January 11, 2022
Not so flat Florida - Santos more than mountain biking
Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway
We met the Womens 60+ Facebook bike group in person to join them for 3 days of their 17 day tour in Georgia and Florida. Today we rode the Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway a 15.1 mile trail through central Florida beginning at the Santos trailhead. The people riding come from several different states in the US from Michigan to Florida and other states in between. People are riding an eclectic mix of bikes from road bikes, to gravel bikes to hybrid bikes in a mixture of both e bikes and analog bikes.
The santos trailhead is often known as a hub for mountain biking with many trails from easy to double black diamond. At the parking area we watched people riding the skills course preparing to go out on the trails.
The Marjorie Harris Carr Greenway is a paved trail that begins near the Santos restrooms. It undulates and winds through live oak groves, pine forests, and through scrub lands. The trail is rarely flat although many of the ascents are at an easy incline with a few more challenging hills. It was beautiful and fun to ride but certainly not flat. Overall we got in a little more than 1000 feet of climbing.
We started off the morning at 43 degrees and by the time we got to the land bridge over I-75 we were taking off layers! It was fun to ride over a bridge that we have driven under many times.
The trail ends with quite a few hills at a little cul de sac where we snacked. It had no facilities but did have a sign indicating plans to extend the trail. Please note: There were no facilities or potable water along the trail although there were some trailheads slightly off the trail that might have had facilities but we didn’t check them out.
After the ride we headed to Inverness about 40 minutes away and the Central motel which is situated right on the Withlacoochie trail, our ride for tomorrow.
Sharing the same parking lot as the Central Motel is Dillons Bakery and restaurant where we all had great sandwiches and are really looking forward to their breakfast tomorrow and their famous cinnamon sticks!
They were out of their famous cinnamon sticks so we each got mini cinnamon buns gratis!
Tomorrow on to the Withlacoochie!
Today's ride: 32 miles (51 km)
Total: 727 miles (1,170 km)
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