Brit spending Oct Nov Dec in Palm Beach. Which Bike?
 

I come over to Palm Beach Gardens for Oct to Jan and have enjoyed doing so for several years now primarily playing golf. However this year I have started to cycle in the UK and ride with a good club here on my road-bike. I have looked at strava around PBG etc and see that a lot of the rides are trails etc and hence the question. I will be buying a bike to leave in PBG but would really appreciate some advice on the type of bike (only 1) I should purchase. My group riding is done at approx 19mph and I would dearly love to perhaps join some others to ride out there on the roads as good training but at the same time if the trails are great rides would I perhaps be best with a CX (cyclocross) bike with two sets of wheels to get the best of both worlds. Appreciate any advice in advance and would love to make some new friends to ride with.

I commuted through PBG for years and never heard of Strava or any trails. There are plenty of clubs to ride with in NPB. Cycle Science and the other shop in Juno around Donald Ross have rides all the time. I think a road bike geared pretty high would be the bike of choice for that area. The only trails Im aware of are in WPB and northerly in Martin county. The trails in Martin are mostly real sandy stuff thats sort of frustrating to ride in.

:beer:

Thanks for that info The trails were up at Jupiter Farms, River Bends Park and around that way. I popped into the shop at Juno while I was there last year, next to the Thirsty Turtle (great wings :) ) They were indicating a MB might be best but I am definitely not going down that route.

I lived right next door to the Thirsty Turtle in that little neighborhood behind it :beer: :beer: Small world !
Jupiter Farms is at least ten miles from the area of the Thursty Turtle, so maybe thats where I was confused. A nice ride is up A1A then go to Jupiter Island. Tiger Woods neighborhood :lol: The island is beautiful !!!! Scenery like in a Conde NAst magazine. At the end, eat and sip some grog at Harry and the Natives on A1 in Hobe Sound :thumb:

:beer:

I stay on PGA national so might look to do some 5mile loops on the estate, but would love to ride out to the island etc. Thirsty T is my reg thursday night hangout for some wings with the wife and a v good pal. Might seem a silly question but do you ride on the roads or the pavements there as someone told me I wasnt supposed to ride on the roads (non cyclist)
Would you still say roadbike is best?

Not a silly question at all . . . As Im sure you've seen already, Florida is a very autocentric state. I had some baaaad experiences with cars. What worked best for me was to stay in the bike lanes. There are a lot in your area and despite what 'serious' bike ppl say, I stand by my statement that sticking to the lanes is the best policy for FL unless you are in a group. If you go to Jupiter Island, there will be a few places such as bridges or no-shoulder situations where you have to go 'Type-A' and claim your 3', but you should be OK if you remain in a state of hyper awareness ! Im sure you know A1A by the beach runs all the way up the coast in a sort of convoluted manner is the best route to stick to, whenever possible. Another quick, scenic ride is Singer Island. You will want to stick to the island and not cross the bridge into Riviera Beach. There is a chance that someone will try to separate you from your bike on any block ! Ask me how I know . . . :cry: McArthur Park on the island has concerts and other events that you might find interesting, also.

In summation, you should be able to find some nice rides close to your house. Stick to lanes and use a mirror even if you havent before. Water, water, water to stay hydrated!! I would prefer a bike that's main purpose was speed. Maybe an Alu(salty air) drop-bar, hotrod bike geared seriously high. There is a BIG bike shop off of A1 in Hobe Sound, Martin County too. A left right past the fire house. Check them out. Lots of stuff and not as 'elitist' as the ones in Juno. There are guys who HAMMER up and down A1A in Juno almost every night, too. You might want to find out where they meet.
Again, to the point of redundancy, STAY AWARE !!!! South Florida will never rate as a bike/ped friendly area. :50:

Please let me know if you have any other questions and if you have a minute or two, post your experieneces. I'd love to hear another persons version of riding my old stomping ground.

Regards.
LM in KY

:beer:

Thanks "===8==" I really appreciate the input and I will be hyper aware on the roads, Do we have any other members riding in any of the groups around the Jupiter Palm Beach area ?

I live on the other side of the state from WPB. Did you do a search for "bicycle clubs in west palm beach" or something similar?
Good luck.

I have done that thanks Ron and I have made contact through strava with some of the regular riders, it just seems cheeky to interrupt strava comments with questions about group sizes etc, reality is I will turn up probably and ride at the back if they are ok with that, the first time (presuming I can hang on) I just have small questions like aero or light wheels etc as they ride coastline and I have to decide which setup to ship over

A few other resources to find local rides are meetup.com and mapmyride.com. I'd suspect both should give some options. Some of the local shops do group rides several days/week at varying speeds. Hopefully, you'll find one in your comfort zone.

Since the Palm Beach area is virtually flat, don't worry too much about wheel weight. And unless you're consistently riding 22+ mph, I think aero wheels give little benefit. Although they do look cool. Also, be careful if the area has strong crosswinds with the deeper wheels, especially if you're on the light side. Good luck.

Thanks FLvector the crosswinds were my main concern which is why I was hoping to get some feedback from local riders. Probably shipping my road frame over without wheels and buying some flo's to be delivered when I arrive but in that quandary over which depth at the moment. Wheels will possibly be used for my TT setup at home, so was looking to get 60 90 setup or maybe a pair of 60s with a 90 fortunately I'm not a lightweight so fingers crossed I wont get blown across the road into a surprised snowbird :0

The wind blowing off of the ocean onto A1A can be pretty strong at times :thumb:


Lots of times :lol: