It’s not quite finished yet (just the small matter of a few million dollars to go), but this trail across Florida is shaping up to be a popular bike tour.

230mi (370km) from coast to coast, it mixes urban cycleways with isolated car-free routes through nature preserves. The finished route will be almost entirely on traffic-free paths, and if you ride it today you’ll enjoy miles of brand new concrete and asphalt trail.

The terrain is forgiving, rarely hitting the heights of 50m above sea level, though there are one or two short inclines. The flat countryside is subtle rather than dramatic, making the more natural sections of trail the more appealing parts of the route.

For now, there’s one central section where you’ll need to take a road route, for around 33 miles west of Clermont. Until the trail is complete here, there are broadly three options. You can follow county roads, which are less heavily trafficked but generally don’t have a shoulder: this is the option we’ve chosen here. You can follow State Route 50, which is a busy road with a (narrow) shoulder. Or you can take a southerly course on unpaved roads through Withlacoochee State Forest, which is safer and more relaxing if you have the right bike, but not really suitable for road bikes nor after any amount of rain.

Prevailing winds are east-west so we would suggest starting at Titusville. The route is ultimately intended to start on the Canaveral coast a few miles still further east, but construction of that section is several years off.

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