Hi. First post here. I used to live in Orlando, and I'm originally from South Florida. Thought I would chime in.

Orlando is actually more then the the tourist area. The actual downtown area is pretty nice for cyclists. Lots of small roads with little traffic going slow. A lot of old neighborhoods that you can ride through (not subdivisions like a lot of newer Florida housing). I was able to ride downtown to the bars, or over to the coffee shop, or to work, or my friends' homes, all without getting on a traffic heavy street.

Now, that being said. Basically, any thing outside of that area in Orlando is downright terrifying. Over by the university, you have to ride on the sidewalk if you want to live. All the roads are just as big and dangerous as the tourist areas. They did finally connect a trail close to the downtown area that goes almost to the school, so you can almost ride there car free. It's about 6 or 7 miles. But to get to the trail you have to ride about half a mile down State Road 50, which is a death zone, and then ride behind a mall. So, they are trying but barely.

The community has gotten stronger though. I noticed two new bike shops when I was down there back in October when there used to be like one good one and a few crap ones. Now there are options. Orlando also got the Bronze award for being a Bicycle Friendly Community, but I'm sure as you all know, that means nothing.

I biked everywhere for two years there, but I feel safer biking here in NYC now. When I lived in Orlando, the street that my house was on was one of the few streets with a painted bicycle path. The street itself was old brick but the path was paved. I could never ride out of my driveway onto the path because basically all cars coming down the road would drive with half of their tires on the path so it was less bumpy. That's Orlando for you.