I was a little concerned when we got to the meet site at 10 minutes till 6 and no one else was there. At 5 till a car pulled up next to us and asked where everybody was, not a good sign but I was looking forward to the ride and tried to remain optimistic.
I had drug Rupe out of bed at 4:30 in order to make this ride on time since it's 2.5 hours to San Felasco and I was disappointed that the person who called the ride wasn't even there. At 6 another rider showed up and we decided to wait till 6:15 to roll. I'd never been there but one of the others had so we rolled out and headed to San Felasco.
Turns out it was easy to find and we hit the trail head parking area a little after 8:30. It was already full of people but we didn't see anyone from TMBA except our little group and a father son combo from Tallahassee that had been to Santos the day before. The 2 Erics, one local, and the other from Jax joined us along with a young lady from Orlando on a relaxed ride who was friends with the other lady in our group.
I knew from looking at the map that the trail didn't loop back to the parking area and had planned to take extra water bottles in our jerseys but I didn't notice anyone else toting extra water so I assumed we were somehow going to make a loop back, this would come back to haunt me later. We rode out and the group hit the throttle pretty hard for just getting out of the truck and we immediately dropped the ladies. At our first stop it was decided someone should ride sweep and help them not get lost so we all started taking turns at the back except the boys.
The trail was fantastic! Good flow through a mixed pine hardwood hammock with a few rooty climbs it reminded me of Overstreet only with not as many roots. My rotation at the back just happen to coincide with the start of the newest and most challenging section of the trail called the Conquistador. The ladies started to struggle immediately. It was going so slow people were stopping and recommending we turn around so after one of our group came back to check on us he turned around with them and allowed me to continue. The loop went up and down the side of a ravine with bermed turns at the bottom. It was still new so the roots hadn't worked their way to the surface but the turns at the bottom were quick so all you had time to do was brake, downshift, turn, and start the climb. I missed 2 miles of this and was a little disappointed but I hope to go back again and hit the whole thing someday.
After 3 hours in the woods with the temperatures in the mid 90's and humidity that only Florida and Africa seem to have most of our group was out of water. The constant stopping and waiting was taking it's toll. As long as you're moving you can stand the heat but as soon as we stopped it wrapped around us like a wet blanket. The mosquitoes were also having lunch. There was still a lot more trail to explore but most of us were concerned about lack of water so we made the decision to head back which at our speed should have taken us an hour. I had sweep on the way out and was really glad to get to the split and drop off the "wahenees" so Rupe and I followed the father son duo who said they knew the way back to the truck. It was so nice to ride at speed that we missed the turn to the trail head and after having to consult google on an iphone we found our way out. Both the boys were looking a little sketchy, we had stopped sweating and I was afraid Rupe might get in a panic. We rode straight to the bike wash/shower and hosed down.
Lunch at Moes and we were on our way home. I could have been my usual butt head self and complained about the pace of the ride but I chose to be cool and was glad I did. Everybody was upbeat even after the tough morning we had and it was a real nice group even if it was unevenly matched.
It was an epic day and I hope we can do it again.
No comments:
Post a Comment