I was riding alone last week on my motorcycle in Lake County. It was a hot but enjoyable ride on my Honda VFR 800 Interceptor. A nice break from pedaling up the hills of Central Florida for a change, especially in the heat of the day towards the end of May. I could not help but feel dismayed as I rode off the Turnpike and joined Highway 50 and saw the sign just past Killarney Station for ‘Welcome to Lake County’ followed by the endless JCB and Cat Trucks, bulldozers and piles upon piles of what appeared to be sand. About 4 years ago I remember driving the same stretch of road with my wife as we had just arrived in CFL from MA and thought how beautiful and desolate it was. Fast forward to this day and I remember what my friend who introduced me to cycling in Central Florida a couple of months ago and how ‘Lake County has sold out to the developers’.
Anyway, I am not writing to agree nor disagree with this. I am simply saying that it was a hot day and I decided to ride my motorcycle through some roads in and around Clermont. On Google Maps of course you cannot tell if the roads are paved or not. We cyclists know that there are some terrific roads around Clermont on Google Maps, but they may not necessarily be paved. I found a fantastic road called Orange Blossom which comes off the 19 but sadly finished just shy of East Dewey Robbins Road. Shame. I rode the bike down Sugarloaf and to my surprise found that the old two way stop with the orange flashing lights was being converted to a great traffic circle. Good news for all and especially cyclists.
Sadly as I was leaving over Scrub Jay Road and down Grassy Lake, more Cats and more piles of sand. Bye for now.
James@bluehammers