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The Texas 500

Spot rental, $45 for 7 days.

 
Spot rental, $45 for 7 days.


That's great! As a safety requirement for the Texas 500, we are requiring all participants to have a operating satellite device, such as a SPOT, with them on the ride. There are many areas in the park that do not have cell phone coverage so each rider needs another method for signalling for help. Being able to rent one for just $45 versus the cost of buying one seems like a fine option.
 
I'm still waiting to hear back from the national park. In the meantime, I have begun training for the 500. Two weeks ago kubotamiketx and I went on a 250 mile dual sport ride in the hill country. Yesterday we rode single track for two hours at Hidden Falls. I originally intended to ride for three hours total but trying to keep up with Mike for two hours just wore me out. That dude is fast! I have asked for a rematch on Sunday, Dec 22nd, weather permitting.

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Sorry I missed you. CTOR would be a good place for a long ride day . Post up when either of you want to go there. I'm off Friday, Saturday, sunday every week.
 
Sorry I missed you. CTOR would be a good place for a long ride day . Post up when either of you want to go there. I'm off Friday, Saturday, sunday every week.

I would love to ride CTOR on the 22nd, weather permitting. If Mike and JT are okay with the idea then let's plan on riding there.
 
I wont be in town then but you should go. Mostly fun and flowy but jeeps you on your toes.
 
I am open to most anything. Have only been to CTOR once by myself and hooked up with some locals on 250 two strokes who laughed at for riding such a heavy bike there. They took me on some pretty intense tight technical trails that kicked my butt pretty good. Remember some skull and crossbones sign someplace. Never did get out of 2nd gear the entire ride.

So if there are some more flowing sections I would love to try them out.

Still want to try HF again, use the south loop to warm up, then maybe the rim loop. Really should go back to the north loop and recover my dignity which I managed to lose pretty quickly last Sunday...


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Spot rental, $45 for 7 days.


Also, if you are a Costco member, they have the inReach SE for $289.

 
Spot rental, $45 for 7 days.


Not asking for myself as I now have an Garmin inReach but does that $45 for 7 days cover the device rental or just the activation on your device?
 
I haven't checked out to find out shipping costs, but it includes the spot, service, and return shipping.

It does not include the recommended lithium aa batteries. They say the device is guaranteed to arrive 2 days before your rental starts, and you set up all your messages and contacts online before it arrives.

If I could ride more often a purchase and a subscription might make sense, but it would take a lot of rides to become cost effective.
 
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It's hard to make a good time profile... when you're waiting to sign.
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Still waiting on an answer from the park...

In the meantime, JT, KubotaMike, Blind Yak (David), and I decided to do some pre-running over the holidays. We met up at 7 am on Dec 30th with the intent of running two laps of the course. We ended up doing one complete lap and calling it good.

The temps were in the low 30s when we started, making the initial pavement out of Study Butte a brisk beginning. But the sun was shining and the temps eventually rose to the mid-50s by the afternoon.

My KTM 500 EXC ready to go. :)
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Here we are at the start of Old Ore Road
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The intersection of River Road and Black Gap Road, looking south
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Our friend Waldo (Bob) was riding the course backwards and was waiting for us on River Road west.
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In the spirit of Christmas, I present the Three Wise Men of the Desert.
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One lap complete and time for lunch. According to Mike's GPS one lap is 174 miles long.
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Lessons I learned:
- I need better lights on my 500
- I wish I had electric clothing
- start early, keep moving, limit your breaks, hope your bike doesn't break
- pace yourself
- I need to get in better shape, especially my hands
- three laps is going to be a challenge (I already knew this but the pre-run re-confirmed it)
- those other three guys are noticeably better riders than me
 
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Had an absolute blast with the gang, fantastic riding and no injuries !!!

Richard seems to gloss over the depth of the cold weather. I saw a lot of below freezing temps on Monday morning, even hit a low of 28 which is way beyond the ability of my gloves to handle. Kept trying to stick my fingers on the top of the radiator coming out of town before the dirt started.

Here are a couple of short videos and pics I took, never do capture the true beauty of the place.

Break time on Old Ore Road. First time I have ridden this road, what a fun time, wish I had some GoPro video of JT and I riding almost side by side at speed, it was a true pleasure!


End of Old Ore Road, David riding up and JT coming back to find me where I had stopped to wait for the guys. Dust was pretty bad so if you were not sucked up right next to your buddy you had to hang back a couple of minutes to see.


A stop on River Road where we ran into Bob riding in reverse. Man that guy really gets around, we kept running into him all over the place.

 
thanks for posting videos, Mike. i have no plans for the TX500 but i can't wait for Round The Bend. hope it'll be a little warmer...
 
Good stuff! Thanks for posting as this tilted me off the fence from my normal pre-spring rally. Looking forward to the ATB and hopefully the 500.
 
Thanks Richard. If I understand what you are requesting of the park, the Texas 500 would be would be 3 laps of what you guys rode this last week? Wonderful photos and video!

Yes, that is correct. 3 laps of the national park, the same route that we used for pre-running.
 
Great stuff Mike. I wanted to be in the area over that time but work had other ideas. Glad we have a pre run done. It'll be much warmer in a couple of months.
 
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