June 10th, 2015 (Ocala, FL) - Hotels are expensive! You'd think that with all the complicated websites created to help you find the best deal, the price might actually go down. So much for technology. We haven't been on a camping trip in about five years. It was time to drag the tent out. Granted summertime in Florida is not ideal for camping but with a little luck you can get away with it. A few days before our trip the air conditioning in our car died. So much for luck. It was my wife's vacation so we were not going to let anything stop us. I went through  Reserve America to pay for a site at Santos campground and then I signed up for the Hump Day Hustle race on the Santos Bicycle Shop website. On the big day we were blessed with many miles of overcast skies with intermittent rain which cooled things down for the long drive. The normal 90+ weather can drop 20 degrees in a good storm. The Skills Center and Trailhead are adjacent to the Campground  O...

June 10th, 2015 (Ocala, FL) - Ever since I moved to Florida I've done very little cross country racing because, well, I've been cursed. I'm fine when it comes to endurance or gravel grinders, BMX or CX racing. For some unknown reason I can't get through an XC race without something going horribly wrong. At my first race: I crashed out. At my second: I had a mechanical on the start line. At my third: I had an asthma attack during the first lap. The Finals of the Hump Day Hustle was to be my fourth race and I was fed up! This time I was taking precautions and altering expectations. I was studying sports psychology to change my focus. I was training with weekend rides that exceeded 50 miles. Learning from the past I would not sprint off the line blowing out my lungs. I would not exceed my red line. I would not attack until it favored my strengths. This time I was determined to change my fate. The race started at the Santos Bicycle Shop and kicked off at ...

All year long I have been reading posts on social media from Ray Petro, the man who created Ray's Indoor Mountain Bike Parks. Apparently Ray likes to spend a lot of time in Florida and his recent expeditions down here had nothing to do with beaches and martinis. Ray was working with the Ocala Mountain Bike Association (OMBA) , building ride elements in the Santos bike park. From what I saw, they have been really busy. This was my first trip to Santos. Friends have been telling me to visit for a while. They said I'd love the place and their recommendations were right on the money. If Alafia is a MTB playground, Santos is an amusement park. Add to that a special event, the Fat Tire Festival and you've got an amusement park with a field full of vendors and a monster crowd that flocks to fun. When they said 500+ people fill the trails, they were not exaggerating. First off, the park is super easy to find. If you start from Interstate 75, it's two turns o...