UPDATE: got second place in Solo 277 miles. This will be my time to beat next year.
3 Days 11 hours. I recieved a time bonus for taking a dip at the falls, and now that I know where they are, I will not be wasting time doing a 5k trail run (literally) back up the way I came thinking I missed it because I hear some loud water falling, which was actually leaves rustling... It's in the story. Read on below...
The route for the Tally Tango was created by Matthew Bull. There are two options: a 177-mile or a 277-mile route. I, of course, chose the hardest route I could. A real glutton for punishment! My only limiting factor on conducting these type of trips is free time.
A post inside the Tally Tango Facebook group, from Karlos himself, explains a little more about the ride itself.
"The 2020 Tally Tango OYO has made for a very interesting couple of weeks. The truth is, most of the time, I am way too busy riding or running camps to watch trackleaders and enjoy the riders progress across the route. It's been a lot of fun for me and helps remind me that organizing the event is something I had a hand in. Mathew Bull is the creator of the route; and it is an amazing route at that. It was my idea to add Aucilla, for the record, I mean Duh, a guy named Singletrack Samurai wanted to add Singletrack. Aucilla and the Last stretch into town Clockwise, are my personal favorite segments of the route, although, it is hard to choose.
I hope everyone enjoys the route from now till forever and scoring forms have been sent out, so if you rode, and you want to see how your OYO matches up to other OYO's, then fill it out!
I am planning a trip early in November on a Sunday to hand out Pints and Patches at Tom Brown park in Tallahassee, Hope that if your local or nearly local you will pop in for a moment and pick up your schwag. For the record, if you got out there and at least gave it a shot, you earned your schwag, cause anyone who's anyone knows the hardest part of any big challenge, is to make it to the start healthy and without incident.
Take care, Karlos"
Well, I may be slower than other riders who carry alot less and have some suspension to ease the bumps, but I surely made it in my own way. A hardtail suspension definitley makes you slower on the singletrack, especially when it's loaded down. I had a few learning moments on this trip, but overall, it was great. Karlos, I appreciate the information, the beautiful scenery, and the patch/pint glass.
Here is an account of my trip from a couple months ago:
As I made all the necessary preparations, I was really earning my bachelor’s degree in bikepacking. One of the biggest things I had to research and struggle to set up was the spot tracker. This is a sense of security when you are without cell phone coverage, which dead zones can be common away from civilization, but you must always remember one thing. If you push that button, it better be life threatening because they will bill you to save you. Another good reason to have the spot tracker is for others to see your progress on TrackLeaders: http://trackleaders.com/cfitt20
My Trackleaders page: http://trackleaders.com/cfitt20i.php?name=Duane_C_Stamm
They call this blue dot watching. You can track someone's progress and see how they are moving along.
Here, the wife snapped a pic as I was loading up to make the drive from Tampa to Tallahassee. The one thing which was awesome about the start point was, it was about 8 miles from my uncle and aunt's house. This made for the perfect start.
After reaching Tallahassee, I headed into Academy Sporting Goods store (https://www.academy.com/shop/browse/outdoors/bike-shop)to search for a camelback. I would highly recommend their shop for gu gels, camelbaks, or some clothing. They had a great selection and it's not that far away from the starting point. If you need something specific to your bike, then I would recommend going to a nearby bike store.
After securing my new camelbak at Academy, I went to the Great Bicycle Shop. This was not all that great of a shopping experience. They did not let anyone in their shop due to COVID. I wanted to get new pedals and ask them about a clicking noise. They wouldn't adddress the clicking noise without more time, like around two weeks. I ended up just replacing the plastic flat trainer pedals with some real metal flat ones which were the standard $60. Then I headed to my aunt’s and uncle's house.
After carbing up at a local Italian restaraunt and getting some good rest, I left around 9am the next morning to ride to the start of the route. Heading through Tallahassee was fairly easy as the route was mainly roads and paved bike trails. The route headed through Cascades Park and then into the St Marks Historic Railroad State Trails. This is a rail to trail:
Then, off of Woodville Hwy, we ducked into Munson Hills Offroad Bike Trails and hit the first section of major singletrack. There were lots of wildflowers around. It was a nice park to go riding through with very easy trails and nice scenery.
As we progressed further into the National Forest, the sand became increasingly tougher to pedal through and this ended up in a lot of hika-bika!! Tates Hell State Forest was the absolute worst for me. Long straight sandy roads with ditches. This was my hell as my bike does not do well in sand. I bought wider tires since then, but maybe I also need to lose about 50 pounds and pack less!
To keep hydrated, I had to filter water for this long first segment. The water is naturally yellow from the vegetation leeching, like tea leaves do, but it didn't taste that bad. Buy a Sawyer water filtering system. It will save your life if you need water in an emergency. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=sawyer+squeeze&crid=2TBBYL2V3DZWK&sprefix=sawyer%2Caps%2C198&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-a-p_3_6
Using the water filter produces clean, but not clear water. It tastes ok and clean enough, but does not look clean.
That first night, I slept in my hammock. This was in the middle of the forest at night. I was looking forward to a restful sleep in the woods. Not in the cards! Some hunter was running his dogs after who knows what, and he was trying to recover them. He drove from about a mile down the road blaring his horn and blowing a whistle, and I prayed he would just shut up. His dogs ran right past my hammock as he was up on the road getting them to come load up in the truck. I lay still and motionless, listening to him yell for Bear, Maple, Porkchop, and Boss, loaded them up and finally drove off. Thanks for the poor sleep and fond memory! And thanks for not ratting me out dogs!!
The next day, I rode through all of the Apalachicola NF. The Apalachicola National Forest is the largest U.S. National Forest in the state of Florida. It encompasses 632,890 acres (988.89 sq mi; 2,561.2 km2) and is the only national forest located in the Florida Panhandle. I was excited at first, because I love looking for wildlife. I saw nothing for all my miles through here. It was me and the trees, and that dang sandy road that made me yell like a pissed off Bigfoot! I was so ready to move on from this section of the course.
It did have a few moments of beauty though. This was a great shot captured by a bridge, over the creek I was filtering water through. As soon as I was done, an older couple came by and rolled down the window to dispel some warnings about a teenager black bear they just saw up the road.
The water bottles and camelback were full and I had a long ways to go. I rode through some of my favorite parts of the route, which were like deja vu, from watching other people's youtube videos about the Tally Tango. Nightfall came and it was about 9pm. A light mist started to fall as I was under this covered sign and studying the map. This grew into a downpour. Well, I was under the best cover I could find, and though it was cramped, it was just enough to sleep on one side and have my bike on the other. Like Goldilocks would say, it was jjjuuussstttt right!!
The next morning I set out to accomplish another major section of the route. After finally getting to the coast, I realized my batteries were dead and would not charge off of my dynamo hub in time before losing the route. I headed to a town called Carabelle, which is a nice quaint fishing village, and found an electrical outlet at a gas station by the ice machine. As I pulled up on my bike, a bigger, older grey haired lady in a park ranger uniform was staring me down. She just KNEW I was guilty of something... probably a mass murder somewhere, and she was going to get it out of me. After she grilled me, which was unnecessary because I am a friendly guy and want to share my story... but that wasn't good enough. She called the cops and two different ones drove by before one went inside and returned to interrogate me some more. After briefing my route, the conversation was pretty much like this.
Officer: "Sir, we got a call about some suspicious behavior. Whats going on"
Me: "Sir, I am on a bike ride. I am doing a route called the Tally Tango, it's about 300 miles. I am charging my batteries so I can stay on route."
Officer: "Where is your turn?
Me: "I don't know, it's in my phone."
Officer: "Where did you come from? Where are you headed?"
Me: "I came from Tallahassee; I am heading to Tallahassee."
Officer: "Why would you do that? How do you not know where your turn is?"
Me: "I am on a loop ride, do you know what a loop is? I know this seems shady, with me over here charging batteries and drinking gatorade by the ice machine, but I can assure you I am not in any way trying to do any harm."
He finally bid me farewell and was still confused on just why anyone was in Carabelle like me... I mean, who rides a bike and dresses like that? Who wants to ride in a circle? What a waste of time!!!!
After the weirdo patrol decided I wasn't the next Charles Manson, I headed in and out of the store several times buying snacks and drinks while allowing my batteries to charge and ultimately decided I had to move to a more disclosed location.
I rode over to C-Quarters Marina and hit the jackpot. When I roll up, about 8 older gentlemen were on the porch at a picnic table smoking cigs, drinking coffee, and talking about all the current events. There was complete service here as some people lived on their boats. I took a shower, did my laundry, and sat by the water in a rocking chair while I depleted their small stash of Oyster City IPAs. Tasty indeed. The guy working the counter was not tied to it, and I didn't have a cooler. So, I had to go find him to buy another beer every time I was done with one. After the fourth one, he said, "Man, you really like those Oyster Citys, don't ya!" I should have bought the 6 pack and just left them in there, getting them one at a time. See, these are the life lessons we learn that make us so invaluable as senior citizens. Too bad that at that age, we dont want to talk to anyone and usually keep all these treasures to ourselves.
As I sat on the porch, two ~10 yr old boys appeared, one chunky little guy which reminded me of a 'Truffles', and one blonde haired, skinny-as-a-rail, with no shirt on. They were hanging around the porch a while watching me sip on my can of IPA, while watching Youtube on my phone, and the chunky one slides over to me to investigate a rope hanging on the wall. I stay glued to my phone, as I didn't need the weirdo patrol getting notice of a guy on a bike getting too chummy with kids. The little dude said "Ow!!" I had to now ask him what happened as he just kept staring at me. "What happened?" I reluctantly asked. He said, "I took this rope and pulled on it because I thought it was attached. It wasn't and it hit me in the head like this!" BONK! He recreated the act, only this time he hit himself harder on the head with the monkey's fist. "Ow! It hurt AGAIN!", he says. Then, he gives me the sad eyes and says, "Mister, I sure am thirsty!" I tell him that there is water in the bathroom sink. "OOOoooo" he says, "That's Nasty!" I explain it's the same water that comes out of his kitchen sink. He yells, "Kitchen water's nasty!!!! I want some sodas!!!" A few sentences later, he explains, "Sometime, when it get real hot, I jump in that ther' river and drink as much water as I can!" Ok, now we are getting somewhere, it IS IN THE WATER!!! I call on the EPA to test that water NOW!! I asked him what he was going to do when he grows up and he says he is going to be a fisherman. I asked him how many fish he has caught and he says none. I guess Fishermen can collect a gov. check too. Good luck to ya little dude!!!
Another little girl rides her bike to the store, slams her golden BMX down, comes out with a white plastic bag, looks at me and says in a rough biker voice, "Heck ya, got me some sodas!!!" Those kids sure are addicted to sodas. I hate to say, "Well, it could be worse", but I guess it could be worse.
There were some interesting, but nice folk there so people watching was my main entertainment. After the batteries were charged enough, I hit trail after this very long 7-8 hour delay. The big battery I just bought took forever to charge and I am still not sure why.
Was I supposed to charge it through the USB-C or the IQ Lightning bolt? What does that even mean? It's an Anker. I still have some research to do on my Sinewave Beacon Light and using a passthrough battery to capture all the watts I am putting out. I will figure this out hopefully before the next big ride.
After leaving Carabelle, I headed towards the "Big Town" of Sopchoppy. At one point, I realized I missed my left turn. I am always trying my best to stay true to the route, unless there is a time crunch, an impassable obstacle, or an emergency situation. So, I head back about a 1/2 mile or so and go down the clay road. I hit a gate which is closed and says no trespassing... Now, usually fence hopping with a bike isn't a big deal. Not punishable by a sniper's bullet on public lands. I really feel differently about private land, so I go back where I was just at and just have to ask, How many other people jumped this gate to stay true to the route????? Here is the location of the gate.
The gate at Pache's Property.....
Once in Sopchoppy, I had to tour the whole town twice. It took me 20 minutes to do this, but I had to do some exploring.
I always love the old 1930s through 1950s feel of these older towns. This to me, is what I crave and why I love exploring by bicycle. Natiive Cycling is about getting to know the 'real' Florida, the Florida away from the Disney World feeling of illusions-magic. This magic is real. Like seeing a Florida Panther in the wild kind of real. I did a town tour video and headed to get my check in point pic!!!! Too bad they already rolled up the sidewalks. I was ready for some serious venison sandwiches, boiled cajun peanuts, an RC Cola, and a Moonpie!!!
Got to the check-in point!!
After Sopchoppy, I pedaled extra hard throughout the night... If you see where the majority of my missed turns are, they are inside this portion of overgrown National Forestry roads. I was pedaling extra hard trying to charge my devices and I was only using a blow up solar lantern for a headlight, so I could only see about 5-6 ft ahead of me. I was trusting the way was clear as I was hitting speeds up to 17-18 mph through the grassy roads in near zero illum conditions.
Break in timeline of trip to discuss near real time tracking:
It's funny thinking of near real-time tracking. I received a text from my uncle Rick about 5 min after missing one turn. "Uh, did you miss a turn?" When I was chilling in Carabelle, Karlos messaged and asked if I was ok as he noticed I was off course for a while. My wife texts me and writes, "I think you’re off course!!" when I was there as well. This makes the tracking device worth it in my book. To have that extra layer of protection of people watching over me not only adds entertainment value for them, but a sense that at least if something happened, they would know where to start looking. This works without cell coverage, so it will cover down where the cell phone lacks. The 'near real time' tracking not only affects the "blue dot watchers" sitting in front of their computer screens. Alot of riders track their own progress on TrackLeaders ( http://trackleaders.com/tallytango20 ) for at least two reasons. First, they want to ensure they are being tracked appropriatley and that their gps device is working correctly.
Second, they are tracking other riders to see if they will be catching up to them, if headed in the same direction, or passing them if headed in opposite directions. This leads to a funny story about me trying to say hi to a fellow Tally Tango'er.
I see on the Trackleaders website that I am about to intercept and pass Alan Franklin. He seems to be hunkered down, as it is night time. I am going through the woods on a trail and am excited to finally meet someone else on the same adventure as I am. I plan in my mind that I will be spending no more than 10-20 min chatting, and then I will be on my way. From my time serving with the British, I picked up the habit that it is always customary to offer tea and biscuits. It really helps relax you and make for easy conversation, but I am a American, and a Floridian at that, and a Polk Countian at that. I am carrying a small amount of Grandaddy Mimms Moonshine from Blairsville, GA. I decide that is the perfect offering. As I draw nearer his position, I come off the trail and onto a paved street. He is supposed to be right over to my left, as soon as I make a right turn. There are some spread out houses. This screenshot shows me closing in on Alan.
I thought surely, he is not camped out in the woods between their houses. I call out loudly, but not too loudly, "Alan Franklin!! Come out! I have a shot of Moonshine for you!" I spent about five minutes calling his name and riding back and forth about 200 yards or so. Then, something caught my eye. I small light on a covered carport that seemed to be blinking. Could this be a taillight of a bike? Was Alan inside a friend's house partying, sleeping? Was it a freind's house or was he kidnapped? Was he, RIGHT NOW, being tortured inside like on Pulp Fiction. Did they bring out the Gimp? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8kPqAV_74M&list=PLXO0t-V_xOjJTn5ZLM2o5ZOHVKwnGoHJe&index=47 . This was my worst nightmare. Leaving a fellow Tally Tango'er behind in that kind of predicament. I discovered a little further to find out it was NOT a bike light, so I could rest easy and continue my journey. No door kicking today. I even posted in the Facebook group named Tally Tango trying to advertise my arrival so he would keep an eye out for me as well: https://www.facebook.com/groups/794498020657022/permalink/3330893017017497
His spot tracker had been "ghosted" and had been stagnant for days/weeks. I did not notice it but was alerted to it in the post. So, isn't there a reset button? If someone scratched, would they just remain in the course for the remainder of the event? This has been another lesson in my book and I will be looking to see some recent action on a dot before trying to link up again.
Back to the timeline:
So, between the night of blazing through some exceptionally long stretches of deep woods, I get on the pavement and feel my tires are getting soft and squishy. I limp it into an Exxon gas station off of 98 and 363 and make camp beside their round concrete picnic tables awaiting sunrise. It's not a plush campground that makes these trips worth making in my eyes. It's the suffering that I go for. The Ying Yang sign is applicable. You would never know light if there was not darkness. You would never know darkness if it were not the absence of light. To know how blessed you are to have a nice bed in a warm house, sleep on the ground in the cold. If you don't realize it and thank GOD every chance you get for your blessings, you might find out you can quickly lose everything.
I am sleeping on the ground, in the open in true hobo fashion, so I get 4 hours sleep. Time to rise, pack up, and address the tire pressure issue. The air is low in both tires so I give it a good pumping up, then head in to buy the best breakfast sub from Subway that money can buy. I saddle up and the rear tire is completely flat now. I was ready to get on the road, not play bike mechanic. Using some milk crates for a makeshift bike stand, I set out on placing a tube inside my tubeless setup. This did the trick and I rolled out an hour or so later. I was not thrilled and was not moving with intent, but at least I am competent enough to address this minor mechanical issue.
I pass by Ouzts' Too Oyster Bar and Grill way too early in the morning to enjoy some greasy burgers, oysters and lots of cold drinks and karaoke like Ron. Poor planning on my part, haha. So, I head towards an absolutley stunning place called Saint Mark's NWR.
If you want to see tons of wildlife and stunning views of the coastal tidal plains, then head here with your mountain bike and get there early in the morning. As I head into the preserve, I immediately see deer on the trail. What was the two cherries on top is a Bald Eagle sitting in the tree. I only saw this because I was captivated by this one cactus. I had to capture a shot of it because I remembered our cool cactus garden in 29 Palms (stationed there between 05-06). I put the iPhone 11 Pro in portrait mode. You must place the subject 7 ft away... so I am trying to get the height of the camera right and the angle of the shot right. I have to squat down... I get the perfect shot (to me!)
I stand up and fell some pokey things on my silkie shorts....
This is serious. I strip them off and am standing naked from the waist down picking them off, when I look up and see this beautiful American Bald Eagle sitting in a tree about 25 ft away watching me.
As far as the stickers, they line the paths of many of St Mark's park, so I would recommend getting some leg gaiters. I saw an interview between the Adventure Biker and Stacy Bolton, who recommends leg warmers as an invaluable piece of gear when cycling in the winter.
The one's I ordered from Amazon are from Rock Bros and they are thick enough to do the job. https://www.amazon.com/ROCKBROS-Cycling-Warmers-Thermal-Activities/dp/B08MCV8X1P/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?dchild=1&keywords=rockbros+leg+warmers&qid=1607385541&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExRVNSMlFZR01DTTEwJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNTI0MDQxMUFGVUcxN0Y4Q0Q3NyZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwMzgzMDk3VFM4R0xYSTBYV042JndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==
https://www.amazon.com/ROCKBROS-Cycling-Warmers-Thermal-Activities/dp/B08MCV8X1P/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?dchild=1&keywords=rockbros+leg+warmers&qid=1607385541&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExRVNSMlFZR01DTTEwJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNTI0MDQxMUFGVUcxN0Y4Q0Q3NyZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwMzgzMDk3VFM4R0xYSTBYV042JndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==
Later on, I look over at Natiive Cycling's mascot, the Flamingo. Now, this is a funny one. Lots of people who are not in the know of such things look at Roseate Spoonbills and see their pink feathers and say, "Flamingo!" The same thing happens when people see a bonnethead shark, and say, "Look at the baby Hammerhead!!" This was in fact, a real flamingo. I am not the only one who sees this guy while on the route. I saw it in one of the videos I am sharing at the very bottom of this blog.
I know there has to be a reason for this. Did it escape from Busch Gardens in Tampa, or another theme park? No, it came here from a hurricane, just like in Sharknado!!!
Somewhere in here I stopped at Pinhook Bridge. The campground here reminds me of Huckberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. Don't mind me in full Spartan Gladiator mode here in this pic.
As I made my way towards those rapids in Aucilla Sink, that's all I kept thinking about. I was going to enjoy the cold dip very much. Many interesting things to see on the Florida Trail (FT) in Aucilla. First off, I kept thinking I was hearing the rapids in the distance because I am half deaf (like most military) and was chasing sounds here and there, not wanting to miss that nice water and my time bonus. At night, I headed off the trail to explore a falling water sound. It was a pipe spilling over into a spillway. All the other times, it was just the winds rustling the leaves in the trees. I saw I had about 70 miles left, and I roughly calculated the time I would finish. I was on pavement at the time and had no clue as to what lay ahead. I was roughly off 8 hours.
Aucilla Sinks area is beautiful. Riding a bike on the FT is definitely slow-go. The bad thing is, the river appears above the land, then disappears again. It flows under the ground between these spots. I thought the river portion was done and I definitely was NOT going to miss my dunk. I decided to leave my bike off the trail and run back to the point where I thought I heard the rapids. After a three-mile run in the woods, I am only wet from sweat, and back to my bike.
Things like this toy truck are left, I think to haunt me and the other riders/hikers...
Like a little boy was lost and carried this into the woods: was he recovered? Did someone bring this for a joke?
The river appears again, and I finally reach the unmistakable sound of rapids.
I thought it was knee deep. I take the shot of the bike and then go to take my dunk. I fall in and am struggling to stay above the surface, meanwhile keeping my phone above the water, and trying to swim to the bank so I don't get swept too far down the river. I had to put my phone in my teeth and use both hands to swim. It could have ended badly, but I made it.
The rapids' grid coordinates are here if you would like to visit them.
If I look at the google maps, it doesn't look right but I shared my location from my phone at the rapids. Maybe a local can verify this for me and let me know if this is correct.
30.275 -83.9021
You can drive your vehicle there. Make sure you bring trash bags and clean up more than you bring. It's a party spot for teens/country music lovers who drink lots of cans of Natty Lite.
link: http://apalachee.floridatrail.org/big-bend-area-trails/aucilla-sinks/
If anyone goes on the Tally Tango, this work was done by Jerry OSG>>> So, I stole it after he graciously shared it. I did not have this for the ride, and it would have been very handy.
After the rapids, I believe the rest of the ride was smooth with a lot of paved trails and roads. I am very glad I had my aunt and uncle close by for support.
I finish at about 11pm. My uncle Rick is patiently awaiting my arrival with some beverage and a pizza. Thanks a million for being my photograher, pizza delivery guy, uber driver, and bed and breakfast "Bob Newhart"!!!!
I had a huge carb deficit, so this was very much appreciated, as well as me not having to ride back to his house after doing Tom Brown Park at night with a dying gps and a dying headlight. I did skip the last 1/2 mile of singletrack because I was cutting it that close. I would have left him hanging big time and I would not have a clue on how to get out of the park and to him. I deeply apologize to everyone for deviating this small bit!!!! I told Karlos to cut the corner off my badge for my penance.
A few weeks later, on my way home from dropping off my bike and picking up my schwag at JC's Bikes and Boards LLC in Deland, I got this shot while celebrating my recent win.
Here is a well done video from other riders showing some good aerial footage of the route, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrvJ5F2MV7g
And more... Google Tally Tango, or youtube it. You'll see some old footage.. and some from this year.
Breath in, Breath out, Pedal on,
Duane C Stamm
Natiive Cycler
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