Places to Ride around Sarasota?

[Bad JuJu]

I'll be going to Sarasota (actually Lido Key) for several days later this month. Any ideas about best places to ride?

[Xrayted]

Hiya Juju, I grew up in St. Pete, north of Sarasota. There is great riding to be had in that area. As a kid, we would load up all of the bikes (6 of them) and go to Sarasota all day riding. My Mom never had a bike growing up and didn't know how to ride. But she wanted to ride with us, so my Dad bought a tandem for the both of them. Very happy childhood memories of biking in Sarasota. It is overall, a very bike friendly place. There are bike lanes and trails all though the area. I don't know if you are taking road bikes or trail bikes but this should help you either way.

Here's a link to a pdf of all kinds of state trails. http://www.visitflorida.com/images/biketrails_b_v5.pdf

You've also got South Lido Key Beach area, down at the tip. There are some nice nature trails there. Very pretty.

Here's a pdf for Myakka River Park. It's like $5 for a car to get in but it's beautiful there. http://www.floridastateparks.org/mya...s/brochure.pdf

You might also want to look up Shamrock Park, if I remember that correctly.

Have fun!!

[Bad JuJu]

Thanks, X. I'd forgotten all about the VisitFlorida site--and I live in Florida--that's a big duh-uh for me!

I'm taking my road bike so I can get in some exercise. We love our friends in Sarasota, but all we ever do when we visit with them is eat and drink. Not that there's anything wrong with that. But I would like to get my heart rate up a little higher than it gets when shopping and snacking at St. Armand's Circle.