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

More ARSP Kwik Stats

Good way to say goodbye to the area. Cool and dry, just like I like it. Started at 64 and ended just below 50 degrees. I made two loops almost the same. Both pretty much continuos with as little duplication and crossing as possible, while getting in most of the trails and all the Black and Blue trails. I'll link the Strava files later. 

Alafia River State Park Kwik Stats

Just green and blue today. Better than black and blue. The Keys were nice, but I slacked way to much in southern Florida. Very humid today. I am soaked. But no frostbite at least. 

Mudion

Mud has an negative ion that is attracted by the positive vibes from a good ride, I call these Mudions, also known as Muions. Getting their name from the Greek, Muon.

Santos IMBA Ride Center

The Santos is a huge trails system in Ocala Florida. Including the marked in progress trails I did rides over 54 miles long(5.25 hours. Most of the mileage are on easy trails, with a significant amount on intermediate trails. The advanced trails are in the minority, but are pretty sweet. I put them together in a loop that only doubled back on the fire road going into and out of the Vortex. It starts at the Santos trail head and took about an hour and a half. Pine east to Cow Bone, which flows so nicely into Magic Mountain, that really continues best, right on Rattlesnake Ridge, jump back on to Cow Bone to get to Anthill, take that around to DR Ruth (very briefly, to get to John Brown, including the bench cut along the blue highway to the pit, back to the the Blue Highway (left) to Intermediate Bunny Trail, West Pine takes you over to the Vortex trail head. After a loop of Vortex, back out to Dog Bone south to Dog Bone north, get you to Twister, Puppy, Dog Bone west, Canopy, Speedway connect you to Shorty, a bit of DR Ruth to get you to Sink hole in my favorite direction. Marshmallow to Pine west gets you back to the trail head. OMBA has a well marked trail system and a super Google Map of the Santos Trails Short with all the advanced (Red) sections. Facebook Page

Long mostly easy trails with some intermediate and in process trails to keep it interesting.

Santos

Kerr Scott IMBA Epic

Flowy and twisty, Kerr Scott is a big contrast to my recent stomping grounds near Brevard, raw backcountry Pisgah National Forest and the multi-faceted Dupont State Park. Kerr Scott has a definite flow progression from Dark Mountain to Overmountain Victory Trail (OVT) to Warrior Creek.

Even the original 5.3 miles of "Old School" trails of Dark Mountain, seemingly always has an eye towards flow, it has bigger climbs, grade reversals and sharp hairpins. It is just more rugged!

Be sure to ride trail #8 down to the bridge down river from the dam. Even if you may have to climb back up, it's a good climb too! #8 is my favorite descent in the system., old school feel with sharp hairpins.

OVT is bermorific, this part of the system cranks up the flow a notch. Usually done as an out and back, often in between Dark Mountain and Warrior Creek. I have been working on keeping my weight centered and I am coming out of turns faster than ever before making sections of the trail seem endless. Take the Berry Loop on the way towards Warrior Creek an Shiners Run on the way back, they flow nicely that way. Making the most of the elevation change, Berry Loop (1.5 miles) gets even more swoopy and even some of the berms going uphill seem to conserve your momentum. Trail boss Jim Horton was working on the second half of Berry that will eventually form a figure 8 with OVT. Shiner's Run (2.3 miles) uses noticeable elevation change as well, but is more like original flavor OVT in the flow department.

Warrior Creek is a super sweet 11 mile single track loop. Berm after berm of flow, begging you to stay off the brakes and maintain every last Newton meter of momentum for the next grade, direction reversal or the occasional obstacle or feature. It was literally an endurance workout for your flow skills.

I rode for a bit of OVT with Mike the Owner of Magic Cycles over in Boone while was testing a 650b Giant. Pretty nice guy.

http://www.mtbproject.com/trail/786660
http://www.trailove.com/kerr-scott-north-carolina-imba-epic/

Here is video to get you started. I will add a few more.

Farlow Gap

Yeap we had been in Rosman, near Brevard, NC for over 2 weeks and the SS was still strapped in the basement of the bus. The road bike even came out already! After a giggle ride with Tammy, I swapped the gears from the Ferrous to the Lynskey Pro29 w/ Blacksheep Ti Fork (Closest thing I got to suspension!).

I have really missed this bike. It is so much lighter and more resilient than the Ferrous w/Bontrager carbon fork!

I needed to decide if  "A" I was going to race that weekend and "B", would it be the Couch Potato or the Swank.

I got my warm up on route 64 and headed up Cathy's Creek to 471D, which gets you to Butter Gap. Take that down and take Long Branch up to 475. Take a left and continue to 229 (Pilot Mtn rd) and climb it up to Farlow gap. Then Decide just how much nerve you have. Just how much you ride and when you should walk. Both very poignant  and souls searching questions. Yet so vital to one's race choice decision.

I had one of those silly meetings with the ground shortly before the Farlow Gap DH. Must have been a mountain gnome, as I could not find any other cause.

The Mountain literally slapped me in the face. As if to say "YOU MUST RESPECT ME!" and served to keep me focused the rest of the way down and keep me from getting too cocky!

I took video of the descent, but it was so long, had so much walking and most of the riding was so rough it was just a blurr. So unless I get specific requests, I will not waste the bandwidth.

Wes Dickson of Sycamore Cycles and one of the areas top racers, said to treat Farlow as an adventure and that I did. I have to thanks Wes for letting me replace the spoke that that gnome took out and introducing me to Heather of Blue Ridge Adventures.

I went for the challenge The Swank and even contemplated going back to back as some others did.

Here is what I wrote on Strava Shortly after I popped my Farlow Gap cherry;

Farlow was ok. A bunch of hike a bike at the beginning. Maybe with slack angles and a lot of time riding one and I could ride some of what I walked. (Said idn Yoda's voice) To old to start the training , he is Mhmm! A couple sketchy creek crossings , but mostly rideable WITHOUT suspension. Not sure how it goes from 4k to 8k between the Couch and Swank. I got a little more than 3K between Pilot Mtn(229) and the up part of the Farlow DH. To me going up Pilot Mtn and down Farlow is better than the other way around. The Swank will be a good way to start out the IMBA 5000 meter climbing ending 11-9
P.S. I finally got the Ferrous set up as a SS, But have not ridden it yet!