San Felasco

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.

Rupe and I did the TMBA ride at Tom Brown Tuesday evening which turned into the Sunshine/TMBA ride as soon as we got there. This added about another 10 riders to our 6 and we slowly made our way over to Kudzilla and around Magnolia. At the MOAPG we split from the Sunshine group and did Cadillac back around to Loblolly. I was pretty blistered from my Bear ride on Monday so much to Rupe's disappointment we called it a ride after one loop.

One Wednesday we did the regular Forest Meadows ride with the Giant which is usually a good workout. The Silk Trail was even better at a faster pace and was over too soon. We climbed back up the Secret Trail and continued our regular loop dropping out of single track onto the multi-use because it was getting too dark for my glasses. The ride along the edge of the lake was beautiful as the sun was setting. It won't be long before we're running lights on this ride and leg warmers. That seems hard to believe.

We're planning on going on a Sunshine ride to San Felasco this Sunday I'll let you know how that goes.

Why?

On my recent ANF tour I slipped around a gate near the old Springhill pit. The sign just said "closed to motorized vehicles" and since my bicycle didn't have any motor except my legs I rationalized that it was ok for me to proceed. If you were riding dirt bikes in this area 10 or more years ago you know about Springhill pit. I bet I spent hundreds of Saturday and Sunday mornings out there. You could always find somebody there to ride with and we pretty much had our pick of trails to link together along with trail names that you'd only know if you'd been around awhile. When newbies would buy a bike at a local shop they'd be given directions to the pit and maybe a phone number to TTR.

I didn't think about it at the time but that system kept the number of riders to a minimum. You see if you didn't know the trails all you could do was ride around the pit and that kept the rif raf off of the good stuff. All the trails had names like, Chuck's section, the hare scrambles loop, and LL Wallace. If you left the pit without knowing where they led you'd be seriously lost in a matter of minutes. It's not that we were snobs (well maybe I was) we welcomed everybody who showed up but in hindsight this might have been a mistake. We should have kept the group exclusive but we had no idea where this was all heading until the first of the machines from hell started showing up; 4 WHEELERS!

Anybody could buy one, throw it in a truck or on a trailer, trundle out to the pit, unload it, start it, and ride. It took almost no skill or balance and would go anywhere, and they did. Donuts in the parking area, bogging in all the creeks, and flat tracking around the ponds. Those damn things did more damage in a year than we had done in 20!

Well it didn't take long for the USFS to start clamping down on all forms of motorized recreation and rightly so. Dirt bikes just got thrown in with the 4 wheelers and it progressed to the point it is today which in my opinion it's really not worth riding out there.

In the end we lost access to the pit and all the trails around it. After years of no riding you almost have to look hard to see trail. The pictures here are of the parking area and a main trail leaving it. I rode my bicycle over a path I had traveled many years before, it's kind of sad knowing Rupe won't ever get to ride these trails. The only lesson I can see in all this is if you've got something good adding more people and making it easier won't necessarily make it better. The mountain bike crew might do well to remember that.

The Bear

What an interesting holiday weekend! The weather was pleasant which for Florida in July is saying something. Breezy and 85 is almost unheard of this time of year.

It started out with the Greensboro Fl. 5k foot race Saturday morning. The unusual part of this run is the ride out to the start in an old school bus; they drop you off on the side of the road and you race back into town. Turnout was around 50 runners but some of the fast old guys from Tallahassee must have made the trip because I won my class last year and got beat by a good margin this year even after setting a better time. Rupe ran also but it seems his feet are growing so fast he's already outgrown his running shoes and at the finish he was complaining of sore feet (at least that's what he blamed his time on).

That afternoon I decided to take Clever up on his offer to join him for some quality dirt bike time at Fastrac. This was my first time on the bike in 3 months. The longest I've been off a motorcycle in 20 years except for the time I broke my wrist. The first laps felt strange but by the second session I started to get a little rhythm and enjoy the ride. The track had 4 times the number of double jumps it had last time I rode there, I think I'll go back to riding in the woods.

Sunday I took Rupe and a friend fishing and did the 4th thing.

Monday I got up early and headed for the St. Marks trail head to do my big 40 mile loop in the ANF. I really should plan better as the gray skies reminded me I hadn't brought a plastic baggie for my electronics and camera. Then after just 20 minutes my MP3 battery ran out. I did my best not to get pissed but I had really been looking forward to a soundtrack for this ride.

Most of the route was forest service roads some of which had been graded and some that were sandy and rutted. I noticed old motorcycle enduro trail that I had ridden so many times. It seems a shame they keep the bikes out of that area now.

After Silver Lake I rounded a corner on a graded road only to see a large black fury butt sashaying back and forth in the road about 50 yards in front of me. Aw crap a bear! Do I turn around? Yell? What if I yell and it gets mad? So I just stopped and took out the camera. I've worked in the woods most of my life but this was the biggest bear I'd ever seen. My hand was shaking so bad I couldn't even take the picture. It finally waddled off across the ditch and into the palmettos never even knowing I was there. As I started to ride again I hollered, whooped, and pedaled as fast as I could.

The end of the route was on 5 miles of paved road which was the worst part of the ride. I don't see how roadies stand it. I hit exactly 40 on my GPS when I got back to the truck and the bottom dropped out of the sky.

My knees and sit bones were (are) sore but I am planning another long haul before the summers over.

Time Trial

I don't want to make this bicycle thing into something competitive but I thought I'd give the Munson time trial a shot just to see how an old man can do against a group of (much younger)guys that ride and race a lot. TMBA had a tent and clocks set up at the benches, you gave them your dollar and they set you up to go in 1 minute intervals based on how fast they thought you were, I was slotted last with only the guy running the TT behind me. For some reason I was nervous at the start, I mean it's just for fun but still.

After starting dirt bike races the quiet after he said "go" was unnerving. I started off in too low a gear and ended up shifting like crazy for the first 100 yards. Trying to ride fast at Munson made everything look different as I missed corners and had to get hard on the brakes for unexpected trail twists. About 10 minute in I began to feel like I needed to burp which turned into feeling like I wanted to puke. Why does the bike do that (I'm sure it didn't have anything to do with that burrito I had for lunch)? It took another 10 minutes for that to go away but I was panting like a dog on a hot day.

I didn't finish with the slowest time which was like winning for me. I don't see how those guys go so fast. I did win the award (only in my mind) for being the oldest rider which isn't unusual.

I'll do it again, it was fun, and I enjoy the challenge. I got a tip after the ride that I should try using the big ring at Munson so next time maybe I can cut a little time off.

Full Moon

The night ride at Munson was a let down at first since only 4 of us rode but it turned out to be a treat.

Rupe wanted to try the bar mounted light instead of running the helmet mount. He didn't like the way the battery felt in his jersey so we put the light on and took a trial run. Good thing we did because before we even got to the benches it had rotated around on the bars. Back to the truck we plugged in the helmet light and after it got dark he was really glad he had that light even though the battery seemed to weight 2 lbs. it put out an amazing amount of light, more than my little Night Rider. As they say when the sun goes down "you can never have enough light".

We plugged in the lights about 1/4 of the way around Munson and enjoyed the 78 degree temperatures along with all the night sounds of the forest. We did a lap of Munson then Chuck peeled off at the benches and the three of us did Tall Pine and back around counter clock wise for a 13 mile ride.

It felt weird driving home at 10:30 at night it seemed like it took us an hour to drive the 20 miles home. We hit the sack at 12:00 and slept till 9:30 Sunday morning. Night riding was tiring just concentrating on that little beam of light not to mention the pedaling.

Bob Marley is hardcore when it comes to the MTB thing but his flashlight set up made him glad to ride behind Rupe and vampire off his light.

Thanks to Giant for lending us his lights and I hope we get to do this again maybe with a few more people.

4 Rides

A good week on the bike!

Saturday at Forest Meadows on the new Silk Trail (I have no idea why they call it that).

Sunday by myself at Tom Brown where I ran into Speedracer running his rock climbing RC truck down by the mother of all playgrounds. That was pretty amazing to watch.

Tuesday at FM again with the TMBA crew for a "kids ride". Met some nice folks and had a good ride. It's more fun with more people. Rupe seemed to enjoy finally riding with someone close to his own age. The single track was slick on the rooty sections so we stuck to the multi-use for most of the ride.

Wednesday out at Twilight with Bob Marley and Jwheeldeal. It was 99 on my truck thermometer as I turned off of Capital Circle but the sky was blue and around 7:00 we had a little breeze so all in all a good ride. Jwheeldeal is sporting a new ride. Twilight is like a road bike ride, you rarely stop pedaling, if it's not sandy it's up hill but you never seem to find the downside. Makes for a good workout.

Rupe and I are planning on riding the TMBA night ride at Munson this Saturday. Haven't ridden with lights since the winter so it should be interesting!