Pinellas Trail, Florida, United States

5R P 5:00 PM Jul 24, 2014

Nice Trail
My wife, Pam, and I planned a three-day trip to the Tampa/Clearwater area specifically so that we could: (1) attend a Dave Matthews concert, (2) ride the Pinellas Trail, and (3) get some beach time. Success! I will not belabor the concert or the beach since this is a trail review, but would note that the concert was fantastic and the ocean was like a bathtub. On to the trail: For Day 1, we drove to Honeymoon Island State Park, left the car, and hit the spur over to Dunedin, took a left and headed north to Tarpon Springs. The trail is reasonably wide and often has a separate pedestrian path paralleling the bike lanes, which is very nice. We had to cross two major intersections, but otherwise, most of the crossings were so lightly traveled by vehicles that we didn't need to stop. In fact, I must say that from Dunedin north, drivers are almost invariably courteous and considerate of cyclists (something I wish we could import to our hometown). This part of the ride took about an hour (we were not out to break any land speed records), and we arrived in Tarpon Springs about 10 am. We spent a little time at the sponge docks and were a little surprised by how quiet and empty it was - not a whole lot going on. We left the Springs at about 11 and headed back south to Dunedin, destination Dunedin Brewery. If you haven't been, and you like good craft beer, this is a must. They have outstanding wheat, red and brown ales year-round, and the staff is friendly and outgoing (and very much into cycling). We then headed to Casa Tina for an outstanding lunch of chorizo and steak tacos and chile rellenos. From there, it was back to Honeymoon Island where we racked and locked the bikes, grabbed our beach stuff out of the car, and hopped the ferry over to Caladesi for a few hours of sun and surf. Overall ride was about 30 miles for the day. Day 2: Meant to get up earlier, but we finally got on our bikes at about 9 am. Headed off Clearwater Beach, over the Causeway to the Trail. There is a nice, wide bike/pedestrian path on the Causeway, and the climb over the channel is not as bad as it might look. When we got to the other side, we took a right on Palm Avenue, and then a left on Turner to get away from the traffic flying down Chestnut. Turner links up with the trail about a block down. Our original plan was to ride south at least down to Long Bayou, as we had read that anything south and east of that (into St. Pete) might be a tad dangerous. We got as far as Belleair (which really is not very far) and turned around. The trail was simply not as nice down that way and we encountered a couple of places where the sides of the trail had caved in. Moreover, we really wanted to go back up north to Dunedin and visit the Brewery again. So . . . we turned around and headed north. The trail through Clearwater is for the most part a bike lane on East Avenue (it’s designed for two-way bike traffic, but is along the west side of the Avenue, so if you’re heading north, you are biking against traffic). Not wonderful, and the drivers here, unlike a little north, are not as considerate. We decided to make for St. Andrews Links, a golf course and driving range in Dunedin, to take advantage of the $10 deal for a large bucket of balls and two beers. The staff in the golf shop there was friendly and helpful, and they even have spare golf clubs available for use if you happen to bike in without your gear. The beer there, sadly, is not craft, but I had forgotten that Yuengling is actually pretty good for a mass-produced brew. Having finished our golfing (Pam, who had never hit a golf ball in her life, was convinced that she would be awesome at the driving range – NOT!!), we decided that lunch was in order. Why not eat at the Dunedin Brewery, considering how good their beer is? And, so, we did. The Brewery serves up a tasty burger, accompanied by chips and salsa. Having finished lunch, we decided to pack it back to our lodging so that we could spend the last of our time in Florida on the beach. All told, we rode 22 miles on Day 2. We really enjoyed riding this trail and would recommend it to others. There are bathroom facilities available along the way and plenty to see and do. For the most part, the trail is shaded. BTW, my wife and I are in our late 50's, ride consistently about 50 to 70 miles a week, but are not speedy pro road bike kind of folk (we ride hybrids with road bike tires, wear bike shorts but not bike jerseys, and don't clip in).

4Ontario76 5:00 PM Feb 14, 2022

A good and safe riding trail mostly off the main roads
This trail is an urban trail, but mostly off the actual roads, making it safer. Do watch at the road crossings! You could go about 40 miles, apparently, but we did 10. A few map plaques would be helpful, especially showing how far to the next bench for a coffee stop. Trail is well kept and plenty wide. Site markers with locations to guide 911 service were frequent (just in case).