RR: RR: Alafia State Park

[ericfoltz]

After a few days of road rides down in the Keys, I'm back on the dirt in Florida.

Today's challenge: Alafia State Park Trails.

Everywhere I've gone in Florida the riders keep telling me to go check out Alafia so here I am just south of Tampa bright and early ready to take on one of the best trails in the state.

I met up with some cool bike shop employees from AJ's Bikes & Boards in Lithia in the parking lot and got some tips on a good loop.

I started out on one of the Blue/intermediate trails as a warm up then hit the easy River Run, followed by Gatorback (great technical trail), Rock Garden, Rabbit Ears, Rollercoaster, and Moonscape.

Gatorback, Rollercoaster and Moonscape are the "Black Diamond" trails and were definitely fun. Steep drops followed by short, steep, technical climbs following narrow ridges and gullies. Tough riding.

Here's some pics:

Nice flowing ST on one of the Blue Trails.


Don't fall. That's some nasty looking water.


The start of Gatorback. Any trail with an entrance like this has got to be good. This was probably my favorite part of the ride.



Steep drop to a high-speed banked turn on Gatorback.


Easy cruise section on the way over to Mooscape.


Overall a really fun place to ride. The trails seemed to flow more than some of the other places I've ridden in Florida.

I just wish it was bigger. I did a loop that included pretty much every trail and only came up with 13 miles of ride.

The Route: http://www.geoladders.com/show_route.php?route=18860

Good stuff and the guys from AJ's were cool. One of the better MTB bike shops I've seen in the south.

[Abui]

Is that an illusion or do you have to duck the branch at the start of Gatorback?

[CalEpic]

Not trying to be negative, I just laughed when I saw this route map.

I used to live in Sarasota, not far from Alafia. I couldn't imagine there is much of a mtb scene in Florida.

Hope you're enjoying your road trip. The RR's are great.

C

[ericfoltz]

Originally Posted by CalEpic

Not trying to be negative, I just laughed when I saw this route map.

I call them noodle rides.

I prefer rides like we have in the west where you really feel like you're covering some ground but you have to give these guys credit for creating some pretty good rides out of some really boring terrain.

Florida has actually been pretty surprising. They have a pretty good selection of trails and some really active groups (S.W.A.M.P., Mudcutters, etc...) that are actively building and maintaining trails all over the state.

[Dusty]

I love seeing what other areas have.Thanks for the report.

[Pain Freak]

Not sure how you get all this free time to visit all these places, but I'm loving it. Real good job with the RR's. Thanks again.

[ericfoltz]

Originally Posted by Pain Freak

Not sure how you get all this free time to visit all these places, but I'm loving it. Real good job with the RR's. Thanks again.

Work.

I'm a nature/landscape photographer so I work from an hour before sunrise/sunset to an hour after every day. The rest of the day I spend riding, driving or scouting locations.

Heading back along the Gulf Coast now. Will be hitting Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona over the next month or so.