Ocala was Calling Us

15 years ago, Jeff and I stopped in Ocala, Florida because we heard they had mountain bike trails for all levels of riders. That's where I learned that sand was not my friend and had my worst crash ever.

We intended to head from Tampa to Tallahassee but decided to stop for a few days in Ocala for the heck of it. The riding there was so awesome, we stayed a week at two different campgrounds.

The first was Ocala Sun. This was a particularly nice campground with all the amenities I have come to love (electric, water and sewer) plus a pool and rec center. Jeff even played bingo with me one night, and wouldn't you know it, he won enough to pay for our games and a pizza! Beginner's luck (insert snort of derision).

The next camp we stayed at was the Santos campground, right at the Santos trailhead. This was a little more like camping since there wasn't a sewer hookup and we had a fire ring.  It was beautiful and peaceful, no sounds at night except for nature and trains (I love trains!).

There was a cool bike shop right across the street from the campground that had a big sign outside that said, "BEER!  ICE!  BIKES!  FIREWOOD!"  Beer and bikes, what more can you ask for?

We picked up some firewood and chatted up the guy that was working.  They had rentals for $20 for four hours and I had been feeling pretty good, so we rented me a bike and...wait for it...

I WENT MOUNTAIN BIKING!!!

I was so sure a month and a half ago that I would never get on a bike other than the tandem again, I was ready to sell my Tassajara.  Now, we will pick it up and take it with us when we go home.  I could only ride an hour and was shot for a couple days afterward, but I WENT MOUNTAIN BIKING!!!!

The trail was really flat (as was everything in Florida) but there were enough roots and a trees that I could hear my mountain bike coaches, Brendan Poh and Bruce Jacobs in my head, telling me what to do.  Jeff was right there in case I got dizzy, lost my balance or just plain couldn't hack it.  He went back and got the car once I got too tired and I collected baby head pine cones to bring back for my buddy TaraLynn.

It was the happiest exhaustion I have felt in soooo long!  Truly a beautiful area, truly good people.

On from Ocala to Tallahassee!!!