After doing the cross-Florida ride last month, in January, it kind of gave me the itch to head back down for the HuRaCaN 300 (which is really 360 miles). With the current covid situation, Karlos is still running an On Your Own (OYO) format rather than using a grand depart; therefore, you just declare when you plan to do the course within a specific range of dates that he has pre-selected. I had a random stretch of 5 days off from 2/19 through 2/23 and decided to try to put a plan together. After a little searching and asking around about people's plans, I figured out that Joe Urbanowicz was interested in joining me and could likely make those dates work. After talking with him and his dad, a plan was nailed down, and it was getting closer to go time!
A little bit about Joe: He is a 17 year out of Atlanta who is extremely gifted, driven, and mature beyond his years. He has very supportive and loving parents who are there by his side to support his crazy adventures and exuberant goals. Not only does he crush the long and short events on the bike, he excels at cross country running as well. This past season, he and his cross country team finished second and first place in their division in the state of Georgia, respectively. Needless to say, he was up for this task.
Joe and I both started this event back in 2019, and rode together for the majority of the first day. We both had a "did not finish", or DNF, that year, for various reasons. So it was kind of ironic that we ended up heading back down as a team to knock this thing out two years later.
I am going to **TRY** to make this a bit shorter this year, but it likely will not happen. I'll leave out all the logistical crap because that's really not important to anyone; I'll just jump right to day 1. However, I will add, huge THANK YOU to Paul Urbanowicz for driving us down and back, as well as the hospitality!! That was priceless, especially on the way back.
Due to my work schedule, we had planned a mid-day start on Friday, February 19th. Weather had been looking perfect but had a slight change. It was supposed to stop raining by mid day but ended up drizzling all afternoon. That's ok, because the next two days were supposed to be 65-70 degrees and all sunshine.
We arrived at Shangri La Campgrounds around 12:15pm and began our final preparations. It started raining pretty steadily so we decided to start in our rain jackets. The temp was about 65 degrees so it felt nice outside. We took our start line pics, said our goodbyes to Paul, and hit the trail under gray skies and light rain.
Our plan: day 1, 105 miles to sulphur camp. Day 2, huge 160 mile push to the start of Croom singeltrack section. Day 3, the remaining 100 miles from the start of Croom to the finish.
We had only made it a few miles into the trail before we both felt like there was a sauna inside the rain jackets, causing us to sweat, so we quickly removed them. We started with about 20 miles of single track through the Santos trail system, making our way towards the baseline trailhead. Maybe two hours or so later, we popped out at the trail head and hit a road section towards the Marshall Swamp. While rolling down the sidewalk of the main highway, I noticed some bikepackers on the other side of the road at the gas station and a particular burnt orange jacket which I thought to be Karlos's. We shot across the street just to pop in and say hi. It was the route creator, Karlos Rodriguez, and company. He was shivering, trying to warm up; the Floridians don't do cooler temps very well, haha! We said our hi's and bye's and headed on down to the road. (I can't get this paragraph to left-align, sorry)
Lush green field adjacent to some Santos singletrack
We entered the Marshall Swamp via a long flowing section of paved path which gave way to a typically-easy nature trail through the swamp. It is very low lying and they had received a lot of rain over the past 4-5 days. The last time I rode it in a different Florida race, it was dry and fast. This time, full of water and sloppy! Oh well, we kept smiling and pushed through it; I knew it was only a few miles long, and it is truly beautiful!
After popping out of Marshall Swamp onto the road, we crossed the Oklawaha River and were headed for some long, straight sand roads in the Ocala National Forest. These roads go right by the Pinecastle Electronic Warfare Range, aka the bombing range; unfortunately, we didn't hear or see any jets whizzing by or hear any bombs in the distance. By this point, the temperature had settled into a steady 48 degrees and constant drizzle; we felt comfortable, though, with our rain coats back on.
Our first check point, and planned stop, was the Shockley Heights Grocery Store at mile 67.5. I think it was about 8:00pm when we arrived. We ate, drank, and bought a gallon of water to pour on our drivetrains to wash the sand and grit away. We refilled our bottles, lubed up our chains, and hit the road again, with about 40 miles to go to our planned camp spot. Also, we are required to take a selfie at each check point. We forgot out selfie at the first checkpoint, ughhhhh. Or, do legs count as a selfie??
I don't remember much about what we rode, because it was dark, but I think the rain had finally subsided, for the most part. I just have a couple of pictures from this section. It was just a mix of some dirt/sand roads, single track, gravel, and a little pavement. I do know we traversed the Seminole State Forest. We arrived at Sulphur Camp around midnight or 1:00am. We had received some intel about a spring down in the woods, behind the campsite, and quickly headed down the trail to find it. You could definitely smell the pungent Sulphur in the air. We filled up a bottle or two to boil and use in our dehydrated meals; we were hungry and wanted a lot of calories before *attempting* to sleep. Joe slept under the picnic table. I tossed and turned in my tent, getting maybe an hour of sleep, at the most.
There was a group of guys that had started ahead of us that morning. Joe had talked to someone and learned that one of them had dropped a rain shell on the dirt roads around the bombing range. I had found it and hung it on a tree at the entrance to our camp, because they had stopped to nap in a post office and would be coming by while we slept. Of course, we were awake as they came by, and briefly chatted from the confines, or lack thereof, of our sleep setups and then they were on their way. We would unite later in the day.
Saturday, or day 2, came and brought beautiful clear blue skies and abundant sunshine. It was so good to wake up to beautiful weather. We started later than anticipated; we got up around 7am and were rolling by 8am. Today would start with some of the bigger challenges on the route. We were at mile 105, and the Challenge Trail started around 112 or so. This was 3-5 miles of singletrack with some flooded trails and dense bush whacking. After that would be the Rock Springs Run river crossing, which weighs heavily on most people's minds.
We made a quick stop at this massive RV park for some re-supply before a challenging 20 miles. There was a food truck in front of the store where we scored some breakfast sandwiches for later it the day. Put some coffee down the hatch and headed out into the Rock Springs Run State Preserve followed by the Wekiwa Springs State Park. We just put our heads down and got it done. It really wasn't that bad. You build all these "hard sections' up in your mind and constantly think about them, when you've never seen them, imagining the worst, and then, boom, they are behind you. For me, this translates to many aspects of life, as well.
Challenge trail was done. Mile 120 or so was the Rock Springs Run river crossing. All the recent rains had swollen this river so it was higher than recent riders had experienced. As my buddy Michael Rasch had claimed, it was about "balls deep" when he crossed it a week or two prior, and was likely going to be "belly button deep" now. Neither here nor there, we had to get it done. We followed the directions in the trail guide and knocked it out in about 20 mins, including stripping down and then re-clothing on the other side. All in all, it was a really cool experience. That being said, I would not want to do this in the dark!
After finishing the river crossing, we were rewarded with a ton of sweet, easy single track miles through the Wekiwa Springs State Park, leading us to the town of Apopka. We caught up with Chase Blanton, Chris Bulloch, and Austin Sullivan. This is the group I talked about previously, who lost the rain shell. They had just finished some lunch, so we chatted briefly and they went on their way towards our next checkpoint, at the Suncreek Brewery, in Clermont. We had some fine dining at McDonalds and then did the same.
After meandering through some upper class neighborhoods, we entered the Lake Apopka Restoration area. It's known for its wildlife and abundance of alligators. It was about 16 miles total, through the park. It made for some amazing scenery and gnarly winds.
Just after Apopka was the "Florida Pyrenees" and Sugarloaf Mountain. This was a 14 mile stretch of pavement through the biggest hills in Florida, which maxes out at a whopping 312 feet; Sugarloaf Mountain is the highest point on the geographical peninsula of Florida. Coming from the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, it wasn't bad at all. But some Floridians fear these "climbs", hahaha!
After the Florida Pyreness, we arrived in Clermont at the Suncreek Brewery checkpoint. This town is absolutely amazing. It sits right on Lake Minneola and has an expansive recreation area along the lake's edge with parks, restaurants, and people everywhere enjoying the green spaces (socially distanced, of course). This is where we joined back up with Chase Blanton and company.
We had realized, by this point, that our 160 mile goal wasn't attainable, unless we wanted to arrive to camp around sunrise. So we called an audible and decided to hang with the other guys for the night. We pushed from Clermont into the Green Swamp, opting to camp only at mile 220 or so, rather than 260, which was the original plan. Still a respectable 115-120 mile day. We found a spot just off the road and out of sight, which is important in the Green Swamp, as there are plenty of rowdy folks partying and getting wild on the dirt roads all night long.
As we were setting up our tents, and Joe just laying his sleeping pad and bag out on the ground, an owl let out a loud "shriek" or "hoot" or some sort of combination of the two, from a distance. Joe continued setting up, timidly. As we looked for the owl with out head lamps, we spotted it and it flew straight to a limb over our camp. I think we pissed it off. We laid down and it was silent and I heard it again, off in the distance. Wait, I had ear plugs in, so, it was definitely right over Joe's head if I heard it through the ear plugs. I laughed and asked Joe his thoughts; he said "I'm seriously scared". Hahaha I was laughing so hard. Another few minutes go by, and I heard a sound I've never heard before. I won't even try to describe it, but one of the other guys said it was a second owl, and they were communicating. It was so cool, and a bit eerie. Any who (no pun), we laid down around midnight and got up around 4am and started packing up.
The night was uneventful other than the sounds of run-down 4x4s patrolling the dark roads in the middle of the night, with music blasting and engines rev'd. And Joe was not carried away by owls of the night. We started our journey to complete the Green Swamp, which was about 55 miles across the whole thing. I had a rough start, feeling like I was going to fall asleep on the bike. At one point, I dozed off while stopped and resting my head on the bars, and started to fall over but caught myself. I just needed the activating rays of the sun to peak over the horizon.
Joe, Chase, Chris, and Austin in the Green Swamp, at sunrise
Chris Bulloch and Austin Sullivan at a water stop in the Green Swamp
Meg's Hole. We were able to cross without wet feet this year!
Joe and I didn't really need water and had 140 mile day and decided to just keep moving steady so we parted ways, knowing we'd likely have the pleasure of seeing them again later in the day. We finished the Green Swamp around 9:30am. This was about mile 260, which left us with 100 miles to go. Joe was starting to get pretty red from the sun, and borrowed one of my arm warmers and secured it around his neck with a clothes pin. Previously, he'd already opted to ditch his chamois and just wear some wool briefs and some donut boxers, or something of the likes, over the top of them. Stylish!
After a stop for re-supply, we got on the road, headed to Croom, which is about 23 miles of singletrack. It is not hard, but wears on you as it seems to never end after 265 miles of riding. We grabbed some Wendy's just off route and then started the trail. It was rather uneventful and we got it done unscathed, after a short break in the middle.
Mid-Croom break
After Croom, our last checkpoint was the Lake Lindsey Mall, which is known for amazing sandwiches, especially their Cuban. We ate, drank, grabbed some stuff for the road, and moved on. We did see our riding companions roll in as we were rolling out. It was good to see them moving along and still smiling too! They were knocking it out just like we were, not wanting to be out there late again that night.
From LLM, we headed into the Citrus Wildlife Management Area for some heavenly roads. We had about 16 miles of this, with a short singletrack section mixed in. And that then led us to the town of Inverness and Whispering Pines Park. From here, about 15 miles of paved trail to the town of Dunnellon, where we would turn Eastward for the home stretch, or final 25 miles.
The last section was some pavement and dirt leading into the far western part of the Santos Trail System, at the Pruitt Trail Head. I didn't really take any pictures through here as it was dark and not much to see. The Live Oaks and Spanish Moss looked so eerie in our headlamps, but I didn't want to stop to take pics. We put our heads down and grunted out the remaining singletrack miles, rolling into Shangri La campground around 10:38pm on Sunday evening, beating our unofficial goal of 2.5 days by about 2.5 hours, for a time of about 57 hours and 37 minutes. Joe's dad was there to greet and congratulate us. We showered at the campground, headed to a hotel for the night (after a waffle house stop) and then back home the next morning.
If you have any interest in any of the Florida routes, or bikepacking in general, please reach out to me. I love to talk gear and bikepacking and would love to help. Also, check out Singletrack Samurai's website (Karlos Rodriguez) for information on all the awesome routes he has created. Kindly remember to send him a donation for all of his efforts, should you decide to embark on one of his journeys. I have no financial interests related to this.
I'd also like to add a shoutout to a friend from Chattanooga, Shannon Dalton, who is currently on route, as I write this, about to complete his first bikepacking trip ever. We talked a lot about preparation and plans and all the intricacies that you don't always get from internet browsing leading up to the event. I have been following his journey and couldn't be more excited that has taken on, and will complete, the HuRaCaN as his first multi-day ride. ENJOY YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENT SHANNON!!!! I look forward to sharing some overnight trips in the future, now that you're a veteran and all.
Thank you for taking the time to read! Any constructive criticism is always welcome in the comments. Until the next adventure, cheers!
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Awesome riding with you!! On to the next adventure...
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