Bikes on The Beach in Siesta Key!
Transportation Option Beats Cars in This Florida Paradise
Cruising beautiful Siesta Key on a bike is a great way to see its beach.
Seeing Siesta Key in its most casual form comes not from inside a car or even from a beach towel, but from the seat of a bicycle.
It's the best way to explore and enjoy this strip of sand by Sarasota, slow but also with some go, being mobile while also being able to meander.
With a bike, you can easily cover the six miles of coastline – and beyond – yet also stop at places you aren't likey to notice from a car. Siesta Key has bike lanes on the roads and you can safely ride anywhere. Even on the beach!
The hard-packed section of the sand, which is between the water and Siesta's signature sugar-powder section is an open-air, slow-moving street of sorts for bicyclists.
In Siesta Key, you can ride your bikes right on the beach.
The only place where you can't ride on the beach is between the four colorful lifeguard stands near the Village. There, riders must get off and walk the bikes. The reason is that this is the most popular and crowded part of Siesta Key's beaches.
Between the white powder and the shore is hard-packed sand.
However, don't do this at night and particularly at dusk. This is the cae for three primary reasons, as Surfside Sam found out from personal experence:
• There are no lights and its dark.
• The tide is high and the ridable area of the beach is cut in half its low-tide size.
• There's lots of people out for sunset, particuarly at and north of the lifeguard towers, most of whom are not looking out for people on bikes.
• There are several holes in the sand from kids digging them out through the day. Some of these are quite large and not easy to see.
Ride the bikes to this awesome picnic spot at Bay Island Park.
Beyond the beach, riding bikes in Siesta Key leads to Turtle Beach, to the kayaking around the southern nature preserve, to the shops, dining and bars of Siesta Village, cruising past the nice homes on Midnight Pass Road and even to an awecome picnic spot under an intercoastal bridge at Bay Island Park.
Bikes are the best way to see Siesta Key in a low-key way.
Surfside Sam with his bike at beautiful Bay Island Park.
Rentals from Siesta Key Sports Rentals (6551 Midnight Pass Road, 941-346-1797), are just $12 a day and $50 for five days (and during non-busy times they are open to negotiation). You can even rent a surry, which holds up to six, for $35 for four hours or $50 a day.
And hey, the bikes come with a basket if you like (SurfsideSam does, by the way) and a bell, handy for alerting kids and beach walkers to your presence.
• SurfsideSam.com
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