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San Felasco Hammock Preserve, Gainesville

Do you like riding for hours of curvy, natural feeling single track, in old growth pines with great visibility of what is coming around the next curve? Well I do.  Heck I even the first loop, Cellon Creek, had me grinning. With 8 miles,Tung Nuts is the anchor of the system. Need some hill repeats without repeating a hill? Then hit Conquistador.

If you're looking for gravity feed, feature rich, jumping and hard tech, look elsewhere.

Cruisin through an Endor like forest of tall pines, with hardly a palm frond or scrub to be block  your view around corners, really lets lets you open it up and let her rip.  Unlike most of Florida, where it is either flat or pit, there are enough hills to work climbing and use gravity to work your corners faster than pedaling speed.

My favorite was the Hidden hills Loop, I kept expecting a mountain to emerge from what seemed like foothills. But wait I am in Florida, right?!

Any downside? My personal compulsion to make everything a big loop is not possible here, most loops lollipop off of another.

Considering how well the far end of the park is marked, I had a little trouble following the core trail, Tung Nut.  I think that some of the signs need to be replaced. Particularly where feeder trails come in. Likewise, I kind of had to hunt and peck and look at the map intently, for the two feeders to Conquistador.

I believe they are working on a new map, as the current map looks kind of like a flow chart.  Which might be for the best as an exact rendering my might be hard to follow. See my Strava file below. The map does put loops in their relative location to each other, pretty well though.

I feel like this system is between Paisley and Santo (excluding the pits) in terms of ripping twisty trail. Paisley was more steady state, Santos was as twisty, but you can see others coming form the other way much better at San Felasco. Plus you got some non-pit hill climbing to boot.

A small note on flow. I really enjoyed the flow of these trails.  I have read reviews that said they did not. These trails have a very natural feel to them.  The trail builders really put these trails together well. You won't find a man made berm, although a couple natural berms have been incorporated into the system.  If you have read some of my other articles, you will know that I prefer more natural trails. Berms can be fun, but I had to unlearn how to take a corner, as the berm does the work for you. Being able to flow natural trails at blasting speed is where it is at. Learn to corner and fly.

I found out about San Felasco Hammock Preserve, Gainesville, in an article on Single Tracks.
http://www.singletracks.com/bike-trails/sanfalasco.html
http://www.sanfelasco.net/docs/SanFelascoBikeTrails11-2013.pdf
http://www.sanfelasco.net/index.shtml

Paisley Woods Florida

Santos is plenty fun, but I needed a change of venue, to switch things up for my long ride. Even the green trails at Santos are fairly twisty, which is more fun in general, but makes it harder to do sustained endurance riding, when you are accelerating out of turn after turn.  Most riders are not concerned with this. But if you are and would rather not get your long ride on the road, Paisley Woods certainly fits the bill. The main loop is about 19 miles with a half a mile feeder. There is a cut off to make a half loop.  I was running about hour and a half laps, so multiple laps are need to get the higher durations. The Paisley Woods trail has a different feel in each direction, so between that and the half loop you can put most any duration rides together without getting bored. Don't get me wrong this trail is like 90% flowy singletrack.
Wider tires, such as 2.35 or 2.4s work best in the occasional sugar sand. I got to try out a 2.35 Maxxis Ikon up front for the first time. I have had it for a while, but was waiting for a tire to wear out. I switched back to the 2.2 for the half lap at the end to compare. Even at the same 20 psi the 2.35 felt less harsh and I should be able to run even softer.

6 and 12 hours of Santos

As I sit here in Florida, in what feels like the New Jersey winter weather I most despised, 32 to 50 degrees, damp and rainy, I may have caught a bug and not that flu that my wife and everyone else seems to have. No I am talking about the Racing Bug. I was thinking about doing either the 6 hours on a geared bike or the 12 on a Single Speed. I didn't see a 6 hour class for SS class listed on the website, but both the online registration and the downloadable form has a SS class listed for the 6 hour event.

Conversely, the website listed a 12 hour SS class.

That is fine by me. I really wanted to race my SS, but not for 12 hours.

In order to use Vortex, the split it in two. From the Strava files I have seen, it looks like one part is ran in reverse order. As Vortex is a one way only trail, that presents problems for pre riding. As it turned out, it was quite empty before noon on Tuesday. So I snuck in 3 laps, of my best guess of the reverse portion was, before riders started to hit the trail.

I rode with Jim Matthews at Tussey ridge, near State College, PA last May. On Facebook he asked me about SS gear selection after my Santos Post. Here they are: "The 34x22 was crazy low. My log must have been wrong. 20t is good in the Vortex pit and tolerable on the yellow and just fine on Twister." and "The 19 seemed heavy on Twister and the outer green was not faster today realy, than with the 20t. The first lap was 19 seconds faster on the 19t, than the 20. But the 20t had a couple Vortex laps first. Laps 2, 3 and 4 were very similar to the 20t lap"

I like to gear lighter than heavier on a ride of this length, I think the 34x20t will be my gear, if I do this race.

Here are those two Strava Files:

34x22t and 34x20t

34x19t

Santos Map

http://sadlebred.com/2014-races/

http://goneriding.com/index.php/events/2014-events/ccs/13-12hrsantos

12 hour 2014 Flyer

http://omba.org/maps/OMBA_Bike_Trails_Map_Jan_2012.gif

https://www.swfwmd.state.fl.us/recreation/areas/halpata.html

https://www.facebook.com/groups/OcalaMtBikeAssn/

OMBA Trailheads

OMBA Epic

http://ocalabicyclecenter.com/map.cfm?ID=1

Darn Tough Socks

I am particularly hard on socks, I mean really, really hard on socks.

I used to have socks with Kevlar toes and heels even, I thought I needed bulletproof socks. The cuffs wore out, but I still kept wearing them. I took some ribbing for that, for sure.

I found that the Pearl Izumi socks were padded well enough, You see I am a masher. I used the black socks, cause I am a mountain biker and mountain biking is dirty.

I would were the heels out on the Pearls and a few toe holes. Pearl Discontinued them and I snatched up some remaining white ones.

I became aware of Darn Tough socks last year in South Dakota after the Tatanka 100.

The Life Time Guarantee particularly interested me, you can understand why.

I am on a very restricted budget and the last of my Pearls were wearing thin. So I picked up a pair of made in Vermont USA, Darn Tough socks in Duluth Minnesota, back in July, to see if they would hold up.  They did not have cycling socks, so I got a pair of cushioned 1/4 hiking socks in black of course.  I used them for just about every hard ride. 3 to 4 rides a week 2 to 12 hours each. Leaving the Pearls for recovery rides, or if the the Darn Tough socks were in the wash. Which was not often, my kit would go in the washer in the RV as I got in the shower. Three months of hard riding and they they were holding up great. So good I got a warmer pair, when the stay in Brevard NC, got extended  into chillier end of November. I was really feelin the Darn Tough love, so I reached out to them, to see if they were into doing the partnership thing and they said yes.

The cycling socks have a more breathable top. I got them with the cushion as well. Masher remember.

Still Looks great after months of intensive use.

Darn Tough,

Great Stuff,

No Guff! 

 Made In Vermont USA

Santos Kwik Stats

After feeling off for a few days,  Touch of the flu maybe. I rechristened the Ferrous as a Single Speed again. Still had the 22 on the back, from when I entertained SSing Pisgah. So, I wanted to keep it between one and two hours today. Tammy has the flu for sure and I didn't want to be wrecked. What to do all the Black Diamonds near the main trail head, hit twister to get er over an hour, but skipped Vortex for now. Cow Bone to warm up, Magic Mt into Rattlesnake around to Anthill to John Brown. Then out Bunny to get to Twister, Canopy to Speedway to my favorite( in this direction) Sinkhole. Then a all of Dr Ruth to do John Brown, Magic Mt and Cow Bone the other way.
Up Coming event 12 Hours of Santos
I original post on Santos

https://www.strava.com/activities/108271627

https://www.strava.com/activities/108270339

Alafia River State Park IMBA Epic Revisited

ARSP was the not the first IMBA epic that I have ever done, but it was the first one since this blog and quest started, almost a year ago. Maybe that is why I compare so many of the IMBA Epics that I have done since to Alafia!  Or maybe Alafia has been really put together really well.

I have many more IMBA Epics under my belt now, so how does Alafia stack up now? The facilities are top notch, super nice restroom, a big pavilion, a bike wash and some shaded parking in a decent sized parking lot, and a big overflow parking lot.  One could easily get spoiled! Many IMBA Epics are in the middle of no where and many riders think that is how it should be. It seems that IMBA as updated their definition on an Epic again. "The 2013 class of Epics celebrates true backcountry riding experiences that are technically and physically challenging, more than 80 percent singletrack and at least 20 miles in length."
That leaves out ARSP. To give it's due is now considered one of the
"Hall of Fame Epics Rides" 
"We have also created an IMBA Epics Hall of Fame to recognize the rides we have honored in the past but no longer meet the new criteria"
IMBA has yet another category called "Model Trails", no trails are listed yet, but I think that is where Alafia would fit in best. There is no "Shuttle" option, but add a pump track and it could be a Ride Center as well! I personally do not think shuttling should be a necessity, but a "Ride Center" is supposed to have it all. But I digress. Alafia has really well marked and maintained trails. A beginner can ride part (many bail out points) or all of the several miles of the Easy Green trails, plus fire roads.  An Intermediate rider can get a 10 mile ride in, on mostly Intermediate Blue trails.  An advanced rider can add some great Difficult Black diamond or Double Black Diamond trails into that Intermediate ride for a challenge or do them all for a good 15 mile, 1.5 to 2 hour ride.

You can easily stack loops on loops or loop back to do a trails, that you really like, over and over again.

So what am I trying to say? Well I agree that ARSP is a few miles shy of an epic and does not have that back country feeling. On any given day there are a number of riders in the parking lot and on weekends the overflow parking is put to good use. Hardly backcountry. But go in very off times and you will feel more isolated and may even see an alligator, wild hogs, turtles and armadillos.

Anyway you slice it ARSP is a must ride if you are anywhere in central Florida. It is a Model of how a trail system should be set up and maintained. I really like the One way trails, this really reduces those head on OH SHIT moments. During high traffic times, you still get wrong wayers and hikers on the MTB trails, so keep that in mind. Also to mix things up, the North Creek trails is ran in reverse direction on Wednesdays.

For a more backcountry feel, just several minutes away is Balm/Boyette, more mileage, smaller parking lot and just one composting restroom (albeit large)

We docked the motorhome at Hidden River in Riverview. All the amenities that you need and just on the edge of the city congestion to the north and west, gets rural quick to the southeast. Closer that Brandon and less traffic.

Here is a nice write up on blog at SingleTracks.com

For directions and other great info click here http://www.singletracks.com/bike-trails/alafia-river-state-park.html