Winter has just begun and by February I will have cabin fever. I do two wheel commute to work in the snow and cold but I pine for clean dry smooth roads with sunny warm days. A few riding buddies are off to Cuba but at a time when it is busy at my work and it is not possible to get away until the end of January, beginning of February. Can anyone recommend a one week cycle holiday where I will need sun block. Let us know of your past winter get away.

Peru MTB trip.

Tucson.

www.pactour.com if you want something organized.

San Diego.

I wore sunlock on my ride 2 days ago. No arm or leg warmers.

I prefer XC skiing for cabin fever. The Maskoka or Haliburton areas have good resorts for weekend getaways or look at Quebec (go by train) if you really want a getaway. Mental break of being off the bike, keep your aerobic base and great scenery.

Week north of Tampa. Week north of San Diego (Carlsbad or thereabouts). Week in Gainesville FL (that is kinda cold though).

I've gone to the SoCal area for 5? years so far, for anywhere from 1-2.5 weeks. Will be there in late Jan - early Feb.

Tampa - going there tomorrow for a week.

Hope to do one more trip in late Feb, 1 week.

cdr

Sounds interesting. Possible self guided tours from a Hotel base? Is the traffic heavy or light? What about hills? Any photos?

Unfortunately, my only experience cycling specifically in San Diego is racing. I'm actually about 4 hours North of it. The weather is still pretty nice here (if you want info on Los Angeles County, let me know), but it tends to be more consistent down there. If you are indeed enticed by this possibility, I suggest coming over to the So Cal region and posting there. I know quite a few members who would love to post routes, suggest hotels, and probably even ride with you.

Thank you, I am on my way over to So Cal region.

Depends on where you stay. If you base yourself out of, say, Carlsbad, you're in pretty good territory. PCH for longer, flatter rides, Torrey Pines climb if you do a 3 hour (to me) round trip ride.

Oceanside and Camp Pendleton north. Celo Velo or some team by that name does rides from Oceanside. SDBC seems to have rides south of Carlsbad. Swamis if you're a Cat 2 or better.

Palomar would be a 100 mile day, out and back, with a couple other climbs along the way.

Lots of bike lanes etc.

cdr

rent a van and drive to Florida....

Why would anyone want to have a cycling vacation in Florida?

why would anyone NOT want to have a cycling vacation in Florida?

I agree with SoCal. Down here to visit my parents for Christmas and it is perfect, warm but not hot. Anywhere in range of PCH is good, I have been riding about 20mi to PCH then ride for a while up or down the coast then head home. It definitely beats the hell out of Washington this time of year.

The guy is in Waterloo...if they could spend the day riding the intercoastal or in the Keys or the western part of South Florida I think they might be ok with it.

Drving out west would blow. Mountains, snow etc no fun

If $$ and time weren't issues then my choice would be New Zealand for the "winter".

ride with the pros, go to mallorca

Australia is hot and summer-like in February ... sometimes a bit too hot.

February 2009 was a horrible month, but February 2008 was lovely and Rowan and I had a great time on a bicycle tour, which I talk about here:
https://www.machka.net/2008/2008_Australian_Tour.htm

I'm hoping February 2010 will be much more like February 2008.

What the coasties don't understand is that if you live in the midwest your presence is required in Florida in late winter. There is even a sign in sheet.

Tenerife, Canaries.

Hey RacerOne, Whats your connection with Brazil?

It's Brazil, Indiana.. a little town 50 miles west of Indy on US40, I live there.

Thank you for all the ideas. With only one week at my disposal, the South pacific would take too much time to get there and back which leaves out New Zealand and Australia. Someone told me it takes 18 hours in a jet to get to Australia and a day to recover from jet lag. I have cycled in Florida but it is a bit flat but have not been to the keys. Southern California looks interesting but someone else complained that the roads could be a bit busy. With the war on drugs, Mexico is out, who would want to be always looking over their shoulder? What about Texas? Weather too risky?

With So Cal, you just need to learn the more remote roads. You might have to ride a few miles through traffic to get to them, but they are there. You might like the Conejo Valley, where I grew up... Agoura, Westlake, Thousand Oaks, Newbury Park. They have plenty of fun climbs which have much less traffic in the Winter because their main purpose it to get to the beach.

EDR might have some opinions on Texas.

I grew up near Houston, TX. Winter weather there is highly variable. It might be sunny with temps in the 60s... or it might rain for a week with temps in the 50's. Much of Texas is as flat as Florida, plus you have to deal with pick-up driving, bicycle-hating yokels on any decent back road. If you do go, the area around Austin is probably your best bet. Near the "hill country" so at least there's some elevation change.

If I wanted to go riding and have nice weather, I'd be looking at San Diego or Los Angeles not Texas...