Specialized Florida State Championship series #5 – San Felasco Trails – Alachua, Fl
It took till the middle of October but the “fall” series or FSC finally got some slightly fall like weather, a cold front (if you want to call it that) moved in Saturday night and lowered the temperatures from the 90’s to the low 80’s and humidity was almost nonexistent, plus Mother Nature dropped just enough water on the course to make it perfect. The Friends of San Felasco trail crew did a super job getting everything ready and also marshaling the race as nearly 250 racers hit the trails on Sunday. This year’s version of the FSC course was a little different from layouts in the past with a longer course at 11 miles and had a mix of climbing and fast single track.
The new layout also included a new start / finish area near the front of the park and allowed for a fast decent towards the finish area and slight uphill as they crossed the finish line, this along with the fast single track provided for a number of close finishes in many of the classes. Multi time state champion Ryan Woodall broke away early in the men’s elite class and held on for the win but was challenged by the defending champ Antonio Guzman who took second. Jersey leader Bob McCarty had a tougher time at this round but still remains in control of the jersey by 6 points. Meanwhile Simone Berger kept up her winning ways and held off a challenge by another former state champ Carolyn Maddox, Simone continues to hold on to the women’s jersey as she has done all season so far.
The second round of the new E Bike FSC race was held at 2pm on Sunday and the E racers hit the same trails but with a twist as they did one full 11 mile lap and then followed up with a shorter half lap for time and battery usage purposes. The action was close as well in the E MTB racing but results the same as the first round in the men’s expert as Nick Mackie took the top male spot and Kelly Lalima also took her second win in the women’s class. The size of entries is growing and especially in the 50+ class, and many are looking forward to next round at the famous “Haile’s trails” for round three that features lot’s of punchy climbs that the E bikes excel at.
In the team championship “Alex’s Bicycle Pro shop / McCarty training” retook the points lead and holds a two point lead over “Galera Do Pedal / Jim’s Bicycles” while the previous leader “Speedlab p/b Coffee” falls to third in the standings.
