Santos Trails Ride (Ocala, FL)

Well, after talking about going to Santos for a few weeks, we finally made our way up to Santos mountain bike park in Ocala. Jason, Ryan, Shawn, and I headed up around 7, and after stopping for breakfast, finally arrived around 9:30. We couldn't have asked for better weather, with the day starting off in the low sixties and rounding out around 80F with no humidity. It is so nice not to need to change shirts three times due to the heat.

The first thing we saw was a small skills building area - it was a small pump track, a low penalty bridge and other various little obstacles. We rode around here for a little bit and then hit the Pine Tree trail. This trail is an easy trail that loops around the Santos trails. We took the Pine Tree trail to Marshmallow, a windy trail with a few rocks and roots tossed in for good measure. The next trail we did was called speedway which featured several switchbacks and offered a quick pace (especially on the downhill sections. From here we rode up the Blue Hiway and at this point we split up a bit. Jason, Ryan, and Shawn took the John Brown trail, a red (very difficult trail) while I opted to take Dr. Ruth around to where John Brown exited. This section of Dr. Ruth was a miniature rock garden, meaning that there were several section of rocky, gnarly sections to ride over.

I arrived at the exit of John Brown and snapped some photos:

The exit to the John Brown trail


The Spesh looking up towards Magic Mountain


From here we rode down Cow Bone to the Blue Hiway, and crossed the street to the Vortex trails. We rode down dog bone (which while being an easy trail, had a couple of jumps that were awesome fun).

Vortex Area and Skill Filters

"Skill Filters - better be pedaling fast"


The vortex area has what they call "skill filters". The first skill filter was a small wooden bridge that was about 2 feet wide and at the highest point was about 2-3 feet tall - plenty easy. We entered the play area, which consisted of a pump track and several insane jump areas. We all played around on the pump track for a bit and watch guys who were jumping their bikes at least 6-8 feet in the air and then riding a wall turn at the end of the track. After watching for a little while we headed back toward the enterance of the park. Shawn and Jason decided to ride back in and go take the red trails, Ryan and I took the 3 mile twister trail.

Twister is the equivalent of our Golf Cart trail at Boyette, except it was about 2 miles longer and had 3 or 4 substantial drops (all of which had a branch that extended over the drop to make you think it was going to decapitate you). We reached the back enterance to the Red trails where Jason and Shawn said they would meet us. The said the trail they took didnt connect and they were waiting at the pump track for us. At this point we walked our bike over the skill filter (a few huge bolders) and rode into the free ride area. We met up with the guys again and then headed over to Santos again. This time we took the bunny trail, which was a very fast, flowing 1.5 mile trail. At the end of the bunny trail the guys headed down to the Ant Hill trail, and I rode around to Dr. Ruth to where Ant Hill exited. From here I rode up Dr. Ruth to Cow Bone to the end of Magic Mountain (the guys went and rode it). The guys said that the drop wasn't too bad, but you had to drag your brakes the whole way down and steer as best you could.

The exit to Magic Mountain was a fairly steep drop full of rocks:


It was about this time that we were going to head up Dr. Ruth and back to the trailhead to eat, but we quickly discovered Jason had a flat tire. We made quick work of the flat and were back on our way. We were flying down Dr. Ruth when a pair of guys came up behind us and apparantly we were holding them up (not that I heard anyone free wheeling!). We stopped at Sinkhole where they went down the trail, and then so did the other guys. I rode down the rest of Dr. Ruth, back around to Pine Tree and over to Marshmallow where Sinkhole ended. From here we rode back to the trailhead.

Jason and Shawn had decided they had enough and packed up and headed back. Ryan and I ate our lunch and got back on the bikes for one last tear through the trails. We rode down Pine Tree to Marshmallow, flew threw Speedway and Dr. Ruth and made our way back to the parking area.

I've been playing around with a new iPhone app and took this picture of the Spesh when I was waiting for the guys at the end of one of the trails:


Ride Stats and Maps:
Started: Nov 14, 2010 9:36:40 AM
Ride Time: 1:38:12
Stopped Time: 2:25:00
Distance: 14.49 miles
Average: 9.07 miles/h
Fastest Speed: 13.49 miles/h
Climb: 693 feet
Calories: 2871

First Section of the Ride:

View Larger Map

Second Section of the Ride:

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.