Loking for training advice - Clermont, FL

Dave Tallo

I'll be training in Clermont from Feb 25 to March 1.  Do people in EN have:
-pointers to SBR resources in the area?
-best riding routes?
-other things I should be mindful of while I'm there?  

I'm staying at an Airbnb near NTC and don't mind driving to bike launch points.

Also happy to have any team members in the area join me!  

Scott Renick

Dave, I live ~30' away and would join you, but I hear the last guy that trained with you signed up for Ultraman and frankly I'm afraid.  

I'm sure you can swim at NTC, or if you want a good OWS check out http://www.luckyslakeswim.com/ which is 30' away from you.  Tim Cronk has hit it 2x this week and can vouch for it.

There's lots of good riding in the only hills in FL nearby.  Everything is north of the turnpike from where you will be. GENERALLY, there are always people riding in that area and while the roads are mostly 2 lane country style, the locals are used to and tolerant of it.  The closer you get into the more commercial/busier areas of town the more cautious you need to be.  The area is rideable from your base camp (though you might be mixing with school drop off in the AM) or a short drive.  Ferndale Baptist Church (15050 County Rd 561A, Ferndale, FL 34729) has been hospitable for parking in the past (though you might want to confirm) and is on the loop of all the regularly ridden roads in the area (561 & 561a, 455, Buckhill, Sugarloaf Mountain Rd.).  

I'm heading down for UMFL team meetings tomorrow and over the next few days will try to clip a couple of pages from that route guide & send to you for better directions.

Paul Hough

Sounds like Scott has you covered.  Unfortunately, that weekend is 'camp' weekend and I can't make the drive over and get in my assigned work and recovery.  I just finished QT2's elite AG camp (11-14 Feb) at Clermont and we did the usual stuff.   When I go over on my own, I just swim at the NTC and ride out of their parking lot.  If you want to go long and use existing routes that you can download to your garmin, then I would suggest checking out the websites for the Horrible Hundred, Tour De Latino and Great Floridian.  The latter might be your best bet since it (since 2015) is a 3 loop course with almost 2500 elevation gain per loop (37 mi).  You can start by the lake and do as many loops as you want.  There aren't a lot of gas stations out there for support, but here are two stops to remember:  1) at the top of Sugarloaf just as you turn right, the owner of the house on the right always has water out for cyclists in big orange gatorade coolers (a condition of sale from the previous owner who did the same); and 2) in Monteverde where the road and the course takes a hard right turn as it follows 455, there is a food mart on your 9 o' clock...look left hard because it is set back and you might miss it.   If you want a flat day, then drive west of the NTC on Hwy 50 (16.6 miles) to the Van Fleet Mabel Trail Head...don't blink...there isn't much signage (you turn in on a short access road leading to a small parking lot.  That trail is flat, flat, flat, and straight, straight, straight.  Go there to practice steady IM pacing in the bars.  And of course, if you want to run 10 miles on the famous orange clay road ... 5.5 miles south of the NTC (south on Citrus Tower Blvd, left turn on Hwy 27, then turn left onto N. Bradshaw Road (dirt) which quickly intersects with 5 mile road (dirt).  Park along the fence to the right as you come onto 5 mile road.  To run 10 miles do this:  run 5 miles on 5 mile road to where it comes to an end and you must go left or right.  Right turn on Schofield Road where you will run about 4 miles until it intersects with N. Bradshaw Road.  That's it... 2 right turns...all dirt roads, hardly any cars.  Note:  no shade, totally exposed, and no support.  Go in the morning and take a fuel belt because there is zero water out there unless you have a sherpa.

Trish Marshall

great info... My niece lives in Winter Garden just off of the West Orange Trail.  I have rented a roadie to ride it and run it of course, but always wondered where the hills are!  Now I have made a document for next winter.  She is hoping we come for a long visit, and she is just about to buy her first road bike to help her get back into shape!  

Dave Tallo

Really great stuff, guys.    Thanks a lot for the recon!

Paul Hough

Trish Marshall said:

great info... My niece lives in Winter Garden just off of the West Orange Trail.  I have rented a roadie to ride it and run it of course, but always wondered where the hills are!  Now I have made a document for next winter.  She is hoping we come for a long visit, and she is just about to buy her first road bike to help her get back into shape!  

The West Orange Trail sounds perfect for her...at least for now.  Very few camps or local roadies/triathletes use that trail when they are in Clermont because it is used by a lot more runners and recreational bikers, curves a lot more, and doesn't hit the hills.  If you want flat, the Van Fleet Trail is much better because rider density is extraordinarily low and there are so few road crossings that you can just get in the bars and crank for very long stretches.  Even further west on Hwy 50...a few miles before you would run into I-75 is the Wilderness Trail.  This one is 42 miles long and also flat, flat, flat and straight, straight, straight.  Like the Van Fleet, the lower half of the Wilderness Trail has very few road crossings.  The Van Fleet trail traverses the Green Swamp so beyond an occassional gator, there isn't much to see.  The Wilderness Trail is more interesting.

Dave Tallo

Fun camp so far.  The riding suggestions are spot on, and my swimming and running has all been based out of NTC.  As a bonus, chatted with Helle Fredrickson for a while in the gym at the center.  uber-fit is a understatement!  I had to suck in my belly for the duration of my stretching.  

Paul Hough

Glad it is working out for you Dave.  I  completed the EN camp weekend from the IM week 15 plan finishing with the Gasparilla half marathon yesterday.