cc #4 Oleta

Oleta State Park, Miami Gardens FL.
Sunday January 22, 2012
by: jacove lopez

It was a really nice day, just around the mid 60s in the morning and rose steadily to about the lower 80s. Oleta park is definitely a treacherous course, one second you flow, the next you could end up on your face. With a series of large roots, loose rocks, boulders, logs, rough drops and tight paths, Oleta seems to punish you from the very second you enter until the very end. But as with anything, once you've found your line, it all starts to make a little more sense; at least it seems like it. To my surprise, I came in 11th of 15. Why was I surprised? Well, being that it my first season of racing and that Oleta is not a park I frequent, the idea was simple: "just make it out alive". So, I did not attack at all, had a really nice launch (which I've been working on), but decided to let everyone pass me, stayed behind the pack, and followed someone else's line until they almost wiped out. The second lap was less intimidating so I stepped it up a bit. I did pass a couple of guys as I went along, even saw a pretty nasty wreck, the guy was okay though. Overall it was a good learning experience.