The school year is over which means it’s summer season and race time 😈
With my day job on pause until September, I am able to turn my focus to the finishing touches before heading for the start line. MJ and I will be taking a stress-free road trip to Blaine, heading out from Eugene on Tuesday afternoon. They will be seeing me off from the start at Peace Arch Historical State Park and will be flying to San Diego to meet me at the finish next week at the San Ysidro PedWest border crossing.
Preparations are going smoothly. Thanks to my community partner Bicycle Way of Life, my rocket ship has been completely overhauled with fresh rotors and pads, headset bearings, cables and housing, and drivetrain odds and ends. I will be topping off my Rolf Prima wheels with some fresh sealant and the bike will be ready to roll. At the end of last month, my friend and (de facto coach) Dennis Howe set me up with an expert bike fit, focusing on a comfortable position to maintain for up to 18 hours a day
The bags behind the saddle and within the frame will be full of clean clothes and calories, carrying everything I will need to travel from hotel to hotel for 6 nights, 7 days on the road. Between my five bottle cages and three stem bags, I have capacity for 1.5 gal (5.6L) of water, but I don’t anticipate needing to fill up completely with plentiful convenience stores and spigots along the way. I carry all the tools and parts I would need to get myself out of the most common issues, and I’ve wrenched myself out of a jam on the side of the road a time or two. Can’t forget the needle and thread to stitch the sidewall if needed. It happens, you guys.
DA RULES
This FKT attempt will be materially unsupported. That means that I will need to be 100% self-sufficient and not be able to receive any outside help. All my food and water will need to come from publicly available resources. For the sake of being speedy quick and minimizing stop time, a lot of those resources will come from gas station convenience stores. Besides food, I will also need to be able to take care of my own bike or find help from LBSs (local bike shops) along the route.
I will be the third person to attempt this route for time after Tyler Pearce in 2024 (9d:14h:39m) and Dirty Dan (6d:15h:53m). In the spirit of the first two guys, I will also welcome any and all who want to come out and see me on the side of the road and maybe even pedal for a little bit. I know that in the true unsupported sense this is a no-no, but that’s no fun and haters gonna hate.
I will be following a fixed start to finish and will only deviate for road closures or safety concerns, but I expect to do the entire 1657 miles as found here. You can follow the attempt and track me live at my website, tannerridesabike.com. My dot will update every 10 minutes as satellite coverage allows. The clock starts at 7am when I roll away from Blaine and ticks every second until I get to the southern border crossing
STRESS DREAMS
I have been doing my best to get to bed early and take good care of myself in these final days, but man, I have had a lot on my mind. Bike logistics, work stress, keeping the household running smoothly...it's going to be nice to finally get out there where I have to worry about for a week is keeping the wheels down and the pedals turning. I'm really lucky to have such a supportive sweetheart at home holding things down while I'm away and a pair of really understanding little humans who are excited for Daddy to do what he loves.
I want to shout out anyone who has reached out to me, donated, and/or provided some kind of service along the way and those still to come. Although it's an unsupported ride on paper, I couldn't do this without the help of my community. Keep those messages coming while I'm on the road as I see and appreciate them all on my bike computer, even if I can't immediately respond.
