West Orange Trail

Whenever I drive home from college, I always notice the bike overpass with a huge "West Orange Trail" sign hanging above Florida's Turnpike. Yesterday I decided to try it out. I was impressed with the trail, very similar to my favorite, the Hawthorne Trail in Gainesville/Hawthorne, FL. Although, it's a little hillier. I can't believe I complain about hills. When I used to run cross country during high school in Connecticut some of the race paths cut through mountains. The last race was tredging through snow and mountains. No wonder I don't like to run anymore. In Florida, there's no such thing as a mountain, just hill or slightly larger hill.

I started the trail out by Winter Garden and Oakland, FL. I got to ride over the turnpike, which was of course exciting. Not really sure why- just fun to say I did. I also learned that Oakland, FL got its name due to the overwhelming amount of beautiful oak trees in the area. The trail has several rest areas and even rents out bikes to people for the day, which I thought was pretty cool.

My only issue with the West Orange Trail was the distance from my house. I drove almost 30 minutes to get there, cutting through two major highways and probably racked up $6 in tolls on the Sunpass. Geez! There must be a closer entrance to home. Given my luck, I was driving straight toward the ugliest looking clouds. I would have liked to ride 25 miles, but I cut it short at nine and missed the rain by about 5 minutes. Phew! Not just any rain- it was a torrential downpour with thunder and lightning of course.

At this point I'm a little frustrated with the cycling options of Orlando. Tomorrow I'll try some of the loops near downtown, but I'm afraid of the deadending cycling lane issue. In any other state that would be ok, but people drive like maniacs here. The only place there are worse drivers than Orlando is Miami.

I'm very excited to move up, which is just 2 weeks away. Once I'm in DC, I'm counting on better trail/route options than Orlando. That should help me get into the groove of a more regular, planned out training schedule. The month of May has been extremely chaotic with packing and errands, so I'm sure June and July should be much smoother.

I took lots of fun photos on my West Orange Trail ride, and they'll be posted soon. In my jumble of packing boxes, I've somehow misplaced my camera cords to transfer the photos. Comments and suggestions always welcome!