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Old 11-23-11, 09:52 AM
  #12  
PatW
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I live in Central Florida. We have some pretty nice cycling in Lake County, just off to my west. I think I would start in Mount Dora and take you up to Esmeralda Marsh which is a wild life refuge with a road through it. It is a pretty nice ride. We would swing back through Umatilla and then east and back by Thrill Hill. It is actually a sort of valley between 2 ridges. But you can hit over 40 mph if you let it go. Now I don't because the road is not very smooth at the bottom.

Another nice ride is the Romp to Seville. You start just outside Deland FL. You ride north through housing and then into farm land interspersed by fern nurseries. I think they raise almost all the ferns grown for US flower arrangements round there. You continue north into a region which is all pine and nothing else. Finally, you get to the metropolis of Cody's Corners which is named for a general store which is now a convenience store. There is nothing there still. You head west through swamp and farmland until you get to Barberville. There is a convenience store there. You head south from there to Seville, there is no barber in Seville being a small town. There is a "pioneer village" there though. You go back through farmland. You pass Deleon Springs. Deleon Springs is supposed to have been the inspiration of the fountain of youth of Ponce de Leon. I don't know if it is true. I wasn't there. But hey, it might bring in tourists (it doesn't). Heading south, you go into the outskirts of Deland and go farther south and turn east. You then get to go through Cassadaga. Cassadaga is a STRANGE place. It is a community of spiritualists - you know palm readers, aura readers, and who knows what else. Kind of funky, weird and charming. The community will not let churches build there because they seem to think that it will pollute the neighborhood. Florida has some strange places. A bit to the north and you are back. The ride is scenic and it gives you a lot of looks at "Old Florida".
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