# Winter Off Road Tandem Rally Adventure?



## clj2289 (Jan 2, 2010)

WORTA - by MTBtandems

On behalf of MTBtandems, we are looking to see who all would be interested in a Winter Off Road Tandem Rally Adventure in Ocala, FL. 

If there are enough teams interested, we will begin putting it together with MTBTandems!

Let us know,
Cheers.
Chris and Monica Judd


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## giff07 (Jun 7, 2010)

We would be listed as interested.. Keep us in the loop. One part of me says YEE HAW and another part of me thinks we have such a good time in the spring that perhaps more isn't necessarily better. If the dates work out we could be persuaded though.:thumbsup:
Ed and Pat Gifford
the Snot Rocket ECDM


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## malaclemys (Oct 22, 2010)

How could we say no? I suppose Jennifer and I may even be considered local hosts for San Felasco. Definite maybe.

J


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## akexpress (Dec 19, 2010)

definitely interested. We are taking five tandems to do the White rim trial in Utah in October and would welcome another excuse for a trip in the winter. We will have 2 fandangos and 3 EDCM on the White Rim. Any idea of dates or at least a month?


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## malaclemys (Oct 22, 2010)

I hope to meet you Akexpress. I wouldn't mind inviting myself on your White Rim trip. My buddy Gus from Mr Goodbike did the trip last year or the year before. The images look like they had a great time.


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## strow (Feb 14, 2011)

Sounds like a great time. Please put us on the interested list.
Any idea of dates yet?

strow


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## clj2289 (Jan 2, 2010)

*Worta*

I think we may be looking at January or February... I'll work on confirming.

Mean while, check out Ocala Mountain Bike Association - Home

Will keep you all in the loop and when will throw some dates out there when we have a few ideas!

Monica Judd


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## strow (Feb 14, 2011)

Thanks for the info and the link to OMBA. 

I see a road trip to Ocala coming up.........

strow


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## PMK (Oct 12, 2004)

FWIW, Ocala and the Santos trails are tandem friendly, fast and flowing.

Santos is a designated IMBA epic ride. The tandems can easily handle every mile. I am not certain what the current distance is, though it should be over 50 miles. The nice thing with Santos is, many variations exist to allow varied distance. The most popular ride is one of leaving the Santos Trailhead, riding to the Landbridge and back to the trailhead. This is a loop of 25 miles with one trail outbound and a different trail inbound.

With some luck, maybe Monica or maybe myself can get a ride video, filmed from behind both tandems by a friend of mine, posted so folks can actually see what the trail is like.

Also, within a couple of hours driving from Santos, there is San Felasco State Park to the North, and to the Southwest is Alafia State Park and Balm Boyette. These are both trails built on remnants of shell pit mining that has since grown forrest type cover. 

San Felasco is a great tandem friendly xc ride. Even the hill that is supposedly not ridable on a tandem can be ridden.

Alafia is a trail system of varied levels, the range from beginner trails to death grip expert stuff. Most of Alafia can be ridden on a tandem, most sections will keep your attention focused. Not all the expert trails can be ridden on a tandem, close but not all.

Boyette is a huge 4000 plus acre preserve. This place, like the others has a multitude of trails, and multiple ability levels. Once neat thing about Boyette is that some of the difficult trails run exactly parallel to easy trails or connector double tracks. This allows for different skill levels to still stay together for the most part. The Boyette Ridgeline trail is one of the more exciting with a continuous run of short sometimes steep climbs, accompanied by riding atop the ridge of excavated shellrock, that will find a short descent often followed by and immediate climb back up. 

I believe all of these trails are listed in the trail section here. These are just to show more options for anyone that would come for a few days.

Don't forget, about 20 minutes south of the Santos trails is the Villages, a community that has a road tandem club that rides several times per week.

PK


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## Okayfine (Sep 7, 2010)

What's the weather like in Santos in Jan/Feb?


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## malaclemys (Oct 22, 2010)

Good question Okayfine. It could be low 20's w/a windchilll in the teens or it could be mid-60 w/glorious sunshine. The rainfall pattern here is bi-modal: afternoon thunderstorms and tropical weather in the summer and frontal rainfall 7 to 10 days apart during the winter. Spring and fall are our dry seasons. The almanac  helps but based on historical observations it appears you should expect weather between 44 and 68 mid-Jan to mid-Feb.


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## Sam Jones (Feb 25, 2005)

We are definately interested. We did a FL trip last winter with BigBird (Goldwing GL1800) and our ECDM and LOVED it. We will definately be down sometime again this winter.

sam of GAIL, Bandit & sam


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## Trails4Two (May 12, 2008)

Alex, could you possibly pick something farther away from us?? Too far this time But White Rim sounds good, when is that trip?


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## Rorschach1 (Sep 19, 2011)

Glad to see this! I wish there were more tandem friendly stuff around here to make something like this worthwhile. 
We would be interested. It is just a matter of the usual- work, time, expense, etc. 
Trey & Haydeé


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## She&I (Jan 4, 2010)

Wishing you guys the best out there.


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## strow (Feb 14, 2011)

Just wondering if WORTA is still in the works? Looking forward to it!

strow


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## tndmnuts (Oct 8, 2011)

*Florida offroad fun*

We might be able to haul our tandem down for the ride if it is early enough in January. We hope to spend a little time for a break in Florida in January. We would love to join the group if you don't mind a couple of old farts joining the ride!


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## PMK (Oct 12, 2004)

tndmnuts said:


> We might be able to haul our tandem down for the ride if it is early enough in January. We hope to spend a little time for a break in Florida in January. We would love to join the group if you don't mind a couple of old farts joining the ride!


FWIW, My wife and I, CLJ with his wife and malaclemys with his wife have signed up for Tour De Felasco 2012.

We are planning to once again ride as a three Fandango group, taking abuse and wise alleck remarks from single riders (Mostly Jamies hometown friends).

The ride entries sell out within a few hours on opening day of online registration. You may find a pair of tickets, but don't hold your breath.

With luck the three tandems can settle in to a moderate pace capable of doing the entire 60 pus miles. 2011 had us helping some single riders which cost us time and not making the cutoff. Also, being honest, our bike some chain issues also and slowed us too.

March is a great time also, the Santos FTF is a fun weekend on excellent tandem friendly trails.

PK


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## TandemNut (Mar 12, 2004)

trails4two said:


> alex, could you possibly pick something farther away from us??


uk-orta?


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## tndmnuts (Oct 8, 2011)

*Ride in Ocala*

The initial start to this thread was a ride in Ocala Florida. Since we have not ridden anything off-road in Florida is this different than the Tour De Felasco 2012? If so when is the tandem ride in Ocala?

Thanks


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## PMK (Oct 12, 2004)

tndmnuts said:


> The initial start to this thread was a ride in Ocala Florida. Since we have not ridden anything off-road in Florida is this different than the Tour De Felasco 2012? If so when is the tandem ride in Ocala?
> 
> Thanks


Tour De Felasco 2012, Santos FTF, and any of the other Florida posts so far are not tandem specific events. Rather events where tandems are signed up to ride with other tandems, and also the single bikes.

PK


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## clj2289 (Jan 2, 2010)

The Judds are also doing Croom and Ididaride!


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## malaclemys (Oct 22, 2010)

FWIW tandemnuts, having been on a tandem less than a month we did all the aforementioned rides on our Fandango lat year. All are pretty tandem friendly. Sadly we can't make Ididaride this year but we will be at TdF and Croom. 

I assume tandemnuts knows that the Santos FTF that PMK referred to is near Ocala. I think the 2 names referring to the same place may have added some confusion. TdF is between Gainesville and Alachua.


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## tndmnuts (Oct 8, 2011)

*Warm up ride*

My wife and myself could not get into the Tour De Felasco 2012 but maybe next year now that we know about it. If anyone is interested in doing a pre ride between Jan 1st and the event let us know. We are about a 45 minute drive from Ocala but have never ridden any of the mountain bike trails in Florida but would love to get together with any locals who know where to tandem ride

Thanks John and Arienne


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## malaclemys (Oct 22, 2010)

We would be up for a ride tndmnuts. San Felasco is only a few minutes from home for us but our plans are pretty hectic atm. After the 1st will work though. We have mostly been on our road tandem and need to put some miles on the Fandango.

Don't give up on TdF if you really want in this year. There are always last minute spots through sponsors as well as posting on GCC  and Craiglist. If/when I see any spots open I will post them here.


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## PMK (Oct 12, 2004)

45 minutes in what direction? Can you share the city / town / or ???

Hopefully it won't snow at TDF this year. A couple of years ago we could not attend since I had pneumonia or something really bad. Sold our tickets. Our friends got photos but sure complained about how cold it was.

PK


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## tndmnuts (Oct 8, 2011)

*Warm up ride*

We have place in Inverness. Nice city on the Withlacoochie Trail

We can contact people after January 1st as it is crazy busy for all at this time of year

Cheers John and Arienne


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## PMK (Oct 12, 2004)

tndmnuts said:


> We have place in Inverness. Nice city on the Withlacoochie Trail
> 
> We can contact people after January 1st as it is crazy busy for all at this time of year
> 
> Cheers John and Arienne


The Caboose...one of the stops / mandatory prove you were there photos during CFITT. I want to say that was around mile 150, got there at about 4am, slept on the warm asphalt for a few minutes until covered by dew, then we took the tandem and ourselves into the public bathroom and rested until 30 minutes before sunrise. Long story and a long race.

FWIW, Croom 35/50 is in Feb. Croom is just down the street. Croom is fun, but can wear you out. Sometimes it gets very sandy.

As mentioned, TDF tickets can often be found, problem is you need 2. TDF, or just San Felasco on a regular day is a great mix for tandems, Santos though has to be the more casual trails, with the most distance. Santos is also some very technical trail sections, that will not be ridden by a tandem, theses can be selected to ride or not ride.

Ask CLJ, Santos blues (intermediates) @ 20 mph where you almost never stop pedaling is a hoot. The tandem @ 20 makes the trail get very narrow.

PK


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