Review Date
March 16, 2009

Overall Rating
 3 of 5

Aerobic Difficulty
 4 of 5

Technical Difficulty
 3 of 5

Ridden Trail:
Once a month

Reviewed by: reelinfeele ,  Weekend Warrior

Summary:
The best trails in florida to learn how to ride. You can learn how to jump. you can learn super technical. If you are the kind who would rather ride for 60 miles without too many obstacles, this is the place. On the other hand. If your bike is set up for all mountain, you will bore quickly. The trails have no jumps and very little serious ups and downs. Nyals trail out at 49th street is the most complete trail in the system. The rest is for kids, lungs with legs and freeriders. if your bike weighs about 30lbs and you dont want to launch off of a twenty foot drop, you will be disappointed.

Review Date
February 15, 2009

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Aerobic Difficulty
 5 of 5

Technical Difficulty
 5 of 5

Ridden Trail:
Once a month

Reviewed by: S-BikerInFlorida ,  Cross Country Rider

Summary:
BEST TRAIL IN FLORIDA That being said, Ive been out here twice and have had a lot of fun both times. The OMBA guys deserve a lot of credit for this being such a great trail. The first thing that impressed me was how well designed and kept up the trails were. Tons of fast twisty singletrack. A lot of technical stuff. Plenty of beginner trails to if youre not into getting too crazy. Nice scenery and plenty of shade when riding which is great for hot Florida weather. If you live in Florida you owe it to yourself to check this out.

Recommended Route:
I mostly enjoy the blue and red trails. The blues are pretty fast. The reds are challenging. I would reccomend trying any of the trails by the parking area in the santos section first. I liked Sinkhole and John Brown trail the most over here. Canopy and Speedway are some good blue trails. Then go across the road to the Vortex area and try Twister. That will take you to the back door trail and get you into the area around the Vortex. All of the red trails around here are tough and fun. You will have to be alert to the trail at all times. Tons of fun. GET A MAP and pick what suits you best and have fun.

Other recommended trails in the same area:
Havent made it down to Nayl's Trail yet but I hear its really good. Its near the Land Bridge Section.

Review Date
January 24, 2009

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Aerobic Difficulty
 5 of 5

Technical Difficulty
 5 of 5

Ridden Trail:
Once a month

Reviewed by: formulaone33 ,  Weekend Warrior

Summary:
This is my favorite place to ride in Florida. Riders can start out on the Yellow beginner trails and progress through Blue, Red and finally to the Vortex Free Ride area all in one place as their skills develop.

Most of the trials are woody, twisty, single track. Yellow trails are fairly flat but the Blue and Red trails have lots of sudden up and down elevation changes with some leg shredding, anaerobic, steep, technical climbs on the Red trails.

In the Vortex Area there are raised paths and obstacles (natural and man made) to ride over as well as drops from a few feet to over 20 feet, a dirt jump track and a pump track.

No matter what you like doing on a mountain bike there is a place to do it at Santos.

Note that I rated the aerobic and technical difficulty as pretty high. I did this because there are certainly A LOT of tough technical trails at Santos. However, there are just as many mellow and pleasantly challenging trails for new riders and kids too.

Recommended Route:
Thee are too many good routes. Just talk to some guys in the parking lot and tag along or download a map from www.omba.org and go explore!

Other recommended trails in the same area:
San Felasco North of Gainesville.
Alafia and the Boyette Scrub Preserve south of Tampa.

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