Man and Bicycle against the Clock - 13 Hours of Santos  

Santos Mountain Bike Trails are among the most challenging mountain bike trails in Florida.
Gone Riding hosted 13 hours at Santos. 13 hours of grueling mountain bike trails, man and bicycle against the hands of time.

How many miles can a team, or a person do in 13 hours. This ultra-endurance event took place Sunday, Sept 2 from 10:00 am to 11:00 pm. Riders looped around an 8.5 mile course of mixed trails. Teams along with solo riders  competed for a $4,000 purse for the most completed laps in 13 hours.

When a faster racer would pass you, you would in most cases let that racer through, but sometimes a racer would be overeager and would not let them pass when there wasn't enough room. Sometimes this would have caused a rider to crash and lose valuable time. One mistake and all the work you have put into this event may put you out of the event.

The race progressed till about noon, then there was another obstacle to battle: the weather started to close in. Thunder in the near distance - rain was a definite possibility, but the lightning was the biggest threat - Santos race course is under a canopy of trees. The race promoters had a decision to make: should they could call the race, or wait to see what will happen? Lightning made the decision; for the safety of the riders, the race was called. Most of the riders got in between 5 and 7 laps which is approximately 50 or more miles of extraordinary riding.

Some of the local teams such as Ocala Bicycle Center , Santos Bicycle Shop, and a team from Tampa SWAMP Club also made their presence at the race. Two of the local solo riders, Rob Ern and Mike Stevens from Ocala Mountain Bike Association, didn't quite accomplish their mission of 100 plus miles.

It was a good day at the races.. Congratulations to all who participated.

Race results are posted here (goneriding.com). Pictures are posted here (goneriding.com).