Sorry for the lack of post lately. AS always, I been SUPER busy, but I also wanted to let the fund raising post sit up there for awhile, still taking donations by the way and trying to come up with more ways to raise much needed tour divide funds.
The Last time the Dragons and I rode the ST Francis to Paisley wagon trail pain cave connector, EdWARd suggested that we do a bikepacking trip to the Ghost town of St Francis.
I thought it was a great idea and the original plan had been to leave Friday night and do a little 2.5 day trip.
Well, lord knows that I am an PROFESSIONAL ENDURANCE cable guy and I got stuck at work till Mid night that night and It just didn't pan out to go leave after the hellacious day I had.
So the plan evolved and we rolled out from my house midday on the morning of the impending SUPERMOON!
I had been scouting a new and even dirtier connector over to the Enterprise Railroad bed that makes up part of the Naked Indian Route. The plan was to take the Naked Indian Route over to Lake Beresford, hop off and then get over to De land and St. Francis. On the way we could stop and swim.
Simple enough.
BUT, I didn't really think this was a trip that warranted a two rope so I left it at home. Not really expecting to need it or use it. As we did a little fence hopping and got onto the old rail bed, not even 4 miles into the ride, LIL'r NI was already tired.
Ya, I admit, I lamented how long of a day this was going to be. No tow rope meant plenty of waiting and prodding and break taking, but we kept going.
Along the NK route we went and before we knew it, we were making our way along some big climbs in the back woods of Debary, when I spot a Yard Sale sign and tell the dragons to wait at the top of this hill while I ride to it and see if I can buy a rope. I had to do something, I mean we have all day, but we don't have all day... LOL
I come back to find LIL'r NI sitting in the shade, resting and scold him for taking his helmet off so often. I was a little embarrassed with myself how emotional I had been. The past few weeks had been hard at work, and frustrating off the bike. The day I rode 90 miles doing Journalism coverage for the Huracan I somehow aggravated an ingrown hair in my nether regions that turned into a cyst requiring a week of antibiotics and not needed vacation off the bike. All the self imposed and work related stress had worn through my normally patient demeanor and like I said, I was a little embarrassed at how emotional I was being.
BUT, I told the boys, I had no luck in finding said Yard sale and not to worry, The Lord will provide, lets keep moving.
EdWARd had recently dropped 20 or so pounds and has been riding his properly working Green Beast regularly and thus it showed on the ride as he was keeping up with my patient dragon training pace.
But LIL'r NI was way back there, and as we got close to leaving that gravel road backwoods section I spotted an Old Fallen Telephone drop cable and measured out a piece and cut it with my knife and now, 18 miles into the ride, HE was saved from having to work alone any further and could simply enjoy my pedal power.
BUT, the climbs, the heat and the messy mess of soft dirt of Dutchman Bends road make quick work of WAR as he dropped back further than he had dropped back any other time that day.
It was funny as we made our way along that road to see a sign that said, "get out or get shooted".Am I supposed to take such a poorly grammatical warning for serious? I didn't and we made our way to the secret back door to Blue springs.
At this point we had 4 miles or less of sandy mess to pedal and once again, It was a elastic band effect as the Dragons and I rolled out together, but the WAR fell back.Before Long, we were parking the bikes and boys changed into their swim trunks to go for a swim. They swam for about an hour as I people watched and listened to the sounds of everything that was going on around me.
They came back and I googled mapped a restaurant on route 8 miles away.
The miles clicked by fast and I kept War close and before long, we were doing a sweet downhill into Beresford
with only a few more miles to go before reaching JC's Lobster pit.
We sat and ate and although the service was slow and the portions disproportionate, we strapped on our lights and headed out to ST Francis. As we made our way along the twisty skinny trail, we kept having to stop cause LIL'r NI was having stomach Cramps. Awesome.
As we got closer to St Francis we spotted a truck on a fire road. Uh OH.
When We reached St. Francis there was two trucks hanging out, and as I politely said Hi, we kept going hiking away from there Country Music, till I could barely hear it and the spirits guided me to a good camping spot.
I grabbed some giant wide ended palm frawns and asked the boys to do the same and we cleared out the leaves and dug a hole.
Soon enough we had a pretty fire going and we set up camp, and hung out, and snacked and talked and listened.
War was tired from riding all day, and he went to sleep and soon enough we all went to bed. I laid there awake for a long while watching Ride the Divide on my phone day dreaming about my impending adventure across the United States.
Eventually I drifted to sleep only to wake up to what I thought was someone walking towards camp. The sound was distinct and for a second I was sure one of the drunken party goers had decided they wanted to harass us, but after sprinting to my feet and shining my light around there was nothing to see.
The night was restless for all, foot steps everywhere, animals and owls singing symphonies that can only be heard when you venture deep into the forest. Although I had no proof, I am sure there are supernatural beings lurking on the old town site of St Francis.
The night was cold and I shivered most of the night, got up fast to build a fire to warm us all up.
After a breakfast of gummies and chocolate we set off to shred some new singletrack that I had not had the chance of riding before. The boys were both moving slow, as they are not used to riding and stopping and riding and stopping.
I was having a blast, enjoying riding something new, taking pictures and videos and once to make it to Deleon to spend time with Edith and Shelby and spend a lazy Sunday resting.
The wind was FIERCE when we hit the road. And I commanded Kailan to pedal as it was pure full body effort on my part to battle the wind and tow 100 plus pounds at the same time.
I chopped the day up into three goals.
Goal one, finish the St Francis singletrack.
Goal Two, reach the final resupply and grab some cold drinks.
Goal Three, reach the Deleon hang out.
Goal one was easy, and fun.
Goal two was fast, but hard.
Goal Three, just as fast, and just as hard as the road to Deleon is riddled with rolling terrain, up and down, up and down. All the while keeping a stray eye to my rear to make sure that Edward was somewhere back there.
Eventually, we locked into a sprint to the finish and Edward used his knowledge of his neighbor hood to beat us to the house. Good job my friend!
It was a great little trip. AND although we did hear lots of things, we didn't get any proof. AND although we wanted to Geocache, once the boys saw that we would have to pedal off route to find them, they were not as interested. Seems like the Geocaches in the Ocala National forest are designed for individuals with jeeps to trudge deep into sandy terrain, not kids or hikers on bikes or by foot.
The bike gave me a cyst, but after this ride, all traces of this cyst had gone.
thank you, I am way behind in my Tour Divide prep and have to CRAM to feel ready for this enormous challenge.
Take Care,
Laters,
The NaKeD InDiaN
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