Enjoyed a nice weekend in Sunny Florida. Mark D and I left Saturday Afternoon for SANTOS Trails in Belleview, FL. Before we left I noticed some Blisters on his rear Maxxis Crossmark Tires. Apparently you can't use tire sealant with all tires. He called down to the Santos Trailhead Bike store to see if they had some to replace them and they did. 3.5 hours later we were there. We made the trip down without stopping. He picked up some Tubeless Specialized Pro Resolution 2.0. He uses Stan's Sealant along with them. After checking in at the Santos Trail Head Campground we went for a quick Pre Ride. I was amazed at how technical the Santos Trail really was. The "John Brown" section put the FU in FUN. It was knarsty! I wanted to stop and take more Photo's of the trail but we were running out of daylight and wanted to get back to set up camp. I had brought a couple of fire logs but we needed some real fire wood, There was a dude selling Fire Wood so if your ever down there camping and need "Wood" just give him a call and he'll deliver right to your site. Ronnie FULLWOOD 352-328-4761. The temp got down to 36 F overnight but I was warm and cozy in my Tent.
After setting up camp we went and ate some great food at the "Pasta Faire" in Belleview. I would highly Recommend it if your ever there. Ask For Debbie She was our server and gave us excellent service. I had the "Italian Ride of your Life" its a Ravioli, chicken parmesan, lasagna, and Italian sausage. Also a salad with Raspberry vinaigrette dressing plus all the "Wood Fire Oven" Baked bread you could eat. For dessert Mark had the Strawberry Cheesecake and I had a fine cup of Coffee.
I woke to a chilly mornin and quickly started a fire. Wile the fire was getting going I went and took a nice HOT shower. Mark was nice enough to get up early enough to take me over to Burger King for a cup of Coffee before my 9:30 race start. The Start was a Short sprint to the single track. I actually beat a couple guys there but backed off and let them through. I didn't want to fight them through the narrow opening. I was able to stay right behind the pack through the beginning big ring fast section. But eventually got dropped. I ended up passing one guy in my class at the top of Magic Mountain. He and I rode most of the second lap together. Then he passed me going over the big rock garden and I never caught back up. I finished 25th of 26. It took me approx 2 hrs 45 min. I say approx because they didn't score my last lap! I was listed as DNF on the results board but written below was "#335 finished". The same thing happened at the Jacksonville Race so I did not think anything of it. Well when the results were posted today on-line I was listed as DNF. I e-mailed David Berger of Gone Riding and he straightened everything out. Class Act! As for Mark D's race he placed 5th in Clydesdale and got some cool schwag like a 25 Years of Mountain Bike by Specialized Book.
We stopped in Ocala, FL on the way out and ate at Don Pancho's Mexical Resturant. I had Chili rellanos with rice and beans along with homemade tortillias. Mark asked me to drive cause he was droopy eyed. He slept til just below Valdosta. He has GPS so he checked to see what my top speed was, 90.3mph BUSTED! I really wasn't going that fast the whole time I think I got up to that speed when I was trying to pass some one on the right. Mabey I was just still in RACE mode.......
Yesteday's Race: SANTOS, 3 laps, 15.6 mi, ? time, 25th of 26 Sport Men 30-39
