Tally Tango 20 Preparations

I am riding the Tally Tango from 08-12 Oct, and will be prepared as much as I can be. Click out the ride description in the link:

https://www.singletracksamurai.com/tallahassee-tango-cycling-event

For these few days, I will be riding self-supported. Have you heard of these self-supported ride rules for ultra-racing?

http://tobygadd.blogspot.com/2012/05/ultra-racing-rules.html

For preparation, I did a few long rides on my Salsa Cutthroat. The first was an adventure coming home from JC's Bike Shop in Deland. I had to bail early, but I did two days and one overnighter in my hammock. This taught me some valuable lessons. Here is a shot of the setup before tightening the bags up and starting day two of trying to find my way out of Rock Springs Run Reserve. Paper maps are a GOOD thing to have!!!!

In late Sept, I did an all-night ride with Karlos and 17 others called Renegade Run 2020. This was a real challenge, but an overall rewarding experience which taught me lot more. In the group shot below, I am all the way to the right in the orange jersey.

I highly recommend Renegade Run to the off-road cyclist looking to push their limits, but you better have the route downloaded into your phone or gps for yourself. Do not rely on anyone else to guide you. It will be a long lonely night if you are separated from the group which happens often. This helped me prepare both physically and mentally for the challenge that lies ahead; riding 277 miles and with little gear and no support.

For the Tally Tango and other ultradistance rides, you can rest assure that your phone will not work or not have service at one time or another. The best way to communicate checkpoints with a grid position is through a Spot Tracker device. Most of these allow you to send three different predetermined messages to your points of contact, through emails and texts.

I settled on the Spot Gen 4: https://www.findmespot.com/en-us/products-services/spot-gen4

This costs $150. It also costs $65 to activate/get one month of service. There is also a yearly contract if you know you will be doing monthly trips. Then, if you are participating on a route which is supported by Trackleaders, you will pay another $15 to register your spot device so others can see you on the trail.

Click here to see others on the trail: http://trackleaders.com/tallytango20

You can track my personal progress here: http://trackleaders.com/tallytango20i.php?name=Duane_C_Stamm

I will complete a blog post when I complete the route..

Until then, Breathe in, Breathe out, Pedal on,

Duane C Stamm

Natiive Cycler