Part II of the Race Report from Team Adventure World Magazine\'s Dr. Ron Eaglin
Dr. Ron Eaglin of Team Adventure World Magazine / 01.06.2008
When we reached Blue Springs we knew that we were about half-way through the race. We were now unranked and we knew that if Nature Calls could keep the team healthy they would pull off the win. Julie and I are both pretty intense competitors, not in the mean sense, we simply like to go fast and see who comes out in front. The plan from this point on was to race hard as we could and see how we did. We also knew that in 3 more weeks we would be in Montana doing what is reputed to be the hardest race in the world – not just the hardest in Florida. Anyway it was strangely motivating. Of course the reality was that it was also stiflingly hot. We had received the control points for the next leg of the race, so I proceeded to mark the next section. I would let my crew mark the rest of the race after we left – I was only worried at this time about the next bike leg. After marking the next leg I knew we would be in for some serious biking. My time estimate was 12-20 hours of biking based on conditions. At least the leg started with some easy road riding from Blue Springs to Paisley Florida, where we would enter the Ocala Forest and start the difficult section.
As we rode I knew that we would need to fuel heavily, so we bypassed the turn in to Ocala and hit a convenience store in Paisley (there are two). I looked for the most caloric food I could find (Zingers and Twinkies won out) and downed a large Mountain Dew – I also got some Pop-Tarts for later. It was then into the woods. The first point was quite easy and we even passed by a forest ranger who told us the numbers of some of the trails, and also gave us road conditions of the roads we would need to take. Of course the news was not good – pretty much sandy and soft the entire way. The first flag was at the intersection of a road and the bike trail, so we decided to take the bike trail. I kept a constant eye on my compass – and odometer and calculated when we would be close to the next point which was manned. When we got within what I thought was 300 meters we started to yell, hoping the folks would answer.
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