2020 Tally Tango OYO Team Samurai Trip Report
I believe one of the greatest joys in life is sharing all kinds of adventures with the person you love. I guess there is something to be said for opposites attracting, but when you're a severe endorphin junkie, you get caught up in the “What’s next” syndrome you spend the bulk of your free time planning the subsequent adventure. So, when Toni Valley said she wanted to ride all the Samurai routes, I raised an eyebrow and was happy with her request. How wonderful for someone to volunteer for some good ole fashion bikepacking; considering she had never completed any of my events, I admired her bravery and boldness.
If you are a bikepacker, have mastered the process of traveling by bike, and have completed several overnights, the logical next step is TALLY TANGO. Yes, I am talking to YOU; if you have not done the Tango, what are you waiting for, it's a superb experience, and Team Samurai is all over the course to provide trail magic.
Toni Valley’s most significant room for improvement was singletrack; she was otherwise well trained and very prepared. What she lacks in those types of experiences she makes up for with pure physical strength, determination, and grit. She may be five feet tall, but she's a giant in getting things done.
We hit the Tango route during the heart of the pandemic. The Tango was OYO (on your own) for the year, and we decided to do it on the day the group start would normally have been done (Typically always the first Saturday in October). We were not the only ones on the course. Others had chosen that day as well; so many folks were on route that Mat Bull hosted Samurai Camp at Skipper Bay. Henceforth, Skipper Bay became our unspoken goal for the day.
I had high hopes for our challenge. The organizer had initiated a self-sufficient time bonus, meaning if you could make it the whole way without using a commercial establishment for water or food, you would get a 2-hour time bonus (outside spigots where allowed). On top of that, there was a time bonus for swimming at the bottom of the rapids. I did my on-the-couch math, and I thought we could finish the 177 miles in 24 hours with very little sleep. I did the original in 13 hours while in full-on race mode. Allowing 11 more hours for the 12 more miles seemed doable.
My good friend, Steve Herndon, decided to team up with us, and we rode out at 7:30 am from Weems Trailhead. The route crosses the Sopchoppy river near its northernmost end, and I went first; it was pretty deep. Overall the course was very wet this year.
Sweet ass we encountered in Wacissa.
It felt like forever to reach the swim (42 miles in), only to find out, after we had swam, that we were at the wrong spot. We then made it to the right place, where Mat bull was hanging out, and because I wanted the time bonus, we all swam again. Aucilla is a 13-mile segment that took us over 4 hours to complete. It was dangerously deep in spots, but we were a team, so we helped each other. We made it to JR’s before dark, got spigot water, and pushed on into Saint Marks. The pandemic had initiated some weird but noticeable changes. Parts of the trail that were usually well maintained were now overgrown, and the lush parts were now trimmed. We got to Pinhook and took our checkpoint pic, and while rushing to use the bathroom, the bug spray fell out of my pocket and rolled into the river. I was disappointed because I knew I would have to get more and because it drifted away in the river. I knew at that point that preserving our self-sufficient time bonus was futile, as there was no way we would make it the rest of the way without getting more bug. It was savage out there.
We got through Saint Marks in the dark. Hit a spillway that looked like a pond, but I knew it was an optical illusion, so we pedaled on. We got to Newport park, and it was time for dinner, so I cooked, and everyone except for me took a nap on the pavilion picnic tables. I did keep trying to talk Toni into camping out, but she wasn't having it. She was dead set on making it to Skipper Bay and Mat Bull. So we pushed—riding in the middle of the street on nearly abandoned roadways late at night. Eventually, after much effort and me standing around waiting and sometimes walking to rejoin my team, we made it to Camp Skipper at 3:30 am.
We had to scratch our hopes of a 24-hour finish. Come Sunrise, we all knew it was unrealistic. After years of riding singletrack, it's hard for me to calculate how long beginners will take. Oh well, no big deal. New goal, FINISH. We were up and rolling just a hair shy after sunrise, and after eating and drinking, we pedaled onto Sopchoppy. At Sopchoppy, we ate and took naps and then onward to Tallahassee. It seemed like once we hit the edge of town, time slowed down. The ride across the Apalachicola National Forest seemed like forever. At one point, we were rationing water, and then at the start of the singletrack leading to town, we encountered a trail magic cache and stocked up(I later learned Brad McCleod, Local Tally Legend, provided the supplies). We were so thankful! Although we could have made it, the timing of snacks, water, and beer was perfect. Onward we rode; darkness caught us. We found riders camped on the trail, it was nice to see, but we persevered.
Toni had additional challenges, so we got delayed even further to stop at a bathroom, where she said that her chamois looked like a murder scene. Edward (who is like my son and lives in Tally) showed up and rode a few miles with us. He broke off when we hit the dirt again. With 6 miles to go, Toni Valley was officially done with singletrack and was in the full-on emotional expression of her lack of desire to continue riding it. She wanted to walk. I politely explained that it would take us 2 hours to walk 6 miles and slowly coerced her back on the bike. It was 12:50 AM Monday when we finished, just about 15 minutes ahead of some riders chasing our dots. It was a remarkable journey and a lesson in patience and love. Sometimes that's all it takes to finish the most significant challenges.
Toni Valley plans to take on the Tango again on October 1st, 2022, with a goal of a 30-hour finish. Plenty of spots are available, so join her, will you?