Place: Santos Trails, Ocala, Florida
Ridden: February 2016
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The main goal for our Southern Trip was Florida, where we were looking forward to warm temperatures and some epic rides. Goal accomplished, a few days riding at the Santos Trail System in Ocala gave us long days on the bike wearing shorts/short sleeves.
The Ocala Mountain Bike Association created and maintains the IMBA Bronze Level Santos Trail System. In 1993 local volunteers began building trails on land that is part of the Cross Florida Greenways. Consisting of 85,000 acres, there are over 85 miles of trails with riding levels for everyone. From flat and smooth, to challenging climbs through the rocky quarries, to 20' drop for the adrenaline junkies. Santos trails have been known for years by all that have ridden there as having something for everyone. The Ocala Mountain Bike Association has strived to not only provide an enjoyable and challending riding experience, they have also dedicated themselves to offering social and education activities that give everyone the opportunity to participate, make new friends, and advance their riding abilities.
For our adventure at Santos, we made camp at the Santos Campground, which is located at the main Santos Trailhead. What a great place to call home for a few days. It was quiet and each campsite was far enough apart to give a little privacy from one's neighbors. The bathrooms and showers were nice, most importantly the showers had nice hot water (especially nice since temps were still in the 40s at night when we were showering). Potable water and electric was present at each campsite. Greenway Bicycles is right across the street for any mechanical/gear issues and restaurants and grocery stores are just a few minutes drive.
For our few days in Santos our goal was to ride as much as we could, and we did. Cliff enjoyed time on the trail everyday, and we hit every single trail in the place multiple times, The way the trail system is set up is it is divided into "sections", each having it's own name (i.e. Vortex Section, Christmas Section, see map to right). These sections are divided by the highway or roads and each section has a trailhead. There are maps at the trailheads and some areas have bathrooms and water. One can ride from section to section connecting the entire trail system, or can circle around and do a lap in one particular section.
The Santos Trailhead was always our starting location, where there is a little skills park and pump track to practice a few things before entering the trail. The trails located directly off the Santos Trailhead give many options for shorter loops and variety of trails. One can loop around there for ages; hitting straight and flat trails or tight and twisty trails loaded with rocks. There are a few bridges and skinnies in this area to add to the fun..Next in line is the Vortex Section, which is like one big skills area. There are dirt jumps, bridges and skinnies, and a free ride area. It's a great place to spend some time practicing skills and doing something a little different than just riding along.
After Vortex, the trail system heads west for mile after mile after mile. Through these sections the trails are pretty much limited to a few trails that link each trail section to the other; so we would ride one trail out and another one back; making the occasional little loop on a side trail. There is also a shared use road that cuts through most of these areas if one wants to get off the single track for a bit. The Landbridge Section has a really neat bridge made of well, land, that goes over the highway. Nayl's Trail in the Shangri-La section was one of our favorites because it is fast, technical, had a little bit of everything and kept us guessing as to what was next. The farthest trail from the main trail head is Tricycle, which being it is 8 miles one way you have to commit to wanting to be there once you start on it. This area is much different than much of the other single track, it is flatter and the forest more open. It also is home to wild hogs, which root up the soil and make for some choppy going at times. We saw some hogs off in the distance at times.As for total riding, on the days we went from end to end on the main trails plus a little looping around with Cliff we did about 60 miles. One could probably make the ride a litte longer by doing loops on every side trail and also riding the multiuse road.
All we can say is what a great time we had. The trails are amazing, the campground a great place to stay, and of course the weather was much better than what it was in PA. Definitely a place we will come back to again; a great winter escape.-Jess, Joël, and Cliff
