Riding Hills in Clermont, Florida

Above: nice rolling hills in Clermont.

On Saturday, August 21, 2010, I got a chance to ride my road bike in Clermont, Florida with members of my local Team in Training cycle team. I am currently training with the Palm Beach Team in Training cycle team for the Intracoastal Waterway Century Ride which takes place on October 31 in Cocoa Beach, Florida. Team in Training is the main fundraising program for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Above: Team in Training member Larry Goldberg celebrated his 50th birthday in Clermont. Delicious chocolate cake and photograph by team mentor Chris Maly. Don't ask about the banana, some team members act like they are 5 years old.

Team in Training Cycle Team

Clermont is located approximately 30 miles west of Orlando, AKA the home of Mickey Mouse. Ten team members made the trip up to Clermont, including Coach Bryan and Coach Rob. Coach Rob is my husband, and we carpooled up to Clermont along with Coach Bryan. We met team members Tina, Shanon, Andrea, Jen, Chris, Larry and Alex at the Holiday Inn Express hotel. Clermont is about a 3 hour drive, northwest,  from Palm Beach county. Palm Beach county is flat-as-a-pancake, unless you count some of our larger bridges such as Blue Heron as "hill" training.

Florida Mountains

Clermont is sometimes referred to as the Florida Alps. Many people are surprised to learn there are actually a few hills to be found in Florida. Clermont has lots of rolling hills and a couple of pretty steep climbs. Quite a few triathlons occur in Clermont and it is also the home of the National Training Center. It was really nice riding in Clermont. We normally ride along A1A in Palm Beach county, which has nice ocean views, but WAY too many angry drivers. Most areas of Clermont had very little traffic and beautiful scenery including many views of the various lakes in the area.

Above: start of the climb up Sugarloaf Mtn Road.

Climb a Hill in Clermont

Due to some team members having to walk up a few of the hills, and taking a few breaks to fill up our water bottles and regroup with the team, it took us just over 3 hours to travel 40 miles. That seems like an awful long time to do a 40 mile ride, but those hills were brutal!

Above: members of the Palm Beach Team in Training cycle team taking a break after climbing up Sugarloaf Mountain. Photo by Alex Melkonian.

Thanks to Coach Bryan's research on bike rides in Clermont, through the Map My Ride website, here's a little bit of information on the major hills we climbed up during our 40 mile bike ride.

The Wall

• 135' elevation gain
• 18% slope
• 0.21 miles

Buckhills

• 223' elevation gain
• 11% slope
• 2.5 miles

Sugarloaf

• 207' elevation gain
• 14% slope
• 0.73 miles

North Ridge

• 164' elevation gain
• 12% slope
• 0.6 miles

Above: another view of Sugarloaf Mountain.

Not for the Faint of Heart

It took us quite a while to do our 40 mile bike ride in Clermont. The hills were a lot harder than most team members anticipated. I guess if you live in the area, the hills would get easier if you started training there on a regular basis. But for us Florida flat landers, dang if we didn't get our butt kicked! Many of the team members ended up doing quite a bit of walking to get over some of the bigger hills. And the only members of the team to make it all the way up Sugarloaf Mountain were Coach Bryan, Coach Rob and Alex. GO TEAM!

Above: the Bike Diva pauses in Clermont and wishes Coach Rob would stop saying "this is the last hill." Photo by Alex Melkonian.

Sugarloaf Mountain and Other Hills

Rob and I first went to Clermont about 3 years ago when we were training for the El Tour de Tucson 109 mile road bike ride with Team in Training. Neither one of us made it up Sugarloaf that trip, and I seem to remember having to walk a couple of the other hills too. So I was pretty happy making it up all the hills except Sugarloaf. I was having some clunky/slippy gear problems at the top of most hills, and took my road bike in to the Racer's Edge bike shop to get a tune up after getting back into town. I'm not sure if I would have made it up Sugarloaf even if my bike wasn't having problems, but it does make me wonder.

Above: Andrea filling her water bottle at the top of Sugarloaf Mountain Road. Photo by Jen Biedermann Coull.

Grab Some Water

For the past few years, the house at the top of Sugarloaf Mountain Road, has been placing out coolers of water and cups for cyclists training in Clermont that attempt the climb. There aren't a lot of places to stop for water along the way, it is a really rural area where most of the Clermont rides take place. So to have cold water available to fill our water bottles with after our assault on Sugarloaf was a welcome treat. Clermont residents Harry & Janice Fenstad place two large, orange coolers, paper cups and trash cans at the end of their driveway for any cyclists passing by that need a cool drink, and they aren't even cyclists!

Above: Coach Rob and the Bike Diva taking a break in Clermont.

Find a Ride in Clermont

If you are interested in bike riding in Clermont, visit the Map My Ride website. Map My Ride contains pages and pages of preplanned bike routes from a few miles up to 100 miles. Here is the link:

www.mapmyride.com/find-ride/united-states/fl/clermont/page1

Above: team member Andrea Blair purchased a new Trek road bike the day before our Clermont ride! She found the bike at The Cycling Hub in Clermont, just down the street from our hotel and where we started/ended our 40 mile bike ride.

Bike Diva's Final Word

Although I wasn't quite so found of going fast downhill, as I was climbing uphill (I think I am the team mountain goat), I probably would go back to ride in Clermont. Some of the team members got up to 40 MPH going down some of the bigger hills! Dang, I was using way too much brake coming down the hills, kind of freaked me out going that fast on a bike. So I guess I really need to go back and conquer my fear of descending. And I would still like to be able to make it all the way up Sugarloaf Mountain without having to do any walking.

There is a nice multi-use trail, that we rode on for a little while, that connects with some of the rails-to-trails. I think you can do close to 60 miles on the multi-use trails. We rode part of the South Lake Trail, AKA Lake Apopka Trail. I also have to remember to take my Go Pro video camera with me the next time, that would have been some awesome video footage to upload to the Bike Diva blog.

Photos

Please note, I found the 3 photographs of the Clermont hills through a search done on Google images.

Take care,
Lynn Smythe AKA the Bike Diva

Comments

[Lynn Smythe]

Here is a copy of an email I received thanking me for this blog post on riding in Clermont:

Lynn:

Hello. I found you through your article on Riding Hills in Clermont, Florida (http://www.bikediva.net/2010/08/riding-hills-in-clermont-florida.html) after doing a web search for “Clermont Sugar Loaf Water Cooler”.

I was hoping to find the name and address for Harry and Janice Fenstad, the couple who place the cooler out at the top of the climb. I have relied on their water to replenish my bottles on a couple of occasions and wanted to drop them a ‘thank you’ card.

The photo on your website had just enough detail that I could make out the name, which allowed me to find the address through a web search.

I’m a running coach for TNT and saw on your website that you and your husband are also involved with the program in the Palm Beach area. It looked like you are a triathlete also, so I thought I would let you know that NTC has an excellent swim clinic and stroke analysis program if you’re ever looking to improve your swim skills.

Another athlete and I were in Clermont the weekend of August 14/15 to attend a swim clinic and ride the hills; it looks like we missed you by a week. We really enjoyed the swim clinic and after a good night’s sleep, were able to get up and spend a (long/challenging) day riding in the area.

Anyway, just wanted to say that I enjoyed reading your blog and appreciated your passion for the sport.

Tailwinds,
David Carr
Jacksonville, FL

[John Inskeep]

Hi Bike Diva, I just found your blog and wanted to say thanks for providing it and the information in it.

I live in Clermont and have been riding the trails (Never on the road) for about 5 years on a Trek 7100 Hybrid. I ride from 12th St in Clermont to the Clarcona Horseman's Park in Apopka or to the end of the trail. 60 miles if you do some laps at the end by the lake.

I ride for health and fun and my longest ride is 70 mi. I have taken videos along the way and thought some of your readers might like to see parts of the trail. Here is a link to the videos on vimeo, a few are riding at Disney.
http://www.vimeo.com/album/17416

BTW, the trails are just beautiful to ride.

Enjoy,

John

[Matt]

I am heading out to Utah for the FrontRunner Century bicycle ride and I am looking to see if anyone has ever used Map My Ride for the FrontRunner Century Bicycle Ride. I have heard that people have used it for LOTOJA classic and for the Ulcer Ride as well as the Salt Lake City Century. If anyone has info for the FrontRunner Century they could give to me I would be happy. Check out the http://www.frontrunnercentury.com and please let me know.

[Derrick Brown]

Great article about Clermont, FL. I actually live in Clermont and ride these hills weekly. When I first moved to Clermont and started riding it was truly a curse at the time with the hills so I thought, but now it really is a blessing to have such a diverse terrain to train on. My neighborhood is actually on the riding/walking trail you mentioned. I can leave my house and neighborhood and turn left to ride the South Lake/West Orange trail for more flat riding or I can turn right to ride for miles of hills. I also can go out the back of my neighborhood and travel 5.5 miles to get to the back side of Sugarloaf, 10 miles for the front side of Sugarloaf, 7.5 to The Wall and 8.5 to Buckhill. Not too close, but close enough to be fully warmed up for the hills once I get there. There are many many more hills not mentioned that are great climbs inside the city limits of Clermont. Skyridge and South Ridge just to name a few that are near Northridge. These are in a neighborhood, but think of a slightly shorter Sugarloaf, but just as steep and challenging. These hills are 2 miles from my home. Blessing or a Curse? I purchased mine and my wife's Trek Madone's from "The Cycling Hub" also. Great group of people there. Thank you very much for the great article. Feel free to contact me the next time you all are this way. Would love to ride with the group.

[Jeff Klein]

Just did on my skateboard. humbleing experience. i carved like a butcher lol