Hello, I'm new here, thank you for reading my post!
A friend of mine and I (from Minnesota) are looking at flying down to Florida, starting at Palm Beach and riding to NOLA. I know the south isn't well known for being bike friendly but we did find a few routes that we planned to use portions of https://bikepacking.com/routes/edt8/ & https://bikepacking.com/routes/edt7/
Who has done a similar trip?
Questions for you:
– As far as routing, once we are out of Florida, we appear to be on our own. Does anyone have any suggestions? As far as Alys Beach -> Heron Bay, there is a lot of coastal road. It could be beautiful or terribly dangerous, anyone have any experience with this section?
– How thick of tires do I really need? I would love to keep them as narrow as possible and only as thick as necessary.
– Anything we need to consider about that area that would be worth mentioning? Anything else we should know?
Thank you!
by prettywisee
1 Comment
You can check this website for ideas or pay for the routes: https://www.singletracksamurai.com/florida-bikepacking-routes.
It’s probably the best resource for Florida. You’ll need fatter tires for Florida if you follow his routes but AL to NoLa will be mostly sealed.
After Florida, you should probably check heatmaps on RidewithGPS or even Strava. Basically you’re heading due west and will be on and off rt 90, which definitely sucks in parts. I’ve driven it many times NoLa to Pensacola. You’ll have to piece together parallel sections to stay off it and then hop back onto it to get across the bays and rivers.
In Louisiana, there really is no alternative to 90. Think fast traffic and little to no shoulder or a shoulder full of debris.
They restarted Mobile to New Orleans on Amtrak but you’d need to check if they take bikes. Ain’t no shame in skipping parts.
Good luck.