Biking Sarasota

When we weren't at a baseball game, we went biking.  All the major streets have bike lanes and many streets also have paved wide sidewalks that are used for biking and walking.

One place we went to was Nathan Benderson Park.  It is a 600-acre park circling an 400-acre lake. The paved loop around the park and lake is 3.5 miles long.  The lake offers schools and organizations a place to practice competitive rowing.  Later this year they are going to host the 2017 World Rowing Championships.  When we were there we saw some rowers on the water.

Sunset at Nathan Benderson Park

Rowers in training

We also biked around the RV park neighborhood for a few miles.

Rode on sidewalk not street bike lane

Paved  trail in a residential area

Love all the hanging moss

Another place we rode bikes was Rothenbach Park. We rode on the park's lovely, shaded paved trails (about 5 miles) then we rode for several more miles on  the paved trail that runs along the street.  We drove by lovely neighborhoods and one particularly pretty senior community with houses and condos and a golf and country club.

One other place we biked was the Sarasota Legacy Trail from Sarasota to Venice--20 miles round trip! The trail occupies the tracks that were laid to serve the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus winter quarters (1911) and the Payne Terminal on Sarasota Bay plus other businesses that came along.  We saw bikers, walkers, a rollerblader, and some really weird looking bikes that didn't look comfortable to ride. 

Original train track next to bike trail

Lots of people on a weekday--can't imagine the weekend crowd

Rode 20 miles & averaged 9 mph!

On the trail there are 2 bridges.  The smaller one crosses Dona Bay where you can stop at the viewing area and try to see the manatees.  We saw none.

Shorter bridge

Didn't see any manatees

The 2nd bridge crosses the highway.  It was about 30 ft  high and I didn't think I could ride my bike to the top because at this point we had already ridden 9 miles, but I did!.

Biking in Sarasota was a lot of fun