This is my slightly belated report on last week's ride at Balm-Boyette Nature Preserve. The preserve is a bit east of Tampa, Florida. It is for hikers and bikers. Equestrians are banned. This was my second trip there. I can't wait for my next one. Most riders will immediately wonder how one can mountain bike in a place without mountains. Well this place has everything a rider could want, except long brutal climbs and long fast downhills. It has trails with lots of short climbs, somewhat like a pump track on steroids, running through the woods. There are a few short, but killer steep climbs, too. (Only 1 of the other 3 riders on that section of trail made it up one of these.) My total ascent was close to what it would have been around home. There are trails through open pastures. There are a few doubly-black diamond trails. (Don't ask because I didn't go there.) And, there were my favorites, groomed flow trails through the woods. Even though I've ridden the flow trails before, it was about as foreign to me as riding on the moon. First, there were trees. Everywhere. I kept expecting to go OTB from having the bars hit trees on both sides of the trail at once. But, I managed to lean and weave at the right moment. Second, it was flat. I could concentrate on the trail rather than making the wheels turn. Third, it was twisty. The longest streight section was like 20 feet. The trail was so twisty that there was a lot of riding in a very small space. Fourth, although the trail was groomed, there were roots and fallen leaves. Fifth, there was wildlife. I had an armadillo dart across the trail ahead of me and I saw a turtle. I heard rustling from other things. One rider I know says he was once in a collision with an alligator. Mentally, it was a very challenging ride. I had to make sure I was on the official trail and not blazing my own while dodging trees with my bars. At some point near what ought to have been an exit from the woods onto a service road, I inadvertently got off the trail and ended up in a pasture. It was flat as a pancake. There was grass about a foot tall. The ground was sandy, some quite deep and soft. Once I realized it was not where I wanted to be, I could not figure out how to fet back onto the flow trail in the woods and I wasn't going to just Ride willy, nilly into the woods. In hindsight, I probably would have hit at least some part if the trail pretty quickly. in any event, I rode along an overgrown path through the pasture, paralleling telephone / power lines. That is where I had two separate failures. First, I failed to consult my map, compass and GPS. This led me to ride much further than necessary to get back to where I had parked the car. Second, I got some grass wrapped on the front hub and axle. This added a lot of rolling resistance. I kept thinking I must be doing a gradual climb or that I was particularly tired because riding seemed harder than I would have expected. The worst was that once back on the road to the parking lot, i could not keep up with two other riders. It wasn't until I put the bike in the car that I noticed the grass on the axle. Tampa is a long way to go just to ride a bike for a day or two. But a week of riding would justify the distance.
Cool to hear about trails sprouting up in the unlikeliest places. Being stuck at home with my foot up, I went and checked out the videos, all of which were the "double black diamond" trails. Cool trails, but they have a different idea of what a "very difficult" trail will look like. Kinda reminds me of the Willows trail area at IRP/Oaks, except the local club has obviously put a lot of time into making the most of what they've got. Singlespeed paradise. Well done by the trailbuilders, but the map-makers might might try riding somewhere west of Pensacola before handing out a double black to anything. Nobody in the trailbuilding crew runs 800 mm bars, obviously.
I don't know if you saw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8CNsMtoihY&feature=youtube_gdata - Video Tube for YouTube - iPhone/iPad Pit is an easy trail without a lot of twists and turns, but is fun to ride.
