Rides in/around and Originating from Boca Raton, Florida

A Colorado rider for the past 12 years, I have an opportunity to relocate to SE Florida. Obviously, the riding in Colorado vs. FLA will be like night and day. Flat vs. mountainous, but the upside is year-round riding vs. seasonal .

Much of my mileage (6-8K per season) is taking day-rides of the 200-300 mile variety. Each year I like to do 2-3 long weekend rides of 1000-2000 miles (longer trips are tough with my job).

So how is the local day riding in SE FLA?

Also, what are some of the popular weekender trips from south Florida? Is the BRP and the Smokie Mountains a typical weekender or is that more a week trip? What good rallys do SE Floridians go to (besides Daytona)? Any other good long weekend-type rides in the 1000-2000 mile range from FLA?

I've gotten to know the west so well (Colorado, Utah, Montana, Wyoming, etc..) that I am pretty nervous about motorcycling and my potential move. Motorcycling is a big quality of life issue for me. I could possibly decline the move but it seems like it is a great opportunity.

long weekend rides from S.E. Florida

I live in Vero Beach Fl and one of my favorite rides is up to the Barber Motorcycle museum in Birmingham Alabama. Round trip from Boca around 1500 miles. Check out their website (barbermuseum.org).

I just got my break in period over with for my new K bike and will be looking to put some miles on it. Drop me a line I'm always up for aday ride.

Some other places in south fl:

Flamingo in Everglades Nat Pk

27 north to Clermont then west on 50 to 19. 19 north is good

Ocala Nat Pk

Enjoy great time of the year to ride Fl

I live near West Palm Beach and ride every weekend. There's not a lot of diversity in South Florida riding so it can get a bit boring...no good twisties.

Here are some of the rides my riding group takes.

1. Around Lake Okeechobee (this is North and West of Boca)

2. Head west to LaBelle/Ft. Myers. There are great backroads that can get interesting ocassionally. Watch out for those roads that suddenly turn to dirt.

3. You can ride North to Vero Beach/Melbourne. It's nice riding along the water.

4. Ride up towards Ocala. This is in the middle of the state (north of Orlando) where the turnpike turns into I-75. You will actually encounter hills and twisties.

5. If you keep going north you'll hit Lake City (about 40 miles south of the GA border). This part of Florida is really different than South Florida. It's like a completely different state.

Now, if you want to head south, which admittedly I don't do often due to traffic, you can always ride down to Key Largo and then keep heading towards Key West.

Also you can take the Tamiami trail from Dade Corners West to Ft. Myers. There's a cute little town called Everglades City about 1/2 way across the trail.

BRP would be a long weekend trip. I did it last year and we did it in 4 days...I could have used another day as it was a lot of riding. The hardest part is how long it takes to get there before you can actually start some good riding

Hope this helps!

SE Florida

Welcome to SE Florida Mike.
First of all, it's great that you live in Boca, which is close to me in Fort Lauderdale. Assuming you are still down here, let me know if you want to do a Sunday morning trip down to Key Largo or across the "alley" to Naples. I used to know a group that did that the Key Largo day trip several times a year. Also, if you don't already know, we have bike week in mid-September down in Key West. If you plan to go and stay, make your reservations way ahead of time. It's about a 200 mile trip and a lot of bikers go down that time of year, which is still hot.

Also, my sister is a Harley rider. She introduced me to a couple of biker hangouts down here. There is one on US-27, called Cafe 27 about 6-7 miles South of I-595. They have live bands on weekends and bikes of all types show up there. Also, down in Fort Lauderale, if you get off I-95 on Griffin Road, Westbound, make a right on Ravenswood Drive, go over the canal and about 5 blocks more you'll come to a dive called Flossie's. It's a big biker hangout on weekends and they usually have live bands on weekends.

Year-round biking is a big plus, although it gets very hot in the summer. I don't recommend wearing a jacket during the summer due to the heat. I'm originally a Northerner myself and between the heat form the sun, heat from the cars in traffic and the heat from the engine below, one can lose a gallon a water an hour (not really, but still damn hot).

Mike,

Best riding in the state is in the center all the way to the GA/AL state lines. There are plenty of day rides from Boca as long as you stay away from the coast. Look up a series of books titled Backroad of Florida printed by Pinneapple Press they provide a lot of ideas for rides.

As far as getting to the GA mountains it is one long drive which can be done in 1 day if you are willing to slab it all the way. From my house in Sarasota to Suches it is 600 miles or 9 hours. If you went 441 all the way it would be one hell of a scenic ride but slower.

A group of the Florida Sunbeemers will be meeting at Marker 8 Restaurant in Goodland this Sunday at 12 noon, you are welcome to join us.

Goodland is close to Marco Island using US 41 it is a nice ride acroos the Everglades.

Cal Garcia

Great info posted here so far. The riding will be quite a bit different from what you've been used to, but the state is pretty varied from top to bottom and east to west. We recently finished a 1300 mile ride around south Florida from Orlando. A link to the trip diary is below and may give you a taste of the riding that awaits. If you are heading to the Georgia mountains, I second the suggestion that you ride up the middle of the state. More scenic, and less traffic.....but the trade off is a longer ride. Good luck.

http://forums.bmwmoa.org/showthread.php?p=548089&posted=1#post548089

Mike

As weekend trips I recommend Edward T, Ball Lodge in Wakulla Springs south of Tallahassee, Steinhatchee, and Appalachicola ( there are two nice B&B there). Check out the State Parks web site there is good camping between October and May and some of them also offer cabins.

As far as rallies go there are only two; Winter Rally (BMWNEF) in January and Sun Your Buns (Florida Sunbeemers) in November. Each one is unique in its own way. Winter Rally is larger and limited to 400 since it is held in a National Guard Base. Sun Your Buns is in an old oak hammock next to the Myakka River in Venice and smaller.

Cal Garcia

Hi!
I live in Boca Raton and I had recently joined the MOA - Looking to meet people to do rides. I have a K1200GT '06. Please drop me a note
Thanks

Artuzz
amunoze@yahoo.com

BlackBMW said:

A Colorado rider for the past 12 years, I have an opportunity to relocate to SE Florida. Obviously, the riding in Colorado vs. FLA will be like night and day. Flat vs. mountainous, but the upside is year-round riding vs. seasonal .

Much of my mileage (6-8K per season) is taking day-rides of the 200-300 mile variety. Each year I like to do 2-3 long weekend rides of 1000-2000 miles (longer trips are tough with my job).

So how is the local day riding in SE FLA?

Also, what are some of the popular weekender trips from south Florida? Is the BRP and the Smokie Mountains a typical weekender or is that more a week trip? What good rallys do SE Floridians go to (besides Daytona)? Any other good long weekend-type rides in the 1000-2000 mile range from FLA?

I've gotten to know the west so well (Colorado, Utah, Montana, Wyoming, etc..) that I am pretty nervous about motorcycling and my potential move. Motorcycling is a big quality of life issue for me. I could possibly decline the move but it seems like it is a great opportunity.

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