Alafia River State Park near Lithia, FL has some fun mountain biking trails. There is not a lot of acreage there, but the trails are like a little theme park for mountain bikers. They are a blast. It was almost too hot to ride when I was there in June. The heat index was over 100. Alafia River State Park is an IMBA epic trail system. I was in Orlando upon two occasions, and each time I drove almost to Tampa in order to ride these trails. Santos, which is the opposite direction from Orlando, also offers some great trails. There are a lot more miles of trails at Santos, as well as some crazy free ride stuff way over my head, but I like the trails at Alafia River better. It is neat how they come so close to the swamps. On one video someone posted of Alafia River, there was a huge alligator on the trail. Even though all the locals told me they have never seen an alligator at Alafia River, I certainly did not want to crash in the swamp! That thrill made the ride a little bit more exciting. My first trip there I did see a large bobcat sitting in front of me on the trail. Having only lived in states where there are nothing but house cats, seeing a bobcat in the wild was pretty neat!
