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Bethel Kwik Stats

Bethel is a blast at speed, so I returned on the Single Speed Lynskey.  I went a one tooth harder cog on the rear.  I should have gone even harder.  I did not have a 17t so I put a 16t on for a second lap.  Probably could have gone for a 15t cog with the 34t chain ring.  At least for the first lap.  Not sure it would have netted a minute 22, but maybe.  The Previous 4 days were rainy and gloomy.  With less than an inch between them, the trails were hardly wetter than before the rain.

Bethel Biloxi Mississippi

Always looking for 20-40 miles of riding, I saw Bethel in Singletracks.com, listed 30 miles.  Well that was an error or old info.  The Directions are for the northern Trailhead, which is now for Motorcycles and ATVs.  I put in a correction to Single Tracks, so it may be accurate when you read this.  There may have been 30 miles when the north trails were for bicycles and the south was for motorcycles and ATVs.  A few years ago, to keep everybody happy, things were switched around.  So while there is a Bicycle TH sign of of Bethel rd to the north, after a fair ways on a graded dirt road, you come to an unmarked clearing with only a couple orange arrows and ATV tracks on the trail.  The current TH is just a short way up FSR 426, just off of route 15, with a map kiosk, cinder block restroom, picnic table and fire ring (bring your own H2O).  Located in the De Soto National Forest, it is easy to feel that you are nowhere near civilisation.  Strange how quickly that happens after leaving Biloxi Mississippi.

There are currently between 19 and 20 miles of mountain biking at Bethel, with only one on the forest service road and another on old double track.  I bumped into and rode with Tracy and John from Bethel Mountain Bike Trail Group.  Tracy said there were plans to replace the fireroad between the  Couch and the Badlands, trail with single track. While there are no bluff on the Badlands trail, the tall grass was reminiscent of the Maah Daah Hey, though it was named for the oppressive heat in summer due to the lack of shade, also much like the MDH of North Dakota.  The sandy soil handles rain much better than the slough of the MDH,  Tracy pointed out several places that used to be big drainage problems, that they had successfully ameliorated.  Some bridges were replaced with spaced pavers on the bottom of the washes.  Different sections of the country have different views on paver is the water crossing, I am not sure why, yet.  There are a just a few places that still hold water.  Pavers have also been used make berms, in certain fast corners to firm up the sand.  There is still sand inside the turns so those die hard old school riders can still play in the sandbox and get their sand on!  They are also working on new sand management methods.   

To me the trails have an old school, natural feel, not overly manicured, yet well maintained.  Some sections flow and some corners test your skills more than others, a nice mix.  Pine needles made themselves known as well, they have good traction up to a point and then just slide out!

No big elevation here, about 1k for the Full Monty.  But it is not as flat as the non-pit sections of Santos, more like Paisley in north central Florida.  It is more akin to the Games loop in Pensacola FL(but longer), which is not surprising as they are so geographically close to each other, even down to the touch of clay.  But not the elevation change of UWF, just across the street from the Games loop.

You won't find pump or jump tracks or pits, just good old fashioned singletrack, with enough personality change from trail to trail to keep it interesting.  There is a nice section of Couch that follows the Tuxachanie river.  The system can be done as one big loop or shortened at several places that cross the main fire road or FSR 426 or a trail aptly called Bail Out.  All the major intersections are well marked, most with a map with a "YOU ARE HERE" star.  The only tough spot is the Clay climb, which is basically a stair case for giants.  It suffers from erosion, so a much more gradual switchback was made around it.  There are may water drainage, mainly dips between humps and usually small, though a few bigger ones sneak up on you.

They have a really cool Google Earth map for your smartphone.  You need the Google earth App on your phone to open it, but once you load it, it uses your phones GPS signal to show you where you are on the map, regardless of cell reception!  Pretty darn cool.

Here are some videos

There are a few other trails that are available like these from SAMBA

Standard trail Map
http://www.singletracks.com/bike-trails/bethel-bike-trails.html
https://www.facebook.com/groups/BethelMountainBikeTrailGroup

http://www.gulfcoastbicycleclub.com/index.html
https://www.facebook.com/groups/gulfcoastbicycleclub/

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Santos Mountain Bike Festival

All kinds of goodness coming Next week!

https://www.facebook.com/SantosFatTire

http://santosfattire.com/

Games Loop/UWF Pensacola Florida

If you are ever near Pensacola, and need to get in a ride, check these trails out.  Don't let the No Trespassing signs throw you.  The sandy Trailhead parking lot is to the right, with it's entrance right before the first No Trespassing sign, this is the UWF side, the Games side is directly across from that entrance with a closed gate.  It was not obvious, there were no TH parking signs.  Nor were there trail markers pointing to the Games side, until you get past the gate.  The directions from SingleTracks.com were spot on though.

The trails are marked well with really nicely carved and painted wooden posts. The posts are Supplemented with the original arrows and blazes.  There are a lot of cross trails that lead into the pits and stunts on the Games Side.  The UWF has less of that, but there is an unmarked turn, that probably goes to the 10 mile TH and once you get to the far end, you get a red arrow to turn you on to a power line or fire road for a short bit.  But the wooded posts keep you on the the fun stuff for the most part, just don't overthink it, like I tend to do the first time out.  Just don't turn unless there is something pointing you in that direction.  The one exception is in the Bayou on the Whiskey trail.  The trails old flow is the the left, but there is a right turn at a piece of orange tape.  You don't want to miss the WTF section, more on that later.  If you hit the Dogs trail, you just missed WTF!

Both sides handle water/rain very well.  It is said that they are actually better after a good rain.  The first time I rode these trails, was the day after a good couple days of rain.  The Games side hardly had a wet spot on the single track.  There were some big puddles on the fire road and the clay in the pits looked wet in places.  The UWF side was similar, but the elevation change actually had runs that flowed the water to low spots, that still had standing water even two days after the rain.  Both sides had a enough pine needles laid down to keep you on your toes!  The UWF side seemed to roll faster the Games loop, that first ride after the previous days rain.  The 2nd time, two days after rain, the Games loop rolled faster than the first time.

At about 11 miles, Orange marks the outer Games Loop, it is mostly easy, with some intermediate sections.  Mainly big V-gulches, some with bridges at various heights, some at the top, some almost at the bottom, this section is aptly named Donkey Kong.  The Blue trail is about 6 miles with milder intermediate sections and the Pink trail is 3 miles of the easier single track.  The XC trail loops around a pit like in Santos.  This pit is mostly drop ins, dirt jumps and wooden stunts, including a one story tall start ramp, leading down to bridge like drop into a set of dirt and wood ramps jumps.  The pit area seems to be in a constant state of evolution, with new features among the old, as well as discarded stunts scattered about.  Unlike Santos that is constantly changing but always seems complete!  I saw enough rotted bridges and stunts on old decommissioned trails (often right next to or criss crossing the active trails), that made me pay special attention every time I rode over any wood structure!  All active bridges on the XC trails were solid though.  I rode the XC trails mostly, but dabbled in the Twister section a bit.  There was a center ridge with barely enough room for the the trail tread.  Several drops fell from either side of the ridge.  It was pretty cool.  Outside the pit there are some mild climbs that fuel some of the twisty single track downward slants.  The Games loop is a good warm up for the UWF trails across the street at the Trailhead.

The University of West Florida trails has four loops, Red, Blue, Green and White.  The longest loop is all of Blue at about 12 miles.  At over 1000 feet UWF has more than double the elevation change of the full Orange Games loop and more than you would expect in Florida.  The trails seem to always be going up or down and rarely a straight section.  Plenty of rooty stepped climbs and descents.  One local wished it was cut with more flow, but I like the raw, rugged natural old school feel to much of the system.  he also clued me in on the Whiskey/Tango/Foxtrot or WTF section.  Very twisty with a couple good change up surprises, such as a flow into a short steep climb that fades away to the left and drops immediately into a 10 foot V-gulch, completely boarded.  You'll want to do it again.  Except for probably the most drastic change up on Foxtrot near the fence line.  After a few short moderate to steep rooted climbs, you drop down say 10 feet into the bottom of a steep 15-20 foot wall, with a big cement block semi-protruding from the dirt, with a hard left at the top.  I made it all 3 times that I did it and am not sure quite how, especially on the SS with a 34x19 gear.  Keep your speed up and get around or over that cement block and you got it!

There are 2 mile(Yellow), 5 mile(Green), 9 mile(White) and 10.5mile(Red) options as well.

http://www.singletracks.com/bike-trails/uwf-mountain-bike-trails.html
http://www.singletracks.com/bike-trails/bump-trails.html
http://porc.org/localtrails.htm

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6 hours of Santos Single Speed Race Report

I was so concerned about what direction the Red trail in the Vortex pit went, I did not even consider that they would run the Roller Coaster section in reverse.  Twister and Dog Bone were run in the other direction as well, which was less of an issue, due to their less technical nature.  Also the traffic jam, that was the first lap, gave ample time for recon.  Through in a few key hike-a-bikes around bottlenecks and crashes I avoided.  Avoiding getting caught up and getting around crashes is a skill in itself.

Le Mans starts are always a treat.  I just jogged along the best I could.  It felt like half a mile but was probably only a block.  I made sure my bike was in a memorable place, that made the jog as short as possible and would not get tangled with another bike.  Then about a tenth or three on the wide dirt road before the hard left into the singletrack making a huge bottleneck.  It looked like a traffic study in Fort Lee New Jersey.  Then later on Twister, two different nasty roots put someone down.  After getting around the 2nd crash, I had to close down a pretty sizable gap.  Closed the gap just in time to do the Roller Coaster section of Vortex in reverse and the mayhem that it laid down on the unsuspecting riders.  This is where some riders first realized what was in store for them.  Things were clogged and passing was tough, although some riders did start to allow passes graciously, a trend that continued as the race progressed.  OMBA had reworked the end of the Red trail, but ran a short section backwards to get to the field pass-through.  That short section was one of 2 places that was steep enough that I planned to pre dismount and hike up.  The other was in the Vortex as well, a rooted, stepped, steep up to the big drop in for the dirt jumps.  No we did not do the drop!  I got around more than one rider that either tried to ride it or had that, WTF look, when they saw it.  On one lap, someone called track just before the steep hill that just preceded that walk up.  I was on a womans wheel and said not here.  She got off before the roots and I did my hike-a-bike thing, I did not hear anyone call track for a while after that.  I would catch riders and pass many on the tech of the Red trail.  Being shortly after the transition area, many times a new team rider with fresh legs and all full of piss and vinegar, would roll up on me early on the Red trail, call track only succomb to the next steep climb or obstacle.  There was little passing on Red, so at some point each lap, you just played follow the leader, until someone slipped up or let you by.  Dogbone was another thing altogether.  Gearies could usually outpace me and while still limited, opportunities to allow a pass without losing momentum were more available.  On Twister those opportunities were less, but I could carve the corners better than most, so the slightly low gear that was good for 7 laps in the Vortex, allowed me to go fast enough, that few asked to pass.  It was interesting that some Gearie team riders just would catch up somewhere on DogBone, then just follow my wheel.
I switched CamelBaks at 2:45, I packed too much ice in it, so it was too cold and sweet.  It gave me stomach cramps.  Luckily I left a bottle of water on the bike from the start.  I had intended to ditch it.  Glad that I did not.  But lap 4 was a bit slow.  I was on the rivet on lap 5, cause I was moving on Dog Bone, with a pretty fast rider on my wheel.  I would usually rested a bit on Dog Bone, but the cramps were gone, the Powerbar Perform was diluting and oddly enough I was rested from that slower lap.  I continued into Twister and stayed on the gas.  I paid for it on lap 6 and finally got caught by a single speed rider on Dog Bone.  He had a higher gear and pulled away a bit, putting me into what would later prove to be 4th place.  I had one of those team riders pacing off of me at the time.  I could still see 3rd place as we got into Twister.  I knew I could reel him in.  When I did we chatted a bit.  That is when I found out that only laps under 6 hours counted (could not hear the pre race instructions over the chatter) Hmmm.  I knew I was running 47-49 minute laps and that would put the end of lap 6 at about 5 hours 10 minutes, give or take the the Le Mans start, I was going to be tight.  I did some quick math and with Twister winding down, I had to make my move.  I asked to pass and put the burners on.  The announcer seemed surprised, that I was going out for another lap, later another rider went out with 35 to go!  I don't think he made it.  4th place finished his 6th lap a couple minutes after me and called it a day.  But it was a 6 hour race not a 5 hour and 10 minute race.  I thought I could make it, but the math was a little fuzzy after 5 hours of racing, "How long was that Le Mans start?".  I looked at the actual time of day and it seemed like my chances were fleeting.  A guy comes flying by, on a Single Speed.  "It was not that 4th place guy, no couldn't be, he was too fast.  Must be a fresh team guy or elite guy running his back up bike, like I saw earlier, was his bike orange, no it was black I think", I thought to myself.  Back to my math. With my legs threatening to cramp, my thoughts turn to my wife Tammy, "This can't be as bad as she feels almost all the time, you can buck up and work through these measly cramps!"  I refocused and just went for it.  I was back to the pit and onto Roller Coaster, coming up on some slow tired riders.  "He's not pulling over" It would have been so easy to settle on that pace, "I probably missed the cut off anyway.  No, No, ask him to let you pass."  "OK go, up the last hike-a-bike, hold it together through those last two tight switchbacks, now press to the the finish line!"

I never noticed where the big clock was, so I had to ask if I made the cut off?  The announcer said yes by a couple minutes. Yeah!  Sweet!

Sorry this was so long, but it was a 6 hour race after all.

Results

I was 3rd of a small field of 6 Single speeders.

29th out of 115 over all

29th out of 101 men

last to make 7 laps

Only 3 riders made 8 laps

Big Bling

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Santos IMBA Epic mostly Plus

I wanted to get in the whole thing and rode the trails out to where the orange flagged trail ends, near the  Marion County-Dunnellon Airport.  The trail out that way is very rough in places and dug up by wild pigs in others, it was just not that fun.  So when I got to the end I took the limestone road back to route 200.  It is called the Tricycle trail.  Except for the pigs, it does seem more ridden in than last March, but it could use a few hundred wheels on it.  I chose Paisley Woods and San Felasco as my other long days, to keep this fresh, as I did a good chunk of the Santos Epict a few weeks ago.  Ern N Burn and Nayles trail are worth the trip for sure.  Lots of rollers of all sizes, with lots of tight twists and turns over rooty terrain, with the occasional moon rock thrown in for ambience.  For shear distance and variety, the Santos epic ride is tough to beat!