no rain in 2 months=fast n' loose trails at Croom,FL!

[MELK-MAN]

couple more few minute vids from a Sunday afternoon of brisk pace riding at Croom park, FL. this weekend 10/2010. Havn't had rain in a couple months now, if i would have turned around at some point the dust cloud left behind is wicked. Usually hook up with some guys to ride the trails and marked stuff, but wouldn't be much fun for anyone other than a lead rider.

Loose can equal fast on these sandy trails if ya just let the bike move about. Nice steady throttle is the key to keeping the bike from pitching sideways into a tree. Lots of pine needles and the loose sand keep ya on your toes!! woo-hoo! JUst kinda "free-wheelin it" with no real place i was trying to go. The 2nd vid i was did need to get back and beat the setting sun, was close to dusk. Plenty of places to hit 4th, even 5th gear out here if you know where to ride. (if ya choose HD, give it a few to download).

Getting dark, gotta get back!

[tjg53]

Nice job , i liked the videos. No music. That looks like a great place to ride , if if not crowed , the trail go`s every were ! Lots of sand , like here in michigan , fun to ride on. Is it still hot down there ?

[DBMX 925]

How the hell you find your way around in there?

[hoff7894]

nice gettin around those trees! I have been to croom, easy VERY easy to get lost. when I was there I was always worried BIGFOOT was gonna jump out at me! I think he lives there!

[MotoJunkii]

+1 on the no music thing....

The only way I've been able to find myself around there is a GPS....but even with that, I ended up in the pit and couldn't get out without doing some wicked hill climbs. After about 20 minutes of searching, I found a halfway decent route to get out....

Fun place....it's been a couple years since I've been there.

[MELK-MAN]

Thanks guys. I rode for years (2 or so?) with a bar mounted Garmin Etrex, that pointed back to my vehicle wherever i would be. With that, i was never worried about being too lost and thus just ventured out all the time. Now, in the past few years i don't need one anymore. The park is only 2,600 acres and is a big rectangle. If you can hear the interstate, and the sun is up, you can't get too lost if you park in the front. (sun on the right, noise of the interstate on your left.. your goin south back to the sand hill parking area). If all else, try to find the main road and take it back to the front..

That said, after about 5+ years of 2-3 times a WEEK of riding, (yea, i really should work more) I know almost every square inch of the place having put about 900+ hrs on my 04crf450 and occasionally my 98cr250 there. I really do know the place pretty good, even the marked single track trails. Lots of riders like to follow me as i can take em to the fun trails. Even met Sir Travis Pastrana and a friend of his out there, and took them on some good ones for about an hour (that was SO cool!). Just "FreeWheelin it" out there is kind of fun, but more difficult to get into a rhythm vs. some of the marked trails, especially if you KNOW the marked trails ..

I don't know how to edit, or add captions, or music. Like you guys, i just wanna hear the motor on bike vids too so i can get a bit more in "tune" with what the rider is doing. Bummer about not knowing how to edit is that i have to turn the camera on and off within 8 minutes or so or YouTube won't accept the vid.

[sro2004]

Two words...CROOM SPIDERS!

Yikes.

[MELK-MAN]

Two words...CROOM SPIDERS!

Yikes.

LOL .. yea, but only a few months of the year. Right now they are pretty much gone. But for sure, a couple months ago they were pretty friggin big. Early in the year you don't see any either. Seems about spring you will ride through a web and they are small, then by mid-late summer they are getting real big. I have only had one like ON my goggles 1 time.. Pretty freaky. Normally if your moving along good, the BIG ones just ball up and fall to the ground. The smaller ones however will cling a bit more..

Lesser of two evils.. ? Ride first and stay outa the dust, but have to do the occasional "spider-sweep" with your left hand/arm when ya go through the webs.. LOL

[JD07CRF]

Cool video. I went there a few years ago and never made it out of the pit. The trails look like fun and a nice change from track/backyard riding so I'll have to check it out soon. Thanks

[MELK-MAN]

Cool video. I went there a few years ago and never made it out of the pit. The trails look like fun and a nice change from track/backyard riding so I'll have to check it out soon. Thanks

on the weekends the "pit" can be dangerous. Riders goin every which direction, lots of kids riding too. (be extra careful of them). Just gotta "venture out" there. It just isn't that big a place. Ocala national forest? that place scares me it is soooo big.

[Bobbed06]

I spent 2 weeks riding Florida in 2002. I rode Croom for 2 days and found some uphill plateaus that were washed out and got some great uphill jump action onto the top of the plateaus. I alse liked the whoop section that was about a mile long that runs along the entry road. After we rode that we rode Hardrock MX parks 2 tracks and then Orlando MX World for 2 days. That was the best place because they were closed the 2nd day but since we drove 20 hrs they surfaced the track for us and we had a private session. Good times. I had to rebuild my KX 250 in the hauler because Croom ate my Piston.

I wish somebody would have warned me of the spiders! I didnt see any and it was summertime.

[MELK-MAN]

the spiders are fairly harmless, and ya don't see them on the more traveled trails. One guy i used to ride with did get bit on the hand, it was just pretty red for a couple days. They usually just ball up and drop to the ground if you drive through some of em..

As i understand it, Croom used to be a phosphate mine way back in the day and that is why you have the large holes that you can ride down into. When talking with some that rode Croom a couple decades ago, some of the hills were very high. Years of rain has eroded them down some but there are still some interesting areas an inexpericenced rider could have some difficulty getting out of..but those are few.

[Jay1017]

do u need a ohv sticker for croom, my bike is a pre 2002 if that matters?