Riding at Santos

Niner Media Diaries
By Ian Hylands

This year I had the good fortune to be able to go to the Santos Fat Tire Festival in Ocala, Florida. It was my first time in Florida, and I had no idea really what to expect. I watched some videos, read a few articles, and talked to some friends beforehand, but none of that really prepared me for how much fun the trails actually were.


I arrived in Ocala a day early to make sure I'd get a chance to ride, and I was met at the airport by Niner sales rep Mike Stanley. Mike manages the south eastern states for Niner, and besides shooting photos I'd be helping him out with demos at the festival. The local bike shop, Greenway Cycles, is located right across the street from the trailhead and is a Niner dealer. They also have Niner demo bikes, so rather than unpacking Mikes loaded demo van I arranged for a demo bike. As an added bonus while I was setting it up I convinced one of the employees, Taylor Hughes, to come along for the ride. Nothing like a little local knowledge to make trail time more fun!

Like me, Mike is used to riding a carbon Niner, but took this opportunity to ride an alloy bike, choosing a RIP 9. Taylor rode the shorter travel (but no less fun) JET 9 Alloy. In retrospect while the RIP 9 was a lot of fun to ride at Santos, I'd probably choose a JET next time around. The trails were incredibly swoopy, turn after turn after turn, and while there were a few rocks and roots for the most part they were pretty smooth. It felt like I was always out of the saddle, but there really weren't any hills much more than 10-15 feet tall, which is great if you don't like long climbs, but not so good if you like downhills. At Santos you need to pedal hard for every bit of speed, and the faster you go the more fun it is. We all finished the ride tired, but with huge grins on our faces.


The first day of the festival it decided to rain, not heavily, but enough to make the trails pretty slick and add a damp chill to the air.



During the next couple of days I shot some photos and helped Mike out with demos but I kept thinking about the riding. I was there for work and had some legitimate photo shoots that needed to get done, but the first ride had been so much fun that I wanted to get out for another. Some of you might think that the life of a mountain bike photographer involves a lot of riding, but the reality is that when I do ride a bike I usually have a heavy camera bag on my back. Getting out for fun rides is a bit of a luxury!

It took until the last day, after all the work was done, but I made it happen. This time we added a few more riders to our group including Richie Rich from Stan's No Tubes, and Wayne Lee from Atomik Carbon.


The Vortex area of the Santos trail system has a freeride area including a pump track, jumps, some great wooden features built by Ray Petro of Ray's Bike Park fame. Well made, solid, and lots of fun!

There is also one of the longest skinnies I've ever ridden, it's not all continuous, but it twists and turns and loops back on itself several times. I grew up riding skinnies on the North Shore, and those skills definitely came in handy for this one. Mike shows us how it's done.


If you're looking for a great location for a shoulder season riding trip, Santos should be on your list. For more info check out the Ocala Mountain Bike Association website http://www.omba.org or contact Greenway Bicycles http://www.greenwaybikeshop.com