Over the bars and into the woods

Lovely. One way to describe the feeling of weightlessness one feels as their body takes flight over the handlebars on their bike. Even more lovely is that this happened on the first drop of the ride. This would not be my first foray into the dirt today. What was really amazing is that while I did get ejected from the bike, the bike landed perfectly upside down - seat and handlebars and stayed this way.


Not me, but you get the idea...

We had decided earlier in the week we would try the tougher trails first. I elected to do rollercoaster, one of the more difficult trails in Alafia. We rolled up to the first drop, a 5 or 6 step staircase of pain. Shawn, Jason, and Rich (the more adventurous and more experienced) went down no problem. Then it was my turn. From what I could tell I was doing great - I made it down the first 4 or 5 steps and then physics took over. Mistake #1 - I was not behind the seat. In downhill drops and staircases, you have to literally have to get your body behind the seat to put enough weight on the back to prevent the over the bars scenario. Mistake #2 - which may or may not have occured - locking the front brakes. I assume I did this as a gut reaction to the falling sensation, but who knows. Alex told me that I looked like I had cleared it just fine, but said at the bottome it was like something grabbed the front wheel and flung the bike and myself over like the worlds worst pendulum. I am pretty sure that everyone in the park heard the words "OHHHH F@@@CK". I took the hardest shot to my left knee, in nearly the same spot I did the first weekend I had my bike. The last wound had just healed. My gloves protected my hands, helmet scratched a little, got a nasty raspberry on my leg from where it caught the handlebar grip, and I got covered in dirt. Uggh.

This was not what I needed to start my adventure on one of the toughest trails I had ever attempted. With my confidence gone (and I apparantly took Alex's too) we continued down the trail. I had a lot of fun on the trail and had I not fallen off, I probably would have loved it and attempted to do more of the drops. I did ok the rest of this trail until I got to a spot dam near at the end. Coming up a steep climb I did great till I hit the summit. At the summit I caught a large rock with my left pedal and lost my momentum. I tried to balance it out, but alas, on my ass I was. Timmmmber! Pitched right over on my side, laughing the whole way down.

Finally we exited Rollercoaster and went back to the picnic shelters to cool off. It was already in the 90F range. My "moisture wicking" jersey was basically a hot wet towel at this point.

The hardcore guys decided they were going to go run North Creek and Rollercoaster again, Alex, Ryan, and I, decided to do Sandpine, Rock Garden, and the River loop.

We had a great time on those trails and running low on water, we headed back to the camp to relax and to refil our drink bottles.

We decided to run one last pull throught Rock Garden, then we called it a day.

I also had forgotten to turn on the GPS, so by the time I realized it, I said forget it.

Distance covered: 14.8mi + fire roads (probably another mile on these)

Roller Coaster:2.2mi
Sandpine:2.5mi
Rock Garden:3.5mix2
River Loop: 3.1mi

Map of Alafia, courtesy of SWAMP


Alex sent me his GPS based route (notice the difference from the stated mileage vs what the GPS sees since it gets lost in the forest)

View Larger Map

Mountain Biking Madness

Today I met up with Alex, Jason, Ryan, and Shawn at Alafia River State park. I ended up riding about 15 miles of trails. (Sandpine 2.5mi, Rock Garden 3.5mi, River Loop 7.6mi and probably at least another 2 miles of Multiuse trails)

The map if you choose to follow along is here:Maps of Alafia


I led Alex and Ryan down Sandpine until the cutoff near bridges. About that time Shawn and Jason finally made it to the park and we met up at the parking lot.

From the parking lot we headed back out the multi use trails and onto the Rock Garden. We road Rock Garden all the way to the harder options (the blue loop at the end of the rock garden section. While Shawn and Jason (the feerless wonders) handled these crazy climbs and drops easily, the rest of us ended up walking them...At one point I do believe Alex watched his borrowed bike fly off the trail into the bush. When we finally found the exit. From here we rode back to the lot and chowed down a few powerbars and then headback out, this time we took the first two options on the River loop and then headed back again to refuel and relax.

At this point Alex decided to hang back and relax (this was his first time out MTB and he was on an old Mongoose that really wasnt up to the task.

The dynamic duo headed out to do North Creek while Ryan and I headed out to do all the sections of the river loop. After this we returned to the parking lot so Ryan could head out, and so I could get Alex to go back on the trails again. After fueling and making a pit stop, Alex and I headed back to the river loop. Unfortunately Alex got a bad cramp about 1/10th of a mile in that had him in agony for a few minutes. After resting up a bit, we continued on.

Nearing the end of the second leg of the river loop, Alex got his first OTB experience, courtesy of a pair of roots that at his 26er's and spit him out over the handlebars. He dusted himself off and on we went. At the end of the trail we took the cutoff and headed back to the trail.


In conclusion:
This had to have been one of the most fun days out on the trails. This was the first time out with the Kenda Nevegal on the front, and it is leagues better than the specialized Fastrak LK that I have on the factory front wheel. I also got a pair of biking shorts this week (with the awesome padding in the right places) and between it and the Chamois Butt'r I had and have no bottom pain from the ride. I also picked up a riding jersey as well, the pockets on the back are terrific. Also, nothing beats hanging out with all the guys doing something we all love.