Author Topic: First timer on trail looking for any assistance  (Read 502 times)

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Offline deemorrison

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First timer on trail looking for any assistance
« on: December 22, 2011, 11:50:38 AM »
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  Hi, I'm from Miami and going to be traveling to the Tampa area in late January and going to be spending a day at Alafia and riding the trail for my first time. I was hoping someone could give me the best way to ride the trail and be able to see it all in one ride including all the advanced sections. I see some trails are both directions so not sure which order and which direction would be best for each to have the best experience for my limited time in the area without backtracking a lot. If someone could please offer some assistance I would really appreciate it, thanks so much and looking forward to riding what I hear is the best trail in Florida.
  Also, depending on what happens when I'm there I might be able to squeeze another few hours of riding another day, is it worth it to try Balm Boyette or spend a second day at Alafia?

Thanks so much for any assistance,
Shawn

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Re: First timer on trail looking for any assistance
« Reply #1 on: December 22, 2011, 12:32:11 PM »
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Balm-Boyette is well worth it since you have the chance to ride Ridgeline and the abyss's.


Alafia is best run starting at North Creek, start Bridges to Gator Back, finish Bridges, Rabbit ears 1 & 2 (3 is in bad shape), Roller coaster (do all 3 hard options), Moonscape. if looking for more miles you can continue to Sand pine and rock garden, but they are not very technical...
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Offline cgarolr

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Re: First timer on trail looking for any assistance
« Reply #2 on: December 22, 2011, 01:00:20 PM »
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I agree, except for this:  after Gatorback, stay to the left and do that loop, which will bring you back the continuation of bridges (left at the resting post) and then to a double track.  At the double track, go straight and follow rock garden sign and do the first expert option (sweet little loop, with a difficult and slippery drop turn), which will loop back around to the start, at which point you can go back to the double track and continue to finish bridges (to the right when you come back out of rock garden, and then a left at the bridges sign from the double track).
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Offline mm

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Re: First timer on trail looking for any assistance
« Reply #3 on: December 22, 2011, 05:55:26 PM »
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alafiaboyetterentabikefromajs

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Re: First timer on trail looking for any assistance
« Reply #4 on: December 22, 2011, 06:18:51 PM »
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If its ok a weekend, let us know and I am sure someone would gladly show you around.

Offline deemorrison

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Re: First timer on trail looking for any assistance
« Reply #5 on: January 19, 2012, 09:41:38 AM »
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Thanks for the advice on how to best run Alafia. Leaving this weekend and going to be biking Balm-Boyette Monday early morning and Alafia early Tuesday morning. Wanted to ask if anyone can give me some advice on how to best run Balm-Boyette so that I can do all the advanced and intermediate parts without having to back track too much. Going to be a little pressed for time but want to hopefully be able to do everything twice. How long does a single lap at each park usually take just doing advanced and intermediate trails? Thanks for any advice, I'm so looking forward to riding these trails next week!!!

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Re: First timer on trail looking for any assistance
« Reply #6 on: January 19, 2012, 10:25:37 AM »
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from the 2 miles of 2 track in, ride in this order:


Loch ness to Upper Loch ness
after you come out of upper loch ness take the 1st right and then 1st left into Randy's trail, Randy's trail to lower spiderberm, upper spiderberm back then cross 2 track to gatorpit, exit gatorpit and take golf cart to end, Hang a left to Mount Boyette and drop into Canyon, drop into North Abyss all the way back out to 2 track and drop into South Abyss, take that to the ens and drop into Bid Drop, head back on 2 track back to Pandimonium and do the far right trail,
take that to the end and hang a right to sidewinder, take that to the end and enter Swamp Thing,take that to the entrance of Ridgeline, when you exit Ridgeline go back on Sidewinder and hang a left before you enter Swampthing to do the Sidewinder extension. take that to the end and hang a right to Swamp thing back to the entrance to RidgeLine and ride Ridgeline again...
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Offline deemorrison

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Re: First timer on trail looking for any assistance
« Reply #7 on: January 19, 2012, 11:05:26 AM »
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Thanks so much, I was thinking about going a different way happy I asked, that route seems much better. What is a average time for doing that route or estimated mileage? What about the trails under "loch ness" like "West Meadow", "Baby Nessie", "Inner loch ness", "Palmetto cable", "Vista ridge", are those trails more on the easy side then intermediate? Also, how about the "Spur" and "East Meadow" trails? Are these trails worth skipping to spend more time on the rest of the trails? Thanks so much for all your help!

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Re: First timer on trail looking for any assistance
« Reply #8 on: January 19, 2012, 11:22:14 AM »
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sorry, forgot yo take you back out..


after 2nd lap of ridgeline, head back left on along the fence and head back over into South Abyss to the end, take upper Spiderberm back to randys trail and go straight into lower west meadow, follow that into baby nessie then Inner Loch ness and out to 2 track. Palmetto is a short OK trail you can go into and turn around and come back on before heading out. East meadow, Vista Ridge, upper west meadow and the Quads (NE,SE,etc) are just easy open trails. you can ride them if you want, just not a lot of action there, but some nice hilly sections...
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