Last year, when the Ocala National Forest increased the price to ride off-road vehicles on the trail system to $75 per year, I thought they were crazy. The trail system was poorly marked, in poor condition, felled trees to overcome everywhere, lacked sufficient trail heads, and just could not compete with the Croom State Forest off-road recreational area that costs $50 per year. I stand corrected. I reluctantly went for a ride with a friend in the Ocala National Forest on Saturday (I say reluctantly due to the poor trail conditions during my last ride). We parked at the new Delancy Trail trail head parking area and headed off for the Delancy Loops and the Motorcycle Loop. A rider at the parking area let us know that it was a little "soft" on the trails, due to a recent lack of rain. "Great," I thought, more sandy trails to ride. If these conditions were "soft," I must go back out after a good rain to see "hard" conditions, because I don't think I've ever seen trails this well groomed, with the exception of the Chipley hare scramble. The lead-in trail was a little soft, but once we hit the main trail, everything was hard-packed, well marked, and clear. Even the Long-Leaf Trail we used to get to the motorcycle loop (typically VERY sandy and whooped out) was relatively smooth and the sand was tolerable at worst. New signage adorns the trails with warnings before crossings, warnings about trail maintenance crews, directional signage, clearly marked accessibility, and two-way arrows. Several new trail head parking areas are throughout the forest, including a new one right at the Motorcycle Loop.

So, what makes Ocala National Forest better than the Croom State Forest Off-Road Recreational Area? I'm glad you asked. I've outlined my eight reasons for leaving Croom behind in favor of ONF.

1. ONF is centrally located in the state. Although Croom is the most popular place to ride off-road bikes and four-wheelers, it is in the southwest corner of the state, making it a very long drive if you live anywhere in Florida, besides the southwest corner of the state.
2. ONF trails are very well marked. Crooms trails just go off in every which direction without a single marker to indicate where you're going. This works if you are very familiar with Croom and do a lot of riding. However, we tend to ride with people from varying experience backgrounds that results in people lagging behind and getting lost. We end up spending more time keeping everyone together than we do riding. On Saturday, we rode for 3 hours straight without so much as a one minute stop to wait for or find someone. Everything was very well marked and made sense -- it was just loop after loop.
3. ONF has a motorcycle only loop. For those of us on the two-wheelers, it's nice to have an area without the 4-wheelers. It keeps the trail narrow and technical, giving us the opportunity to hone our skills. It also tends to keep the trails from getting that nasty hump in the center.
4. Croom has one camping area for riders that tends to get filled up, fast. Ocala has numerous camping facilities located throughout the forest, including several that are specifically for the off-road trail users (including Delancy West that has had a fantastic renovation with 30 beautiful campsites). Additionally, you can camp primitively pretty much anywhere in the forest, if you don't need those sissy facilities.
5. You don't have to spend $75 or even $50, like Croom. Ocala has a $10 day pass. Had Croom had that option last year, I would have saved $10 versus buying the $50 annual pass. Granted the $50 or the $75 would be more cost efficient if you plan to ride the trails more often, but between all the race weekends and the little practice time I have, I just won't make it to Croom or Ocala enough to justify an annual pass. At least Ocala gives you another option.
6. Ocala now has three separate trail areas with over 100 miles of trails for your use. This accommodates many more riders than Croom, keeping the trails less congested.
7. Trails at Ocala are much better maintained than Croom. Croom has become a spider's web of trails that stay whooped out. The trails at ONF had very few whooped sections and were very clearly marked. The National Forest Service does not allow trailblazing and this keeps the trails in good shape and easy to follow.
8. The terrain and vistas at ONF vary greatly, even within one section, let alone if you visit one of the southern trail sections.

I can assure you, I'll be spending a lot more of my practice days at the Ocala National Forest, this season.

A second rider has tested positive for the blood doping drug, EPO at this year's Tour de France. I'm glad I have not wasted my time with this year's race. This time the racer is Moises Duenas Nevado with the Barloworld team. Additionally, the French police found additional banned substances in his hotel room after the positive test results. The team has indicated that these substances were not provided or prescribed by the team or team doctor.

The first rider tossed out of the race was Manuel Beltran after testing positive for EPO after the first stage. EPO is a shortened version of the term erythropoietin, a hormone that increases red blood cell production, thereby increasing oxygenation of the cells. This especially helps the riders in the low oxygen conditions of the mountain stages during the race.

Blood doping and performance enhancing methods continue to plague the Tour and professional cycling, in general. Professional cyclists are perhaps the most tested of any athletes. In spite of all the testing, riders continue to try to beat the system and get by with cheating. If this is the case in professional cycling, the most tested sport, imagine how bad the cheating problem could be in other un-tested professional sports.

I haven't watched a single Tour de France stage since Floyd Landis "won" in 2006, in spite of watching religiously the prior 7 years. I really lost interest after the initial doping charge against Floyd and all the subsequent riders implicated in the 2006 blood doping scandal. It sucks to find out your sports heroes are cheaters.
I am really at a loss about Floyd. As I learned more about synthetic testosterone and his upbringing and development in the sport, doping really seemed an impossibility for him and I still want to believe he's innocent. The final panel to evaluate the test results even admitted the lab that tested Landis' samples used "less than ideal laboratory practices, but not lies, fraud, forgery or cover-ups," as Landis attempted to assert.
Landis now faces a $100,000 fine to cover legal costs incurred by the U.S. Ant-Doping Agency, as well as the dishonor of being the first Tour de France winner in it's over 100 year history to have his title stripped. Additionally, his cycling future remains unclear and his reputation could be tarnished forever in the cycling world. Assuming he truly is guilty, these are the consequences of his actions that he knew could come to bear upon him for his illegal activities. If he is innocent (although that looks pretty unlikely at this point), it's a shame that an over-zealous governing body has destroyed this young man's career.
Part of my disgust with this event also stems from the labs and the Tour de France organizers that assume all riders are guilty until proven innocent. Additionally, there are several conflicts of interest between Tour organizers, sponsors, and labs that test the samples. Regardless of Landis' guilt, the Tour itself has it's own house to clean before the event can be restored to it's prior glory. For now, I must accept the several judiciary board's decisions that have all indicated Floyd is guilty and hope that he's learned his lesson, pays his dues, and gets back to the pure cycling that spurred his passion in the sport.

Over the weekend, I got my package from FRS Energy with my free trial of this new energy drink endorsed by Lance Armstrong. I was expecting something like 5-Hour Energy, but it's really more like a supplement, like Cytomax or Endurox. The free trial (product was free, had to pay for shipping and handling which came to $6.95) came with cans of concentrate, powdered singles, and energy chews. All were orange flavored and the concentrate and powder are sugar-free. The chews have a little sugar, but probably only enough to make a difference for a diabetic. I've tried the powder and the chews with success from both. I did not have the chance to try them during a sporting event, as I was removing old and installing new sod at my house, this weekend. I can tell you that they kept me going in the 90+ degree heat and humidity of a Florida summer during hard labor and tasted great! I'm anxious to try the other flavors, as orange is not exactly my favorite, but it was good (tastes a lot like orange juice). I'm also curious how the free trial works, as there is no indication that I have to cancel anything or that they will be sending automatic order renewals -- just a genuine free trial, no strings.

I just found out that Eastbay is having a huge tent sale going on through June 25th where you could save up to 80% off on your tent purchase. I know it's way too hot for me to even think about camping, now, but I will be grabbing as much stuff off-season as I can to stock up for the fall. In order to get the 80% off, you will need a coupon code, so I've included a link below for the deal they have going on.

Vist the Eastbay Tent Sale by 6.25.08 and get up to 80% off
 by combining low prices with the 20% off code LKS18EPA

Woodlake Sprint Race Report:

May 25, 2008

Vass, North Carolina

600m swim/ 17.2 mile bike/ 3 mile run

The Woodlake Sprint is a local race that is designed to be very friendly to triathlon beginners in the sport. The total number of participants was just over 200 and the course is fairly forgiving. This is a no timing chip race, therefore, no split or transition times are recorded.

The swim is contained in a cove that is protected by the wind. The 600-yard distance is allows everyone to obtain open-water swim experience. The race went off in 3 swim waves. The water was like glass when we started. I jumped out on the start to get away from the main pack and fortunately didn’t get caught. I got out of the water with the top 20 or so in my wave. T1 was smooth and fast. On with the helmet and sprinted out with the bike in hand.

The bike is 17.2 miles with rolling hills. This part of North Carolina has more hills than what most expect. The course contained two challenging, steep and long hills that pushed everyone to max out their heart rate by top of the ascent. The weather turned rather cloudy with a light rain at the start of the race and as a result, slowed everyone down when taking the corners on the bike. The rain made it nice to ride in cool weather, and I was able to see at the turn around that I was in 17^th place half way through the ride. I felt fine, my left leg didn’t hurt, I drank a bottle of hydration and pushed as hard as I could on the flats.

The run is fairly flat and unique. The course weaves through a sand path as well as an out and back over the grass-covered dam that holds the water in the lake. This run is really a lot of fun considering the constant change of scenery as well as the topography to get out and knock out a fast run. Unfortunately, the minute I started running, my left leg was already in major pain. I hobbled as fast as I could to just get it over with and try and save a decent time. I got passed by almost ten people but couldn’t do anything about it. I was frustrated and in pain but happy to be out and racing that morning.

Once I finished, I knew that I my leg had not even remotely healed after over 3 weeks off of running. I really enjoyed the course and the laid back atmosphere at the race. It’s nice to go to a race that isn’t as intense as the normal race series in North Carolina. Don’t get me wrong, I love the intensity normally, but it was a nice change of pace and a fun morning.

Race statistics:

Swim: 9:31(on the run to the transition once I was able to get my goggles off)

Bike: 39:34(20.9 average)

Run: Roughly 23:20

Overall: 1:24:01(31^st Overall)

I had the opportunity to make up for last week's near skunking on the affiliate fishing trip, so I went for it. Definitely made up for it by catching a 26" redfish on a top-water lure -- my biggest ever! This guy fought like crazy, then when I got him to the boat, I saw why -- the treble hooks had snagged him across the back, rather than hooking his mouth. Went on to catch a small 15" flounder. All I needed for my first inshore slam was a trout, but the slack tide had moved in and nothing was biting. Still a great half day of fishing!

We took some video of the trip that you can see below. There's not a lot of discussion, as were using it more as a camera, but you get to see the fish and some beautiful Florida scenery. Enjoy!

On Wednesday, I will be going deep sea fishing with a group of Orlando area affiliate marketers. The trip was organized by Missy Ward of the Affiliate Summit and we will have a whole bunch of people taking up space on the boat. I can't wait and of course will be bringing back some fish and some Flip video.

Missy has a video of last year's trip over on her blog at http://missyward.com/?p=36

Yesterday was "Adventure Wednesday" for the family. Since Wednesday is one of my days off, we try to take the kids out for some kind of adventure; a special park, hiking, the zoo, etc. This week, we decided to go to the St. Augustine Alligator Farm in St. Augustine, Florida. I was a bit reluctant to go at first, as we have alligators everywhere in Florida. If there is an open body of water in Florida, there's an alligator in it. You may not see one, but it's there. As a result, we get to see alligators in the wild quite frequently, so I had a hard time with paying to go see them.

It turned out to be quite the experience. The kids really enjoyed it. For a small park, it is laid out very well. They have a very big variety of reptiles. There is a huge alligator enclosure in the middle of the park that must have a hundred gators in it.

My personal favorite area was the "Florida Swamp Area" re-creation area. This was a long boardwalk through a swampy area that mimics the Florida swampland spread throughout the state. There were more alligators in here, along with various egrets, cranes, and other Florida birds. It was a very pretty re-creation of the natural Florida that I've come to love. The Alligator Farm site actually has a live web cam of this area.

We were also fortunate enough to get to the park just in time for the gator feeding. This was a crazy experience in the vein of Crocodile Hunter with the zoologist in the alligator pen for the feeding. I, of course, video taped the whole thing with my Flip video camera and posted it below. There are some great shots of the feedings! The video has a few minutes of video of the whole enclosure to get an idea of how many gators are in this area and then the feeding comes in. It lasts about 18-20 minutes, but the guy is pretty entertaining and the gators definitely keep you interested. You can also see a bunch of the pics I took at Flickr. Enjoy!

St. Augustine Alligator Farm Feeding Time

Back in my post on the Flip video camera, I talked about what a great little toy the Flip camera is and how much you could use this with outdoors activities and sports. Since then, I've added a few videos from my own Flip, including the video from the Jacksonville Kayak Fishing Classic tournament.

One of my inspirations for posting video like this on my blog is Jim Kukral of the Daily Flip and he has launched a new website today called Online Video Toolkit where he provides you with a free guide that will tell you everything you need to do to make high-quality web videos. The best part of this guide is that it is FREE! Really free, not free for a limited time, free with purchase of X, just free. Jim will help you select equipment, properly light a room, build an easy, cheap set that looks professional, how and where to upload your videos, and cheap, easy ways to edit the video.

So, if you are at all interested in using the Flip and uploading some good video to the web, go sign up for Jim's Online Video Toolkit. You have nothing to lose, it's free and you just might learn something.