12 hrs Santos

[rowe925]

Anybody getting exited yet? We will be camping in the pit fri. and sat.. Ready to get it on.. I hope.

[Possum Jones]

I'm ready!
Guitar picking and beers post race?

[mrm1]

Any ideas on a course yet? Pre-Rode Today. Still trying to decide if I wanna do it this year ... probably 6 hrs solo.

[rowe925]

Originally Posted by Possum Jones

I'm ready!
Guitar picking and beers post race?

Thats funny, we were talking about the same exact thing as we were riding down there tonight.

[Possum Jones]

Yeah that was me you were talking to haha
My leg is jacked btw. I have a nice little limp today.

[Acme54321]

Anyone seen the course yet??

[mrm1]

Originally Posted by Acme54321

Anyone seen the course yet??

Looks like some secrets will not be revealed ...

But I did post my GPS of the 2010 course. Not that it will be same ... but maybe similar.

Interested in 12 hrs of Santos

[rowe925]

Seen the weather report? Rain!

[mrm1]

Yup ... did see it. Not looking great, but kinda early to tell.

[LegworksCycles]

Weather.com says partly sunny with 30% chance of isolated t-storms.

That's better than it was the other day. I try not to worry about the weather forecast as it changes constantly.

[mrm1]

40% chance of rain and thunderstorms now for Saturday from 10am thru the afternoon then diminishing into the night. Hmmmm....

[chris1911]

Weather.com, accuweather, and NWS all have a similar forecast of partly sunny with a 30% chance of isolated t-storms.

[mrm1]

Originally Posted by chris1911

Weather.com, accuweather, and NWS all have a similar forecast of partly sunny with a 30% chance of isolated t-storms.

I like yours better

[rowe925]

This is weather forecast multiple choice and Chris is the winner. Too late now anyways the camper is loaded and ready to go.

[LegworksCycles]

I'm almost packed up and ready to go as well.

The forecast is wrong 75% of the time it seems anyways. I have had this planned for a while now and i'm not gonna let the weather scare me away.

[Acme54321]

Originally Posted by LegworksCycles

I'm almost packed up and ready to go as well.

The forecast is wrong 75% of the time it seems anyways. I have had this planned for a while now and i'm not gonna let the weather scare me away.

Same here! Leaving Jax at noon.

[FotoJesse]

Just about to head down there myself. It may be a wet weekend but it will still be a fun one.

[torque29er]

Unable to make it as I'm going to anniversary of Virginia Key... please post pics of the activities and videos... can't wait to ride there...

[mrm1]

So what did you ride / race? A 26 or a 29er? I was on my 26 FS and with the course in reverse seemed to beat the $hit out of me. Rounding the Vortex in the typical counter-clockwise direction I have very few problems (mostly just familiarity) except the rock piles on the South side, but in the race direction it was a bit of a struggle.

By contrast, Seemed the 29ers rolled over the rock piles better. Got behind two 29ers on the Friday Pre-ride going over the Back Door qualifier rock pile and they seemed to clear them easily. I really struggled with that set of rocks (which kinda pissed me off cause I use to clear this pile all the time on my same bike - just an off season for me right now I guess)

But wondering, for those of you who have ridden the Vortex with a 26 and a 29 ... is it really that much different? Better / Worse / Just different? Or was that all in my mind and it comes down to skill more than wheel size on the Vortex? Having never ridden a 29er there, seems the differences might be: 29er rolls over the crap better / 26 wins in the tight corners and acceleration department.

Hope everyone had a good time.

[rowe925]

I have a trek ex 8 fs 26 and a giant xtc 0 29 hardtail. Ever since I got the Giant I dont want to ride the trek. It is truly amazing in the vortex. I never used the small ring. I can just run a gear I might think would be one too high and it climbs like a mountain goat, 21 psi tubeless is a real help too. I'm a firm believer that it is a lot better on those rock piles it just makes them seem a lot smaller than they actually are. It is hard to compare my two bikes because they are two different disciplines. My trek is 29#s and my Giant is 23.5#s. My Giant greatly out-accelerates my trek and it handles tight twisties(like a couple sections in twister) faster than I can. To me all of Santos is 29 hardtail country. And in my opinion I dont see a need for a 29 fs. Hope this helps(your wallet).

[mrm1]

What you're telling me is pretty much what I saw (and have seen) on both sides of Santos. Both the 12 hr race on the Vortex and the Hammerhead 100 out ay Nayl's

[Aaron1017]

Here are my teams results! I am Aaron in the green highlight!
Was on my Canfield Nimble 9 running 33x17 singlespeed.

Gone Riding did not properly record our 14th and 15th lap, so i guess they averaged the times. My time was closer to 41.5 mins for the 15th lap (night time).

Was a VERY fun course for sure!

[mrm1]

Great Job ... Nice Hammer Fest !!