The Huracan was my second attempt at a bike packing ride/race. I attempted the Cohutta Cat in GA at the end of last year and learned a ton of lessons about gear, pace, etc.
The biggest thing that I learned in my first attempt on these is that there are a ton of awesome people out on these adventures and someone you talk to for 5 min can turn into a new friend that you talk with and see at the different events. These are not the 100 mile efforts I have become accustomed to and seem to require a very different approach both physically and mentally.
I used my Trek Stache for the first trip which was great for comfort, but proved a good bit heavier and less maneuverable then my smaller tire bikes I am used to. My wife Rebeccca has been riding and racing a Trek Procaliber for a couple years now and absolutely loves it. Since I was opting for gears and lighter weight on this adventure that bike was a good fit. My new 9.8 arrived less than a week before the race and my new bags arrived just days before I left so no real time for gear testing.
On my first trip I used all revelate bags and they did great. For this trip I made a number of changes to maximize storage as well as have full use of my dropper post.
I used the following bags on this trip.
- Frame bag - Custom Rogue Panda w/ water bottle boss mounting
- Seat bag - Rockgeist dropper bag
- Cockpit - Rockgeist feedbag, Rockgeist front harness and front feedbag, 2 x Revelate feed cans
All of these bags did great and I would highly recommend checking them out if in the market for new gear. It was cool to learn that Rockgeist is right up the street in Asheville, NC so nice to have some local gear makers.
Rebecca and my youngest Connor came down for this trip to enjoy the Santos trails and nice mild winter temps. We arrived later Friday afternoon and there were already a large number people shuffling about.
All the gear was about packed and ready and it was time for some Mexican before hitting the sack.
For some reason I slept better than I had in months and had no concerns of being up hours before the ride. Pulled the last of my things together and rolled to the start with about 30 seconds to spare.
Segment 1 - The race begins
After a few words from Carlos the group is sent off like a heard of wild animals. It is apparent fairly immediately that this is going to be a fast pace if I wanted to stay up with the front groups. I will realize later this may not have been the best idea. Dustin Welch and I planned to ride this together and stick to our planned pace. That went out the window when the larger group was keeping solid pace and you had shelter out of the crazy Florida wind. We got spit off the very front group after we all missed a turn. After this we dropped into a group of new friends (Justin, Glenn, Flynn) and hammered on together.
The pace stays hot as we navigate pavement, dirt, sandy singletrack, and maybe some hard pack. I start to feel the quads locking up about 40 miles in. This seems like a really bad thing considering I had about 300 miles still to go. I struggled to hold on at times, but was able to stay with the small pack until we reached the first control location around 45 miles maybe in.
Bought some waters, ate some food, and after about 10 minutes everyone was off and rolling again.
Segment 2 - Naked Water crossings and reroutes
We roll off at a bit more of a controlled pace, but Justin and Glenn were freight trains that just sat on the front and drove the pace. Seems like we were in some single and double track a lot through here.
I learned why such the hard push to start, that chest deep water crossing was around mile 90 or so and needed to get there before dark to cross. Knowing this helped me dig a bit deeper and push because who the hell wants to cross deep dark water crossings with gators at night.
We roll up on the party camp and this guy is yelling about a reroute that was sent out. I had not been checking email or any of that so it was news to me.
We make our way through the woods to the water crossing. Damn! it looks bigger than I expected. There are a couple guys stripping down naked to keep things dry. The thought of riding for hours to come in wet bibs was worse than stripping down and crossing some funky looking water so I chose the later. I will say despite being terribly uncomfortable doing it, I felt way better putting dry stuff back on to continue the day.
We pushed on to Control 2 at the Circle K and then grabbed some Wendys and a break.
Segment 3 -Getting lost around the lake and freezing
Once we arrived at Lake Apopka we had a navigational mishap that cost us an extra 7 miles or so. While on this loop Glens rear tire was taken out by some super sharp rocks in the trail. While we are sitting there you can hear the baby gators and frogs all around. Seeing some others pictures from the day it looks like it would have been nice to see during the day.
We are off and rolling again, we are at 15hr on the bike at this point and I am starting to wear down, but wanted to hang with the group that was trying to push to Clermont on the first day. At some point someone mentions there being another 27 miles to Clermont and it would probably take us a few hours. Dustin ad I decided that we would camp out on an overlook that was not far ahead. We were sitting at mile 135 on my computer. This stop would later prove to be a dumb move.
We actually brought no real sleep gear as we had planned on riding through the night. We each have a thin bivy sack and we posted up on the bench out on the lookout. Dont think either one of us slept much as the wind was cold as hell and we just laid there and froze until the morning. In hind sight we should have just laid down for an hour and then got moving again.
We get moving again on day 2 and have the goal to push on to ridge manor. Things start to get a bit hazy here on details. I know we climbed what was called the FL Pyrenes. It was not near as bad as people described it, but it was very surprising considering we were in FL. I know we made it to Clermont, had some bad mexican food, bought some additional clothes and other supplies and we were off to the next reroute we were told about at Epic cycles.
During this time we are on some sketchy roads where drivers just dont give a F*** and seem to be buzzing us the whole time. I thought it was bad at home in SC, but this seemed way worse. The rain starts not long out of Clermont and is steady for the next several hours or so.
We pushed until about 4:30 that afternoon and came to a couple other riders taking shelter from the rain. We are soon joined by more riders coming to get out of the rain. Chris tells us that the bad rain is coming in the next couple hours and there is no shelter ahead for a ways. Again we made a lazy decision and decide to post up and nap for a few hours and then get going once the rain passes.
I am told here that if we push to ridge manor that we will have a possible deep water crossing at Marji's hole. The thought of that did not sound good at all and my vote was to push 20 miles to the next camp site and stay there for a few hours and leave early.
Chris and Judy pulled out just ahead of Dustin, myself, and yet another new friend Seth. The three of us blistered the next 20 miles at a race pace pace lining the super fun limestone roads through green swamp.
We arrived at the campsite in about an hour and a half and I was again ready to crash.
Dustin mentioned a couple other guys, Nick and Irmantas, would be coming through in a while as well.
I slept some that night and we still ended up getting a later start than anticipated. Before we roll out we meet another new friend, Opie, and we all hung out and shot the bull for a few and then left together.
Off we were again on Day 3 now with the goal of hitting lake lindsey mall and beyond.
Segment 4 - Clermont, and crazy drivers
I think on day three we were somewhere on this segment to start the day. I started losing track at this point. We were on green ways, double track, sugar sand, and probably some other surfaces during this time. We make our way down water rd at some point and that was loads of fun.
We navigate Marji's Hole and with some creative navigating around the right side we stayed dry in the crossing. It could have definitely been done at night with no issues.
What came next would not have been fun in the middle of the night. It was sand and more sand and then a bit more. About this point I am starting to realize that this terrain down here is just not my thing. We keep on pushing and grinding through this crap and eventually come out to ridge manor. We stop and I bought two gas station hot dogs that seemed like the best thing I had ever eaten. We eat and sit for a few more before pushing on to the lake lindsey control.
We enter croom and we ride what feels like forever. It was flowy for the most part, but by the end I wanted to tear of my fingernails from the monotony of those trails. There were some cool flowy and tech sections back there, but for the most part was one long pine needle trail. The one cool thing about the trail though was the length. I cant think of anywhere else I have ridden where you could have so many continuous miles of single track.
We make it and right after pulling in another group comes rolling in and we see another one of those "Dont give a F***" drivers as a young lady was making the turn the car swerved around her honking and driving like an A**. We sit down order a sub, cuban, couple beers, and begin shoving our face.
At this point I start to not feel the best and just want to lay down and go to sleep. We sit for a while longer and then get going.
Segment 5 - Push to the end
Dustin and I only rode for another 5-10 miles and I had to pull off the side and take a break. We found a rock query and threw our sacks down for a couple hours and tried to sleep.
Yet again we were freezing and new we had to go. We get up and moving again keeping a nice super easy pace. We motor on and think crossed another big forest with a bunch of hard pack. We run across an SUV winching out of one of the many huge holes back there.
We roll into Inverness I think it is to stop and grab some supplies for the final 60 mile or so push. We stop at the racetrack and load up. We end up sitting longer than we should and the thought of a hotel comes up. We both puss out and decide to grab a few hours of sleep and crush the rest in the morning.
We find the Florida Motel is closest so we decide to give it a go. It looked a bit sketchy, but ended up being just fine and a nice change to get some actual sleep and a shower.
Never hear the 5AM alarm go off and look up to find it is 8AM. We are way behind and I need to get back to Santos by 1 so we can move the RV. We get ready, grab some quick food, and get on our way.
I had an urgency to wrap this thing up and felt refreshed from sleep. Threw on some music, got in the aero bars, and tried to drop the hammer. Pushing for a while I did not think to look and make sure Dustin was with me. He was nowhere in sight so was not sure how far ahead I was. I knew we had very little left and I felt like i needed a hard push on the final day.
I was on rail trail for a long time and running a fast pace. Once I start getting into the trails again I start to have some navigation problems due to all the turns around. Scream at some trees a few times and curse my lack of navigational prowess.
I kept pushing on and at some point was on some more technical flowy trails for a while. On some basic section of trail I had my front tire wash and face planted into the side of a bank. Rung the bell a bit, but no broken glasses so good to go.
At some point with about 15 miles to go one of my knees decides it is done riding. I could not walk on it or turn the pedals all the sudden. Never had this happen before so just go off the bike and stopped for a few minutes. Knee decided to work right so go on my way.
The last 15 miles felt like it took days and would just never end. Some more time goes by and I finally make it to the Santos trail head. Head to the RV to get a beer and head to the showers.
Dustin rolled in about 30 minutes after me and we all sat and chatted for a few before I needed to get the RV packed up to try and make it a few hours up the rd that night into GA.
Closing Thoughts
This is only my second bike packing event, but I believe I have found my new favorite events. There is just something about going out there unsupported for days and seeing awesome places and meeting cool people.
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