Good morning, Kats and Kittens! Yes, you read the thread title correctly, Florida and Muni in the same sentence
This is just a notification for anyone who’s interested, that there’s going to be a mini muni meetup next month, probably the weekend of Feb 22. Right now there’s around half a dozen riders planning to show up, and we’re welcoming one-and-all.
The current plan is Alafia River State Park, an IMBA Certified “Epic” park in the South-of-Brandon area. There are trails of all difficulty levels from fire road to flat singletrack to smooth hilly flow to insane technical trails. We typically take things casual, stopping to play or work on any sections that catch our interest, and skill levels vary within the current group, so don’t be concerned about “holding anybody back”.
Alafia has camping available, and at least some of us will probably camp Saturday night, for the Sunday ride. The weather’s been nice lately (before and between these cold fronts), so we’ll keep our fingers crossed.
Anyone who’s interested in more details, feel free to send a PM or an IM. We’re working on putting up a site with more info, but if you’re interested (or know of anyone who might be), we’d love to hear from you!
Sounds great!
I live on the East coast (immediately N of Palm Beach County) and I have some family in the Port Charlotte-to-Bradenton area, so this will work out. If anyone wants to carpool to the West coast and save on gas it would be nice.
Any idea of a timeframe, date-wise?
I have a girl friend that I’ve been wanting to ride with for a while now, so this could be a good opportunity for us to get in with a crowd.
I have a few unicycles but only one of them (a Nimbus Hoppley) works properly, so if anyone has another decent off-road-worthy unicycle that she can use it would be helpful (it’s not likely that she’ll be doing anything extreme, so anything would help).
I’ll be in FL that weekend and plan on riding with y’all on Sunday 2/22 (can’t ride on Saturday - it’s my dad’s 70th birthday celebration and the reason we’ll be there in the first place).
These guys took me to Alafia last time I was down there. For those who can make it, it has fantastic trails and more than enough variety to challenge and exhaust a muni (or MTB) rider.
Man I’d love to come ride with you guys but it’s out of the question right now. If you all ever get a hankering to come ride in Alabama I promise you that you won’t be disappointed riding at Oak Mountain State Park in Bimingham, Alabama. There is a wonderfull 17+ mile single/double track loop that is soon to be an official IMBA Epic when they finish adding on a few extra miles. Lot’s of options for shorter routes too. I’ve cranked out a couple laps there on my KH24 though it can be comfortably ridden on a 29 as well (not sure about a 36er, but I’m going to try it next month). Have fun guys!
MuniSano, thanks we ought to have a blast out there. It’ll be great to ride with a bunch of new faces… not that there’s anything wrong with the old faces ;D
Unicyko, there’s no specific start time set just yet… for typical weekend rides, we start around noon, so I have a feeling that’ll be the ballpark. No “entry fee” for the meetup, but there is a $4 parking charge to get into the park. Bring yourself, unicycle, water or a camelbak, ride snackies if desired, and we’ll probably provide a hamburger/hotdog lunch with attendees providing chips and any other side dishes, etc. to fill in the gaps.
I’ll also be checking campsite availability tomorrow, to see whether camping overnight is an option. If so, they probably won’t stay available for long, so we’d need a “tent count” on people who might like to camp over Sat. night. We can share a couple camp sites, especially if we can wrangle a few adjacent ones.
So far there’s close to a dozen people on the expressed-interest/maybe list, which is more than I expected, but a pleasant surprise. There is a 12-hour bike race at another of the major mountain bike parks in the state, which should draw many of the hardcore bikers leaving the park relatively clear for a unicycle invasion (even on a busy day, there are enough trails at Alafia to allow for relatively low trail traffic even when the parking lot’s packed)
Sounds cool, but that is one heck of a long drive from Panama City, Fl and my friends and I will have a hard time getting back to school the next day. I’ll talk to them about it and will see what day it falls on and if we will be able to attend. Spring break might be a wise date to set this on for us school attending kids, but its up to you.
Hey, 2 or 3 of us are out there just about every weekend, so by all means if we want a repeat around spring-break time, we should feel free ;D
I called it “First Occasional” because it may not happen every year at this time, and it may not wait a year betweentimes, but it’s the first organized muni meetup down here (at least that I’ve heard about in my 5 or 6 years riding).
Another possibility for the next (or future) meet is Santos MTB park in Ocala. That’s another one of the premier parks in the state, also containing some IMBA rated Epic cross-country trails, as well as some more extreme (XTREEM! WOO!) stuff.
If camping shapes up, there’s also the possibility of coming down Sat, pre-riding with those of us that are there early, riding a while on Sunday and then leaving as early as you need to.
no worries–but no pressure,
billnye
John M
P.S. If you come down, kidnap Mr. Tmornstar in Tallahassee and bring him along for the ride.
Okay, the bad news is that the campgrounds at Alafia are booked for the Fri night and Sat night of that weekend in February. That puts a damper on overnight camp-out festivities, but if not having a place to crash makes the difference between being able to come out or not, send a PM and we may be able to work out something with one of us “locals”.
So far it doesn’t change any of the other plans laid out, for a pre-ride on Sat, for the main ride on Sun 22nd, or for the lunch post-ride at the pavillions.
We’ll probably make up copies of the trail map for everybody, and definitely stick a “ride guide” who’s familiar with the trails in each group if we have the inclination (and the people) to split up and try different stuff.
For those of you who’ve expressed interest, just let us know as your situations continue to develop, and feel free to post or PM if there’s any info that you guys need.
John,
I was looking forward to reuniting with you guys but that’s a very busy weekend for me. I won’t be able to make it. I’m bummed but I’ll make it back up there soon and we’ll have to get something going.
By the way, what’s become of the Northport trails?
Frank, sorry you won’t be able to make it, but definitely give a shout next time you’re up this direction. Trail cruise or no ride at all, we definitely ought to catch up.
There’s another post up on the website, essentially just keeping it up to date with the conversation so far here.
Also, Littlemenjd might still have some silkscreen equipment, so we’re taking ideas for a meetup t-shirt. Feel free to post any ideas for text or graphic shirt suggestions. Graphic as in images… we don’t necessarily want a graphic shirt design. (in the back: FUC U! front: Florida Unicycle Crew, Unicyclist) Something along the lines of “My other wheel is on my other unicycle” perhaps?
John,
The Dominic Clan will be there and we will bring whatever unis I can get my hands on.
I did find some of my old screening equipment but it looks to be in pretty rough shape. I am going to try to get out this weekend and see what it will cost me to replace my stuff. I like the ideas and will see what I can get done in the next few weeks. I also will have an embroidery machine at my disposal soon so maybe I can shrink the design down and get it put on shirt that way. No promises but I’ll give it the old college try.
Some friends and I may be in Tallahase this Saturday and we’re wondering if anyone wanted to ride with us? We will be riding street(mainly) and trials and anyone is welcome to join us.
(even on a busy day, there are enough trails at Alafia to allow for relatively low trail traffic even when the parking lot’s packed)
I am going to try to get out this weekend and see what it will cost me to replace my stuff. I like the ideas and will see what I can get done in the next few weeks. I also will have an embroidery machine at my disposal soon so maybe I can shrink the design down and get it put on shirt that way. No promises but I’ll give it the old college try.