# Hilton Head Island, SC



## Ab24029 (Feb 20, 2006)

:thumbsup: I am going to stay at a friend's house next week for 3 days. I am planning to bring a bike to ride. I do not know the area. Should I take my road bike or cyclocross/touring bike? Are roads friendly for road biking or the area has trails for wider tire rides? Any info with local road rides/maps will be apriciated. Thank you.


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## MCA62 (Feb 1, 2007)

HHI has paved bike paths throughout the island. Most people using them are on cruisers, however, I have ridden my road bike there the last few years without incident some on the paths and some on the roads.


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## backinthesaddle (Nov 22, 2006)

Don't bother...
When my parents lived on HH, I used to go ride loops around the middle school. Anywhere else on the island and you are risking death at the hands of a tourist from Ohio...

Take the 3 days and use it as rest...


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## BikinCO (Feb 17, 2004)

*HHI: Not so good anymore.*



Ab24029 said:


> :thumbsup: I am going to stay at a friend's house next week for 3 days. I am planning to bring a bike to ride. I do not know the area. Should I take my road bike or cyclocross/touring bike? Are roads friendly for road biking or the area has trails for wider tire rides? Any info with local road rides/maps will be apriciated. Thank you.


It depends on where you are staying. Is your friends house in a plantation? If so you can probably do a ride on the road. If not you will probably be better off staying on the rec path. When I was growing up my parents had a house in Sea Pines and we summered there every year. Back then you could ride the roads without pissing the motorists off. THings have changed a lot in the past 10 years. The rec paths are wide and have good surfaces. You see a lot of different people riding it from tourists, commuters and roadies.

There is only one good shop on the island, The Bicycle Link (843-686-2981). They are located on the main highway on the island, not on the bypass. Nice shop and a cool owner. Give them a call and/or stop by for more local knowledge.


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## msheron (Nov 2, 2005)

If HH is anything like Kiawah then really no good places to ride except bike paths which I hate on a road bike. Alright for a beach cruiser but not a road bike. I loved the island but will probably stay on the IOP next time since they are a better place for riding on the road.


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## DieselDan (Sep 14, 2002)

I work in the bike rental busniess there, and cycling in general there sucks. Great for tourist crusing, but too many path hogs. Take your 'cross bike and use flat pedals but forget riding seriously. I used to ride training rides from one shop there, but I gave that up when I had a gun pulled on me to get off the road. Just give the bike a good cleaning once you get home.


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## El Diablo (Apr 8, 2005)

DieselDan said:


> I work in the bike rental busniess there, and cycling in general there sucks. Great for tourist crusing, but too many path hogs. Take your 'cross bike and use flat pedals but forget riding seriously. I used to ride training rides from one shop there, but I gave that up when I had a gun pulled on me to get off the road. Just give the bike a good cleaning once you get home.


DieselDan,

I am going to be staying at the Inn at Palmetto Bluff | 476 Mount Pelia Road | Bluffton, South Carolina SC 29910 over Easter weekend, and I am bringing my road bike along. Hopefully there are some areas around there that I can get in some serious training rides. Any advice would be appreciated.


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## CaliBuddha (Jan 3, 2007)

so how did it go?


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## Ab24029 (Feb 20, 2006)

*cycling in HH*



CaliBuddha said:


> so how did it go?


I want to thank you all for the info. It helped a lot. I did not expect much.
It sucked as far as training! I took my croos bike and rode on bike paths. My average speed was 10 mph. I enjoed riding on the beach though and I drooled over some nice houses on the Spanish Wells plantation. One day I had my family to rent bikes and we rode aroung just for fun. The weather was very nice though (80 deg.). I hated to come back to New York weather.


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## CaliBuddha (Jan 3, 2007)

cool, glad you had a decent time... yeah the houses there are beautiful


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## proaging (Oct 11, 2005)

I am a former road racer and I LOVE cycling in HH. We go for a week vacation every year in May. The Bike Doctor has a Tues/Thurs group ride that starts at 6 p.m. Usually a few dozen riders of all levels. Believe it or not the best island riding is on the toll road!

Someone told me that the triathalon shop gotrisports has a sunday ride.

This year I met the owner of The Bicycle Link (Mack) on the tues/thurs he invited me to a nice 66 mile group ride on some practically deserted roads less than a half hour from HH with about a dozen other riders.

so . . . i would say HH is a fantastic cycling area - my recommendation is anytime you visit an area you dont know, call the bike shops in the area and track down the inside track to the options


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## BikinCO (Feb 17, 2004)

*Wtf*



proaging said:


> I am a former road racer and I LOVE cycling in HH. We go for a week vacation every year in May. The Bike Doctor has a Tues/Thurs group ride that starts at 6 p.m. Usually a few dozen riders of all levels. Believe it or not the best island riding is on the toll road!
> 
> Someone told me that the triathalon shop gotrisports has a sunday ride.
> 
> ...


I just spoke to George at The Bicycle Link. He told me the A group averages over 30 mph, the B group averages 26+ mph and the C group averages 18 mph. What was your experience with them. I wanted to take my father with me on this group ride. He rides a flat bar road bike and rides 25 miles everyday and averages ~15 mph. Is George full of sh!t or are these guys all CAT 1's!?!??!!?!?


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## backinthesaddle (Nov 22, 2006)

BikinCO said:


> I just spoke to George at The Bicycle Link. He told me the A group averages over 30 mph, the B group averages 26+ mph and the C group averages 18 mph. What was your experience with them. I wanted to take my father with me on this group ride. He rides a flat bar road bike and rides 25 miles everyday and averages ~15 mph. Is George full of sh!t or are these guys all CAT 1's!?!??!!?!?


George is full of sh*t. I rode with a couple of dudes from HH last week while in Edisto. They said they did the 'A' ride in HH. I drug their sorry asses around for the better part of two hours and then just rode away.


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## Masi-Rider (Nov 2, 2006)

I lived down there for 3+ years in the late 90's and put in substancial miles per week. I rode with the Bicycle Link guys as well as the Bike Doctor group. During the summer, we would just head off the island and ride on the no man's land backroads between HH and Savannah. Miles and miles of low traveled roads. The best time though was Oct-Feb, when the tourists were gone. We would even do crit rides around the mall at night because it was lighted and no one was there...


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## DieselDan (Sep 14, 2002)

Masi-Rider said:


> I lived down there for 3+ years in the late 90's and put in substancial miles per week. I rode with the Bicycle Link guys as well as the Bike Doctor group. During the summer, we would just head off the island and ride on the no man's land backroads between HH and Savannah. Miles and miles of low traveled roads. The best time though was Oct-Feb, when the tourists were gone. We would even do crit rides around the mall at night because it was lighted and no one was there...


Since the late 90s, those low traveled roads have become sprawl hell and no longer safe to ride or even drive on. Best off island riding is all the way out beyond I-95 in Jasper and Hampton Counties. There are some fairly wide open pathways in Bluffton that are decent to ride on with a road bike.


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## Masi-Rider (Nov 2, 2006)

There was also a standing ride/race at the Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah on I think Thursday nights...it's been a while


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