Virginia Key Mountain Bike Trails (Miami: live, moving, park)

[cixcell]

Virginia Key Mountain Bike Trails
The Miami Bike Scene: Virginia Key Mountain Bike Trails Video

[soflobound]

Awesome! Thanks for posting. When I moved to Hawaii from Miami, I was so stoked to be going somewhere with some real surf. 10 years later and I mountain bike a lot more than I surf now, and as it's looking like I'm moving back to Miami, I realize I'm going to miss the mountains more than the waves. Well maybe not as much as I thought! There was some stunts, skinnies, berms ... way better than I expected. It's not much but it looks fun! Enough to keep me from selling my mtb bikes before I leave.

I visited Miami from the 20-24 last month as part of our lookaround before moving. My friend (non-mtber) told me about the new trails. On the 23rd, three days after the huge grand opening, I drove around Virginia Key looking for the trails and pulled up to the gatehouse at the park entrance across from Seaquarium. The old guy working the gate said, in broken English, no map yet so he don't know nothing, and just acted pissed off I even asked him. Ahhh yes, boy have I missed Miami in the last 10 years.

Whatever. Those trails looked pretty fun and glad to see there's a local mtb scene.

[cixcell]

ahh so youre originally from miami? good. i think anyone coming unprepared from hawaii would quickly be hamburger meat. my gf grew up in honolulu.

[Reptoid Humidian]

Originally Posted by soflobound

Awesome! Thanks for posting. When I moved to Hawaii from Miami, I was so stoked to be going somewhere with some real surf. 10 years later and I mountain bike a lot more than I surf now, and as it's looking like I'm moving back to Miami, I realize I'm going to miss the mountains more than the waves. Well maybe not as much as I thought! There was some stunts, skinnies, berms ... way better than I expected. It's not much but it looks fun! Enough to keep me from selling my mtb bikes before I leave.

I visited Miami from the 20-24 last month as part of our lookaround before moving. My friend (non-mtber) told me about the new trails. On the 23rd, three days after the huge grand opening, I drove around Virginia Key looking for the trails and pulled up to the gatehouse at the park entrance across from Seaquarium. The old guy working the gate said, in broken English, no map yet so he don't know nothing, and just acted pissed off I even asked him. Ahhh yes, boy have I missed Miami in the last 10 years.

Whatever. Those trails looked pretty fun and glad to see there's a local mtb scene.

If you said "mountain bike trail" and not "bike trail" or "BMX" trail, then it's no wonder that guy gave you the squint eye! First off, he's a security guard which means he's got a "don't bother me with nonsense" complex and he's from another country where his top priorities might not involve mountain bike trails but rather staying alive, protecting his family and trying not to get denounced to the secret police by his tattletale neighbors.

I can easily put myself in his shoes and imagine the following dialogue:

"Sir, how do I get to the mountain bike trails?"

"Ha ha, um mountainbike? Ahhh, jes, "mountain bike."

"Si, jes, ju just go back der" (Points behind the Mangroves to the estuary that's loaded with alligators)" Mira esta! Jes, we gots lotsa mountains back der! Entiendes? jah, haha, we got all kindsa mountains!!!! Ok? so just go a fuera to find the mountains si?"

[soflobound]

Originally Posted by cixcell

ahh so youre originally from miami? good. i think anyone coming unprepared from hawaii would quickly be hamburger meat. my gf grew up in honolulu.

No, I'm from Texas. I moved to Miami a couple of weeks before Andrew and left a couple of weeks after they snatched up little Elian and sent him back ('92 - '00). Never a dull moment.

[soflobound]

Originally Posted by Reptoid Humidian

If you said "mountain bike trail" and not "bike trail" or "BMX" trail, then it's no wonder that guy gave you the squint eye! First off, he's a security guard which means he's got a "don't bother me with nonsense" complex and he's from another country where his top priorities might not involve mountain bike trails but rather staying alive, protecting his family and trying not to get denounced to the secret police by his tattletale neighbors.

Oh, he knew exactly what I was talking about. He just didn't give a damn to be of any help. When I drove up, he was hanging out with his senior citizen buddies and I must have interrupted their chat time. No way these guys were fresh off the boat. I encounter just as many people who speak little or no english in Honolulu as I do Miami. They're the only two major met areas in the US in which whites are a minority. But it takes me a year to encounter as much rudeness in Honolulu as I did in four days back in Miami.

The difference between Asians and Hispanics perhaps? It's not like all the Chinese here, and believe me they're everywhere, don't have secret police to worry about back home. Yet somehow they find a way to be civil. But I prefer to think its not ethnicity, it's just the city that does it to people. I encountered a similar response from the white guy at Crandon Park. Maybe it's just county employees!

Anyway, it's not like this forum needs another thread about race. I'm sorry I brought it up. In spite of all the negatives, there are some aspects of Miami I'm looking forward to returning to. Like these mtb trails.

[Reptoid Humidian]

Don't say Mountain!!!!!

[soflobound]

Originally Posted by Reptoid Humidian

Don't say Mountain!!!!!

Okay, looking forward to the Virginia Key _tb trails

[Cityseed]

It was probably the same old security guard that made me wait at the gate for 2-3 minutes while he had a full blown shouting match with his wife in Spanish. Window open and all. When he was good and ready, he turns to me and asked with a scowl, "fay dola"

[Cityseed]

Oh and yeah, trails are packing in nicely.