Ok… sooo… like, it’s Florida and you wouldn’t think the “mountain biking” would be all that much fun; well, you would be wrong. There are no mountains per say (in the Santa Rosa Beach area) but there is tons of single track that are filled with hidden roots, quicksand, mounds of loose pine straw, logging trail detours, and muddy deep pools of water around blind turns filled with more sand that is even sludgier, sucking in your wheels and losing all tracking… IN LOVE WITH IT ALL!!
For me, it’s the unexpected terrain Florida presents that made me so pumped on it. You wouldn’t really need a MTB actually. It’s more so perfect for cyclocross but I just received the State Bicycle Co. Ridged SS Pulsar and brought it along for the ride. It rode like a dream (move on that later).
I meet up with Team Loblolly ringleader Adam McAnulty a few years back and have enjoyed following along via Instagram as he and the team travel from race to race spreading Loblolly shrednanigans. We’ve never been able to meet up at the same time and go out to ride so this was pretty sweet to ride and wreck together. Speaking of wrecking… I’m pretty sure everyone ate it at least twice before the ride was over. Like I said… the terrain was crazier than it appeared even for the experienced locals. I decided to tackle a tree and then completely lost traction going around a sandy corner, pummeling to the ground. After that my confidence level was pretty low on bike handling skills. As I got used to the corners and deep sand pits I started building momentum again, gripping the handlebars white knuckle status.
All in all, if you need to gain better handling for the upcoming cyclocross season look no further than Flo Rida… I mean… what better combo than heading out for a few hours then take a dip in the ocean. Dreams really do come true!!
Here’s a photo recap of the ride. More photos via film once I get those developed.
RIDE x CREATE
0 Comments