Sarasota, FL

[Haven_The_Loser]

Ive been in the area all my life, but now im cycling in the area which means its different and new to me now. Im looking for a few mild trails (maybe on proctor past 75?) or a good course for a street ride (10-30 miles is fine).

[fthrud]

There and back across the Ringling Bridge to North Longboat Key is a good ride with bike lane all the way. Siesta Key is good too - beware that from the village to the north bridge there's only a usable lane eastbound, so I take the south bridge out and the north bridge home. Lakewood Ranch Blvd, Lockwood Ridge from 17th Ave to SR70 and some sections of Tuttle, Honore and Webber all have good bike lanes. I've never seen anyone else do it, but I've taken SR70 east a couple times, there's 60 miles of good shoulder from Lakewood Ranch to Avon Park.

I'm not a roadie, to old to be fast (or even want to be fast) so I duck into a lot of side streets to get to the safer roads. I find that wherever I drive, I now automatically scan for cycling suitability to build on my routes.

[Haven_The_Loser]

thank you for the tips, i might take a shot at that 60 mile one, because it turns out i have more stamina than i thought i did

[fthrud]

Cool. I had knee surgery in late 2006 and got back on the bike for the first time in 30 years in February 2007. I got a $400 hybrid because I had no clue what my style might be - neighorhood, road riding, off road...whatever. To my surprise, I found that while I'm not remotely fast, I can keep going for hours and hours. Today I bought my "big boy bike," a Bacchetta Giro 20. I'm in love with this thing. It'll take a while to build back up to the distances I've been riding, but long term I think I'll be a lot stonger.

A good 60 mile 'there and back' on SR64 is to take the car to the Lakewood Ranch Publix, ride to Ona, replenish the fluids, then back to Lakewood Ranch for lunch at Beef O'Bradys. If you want to try that, my tour journals might help.

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/MemDay07
http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/3181

[Haven_The_Loser]

i tried riding a recumbent only once, i tipped over about 15 feet up the road and when i went to stand up, the bike shifted again and i actually stepped on the rim hard enough to bend it, so at that point i decided to stay with the regular style of bikes