The TAT

It's time for another one: a hundred miles (if we're lucky) of the Trans-America Trail (TAT). It will be a quick 3 days, and only 4 hours away. But don't for a moment underestimate the difficulty of this ride.

I don't think I wrote about it (probably from embarrassment). But about this time last year, the TAT defeated Danny and me (well, mostly Danny).

We packed the bikes and road south after work. After pulling into camp, preparing for a late fire and night under the stars... we quickly found ourselves in this instead:

After flooded tents, soaking clothes, and a few hours sleep, the roads looked like this:

We rode for 10 hours and made it about 25 miles. It was horrible. One of us fell (I won't say who). But we mostly kept upright by walking our bikes through the mud. There were a couple good parts, like stream crossing:

But we left that place, defeated.

So after a year of building up the courage to re-attack our foe, we are ready to return; this time smarter. We'll be hauling the bikes and leaving the gear at camp so we can keep them light on the ride. We've got newer, better gear. We've also added a third challenger, our secret weapon who currently has an undefeated record against the TAT. He can ride. He can camp. He can take a turn driving us down there. And we like to call him...

Joey.

Also, most importantly, this time we've checked the forecast beforehand. So we should be good.