Biking the Land Bridge trail with Kayla.

This morning we woke up early and headed out to ride a different section of the Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway trail. I wanted to mix it up so we started off at the Land Bridge trail head. Kayla has only been out on the horse trails here so I wanted to show her some of the diversity that these trails offer.

We started out on the yellow trail immediately from leaving the parking lot.  This was nice because we have the choice of riding the wagon trail all the way to 484 or we can mix it up with side trails that merge in and out of the wagon trail.


 It wasn't long before we reached the Landbrige. We stopped and waved a friendly hello to cars passing by.

We decided to mix it up and do a little of both. We wanted to cover some distance this morning and we did! We rode for 10 miles which is Kayla's distance record so far.

Biking the Florida Greenway trail with my girls.

 

Tonight I took my two girls on a bike ride at the Greenway bike trails off Baseline RD here in Ocala, Florida. Laura has the bike Kayla outgrew several years ago. I was a little worried about if she could make it or not. The bike is a nice little Schwinn with only one gear. We rode just over three miles total riding the larger middle loop first then we took a break and rode the small immediate loop.

Laura was a trooper. She never stopped on the inclines, never complained just pushed on and did her best.  I am very proud of her. I told her that if she keeps at it I will take her out to ride the Santos mountain bike trails when she's ready. She liked the sound of that. 

Riding the Greenway at Basline RD with the Youmanses big and small.

Chris had some time to ride this morning so we got together for a leisurely ride on the paved green-way trails located at the corner of Maricamp and Baseline RD. Chris has a nice hybrid street / mountain bike which is perfect for these trails. The tires aren't fat like my bike but they aren't sliver thin either. The handlebars are also built more toward off road style riding than a purist street bike as well. Chris brought his miniature Youmans version with him today.

She seemed really excited to ride along with her dad exclaiming "We're winning Da-da!" every time Chris would take the lead on a downhill stretch. That being said, I let him take the lead most of the time to keep the enthusiasm going. I think we rode faster because she was there cheering us on. We rode 5 miles then took a short breather before continuing on another 3 mile leg. Biking with Roy is fun for the whole family!

 

A trip to the Vortex, Santos trails, Ocala

I took Kayla back out on the yellow Pine Tree trail as she requested this morning. We traveled to the half way point then crossed the street over to a yellow trail called Dog Bone.

We took Dog Bone trail over to a red area known as The Vortex. Here I showed Kayla some of the crazy stuff serious mountain bikers tackle on weekends. Some of the drops and jumps are just crazy. When she asked if I did any of those I just shook my head and replied, " No, I don't want to die."

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Kayla wanted to ride on some of the easier trail obstacles so we played on the track for awhile.  It was a lot of fun and she had another good mountain biking experience thanks to the Santos trails.

Biking Pine Trail at Santos mountain bike trails, Ocala.

Mountain bike riding for the first time at Santos bike trails.

 Today was the first time my daughter would take her mountain bike out on the Santos trails. Her bike was a Christmas present a year ago and she has been enjoying the paved trails at the Greenway walking/biking trails on Baseline road here in Ocala. Here is a pic of her bike that I bought at Santos Bike Shop.

If your schedule is flexible, I think it’s a good idea to introduce someone to their first trail ride at a time that when the trails aren’t packed with people. I took my daughter Kayla to the Santos trail head early Monday morning during the summer break. Once we arrived, I explained to her about some safety issues as well as what to expect on the trail. She has only been riding on paved trails so far so she had concerns about what to expect while out on the trail. I wanted her to practice going over some bumps and getting a feel for what her bike was designed to handle.

 

We are lucky because the Santos trail head has an intro level practice area set up where you can ride over some basic obstacles to get a feel for your bike.  I rode with her on the practice track until she was confident and ready for the trail.

The trails at Santos are divided into three levels of difficulty. There is the yellow which is the easiest, blue which has some technical aspects that provide the rider with moderate challenges and finally the reds which are truly expert level.  We started with a yellow path named Pine Tree trail. The trail starts out at the main trail head and meanders a nice, flat, well traveled course. At just over three miles, the trail is very scenic and offers a great introductory ride for beginners. Pine Tree trail consists of gradual elevations, some narrow sections as well as its share of open areas to mix up the scenery a little. Other than some roots and natural protruding limestone, I didn’t find any steep hills or rocky obstacles that you sometimes find on the blue trails. We rode at a leisurely pace of around 5 miles per hour.

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At the halfway point we came to a sign that directed us back to the trail head. I let Kayla lead us back instructing her to look for either a P- (for parking lot I assume,) or TH which stands for trail head on the yellow markers. She did a great job leading us back to the trail head without making a single mistake. 

Overall it was a great first experience to introduce my daughter to mountain biking. After just one ride Kayla decided that she prefers riding the dirt trails at Santos over the paved greenway trails on baseline road. We ended with her asking to go again tomorrow which we will. We took it slow, I made sure she was confident and comfortable and she had a great time. We are looking forward to going back together.

"But tomorrow we'll go faster!" - Kayla