I am thinking of heading home to florida to see some family. I was thinking of trying to hit a road race or a crit while there. I'll be in east central florida, cocoa beach/merritt island area. Any good road races within a 3-4 hour drive of there in the next few months? I don't know much of anything about the road racing scene in florida.

http://www.floridacycling.com/

Couple of Orlando time trials and that's it.

Florida's road racing scene pretty much shuts down in the summer. It's just too hot. Things pick up again in September.

Florida's road racing scene pretty much shuts down in the summer. It's just too hot. Things pick up again in September.

Is it really just the summer? I just got in road biking in September 07 and have been keeping an eye out for races. I noticed a lot of triathlons and charity rides, but not much in the road racing department. I think I remember seeing a race in south Florida and one in northern Florida, but there doesn't seem to be any real active season.

I hope I'm wrong. I would like to get into road racing. Perhaps I'm in the wrong part of the state?

The good thing about St. Pete is that it's centrally located, so you don't have to drive AS far. But yeah, there's really not that much racing going on. It's not like some parts of the country where you can race every weekend. Here you'll be lucky to find half a dozen races a year within a a few hours drive.
Then again, I've never seen a charity ride that wasn't a "race".

I am not a racer, but here is a link to a bunch of 100 milish events:
http://www.floridabicycle.org/fbtc/

also a link to weekly rides in the Cocoa area(various speeds):
http://www.spacecoastfreewheelers.com/rides.htm

and some local rides with directions:
http://www.spacecoastfreewheelers.com/maps.htm

I would say don't miss the River Road ride, and A1A is nice--
the further south on A1A you get, the better the ride.

Also recommend Sebastian Inlet park, about 30 miles south of Cocoa (camping $20), to
Melbourne and back, and/or Vero and back. And one more link, for trails:
http://www.dep.state.fl.us/gwt/guide/regions/eastcentral/eastcentral_region.htm
Orange Trail in Orlando is nice, but there are many other good trails within a couple hours. B.

Might want to post your question here too http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/verovelo/

There a plenty opf races... I guess it depends on where you are located though. Here in So. Fla. there is a race about 3 weekends out of a month. For example, the Rosewood Series (www.miamimasters.com (http://www.miamimasters.com)) runs almost every other weekend, and there are weekday (tues, thurs night) crits as well. Combine that with races in other east coast places (Stuart, Lake Worth, Jacksonville) there are enough to fill the summer calendar