Image courtesy of Richard Masoner at Flickr.com
There are many cycling clubs all around South Florida that meet and gather to encourage more and more people to cycle more often. Most of them also serve as means to educate on safety issues regarding cycling and provide on and off road places to ride for cycling enthusiasts. Here are 5 of these clubs and what they do in no particular order. If you wish to see more clubs you can go to the Florida bicycle organization webpage.
Road Cyclist's Bike Club of South Florida
This is a club for everyone with a road bike and lots of desire to use it. They set up rides for beginner, Intermediate advanced riders. They call themselves the A1A riders and love to challenge their speed, distances, mingle with road bikers, athletes and triathletes.
Training usually takes place in Palm Beach County & Broward County, but they are always open to invitations and suggestions on levels. Anyone who wants to ride and is located somewhere in Delray Beach, Boca Raton, Palm Beach, Highland Beach, Jupiter Island, Fort Lauderdale, Deerfield, Pompano Beach, Lauderdale by the Sea, West Palm, Lantana, and Ocean Ridge can sign up and meet for a ride.
The Delray Beach Bicycle Club (DBBC)
This club was born in 2013 with the objective of promoting bike riding in the greater Delray Beach area. It welcomes riders of all levels interested in developing proper safety and fitness skills.
There are three riding groups according to level: beginner, intermediate and advanced. Rides are scheduled on Wednesday morning and evening and Weekends. There is an annual fee you must pay if you decide to become a member after a 15 day trial period. They organize inner city casual and social rides and have four historic bike tours every month as slow guided tours of the historic properties in Delray Beach.
The main objective is to develop solid cycling skills, by providing coaching, team spirit, and maintaining and having appropriate equipment for training through sponsoring bike shops.
The Coastal Cruisers Bicycle Club
This club has been around for over 30 years and has over 500 members today. The rides take place throughout Sarasota and Charlotte Counties, to include the communities of North Port, Port Charlotte, Rotonda, Englewood, Venice, and Nokomis. They hold monthly meetings which include lively presentations. They also hold social events such as the "Pasta Bash," Withlacoochee Trail Ride, Holiday Party, Memorial Ride, Century Ride, Sunset Social, and occasional cafe stops either midway or after rides.
The Pasta Bash Ride is an annual event that gathers over 200 riders from South Florida to ride the World’s Flattest Metric Century a Fun-in-the-Sun Half Metric, or a Calm and Cool Quarter Metric, which also includes a pasta meal and a continental breakfast. The Withlacoochee State Trail is a 2 day 46 miles long trail in Inverness, Florida. And the Memorial Ride is a ride to honor their deceased members and ride, eat, socialize and have fun. Apart from the rides, members can make use of a 10% discount on parts and accessories from the participating bike shops.
Vero Cycling, Inc.
Based in Verona Beach, Florida its purpose is to promote cycling for all levels (beginners to advanced) in the Indian River County; and to advocate for cycling issues and promote safe and respectful cycling among both riders and non-riders. So, rides are open to anyone who wants to participate, but everyone needs to register to the rides on their website to be able to join them. The first month of the membership is free, so if you are just visiting and staying in the area for less than a month you can join them and cancel at the end of the month.
They also have League Cycling Instructors that offer basic safety training for people new to riding in pace groups. Helmets are a must have for all riders. The leaders are all volunteers, so sometimes leaders may not be able to attend a programmed ride, in this case the rides might be self-directed.
There is a ride for every day; you just have to register for the mailing list. They will also alert about cancellations or any changes on start time or location; and if you have any questions about the rides you can contact them through the same email.
Road Cyclist's Bike Club of South Florida
This is a club for everyone with a road bike and lots of desire to use it. They set up rides for beginner, Intermediate advanced riders. They call themselves the A1A riders and love to challenge their speed, distances, mingle with road bikers, athletes and triathletes.
Training usually takes place in Palm Beach County & Broward County, but they are always open to invitations and suggestions on levels. Anyone who wants to ride and is located somewhere in Delray Beach, Boca Raton, Palm Beach, Highland Beach, Jupiter Island, Fort Lauderdale, Deerfield, Pompano Beach, Lauderdale by the Sea, West Palm, Lantana, and Ocean Ridge can sign up and meet for a ride.
The Delray Beach Bicycle Club (DBBC)
This club was born in 2013 with the objective of promoting bike riding in the greater Delray Beach area. It welcomes riders of all levels interested in developing proper safety and fitness skills.
There are three riding groups according to level: beginner, intermediate and advanced. Rides are scheduled on Wednesday morning and evening and Weekends. There is an annual fee you must pay if you decide to become a member after a 15 day trial period. They organize inner city casual and social rides and have four historic bike tours every month as slow guided tours of the historic properties in Delray Beach.
The main objective is to develop solid cycling skills, by providing coaching, team spirit, and maintaining and having appropriate equipment for training through sponsoring bike shops.
The Coastal Cruisers Bicycle Club
This club has been around for over 30 years and has over 500 members today. The rides take place throughout Sarasota and Charlotte Counties, to include the communities of North Port, Port Charlotte, Rotonda, Englewood, Venice, and Nokomis. They hold monthly meetings which include lively presentations. They also hold social events such as the "Pasta Bash," Withlacoochee Trail Ride, Holiday Party, Memorial Ride, Century Ride, Sunset Social, and occasional cafe stops either midway or after rides.
The Pasta Bash Ride is an annual event that gathers over 200 riders from South Florida to ride the World’s Flattest Metric Century a Fun-in-the-Sun Half Metric, or a Calm and Cool Quarter Metric, which also includes a pasta meal and a continental breakfast. The Withlacoochee State Trail is a 2 day 46 miles long trail in Inverness, Florida. And the Memorial Ride is a ride to honor their deceased members and ride, eat, socialize and have fun. Apart from the rides, members can make use of a 10% discount on parts and accessories from the participating bike shops.
Vero Cycling, Inc.
Based in Verona Beach, Florida its purpose is to promote cycling for all levels (beginners to advanced) in the Indian River County; and to advocate for cycling issues and promote safe and respectful cycling among both riders and non-riders. So, rides are open to anyone who wants to participate, but everyone needs to register to the rides on their website to be able to join them. The first month of the membership is free, so if you are just visiting and staying in the area for less than a month you can join them and cancel at the end of the month.
They also have League Cycling Instructors that offer basic safety training for people new to riding in pace groups. Helmets are a must have for all riders. The leaders are all volunteers, so sometimes leaders may not be able to attend a programmed ride, in this case the rides might be self-directed.
There is a ride for every day; you just have to register for the mailing list. They will also alert about cancellations or any changes on start time or location; and if you have any questions about the rides you can contact them through the same email.
Image courtesy of Zachary Long at Flickr.com
Airborne MTB Club
The club is intended to gather mountain bikers along the Treasure Coast of Florida, by offering connection between riders and managers, information on local trails and help riders find more and better riding trails in the area.
Currently, trails available are: Fort Pierce, efforts are being made to re-open the Ft. Pierce Bike trail; along with St. Lucie County the goal is make it a legitimate county park instead of just an out of bonds trail. And Halpatiokee, efforts are also being made to maintain and develop the Halpatiokee Regional Park in Martin County where you can currently ride the single track. Soon there are going to be signs and a marked course for cross country riders.
The club is intended to gather mountain bikers along the Treasure Coast of Florida, by offering connection between riders and managers, information on local trails and help riders find more and better riding trails in the area.
Currently, trails available are: Fort Pierce, efforts are being made to re-open the Ft. Pierce Bike trail; along with St. Lucie County the goal is make it a legitimate county park instead of just an out of bonds trail. And Halpatiokee, efforts are also being made to maintain and develop the Halpatiokee Regional Park in Martin County where you can currently ride the single track. Soon there are going to be signs and a marked course for cross country riders.