[bajakirch]

While retirement is still more than a decade away for me, I'm already getting the full-court press from my wife about moving to Florida for our Golden Years.

The general consensus I've heard from those who ride in FL is that the roads are notoriously straight and uninteresting. Coming from an area of the country full of twisting roads, the thought of being surrounded by dull roads fills me with dread.

Are there any areas of the state in proximity to the coast (one of her requirements) that are known to have good riding roads?

 

[BigThump]

I grew up here and have pretty much covered most of the great Florida roads. We don't have epic roads like Tennessee or Colorado, but we have a fair share of twisty beautiful roads. Also, you get the ocean and gulf roads that are nice. I have some Youtubes that show some of our roads here although we mostly post roads while traveling around the US.

https://youtu.be/0pG-m8JLffg

I think the best area to ride is the area just north of Tampa. Brooksville & Dade City area has some elevation and lots of twisties. Enjoy your Golden Years down here and watch out for the drivers as they are crazy!

 

[NVDucati]

Your "Final Destination"

Florida is a wonderful place. However, it is not really the goto place for riding.
Picking a retirement place is a important decision. Good on you for planning ahead. Maybe some visits at various times of the year are in order.

There is the Gulf Coast area in the Panhandle that is fairly close to other states for riding. Then again you might see if you like riding a jetski.

Here is a good source for biker roads in Florida (and all around the world)
https://www.bestbikingroads.com/motorcycle-roads/united-states/routes/florida

 

[notacop]

Bitey insects, rising sea levels, sinkholes, 17 foot Pythons and Alligators that can eat you on the golf course. Just what about Florida does your wife find so compelling?

 

[Nihilate]

I would have to agree with BigThump here. I currently live in Orlando, and I have spent about 15 years total with bikes in Florida. I have also lived elsewhere including Pennsylvania and New Mexico. Florida isn't the most awesome riding locale, for sure, but you can still enjoy yourself on a bike here. Personally, all my day trips riging around are to the North West of Orlando. South of Orlando is either way populated or way straight pavement. Out East to the coast is populated and non-twisty as well.

If you were to draw a box with the four corners being Tallahassee, Jacksonville, Orlando, and Tampa, that's the zone I ride around in. The area up through and around Ocala National Forest is really nice, and on weekend mornings, you can have a good time on some curves without many cars around. Personally, I think the Ocala area would make a pretty nice retirement spot. People there are nice, costs are low, the coast is accessible, but you're far enough inland that hurricane season won't have you stressed out.

 

[BigThump]

Bitey insects, rising sea levels, sinkholes, 17 foot Pythons and Alligators that can eat you on the golf course. Just what about Florida does your wife find so compelling?

That is what we generally tell people when we don't want more people moving here! All of it true but hey, gotta work with what you got!

 

[notacop]

I know what you mean. Every New Years Parade with beautiful weather in Pasadena and the folks from the cold North wanna move West to Lala land.
I think I forgot to add HUMIDITY. You do have humidity too, eh?

 

[BigThump]

100% in the dead of summer!

 

[bajakirch]

Bitey insects, rising sea levels, sinkholes, 17 foot Pythons and Alligators that can eat you on the golf course. Just what about Florida does your wife find so compelling?

The fact that she'd never have to see another snowflake again would be at the top of the list.:smile2:

I'm not against moving south for a more temperate climate at some point. I lobbied for NC, as we've both been to the Raleigh area and liked it. But there's something about the FL lifestyle that's sucking her in.

 

[notacop]

yah gotta go where the appeal is. People think we are nuts for being in Calif. Taxes, weird ass lifestyles, earthquakes, etc. But at least for the most part we have bodacious weather. You can go from surfing at the shore to snow in the mountains to balmy weather in the deserts in the course of a day and be home for dinner. Try that in Kansas!
Snow in Calif is pretty much an elective, not a given. That's why we have droughts.

 

[Big B]

The fact that she'd never have to see another snowflake again would be at the top of the list.:smile2:

I'm not against moving south for a more temperate climate at some point. I lobbied for NC, as we've both been to the Raleigh area and liked it. But there's something about the FL lifestyle that's sucking her in.

I'd move out to Arizona or NM before Florida, I just have to have a large abundance of mountains/hills and twisty roads to go along with nice weather. :smile2: Florida is great to visit but I'd never want to live there, dear friends of ours has second home "on the ocean" in St Pete Beach and we go down a bit.

 

[bajakirch]

I'd move out to Arizona or NM before Florida

No disrespect intended, but if there's anything I dread more than flat, dull roads, it's the desert.

I've lived almost my entire life within easy access to lakes, rivers, and streams and surrounded by greenery (well, for at least half of the year). This boy was not made for desert living.

 

[Keith Falkner]

I find that I greatly enjoy two kinds of rides, and I have done a lot of both.

When I am riding with one friend or several friends, the ride is always fun, even on the flat roads south and east of Tampa, which is most of my riding. We generally have some sort of objective, such as a meal in the city of Okeechobee, where we discussed that town's approach to encouraging people to be ready for hurricane season. They knew the subject was a yawner, so they instead encouraged us to prepare for a Zombie Apocalypse, during which awful creatures would stalk the streets, traditionally armed with chunks of 2x4 lumber, and seek to batter their way into our homes. If you prepare to defend against that menace, you may in fact prepare well for a hurricane.

As you can see, the meeting was much more the objective than merely burning gas.

Unplanned events occur of course, such as the time an experienced rider made an emergency stop
and vigorously ripped off his helmet and swatted the wasps that were stinging his head and neck.
I was astonished that he kept the machine upright!

The other kind of riding I like is long solo rides, generally to a specific destination,
such as Vancouver Canada. On two occasions when I undertook that ride too early in the year,
and had to turn back before even reaching a Pacific State, the outings were still fun, but of course
only about 600 miles of each ride were in Florida. On one of those rides, I was impressed by the sandstone cliffs that are abundant in New Mexico. The droopy and saggy features of the cliffsides reminded me strongly of Statler and Waldorf, two kibitzers in The Muppet Show, who watch from a box seat, and offer disparaging opinions about the performers, other Muppets of course. I felt that those old geezers kept appearing amid the sandstone and were criticizing my riding style and my shabby luggage, etc. and offering bets about when I would fall or run out of gas (as I nearly did north of Roswell NM).

As you can see, a positive attitude toward the most routine of rides makes that ride a treat.

For instance, I reckon I will be riding ten miles in heavy rain twice tomorrow,
and my rainsuit is leaky enough that I will take a change of clothes with me.

C'est la vie.

Perhaps I will be welcoming you to Florida one of these days.
Keith

 

[Highwayman2016]

No disrespect intended, but if there's anything I dread more than flat, dull roads, it's the desert.



I've lived almost my entire life within easy access to lakes, rivers, and streams and surrounded by greenery (well, for at least half of the year). This boy was not made for desert living.

The thing about that is Arizona is not all desert, you can go up in the mountains Sedona, Flagstaff, etc. I live in Las Vegas and we have mountains to escape to in the summer. We can ride all year and yes, summer is hot but in 20 miles I am up in the mountains over 8,000 feet and it's 30 degrees cooler. In two hours I can be in Utah. You gotta do some research.

30 miles from my house in the Las Vegas Valley.

 

[Highwayman2016]

While retirement is still more than a decade away for me, I'm already getting the full-court press from my wife about moving to Florida for our Golden Years.

The general consensus I've heard from those who ride in FL is that the roads are notoriously straight and uninteresting. Coming from an area of the country full of twisting roads, the thought of being surrounded by dull roads fills me with dread.

Are there any areas of the state in proximity to the coast (one of her requirements) that are known to have good riding roads?

Maybe look in the panhandle and you would be close to Georgia and Alabama.

 

[Null 13]

No disrespect intended, but if there's anything I dread more than flat, dull roads, it's the desert.

I've lived almost my entire life within easy access to lakes, rivers, and streams and surrounded by greenery (well, for at least half of the year). This boy was not made for desert living.

Being from a place with many mountains, i was amazed by flat lands. Green pastures of Kansas and the desertic Nevada, i have loved every moment of it.

I've been wanting to go to FL for a while, maybe this year if i'm lucky lol.

 

[Makonasson]

I would have to agree with BigThump here. I currently live in Orlando, and I have spent about 15 years total with bikes in Florida. I have also lived elsewhere including Pennsylvania and New Mexico. Florida isn't the most awesome riding locale, for sure, but you can still enjoy yourself on a bike here. Personally, all my day trips riging around are to the North West of Orlando. South of Orlando is either way populated or way straight pavement. Out East to the coast is populated and non-twisty as well.

If you were to draw a box with the four corners being Tallahassee, Jacksonville, Orlando, and Tampa, that's the zone I ride around in. The area up through and around Ocala National Forest is really nice, and on weekend mornings, you can have a good time on some curves without many cars around. Personally, I think the Ocala area would make a pretty nice retirement spot. People there are nice, costs are low, the coast is accessible, but you're far enough inland that hurricane season won't have you stressed out.

There are a lot of great places to ride in FL, once you get out of the cities.

I live in Orlando, but grew up in rural area outside of Gainesville. After traveling extensively, moved back to FL.

Granted there aren't and mountain or canyon roads but taking some original hwy corridors, there are some great scenic routes.

Best of luck!

Mako

Granted there

 

[rambunkshuss]

I moved to Jacksonville, FL, 10 years ago after living in Jersey most of my life. Florida roads are mostly flat and straight, which is perfect for cruisers, but boring for sport riders. The scenery can be pleasant as there are plenty of forests and lakes in the interior. Riding along the coast can be tedious because everybody wants to live there, and the roads are often congested. There are some nice coastal stretches from Amelia Island south to Heksher Drive, but that's only about 25 miles. Then below Ponte Vedra, there is a nice streak of about 20 miles to Vilano Beach. Then below ST. Augustine down to Daytona, the coastal ride is pleasant and scenic. There are canopied roads outside of Ormond Beach which loop around toward Daytona Beach. And you can take your bike onto the beach in Daytona. From North Florida, you'd have to ride 2-3 hours to get to the foothills of the Appalachians in Georgia for some curvy, elevated roads. Don't miss the superb film about the Okeefenokee Swamp at the visitor center near Folkston, GA.

NE Florida has three seasons, but below Melbourne the weather gets hotter and more tropical. Riding during the day when humid heat is in the '90's is not much fun, and that's from June to October, and don't forget those pop-up thunderstorms from 3-8 PM, 4-5 days a week . Temps at night average 75-80, which is tolerable. Between October to June, the riding temperatures are superb, and there's little rain. Average highs in January in Jacksonville are about 65 degrees, and about 45 at night.

There are also two big bike festivals in Daytona each year, in October and March, and many smaller tests and rides year 'round. Florida cops are pretty cool, and I've seen only a few radar traps in Jax. In the spirit of Daytona Speedway, you can usually let it roll on the interstates.

 

[Rides]

I just rode from Naples up to Sarasota and Siesta Key last weekend with some friends via rt 41 “the Tamiami Trail”. Not a road or route I’d ever recommend.
On Siesta Key there were two long curves linked together, now forever to be known by us as “The Dragons Tail of Siesta Key”.
We got a few good laughs out of that.
After living right off the Million Dollar Highway in Colorado for many years, I’m super spoiled as far as roads go and Florida in my opinion has to be the worst place ever to ride a motorcycle.
Straight roads, insane traffic and getting worse every year, the worst drivers I’ve ever seen and flat, flat, flat!
One of my riding friends is a boat captain and has traveled Florida extensively for twenty years.
He is a great tour guide and knows every bit of coastline and every little old Florida spot of interest. I love that part of Florida, the stuff that is disappearing fast, the little time capsules like those along Rt 66 that take me back in time for a moment.
The riding was miserable, we seemed to hit every single red light along the way and traffic was relentless.
However I kind of think of riding how Woody Allen views sex, even a bad ride is a pretty good time.

 

[cigarjack]

After 40 years in Florida, I'd love to have a summer place in Dairyland.