Huracan Day 1: Don’t try anything new

The Huracan 300 is a flat, touring esc, alligator spotting , leisurely stroll through some fast flowing, hard packed, gravel roads; with the option of walking through some thicc puddles ……. I thought 🫢 

I first found the Huracan route on bikepacking.com and thought it would be a nice little vacation from the Northern Ohio snow. They just so happen to have a “grand depart” the first Saturday of February, so that seemed like a nice easy ride to make some friends and get up close with some alligators. 

Yah see… I’ve been workin on this adventure bike project for a bit now and it’s really starting to come along. This bike is really going to give me the freedom to see the world in a whole different way. But…. You gotta be comfortable rite? 

I know they say “don’t carry to much weight”; “you don’t really need all that stuff” ect…. But… what do those people know? It’s like they have already done it or something 😂. 

So I get a small front chain ring because then I can comfortably carry a bunch of weight and slowly grind up climbs with ease; this will allow me to spoil myself a bit and take just 1 or….. maybe 2 … comforts of home… rite? 

Just like a 4” sleeping pad (the biggest I could find), a heavy inflator for it, chair would be nice, mmhmmm coffee in the morning? Maybe a press and a stove!, if we have a stove, let’s get a pan as well, maybe pancakes??definitely need a go pro so I can get YouTube famous, and 3 extra batteries, clean clothes are sweet so let’s grab a few changed of clothes…. Just like an extra pound or so to make it more enjoyable 🙄

So now I’m about 3 weeks out from the Huracan and I’ve got my bike finally put together. New suspension seat post, new jones bars, new aero bars, new front and back rack and panniers; and I’m ready. My Endurance Coaches had prescribed me 3 long days on the bike with varied tasks to complete. Making food. Setting up camp, filtering water… ect. But the weather was looking less then ideal leading up to this training block. Mind you… I’m training for a ride in FLORIDA!!! And it’s single digit to negative temps in Ohio. BUT! I must complete said training… so I fudge some days around and plan the longest ride on the warmest 17 degree day. Rite before a snowstorm.

I get up that morning to set off on my ride and….. my daughter is throwing up and sick. Home from school. So I pivot, jump on the trainer and settle in for what turned out to be a mind numbing 4hr, 6hr, and 3 hr day in the basement staring at the tv. Jumping off anytime my daughter radioed me on the walkie talkie that she needed something; then I would pause my ride, do a Vo2 Max interval upstairs, get water, change a puke trash bag, make toast, and get back on the trainer. I also cooked myself meals on my stove and set up my camp in my living room. But NEVER rode the bike with everything on it. 

Fast forward to the day before I head South to the Huracan and I still had not done a shake out ride. We have had the most snow in Ohio in like 30 years. The roads are covered and it’s unusable conditions, all the schools have been cancelled and cold temperature warnings. So I carefully take my bike out onto my street; that’s snow covered and do a 10 minute ride and… holy moly, this is the heaviest most difficult to ride contraption ever! 

Now I’m complete panic mode. I get the bike back in the house, it’s covered in snow and dripping and melting everywhere and I put it in the scale and weigh it. 90 lbs!!!! I’m starting to think… those experienced peopled… were correct. 

So I start stripping to the minimum. Rear rack and panniers, gone. Tooth brush handle, adios. Change of clothes, not for this guy. Go pro, I can’t even edit videos, stove with coffee and pancakes, I’ll eat peanut butter from a bag, backpacking towel, I’ll drip dry (this would turn to be a mistake… teaser 😉) 

Now I have the absolute bare minimum. I have all the required gear, extra socks, extra underwear, tooth brush head, emergency chamois, required electronics, and enough battery backups to power a small Lithuanian village for 5-8 days. I switched my front rack and panniers to the back because they were a lot smaller. I opted to carry a hydration vest with food in it, to get a little less weight on the bike. It was a heavy set up but I was ready. I was prepared to safely test and tune my setup for the future adventures. 

Also in preparation, I thought a lot about how my body would react, and how I could prepare. A month out I cleaned up my diet, upped my water intake, and dedicated myself to a minimum of 45 minutes a day of yoga and 45 minutes a day minimum of sitting on a bike seat. No intense yoga, just bending over and slowly moving around holding poses wherever it felt good. Then I would sit on the trainer without it even on. Just lightly spinning and watching tv. I have a brooks c17 saddle on my trainer and I gave up the chamios many moons ago. I was hoping the extra seat time would help condition my sit bones because saddle pain has been my biggest limiting factor on long rides. 

Now onto the Huracan. I left Wednesday night for the 16 hour drive south. I was anxious to say the least. I had removed the seats in my car and made my usual sweet bed again and I had packed every bikepacking related item I owned. I listened on repeat to every Huracan YouTube video as I drove, trying to unnerve. 

The campground where the start and finish was open at 1:00 to get in, I arrived at 1:06 to my dismay. I hate being late. It was sunny and 55 degrees and sandy. So much sand. 

Arrival at Shangri-La 

After meeting Carlos and checking in I retreated to the first available campsite I could find. Again, I was sleeping in my car so…. My camp was ready. But that long drive down had my mind going 100 mph on my set up. How was I going to arrange everything now? What can I cut out? What clothing am I going to wear? How will I attach my tent?!? 

I immediately start getting all my bags out and assembling my bike ( having just purchased my amazing trash panda bags, I did not want them being pelted with wind and snow and salt for 16 hours so I removed all bags before leaving Ohio). As I’m anxiously bolting and tying my bags up, I am approached by the first character of the story: 

Disclaimer: all identities have been hidden for fear of future legal ramifications. Disclaimer End: 

Character 1. Shlarke: 

Age: experienced

Hair Color: aged

Address: van

Occupation: retired; adventurer. 

Assumed Fast Guy: yes

Bike of choice: Tandem 

Shlarkes tandem power house was Sharbie. 

Character 2: Sharbie

Address: same van 

Eyebrow piercing: right. 

Hair: needs cut( her words not mine, I promise. I promise. I promise.) 

Occupation: top influencer of said tandem decisions. 

Shlarke and Sharbie introduce themselves and we chat about the race distances and expectations, all positive vibes. Shlarke asks if I’d like to take a little ride and check out the single track on some non loaded bikes; that sounds like a great way to relieve the anxiousness a little bit. sure! I’m in. Although I have never ridden this bike with these “Jones” bars before, or this new redshift suspension seat post…….. I’ll figure it out 😬. 

Shortly thereafter Shlarke leads me into the Florida single track. 55 degrees and sunny with not a cloud in the sky. Pretty sweet February day! As soon as we enter the single track I realize that I have not started my Strava ; and You know as well as I do, if it’s not in Strava it didn’t happen, can’t be counted as training, can’t be linked to a friend, just ya know…. Absolutely Not the way you want to start an adventure. So I’m slipping and sliding on the pine needles weaving through single track trying to unlock my phone with my face and enter a password and not hit a tree and guess what…. I can’t do it. Shucks. There will be no record of the ride. Adapt and overcome I suppose. I now focus my efforts on wrestling these massive handlebars through the trees and catch Shlarke. He was waiting for me and offered for me to lead. Oh great, this dude thinks I’m really slow! 

So I pick up the pace and try to put in some effort and enjoy these amazing trails. The bike felt goofy with the new handlebar configuration and my Fox 100 mil front fork also only had 2-3 rides on it. After a few miles I had found my rhythm and we were riding at a conversational pace and seeking out the more difficult trails. I was noticing this Shlarke fella was super good and fast at mountain biking. We then start chatting about our Adventure goals we have for this season and we are training for the same events at the same time! Such a cool environment. 

An hour or so later we accidentally popped back into the campground and I took the opportunity to call it for the time being. My coaches only had me on an hour pre ride for the day and there was an epic night ride still happening led by the one and only… El Carlos. 

Plus my anxious brain really needed to get my bike fully loaded and take it on a ride, since by first test ride in Ohio was a heavy mammoth disaster, I needed to test my new ultralight set up. 

Ok, ok, ok, I know. You want to know what this set up is. Let’s break it down. Fast and furious. 

Bike Things

Bike: Otso Fenrir stainless steal 

Fork: Fox 32 100 mil travel 

Bars: Jones bars with redshift suspension stem

Saddle: Brookes Flyer for touring and all day comfort 😉

Seat post: redshift suspension (because the dropper I had immediately failed so I needed a new seat post and went the comfort route). 

Pedals: flat, took them off my kids mountain bike 

Wheels and Tires: stock and sturdy 😂 pardon my lack of knowledge here 

Brakes: were upgraded to some sweet 4 piston brakes for my heavy set up 

Grearstuff: SRAM AXS. It’s just so smooth, I had to

Bikepacking things:

Rack: Old Man Mountain Elkhorn with Hemlock 7l flip cages. - this was an outstanding, tight set up. That is NOT pump track approved (that’s another one of those teaser things 😉)

Warm: mountain hardware puff jacket and pants- super comfortable and warm

Socks: Darn tough wool- I’ve been wearing these socks everyday for 5 years trying to wear a hole in them to get a new pair warrantied. No luck yet 

Undies: Duluth Armachillo extra long- extra long is the key, they don’t bunch up. Your gunna want to get them on sale though. 🤑

Base layer: Melonzana wool base layer that doubles as a sun hoodie. Small company out of Leadville I believe, great products. 

Shorts and shirt: Cognitive MTB trail shorts and fancy on sale shirt.- so these guys were at the expo and my plan was to wear my shorts from Target and a light Polyester shirt. But this stuff was all smell proof and fast drying or something. So I did what you’re not supposed to do. Tried something new on race day. Bought the shorts and shirt and wore them for 4 days in a row. MAGNIFICENT! And at the end of day; 3/10 on shirt smell. 7/10 on shorts smell. 

Tent: Hubba Bubba 2. I was nervous this was too heavy, but it’s 1lb heavier then the 1 person and more then double the space. I found comfort in having all my things in my tent and not lost at night or in the weather. 

Sleeping pad: 4” Nemo- this was big and heavy and possibly an error… (teaser thingy)

I brought an inflator for the sleeping pad because it takes forever to air up. 

Pillow: sea to summit- amazing. Gotta have a pillow 

Rain jacket- Patagonia super light thing. I grabbed it the day before I left because it’s like the size of a tennis ball. It never rained but I used it as a wind layer many times and have no complaints. 

Rain pants- z packs hyper light. - I grabbed these as a wind barrier to the Mountsin hardware down pants if needed. With temps supposed to get between 25-35…. These pants were a nice light extra layer. 

Leg warmers- some generic Amazon brand that were totally necessary. When the sun goes down in the swamp…. It gets chilly. 

Gloves: hand up- trusty but just so smelly. My hands get stanky. That’s a bummer. I also had some waterproof gloves that were tight fitting. Those were great for the cold morning descents to Circke K for coffee

Bags: Trash Panda design from Rogue Panda. These bags with this design was the best decision I ever made besides marrying a total Babe. They make me so happy when I look at them and everyone comments on them…… I did go all out on the bags and had them bolt on with the shoelace weave thing, 3 pockets, the works. Highly recommend. 

Bar bag: revelate designs mountain feed bag- great bag. They thought of everything. It attaches mega securely and has draw strings and “undraw strings” that are easy to operate with 1 hand. These bags were heart of the cockpit. Sunglasses, bars, lighter, hamburger, Gatorade, toilet paper, chain rag…. All snug in the same bag. 

Top tube bag: relevant designs double mag tank bag. It held all my dried mangos, peanut butter trail mix, and Dora the explora fruit snacks. But I couldn’t stop it from flopping side to side. 

Kick stand: click stand- epic fail. Florida sand would not support the click stand and then the elastic break lever holder broke. I have not given up on the click stand but…. Back to the drawing board on a few details. 

Undercarriage lubricant: bag balm. Used for cow utters but it’s thick as axle grease and also heals chapped skin 😉

Ok that’s most of the lightweight set up. 

I did take a massive thick endurance chamois and lidocaine just incase. 

I loaded my bike with everything minus food and water and did a quick ride in the woods. 

In order to get some weight on the front of the bike, I crammed my tent and sleeping pad in a “sea to summit” dry bag and strapped it to my handlebars. This was a pretty awkward situation, the dry bag compressed it into a basketball and I was after more of a hot dog shape. It was secure but awkward. It rode ok at slow speeds but at higher speeds or if you turned sharply, there would be a bit of a “death wobble” on the bars. I’m no engineer but I think the super heavy, high positioned weight attached to the huge sweeper bars on the suspension stem with the 100 mil shock….. somewhere in there… is the culprit of the death wobble 🙄

After my test ride I felt I had a manageable set up for the adventure ahead. 

By this time I was learning some “bikepacking tips and tricks”. Be charging. Always, always, always be charging; you never know when your going to find your next outlet. 

Now for the Elephant in the room. Hygeine. What’s the plan? Well, deodorant; that was out. Too heavy, could melt in my bag, and there’s something enticing about going “ oh, natural”. I did have a tiny bar of soap that I planned to bring incase of a shower encounter, but I forgot to pack it on the bike. I did have tooth paste in a small tube and a tooth brush without a handle. The tooth brush head was sold to me claiming that it would securely attach to my extra long spork, eliminating the need for a handle. This…. My friends…. Was an outright lie. If anyone tries to tell you one of these apparatuses works well, they are playing tricks on you! As soon as it touches teeth, it pops off and tries to go straight down your throat. Therefore; I brushed with finger tips and a tooth brush chunk… do yourself a favor, bring a real toothbrush! 

Samari Night Ride 

Part of the allure to arrive at the “Huracan base camp” was a promise of an extra spooky night ride guided by the Singketrack Samari himself, El Carlos. El Carlos is the cultivator of the Huracan 300. 

Character profile: El Carlos 

Paint-a-picture- El chappo, meets the lead singer of a 2004 emo band headlining warped tour, meets Lachlan Morton. 

The El chapo reference refers to some of these places the “Huracan route” goes too. There’s no way he discovered some of these corners of Florida through completely legal means. 

Address: 1 person tent parked next to light colored compact SUV

Hugging capability: pretty good hugger

Passion for his mission: 111%

I would say I was equal parts nervous as excited for this ride. El Carlos is loud when he’s amongst his fellow gates carbon belt drive hombres, so he had been shouting things like “I’m gunna rip your legs off” and “we’re going to do his favorite , the Nayls trail”, which I believed to be a “Florida” black diamond. 

Now my nervous decision of, should I ride the; “leg ripping off” night ride with my bike loaded or… unloaded? Ha!, unloaded! So I quickly stripped everything off my bike, strapped on lights, and anxiously rolled through the dark campground to the brightly lit pavilion to join in the group waiting for the ride to start. 

If your a massive fan boy like myself, as I’m sure you are… then you have aggressively watched repeatedly, over and over, the Huracan documentary by Florida Cycling on YouTube; then you would have been just as star struck as I was to see THE Ben freakin Meyer!! Sitting on his bike across from me. Holy moly. Then… then… then…. Next to him is this Green haired Legend with like 34 race patches on his frame bag, From the most famous bikepacking youtube Channel… BRETT from Ryan van Duzers YouTube video. So yeah like…. Freakin star studded ride. The nerves and excitement were peaking. And the Temperature was dropping… 

We turned on our lights and headed into the Florida single track. There’s nothing like a single track group ride at night, I always want to be in the back so I can watch all the lights from the other riders in front, it looks like a long snake slithering through the woods. The pace was relaxed and everyone was having conversations with the riders in front and behind them. The trails were spectacular, flowy yet challenging. If you’re not used to riding on pine needles; it can take some getting used too, a little slick sometimes. 

I was running the Outbound mountain bike lights on my handlebars and helmet, they are fantastic, a little heavy but they are brighter then automotive headlights ( I was told this by a not-so-friendly motorist the first time I used them near a road 😬). Bright lights on; the woods lit up with twisty, turny, single track. 

The “cycle film star” Ben was behind me and he was having a bit of trouble with his dynamo light connection so he shouted out that he would follow me close and use my lights as well. Unfortunately for him, now he had spoken to me…. Therefore the super fan was allowed to be unlocked and I possibly, maybe, shouted out something not weird like “I love that documentary your in and I listened to it 3 times on my 16 hour drive down”. Thankfully, he received my excitement positively and not criminally so we were fast friends. And I’ll tell ya something about that guy, he is 110% positive with every word that comes out of his mouth! It was refreshing and contagious, the night was shaping up saweeeet. 

The ride remained relaxed and enjoyable, we stopped often at intersections to let everyone gather again and add or remove layers depending on the effort the previous trail had required. 

A pretty special thing this night ride was because, it was led by El Carlos, the person who is putting on the entire event, probably getting phone calls and emails every minute; on the minute; and he planned the time out for a ride. He also made an intentional effort to practice and remember everyone’s name that he encountered. This is actually not anything rare in the bike/cycling community; but still being relatively new to these type of events; I’m continually impressed with the overwhelming positivity surrounding bicycles. 

The 10ish mile ride concluded about 2 hours later around 9:00. Spirits were high and everyone was looking forward to sitting around the campfire and enjoying various canned medicine. It was well past my bedtime though so I headed to my car, rolled my Christmas tree sheets up in the cracks on my windows, army crawled my head into the trunk through the hole where I had removed my seats, nestled into my 6” memory foam mattress, put in my ear plugs, and thought to myself ….. What kinda story will I write about today….