Put on once again by OMBA. And a good time was had by all, despite the watchword being 'moist.' That, by the way, is somewhere between the dry-ish 'damp' and full on 'wet.' Here it is day-by-day, with a stack of pictures randomly inserted. As usual, click to embiggen.
- Thursday: Uneventful drive. The new Kuat u-bar worked great with the old Saris trunk rack to haul the Anthem. (this will make future trips to Munson sooo much easier) Set up camp, rode a little (maybe 8 miles), chowed at Fat Tiki, then met up at the trailhead for a 6pm ride. Which seems to have been canceled, since it was on some of the earlier schedule sheets but not on the later ones. That's OK! Five us rode it anyway, maybe another 8 miles. We'd just returned to the trailhead when there was a roaring sound in the trees – "What's that?" – RAIN! As I was rolling back into camp, one of my neighbors was busy zipping up my tent's fly doors. Good dude.
- Friday: Shopping around the trailhead (got some art and a couple of tee shirts), had a wagu burger, rode about 10 miles. Showered and went to supper when a Deluge & Major Storm hit. It was one of those where you're wincing at the lightning and waiting for the tornados to hit, the latter of which fortunately never happened. Mopped out the tent, fetched the spare bag (my backpacking quilt), and slept snugly if a little wetly. I wish I could tell you more about the Friday night band, but I was asleep before their third song. More on the tent situation in a future post.
- Saturday: The Epic Ride, 50 miles with plenty of sag support. I have to hand it to the OMBA folks, this was even better than in previous years (which were pretty darned good). Some of the re-routes took us through technical places early in the ride, with the easy stuff saved for after Mile 45, which was much appreciated. Ran into several friends from previous years at the sag stops, who I'd somehow missed back in camp. Don't forget to swap cards at the turn-around, if you want to get a finisher's medal! After the finish, talked a long while with Nixon from Epic Bikes in Tallahassee, along with a guy who'd ridden with him on an e-bike, which was totally legit since he'd just finished chemo the previous week. Got talked into a Sunday e-bike test ride. Ate two plates of barbecue and slaw, and again I wish I could tell you about Saturday night's band, but I was asleep before they began, in my moist little tent.
- I've got to throw in one more comment about the riders in this year's Epic. They were great! Everybody was really riding, be it on analog or e-bikes. (In past years, I've seen a few throttle hot-wired e-bikes, but no such this year.) After the Epic, one rider was talking about how he had an un-pluggable flat on a tubeless tire, and another rider just chucked a spare tube over as he rode past. Stuff like that happened on a regular basis. Finally, hats off to the guy who rode the entire 50 miles on a single-speed gravel bike. That's real biking tenacity.
- Sunday: Wait, wait, wait, lunch (Fat Tiki again), wait, hand over DL & credit card to trail-test an e-bike (stay tuned later in the week for thoughts on that), rode a mile in and decided it wasn't for me, rode back out, turned it in. Then rode my real bike for another six careful miles – had to drive the next day, after all. Chit-chat around the campground as folks were packing out, then I called a friend who couldn't make it to Santos this year. Noticed that my eleven year old Sidi bike shoes were peeling loose at the front. New shoes and a new tent coming up? Expensive trip.
- Monday: Pack out. Uneventful drive home. Was it worth it to stay the extra day? Not really, especially given the moist tent and clothes. Although, I did get to test ride that e-bike... That, and it was nice having one recovery day between a 50 miler and having to sit in a car for four and a half hours. Did get to stop by the Taste of Dixie diner in Cross City, that's always a treat.
- One final comment: No crashes this year. Still, I rode with shin & knee guards, because you never know when your number's up.
And that's it for this year's Santos FTF. Planning on next year already. Also, will update and add links to the posts on e-bikes and this year's tent trauma after those posts are up.
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