2023 HuRaCaN LiTe

 

Lake Apopka sunset

The annual pilgrimage to Florida for bad ideas continues! Although I couldn't make the Cross Florida race back in December, I was sure I could make the HuRaCaN 300 in February this year. I had decided to do a newer version, called the Huracan Lite, which is a more gravel bike-friendly version, skipping the big single track sections and water crossings, but not all that lite! It was 335 miles compared to the original route at 365 miles. I also decided I was going to "race" this one straight through rather than carry sleep gear. Unfortunately, due to work/travel/weather/illness allowing only 4 small rides in the 3 weeks leading up to the race, my training was essentially non-existent. Meh, whatever, these things are mostly mental anyways, right? Sure. 

I took my OPEN Cycles U.P. as my bike of choice for this route, with 45/40 front/rear maxxis ramblers. As far as gear, I ran some profile designs clip-on aero bars with 60mm risers because, well, I never use aero bars and these are more for comfort/change of position rather than being aero. Thanks to Greg Hardy at Rockgeist Bikepack USA in NC for sidestepping my procrastination problems and quickly shipping out a small gondola seat bag last minute; I ordered the small so I wouldn't have much room to take things I didn't need. Additionally, I had two feedbags on the bars and a top tube bag, both from Rockgeist as well. I had an Anker cache battery, two micro USB cables, and iphone cable in one of the feed bags, and the other was for food. The top tube bag had two tubes and my other repair essentials (spoiler alert...I never had to open the top tube bag, Carey!). The seat bag housed some leg warmers, a thin base layer, and a thin jacket. I had a small front handlebar bag that contained a rain jacket, SOL bivy, and small medical kit. I also had a Nathan trail running pack on my back but with no bladder...it just had some extra snacks and an extra pair of gloves and socks...and my van key, which is important (cue ominous foreshadowing music). I ran a wahoo element roam for my navigation and wahoo element bolt for data. Lights were fenix helmet and bar lights with a spare battery for each.

I loaded up the van and headed to Ocala the day before the race. I arrived around 6:00pm and had a couple of beers with everyone at the Shangri-La campground pavilion. It was awesome seeing a small group of Chattanooga people there, including Monica Desjardins, Ali Whittier, Kim Ranallo, and Austin Sullivan. After a bunch of chatting with friends, old and new, I headed back over to the van and hung out/had dinner in Joe Wharton's RV with him, Rasch, Matt Mustin, and Jason Vance. After hanging with Rasch for a few, I went to sleep around midnight to try to get a few hours of sleep before the 8:00am start.

Alarm set for 6:00am, I woke up at 5:30 to pee and then just laid there waiting for it to go off. And waited. And waited. And finally looked at my phone and was 6:45. SHIT! I never set an alarm and had been dozing on and off for over an hour. I jumped up and tried to cook a pancake but quickly realized olive oil isn't great for keeping it from sticking. I had pancake mush for breakfast. And no time to make coffee. I gathered all my crap and headed over to the pavilion where we were starting. Here I was, worried about getting there on time, and then Ali and Monica rolled up with about 3 minutes to spare, haha!

Left to right: Andy Roberts, Matt Mustin, Michael Rasch, Monica Desjardins, Ali Whittier, Joe Wharton, Jason Vance, Ben Carpenter

PC: Dave Childers

After Karlos said a few inaudible words through a bull horn and did a countdown to 8:00, we were off. Andy, Rasch, and I had decided to ride together until paces differed. A short mile or less of single track and we were on to the Santos paved bike path. Austin, who was shooting for 24 hours and the likely win, came rolling up behind as he had apparently forgotten his glasses and had to go back for them. We chatted briefly and I wished him well on his ride and then he motored away, with nothing on his bike, looking like he was out for a short ride. We also saw Ian Flannery and Irmantis, who both rolled on ahead of us. 

The morning was pleasant and cool, about 45 degrees or so, but warmed quickly. There was a noticeable breeze, even where sheltered by all the trees, that would continue to grow in intensity throughout the morning. 

We meandered through the bike path, another bumpy single track section, through the owl shit-slick Marshall Swamp, and into Ocala National Forest (ONF). I'm not even going to mention the part where Andy said he was turning right and then didn't, causing me to turn into his back wheel, taking out my front wheel, and crashing me into the pavement, bike landing on the drive side. Won't even mention it, at all. Picked the bike up and heard a weird sound of metal moving and immediately thought my derailleur hanger had broken. Luckily, it was just a broken front spoke so I weaved it through the intact spokes and continued on.

Into the long, rolling, perfectly straight dirt roads of ONF, the wind was extremely noticeable, seeming to come directly out of the east/northeast. Anddddd we were going due east. Another Haboob?!? I would guess it was about a 20-25mph block headwind. But we kept moving and the pace stayed rather high. We were working our way towards the Shockley Heights Country Store, our first checkpoint and resupply at mile 65.

We rolled into Shockley Heights about 4.5 hours into the race, where we grabbed some food and liquid resupply and headed towards the town of Wekiva Springs, just west of Orlando. 

On our way, we passed through the beautiful Seminole Forest and on the other side, we found Paul Urbanowicz and Irmantis Lu at the trailhead parking lot with trail magic! I grabbed a banana and a big scoop of A&D ointment for my already sore butt and we headed out. Thanks Paul! We wish Joe could have been with us.

PC: Irmantis Lu

VC: Irmantis Lu

After pedaling through the beautiful neighborhoods of Wekiva, we entered the town of Apopka and stopped at McDonalds around mile 118 for some quick food.

Bellies and bottles full, we left the town of Apopka and made our way over to the incredible 16 mile section of Lake Apopka Restoration Area on the Loop Trail, known for lots of alligators and other wildlife. This may have been my favorite part as we went through with the evening sun setting, perfect temps, and a ripping tailwind almost the whole way. We knocked out the levy section averaging between 18 and 20mph...so much fun! We hit the Green Mountain trailhead on the other side right as it was dark and time to turn the lights on. 

Through Apopka and into Clermont and the "Florida Pyrenees", which a series of 4 or 5 paved climbs that are troublesome to the flat-landers. Sugarloaf Mountain is the largest at around 312'. Finishing these off, we stopped to resupply at mile 160 at a 7-11 before cruising the bike path around Lake Minneola, leading us to our next check point, Sun Creek Brewing.

Leaving Sun Creek, we had about 22 miles of paved back roads and sandy side streets to get us to the Van Fleet Trailhead which would lead us deep into Green Swamp, a beautiful 60 mile section of  white limestone roads, muddy double track, a creepy abandoned horse park, and an abundance of wildlife and Florida locals who like to ride around in their big trucks late at night (they scare me the most). 

We started the Van Fleet Trail, which was a long straight paved path, and could see Ian's tail light off in the distance. We quickly turned off the pavement onto a slightly muddy/sticky double track with an abundance of large mudholes spanning the width of the road, which was the first wet section we'd seen. I got my damn socks wet! We caught up to Ian and he started riding with us.

In this years running of the Huracan, it was the 13th year, deemed lucky number 13, and Karlos had let everyone choose their direction of choice, clockwise or counter clockwise. Kim, Ali, and Monica had chosen to go the opposite direction, as well as quite a few others, who we'd already seen. I knew we would be running into them at some point, which was really cool. 

Around mile 202, we stopped to take a short break and have a snack and we saw a headlight coming towards us. It was Kim! She told us Ali and Monica had stopped to sleep at a church but she had decided to keep rolling as she felt good. We chatted briefly and then parted ways. Unfortunately, I did not get a pic.

Shortly after this, on a beautiful moonlit limestone road, I had pedaled up the road a little bit ahead of everyone else with plans to wait at the intersection, when I heard a rustling in the tall grass next to me and looked over where my headlamp revealed a huge pig in a full sprint, it's little legs looking like they were about to generate smoke, on a path that would intersect with mine in another few seconds. Scared the living shit out of me! With a brief thought of "this is how I die", I yelled "NO!" as loud as I could, like the damn wild pig understood English. Maybe it did? Cause it changed it's trajectory and headed for the bushes. I noticed 3-4 other small black pigs darting into the bushes in front of me as well. I guess it was just a momma pig protecting her precious babies. Thanks to her for the heartrate spike to 160. 

We made it to a hunting check station that had potable water and surrounding camp sites around 3:00am, I think. Mile 228. I was filling bottles and eating a cinnamon roll when I looked around and it was just me. None of the other three were anywhere to be found. I was so confused. Luckily Ian rolled back up and said that him and Rasch were laying down at a campsite to sleep for a bit. He had no idea where Andy went. So, I just pedaled up the road assuming he went ahead figuring I'd catch up to him shortly. And I did.

We knocked out the rest of Green Swamp together and made it to our next checkpoint, which was the Circle K in Ridge Manor, around 5:15am. Mile 251. It was pretty chilly outside, and when you're super fatigued, it seems to make it feel much worse. I always get these uncontrollable shivers even when it's like 70 degrees at night. We sat in the floor inside Circle K with customers stepping around and over us. In hindsight, maybe we shouldn't have sat by the coffee, the busiest section of a convenience store early in the morning. 

Andy was having a moment. He started feeling really bad with a lot of nausea. He'd resolved to getting a hotel room for a few hours. But, to his dismay, the two in town were both full which destroyed his hopes and dreams of a warm bed. He quickly went out back, between the heating and air units, stuffed some hand warms in non-descript locations, and climbed into his emergency bivy on the cold, hard concrete. I got some coffee and snacks and sat near him, donning my leg warmers, jacket, and some dry socks. And of course I had to get a selfie with lifeless Andy.

As the sun was about to rise, I gathered my things and got ready to leave. Ben Carpenter, who was leading the race in the clockwise original route, rolled in for some resupply. We chatted briefly and I was on my way. I didn't want to wake Andy so I just sent a text saying I had continued on. 

The morning started out with beautiful skies but quickly turned foggy and gray. I had made it about 10-15 miles before I received a text from Andy, asking if that was my trail running pack that had been left on the heat/air unit behind the gas station. You know, the one that had my van key in it. SHIT!! Luckily, he was nice enough to carry it for me and just told me to continue on. I was so freaking lucky he noticed it. Whew.

Now, this may be TMI, but I like to be honest and transparent. In the next several miles, on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere, near all of the Croom singletrack, I started to realize I was going to need to make waste. And it quickly turned urgent. Like, real urgent, haste waste. I drug my bike off into the woods with me, franticly trying to decide "what to use". Crisis averted, just in time. And now, I no longer have my favorite neck buff. Sorry, but you all needed to know!

Next stop was a checkpoint at mile 276, Lake Lindsey Mall, which is not a mall at all, but rather a small country store that makes incredible sandwiches. Unfortunately, for me, the googles had told me they were closed on Sundays so I had stocked up at the gas station. I took my photo and carried on, entering the pristine and linear, rolling roads of the Citrus Wildlife Management Area.

On the other side, I hit the 300 mile mark, which I'd been eager to see. 35 to go! And boy did those 35 miles seem like they would never end. Fifteen miles of paved bike path that seemed to be slightly uphill with a headwind the whole way, with the sun now high and beating down on my sunburnt arms, was torturous. My legs had been great the whole time, but I had been having terrible neck/shoulder/trapezius/hand pain that had forced me to stop and rest/stretch more than I'd wanted to. 

I hit the Dunnellon bike path around mile 316 and then a short, freshly bush-hogged, sandy tract where I cursed Karlos' name the entire time, and finally turned into the Pruett Trail Head on the west side of the Santos Trail System. I was excited because I assumed it was paved bike path back to the Shangri-La campground connector. WRONG! I immediately went into some rooty single track that gave way to a really rough dirt service road for the next 5 miles. It finally turned to paved bike path, leading me to the Shangri-La connector and back into the camp ground, where I finished around 2:30pm, for a total of 30.5 hours, but with 6.5 hours of stopped time, which is way too much. But, I had to take care of myself and all the pain I was having in the shoulder girdle, so I'm ok and happy with it overall.

Andy came in only about 20 minutes behind me. And then Rasch and Ian were maybe an hour and a half later, or something like that. 

My body was wrecked. I was rather tired. I hung out at the van and had a couple of beers with Ian, Rasch, Andy, and Austin, who won the Lite route, squeaking in just under 24 hours and with only an hour or less of stopped time. Incredible! Congratulations on a superb ride, Austin!

After some Mexican food with Rasch and Austin, I crashed from 8pm to around 4am and then began to make my way back to real life. Thanks to everyone who followed along and sent texts of encouragement. Thanks to Owen Cyclery for getting my bike ready to go. Thanks to Karlos Bernart aka Singletrack Samurai for his diligence in creating these routes and hosting these events. And most importantly, thanks to my wife for allowing me to take on these big challenges. Thanks for reading! Cheers!

Want to rent the van for an adventure?? Contact me at VistaAdventureVans@gmail.com or check out our website: www.VistaAdventureVans.com

Want to try some Florida bikepacking or ultra racing? Check out Karlos' website: www.SingletrackSamurai.com

Want to donate to our shelter or adopt a lovely pet in the North Georgia area? Check out our website: www.RescueRacing.org