An ideal way to spend a few days at the beginning of December is biking on Central Florida’s rail trail system.  Our guide told us that Central Florida, back in the day, was where the money was made; timber and other material were transported out of Central Florida. The rich and powerful were not at the beach, they were in the center of the state where the natural resources were located. As the state has migrated to a population near the coast and the natural resources (like timber) are not as important, the railways have been reclaimed for biking, hiking, running and walking. We will want to go back and ride some of them again in the future.

We began our Charleston Bicycle Tour riding near Inverness, Florida, on the Withlacoochee State Trail. We rode from near the town to the end of the trail. The trail was well marked and maintained. We rode to the end of the trail (Mile 46) at Gulf Junction with two other couples before turning back for a great day out in the warm weather.

The second day we also went on the Withlacoochee State Trail, in the opposite direction. I wanted to go play disc golf and needed to go back to Inverness and ended up going a few miles out of my way. Whispering Pines Park is a good park in Inverness. Unfortunately, we encountered a little road construction and, due to my lack of planning, my bike computer took us unexpectantly on the park’s trail system.

Due to my desire to play disc golf, off the trail, we rode a little longer than the rest of the group and farther than we set out to do in the morning when we left.

We were transported from Inverness to the Oakland and Winter Gardens area of Central Florida for the rest of our week-long biking adventure.  

Our first ride after Inverness was on the General James A. Van Fleet State Trail. We drove to the trailhead and were picked up at the other end of the trail. This is a paved bike (multi-use) path though the greenways. The website calls it “one of Florida’s most rural, paved rail-trails.” We talked with a biker who said he lived in the swamp. There were a few entrances near the trail.

On this ride I saw (I did not stop to take a picture) for the first time a “beware of alligators” sign along the trail. We did see some wildlife along the way, but thankfully we did not see any alligators on the path.  After our ride we had lunch at the Lakeland BBQ Company. It was delicious. A few of our fellow riders had the “couch potato” which looked great; if I go back, I will plan to order that after a 30-mile bike ride.

We spent our last few days biking on the West Orange Trail and some of the connectors. We stayed in Oakland, Florida, and biked as well as drove to Winter Garden. Winter Garden was the focus for our meals, and we had good ones. We enjoyed the Christmas lights all over Winter Garden as well as in Oakland’s square that intersected the bike path. We walked along the path, ran on the path, and biked on the path. We did ride our bikes to both ends of the West Orange Trail.

Being December, even in Florida, not every day began warm enough to bike (our “requirement” is 55 degrees). But we biked anyway! We enjoyed the biking more as the day went on and the temperature warmed up. We enjoyed our cool start on several beautiful weather days. The trail was wide and well maintained. The Van Fleet Trail had very few intersections; it was a faster pace than the West Orange trail which had more frequent intersections.

We did like Apopka Station and the park nearby. Central Florida in December likes to decorate. We enjoyed the big park decorations and all the festive lights we saw along the path (even in the daylight) as we rode along.

We stayed in the Oakland Manor. It is near Lake Apopka. We were able to walk onto the pier at the lake and look at the scenery. We only saw glimpses of alligators in the lake and none on the street. The area is beautiful.

One of my favorite rides was the second disc golf adventure, which was planned better. I rode the West Orange Trail to the end at Killarney Station. Then took the South Lake Trail  (it just merged into it). The South Lake Trail had some hills. We were surprised at this different trail feature as the week’s trails and our impression of Florida is that it is mostly flat.  The hills were not that big and did not present any issues for us to ride up or down. The South Lake Trail got confusing; I am glad I had a map open on my phone telling me which way to go. I was headed to Lake Hiawatha, and around Lake Minneola to play a round of disc golf before biking back 15 miles to lunch at Winter Garden. It was less confusing going back, but I still used the app on my phone to keep me on track with the directions.

Other Fun:
I was able to bike to two different disc golf courses. The first one was hard to find from the bike path near Inverness (and I started in the wrong direction). The Whispering Pines course was very technical and it did not look as well used as some of the other courses I have played.

The Champions Pointe course in Lake Hiawatha Park was a well laid out (long) course in a beautiful park. Several others were playing on the day I visited. With only two discs, I had fun and spoke to several other disc golfers along the course.

My brother and sister-in-law live in the Orlando area and we were happy to spend time with them before our bike trip began.

We did see a peacock on the West Orange Trail at a Dunkin Donuts parking lot. So, all of America and its peacocks must run on Dunkin?

We biked over 180 miles on the trip, averaging over 37 miles biking a day. It was a fun week of biking; we will come again with our road bikes and enjoy the wonderful Central Florida rail trails.

See you on the road.