Earlier this year I had the pleasure of linking up with another bikepack racer, Jonathan Mingle Speed of Greenville, SC frequents Pisgah National Forest for training miles. Since our adventure at the Marji Gesick we have gotten a few training rides in together and I have started working with Jonathan remotely through our online training portal to help him build up his strength, stability and mobility. For his last race of the year Jonathan had signed up for CFITT(Cross Florida Time Trial) riding from Florida's east coast to the Gulf.
The 300 mile route is mixed terrain and surfaces ranging from paved greenways to sand forest service roads through Ocala National Forest. Jonathan had really buckled down on his training since Marji and put in the time in the saddle along with strength training and recovery/self care. This was his second time riding the route but this time we would be riding it “light”. No camping gear and no creature comforts were packed on our bikes with the goal to ride through the night and only take short naps as needed.
On race day we found ourselves along with most of the races huddled under an awning as rain pelted the nearby parking lot at the hotel. Word of a tornado warning had spread fast to the rest of the racers so we delayed heading down to the beach till the last possible minute to still make it in time for the 7:11am start(sunrise). We lucked out! The storm pushed north right in time and we headed out to the beach to line up and get some last minute words of inspiration from Karlos the race organizer.
After taking off we stayed at a steady pace climbing over the bridge heading away of New Smyrna Beach. The sky’s quickly opened up to what would be perfectly clear for us the rest of the route. The first 50 miles of the route were mainly paved roads and greenway so it felt like we were still fresh when we took our first stop for a snack. My goal was to keep Jonathan moving and to limit any breaks or unnecessary downtime. Minutes = Miles. At the pace we were holding we would be losing 1 mile of forward progress for every 4-5minutes of downtime which isn’t a lot for shorter races but this adds up in multi day races like CFITT.
The next 100 miles was a mixed bag of sand, single track and paved roads. The sand sections were much longer than I had remembered bringing us into Palatka the halfway point around midnight. Jonathans knee was giving him a bit of a fit so we made the call to do what several other were doing and stay the night in a hotel. My goal was to keep Jonathan in race mode so when 6am came it was time to throw back on the kit and grab breakfast. 5hrs in a bed had been just what Jonathan needed to feel ready to get back out and start hammering on the pedals again. The next 100ish miles are the most demanding of the route, first traversing across Ocala National Forest which is almost all sand followed by single track through Santos. 70 and sunny was our forecast so even though the sand was a slog our spirits were high as we pushed on until we made it to the 88 Store. We caught up to several of the other racers who had stopped to resupply before heading out for the next push towards Santos, 7 of the riders ended up rolling out in a pack just before we left.
230 miles into the route we popped out of the single track at Marshall Swamp and needed to get something more substantial in our bellies so we went off route a little bit to hit up a subway and then a gas station. We needed to carry with us all the food we would need until the next morning. At the pace we were now moving it was going to take us all night to cross the single track section in Santos. After pushing till almost midnight we started to hit the wall. It was nap time. Not long after we had laid down the group of 7 showed up informing us of the trail magic we had missed(food and drinks) in the Santos campground. The group continued on after they stopped for a snack break while we took our little nap. The group was gone when we woke but it wasn’t long before we caught up to where they had decided to bunk down for a little nap. Almost 48 hours in now the wall had hit hard and we laid our sleeping pads on the ground for one more nap before the final push out of the woods. We slept hard for about 2hr and woke just as the group of 7 caught up and now passed us though we would pass them again shortly after. The Food Mart was the last stop with about 30 miles left in the route we ordered a couple of subs to go. We might not have been in the top 10 but it was time to treat the route like a race and push hard to the ocean so we agreed no stopping till we got to the end. Just as the ridiculousness of the end of the route was starting to get to Jonathan and I we made it to the Withlacoochee Bay Trail. As soon as we were on the last 5 mile stretch of greenway Jonathan got a second wind and took off full on all the way till the end, finishing 24 hours faster than the previous year.
