels. Also, make sure you see if a campground is allowing tent camping too. I was going to do a short test tour to include the KOA in Ft. Pierce, but they cancelled my tent reservation, stating that tent campers will rely more on their facilities and possibly spread COVID-19 more easily. Oddly, the KOA in Okeechobee was OK with the reservation. I guess they are independently owned.

tommymc

Welcome to the touring world. There are quite a few dedicated paths in Florida from 10 to 40 miles in length, like the Withlacoochee you did.. Most of these are in urban areas which don't lend to much constant pedaling. On the Pinellas Trail (RR path) in St. Petersburg it would be hard to cover 10 miles per hour. If you're in the SW part of the state you can jump on a 15 mile rail trail just south of Venice for 15 mi. to Sarasota, then make your way to Bradenton where a county bus will carry you over the Skyway bridge to St. Pete. and you have the Pinellas all the way past Tarpon Springs for a total ride of about 60 miles. For the mid east coast the previous post about A1A north of Vero is a good road all the way to Cocoa.
Just north of Orlando it is possible to ride from Clermont to the coast south of New Smyrna on paths and nice roads. This route would be close to 100 miles. This is part of a planned coast to cost trail. Central Florida north of Orlando begins to have nice local roads. And north of Gainesville to Georgia and beyond there are plenty of unpaved roads if your bike can handle the softer surfaces.

Google maps is your best friend. Turn on the bicycling layer and look at road views to see pavement width and shoulder conditions. I often use county buses and rail (Orlando Sun Rail and lower east coast Tri Rail) to get across cities and bad trafficked areas. I once got from north of West Palm to Marathon on rail and bus for less than $3 with senior and vet discounts. Commuter rails are particularly easy with a loaded touring bike and bike sections on each train. On buses you should pull your baggage before loading the bike. Amtrack will take you from Miami to NYC and any where in between. They are very good with bikes secured in the luggage car for a flat $20 charge.

Bonne voyage,

Tom

Ridefreemc

Not sure if you know this, but now you can continue from the Pinellas Trail north into Pasco County, through the Starkey Wilderness Park, and on up the Suncoast Parkway without getting on a roadway. So St. Pete to the ends of the Parkway well over 100 miles?? If you would like you can ride roads over to the Withlacoochee and continue on (like using the Good Neighbor Trail.

I've ridden from Dunedin to Flagler Beach - through Orlando - on mostly rail-trails and dedicated paths. Just have to watch your navigation.

257 roberts

There is the Florida Coast to Coast (C2C) Trail about 250 miles...St. Petersburg to Titusville
mostly on trails

Ridefreemc

I was on part of that and the mapping I found was not dynamic. It splits and heads north to New Smyrna Beach too! Although there was no signage at this junction (couple of years ago) so I was guessing.

YeisiLakes

Hey, I will. Be visiting family in September and would like to do a 3-4 day tour along the A1A from Pompano Beach to Wintergarden.
I don't have a proper bike (could bring my gravel bike from Colombia or buy one there) and would like to camp (don't have the gear or much knowledge) and would like to keep the expenses as low as possible.

What do you guys suggest?

Thanx.


QUOTE=SoFloGirl68;21912302]I did my first mini test tour last week of 45 miles out on the Withlocoochee Trail, an overnight camp and then back. Now I'm looking for a slight longer trip to try of 2-4 days in Florida. I'm interested in Key Largo to Key West but I've read mixed reviews on the that ride; some people says it gorgeous and wonderful and others say it really dangerous with the road traffic and distracted drivers. Does anyone else have any tour tips for Florida? I'm willing to drive to my starting point.[/QUOTE]