| : . Trips and Rallies . : |
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Long distance riding requires a lot of physical and mental preparation. For close to a year and a half I tried my best to get ready for the '07 Iron Butt Rally but I feel like I've been preparing since the day I got my first dirt bike over 25 years ago and the rally was in its infancy. Riding 1,000 miles a day has to be a given before you decide to do the rally. I decided to do a BBG Trifecta in July just to get a big ride in before the rally. A BBG Trifecta is three 1,500 mile days back to back and is considered to be one of the more extreme IBA rides. With that and some other rides/rallies behind me I decided that the bike and myself were ready to tackle the 11 day event. You typically spend about 20+ hours a day on the road hunting for bonuses and getting gas. The other time is spent sleeping and planning. I mostly snacked during the day on power bars, Slim Fast, V8, and corn nuts while riding. I tried to grab something decent to eat at the end of the day to help me sleep. Most nights I tried to get 3-5 hours of sleep in a hotel but a couple nights were spent just sleeping on the bike; otherwise known as the Iron Butt Motel.
We had already been through our tech inspection and odometer checks so it was just a matter of waiting for us to get our flags and bonus packets at the opening banquet. We were given 100+ bonus locations located all over the eastern US and Canada. I spent about 6 hours mapping and planning a route, then got as much sleep as I could before 8:30 AM rolled around. At 10:00 AM, August 20th, we were released one by one out of the Chesterfield Doubletree Hotel parking lot with a crowd of onlookers and some pouring rain. Thanks to everyone that showed up for the start and sorry I couldn't chat more at the time. Almost everyone went for the big bonus at the Gateway Arch before heading out of St. Louis for points east. The big points were in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, including Perce Rock, but I had decided to stay in the US and head south. It turned out to be a drier route which was fine with me.
My route sent me through rain, the first day, across Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and West Virginia and I was hunting bonuses into the night and it rained hard the entire time. The Honda plant and the Longeberger basket home office were on the route along with Hoagy's Heroes for a big bonus in West Virginia. I tried to dry out in Summersville, WV for the night and got some sleep. In the morning I would get to see the New River Gorge bridge from the old bridge below. It was worth the trip down below onto the one-way, twisty road (if you can call it a road). From there I stopped by Hardeeville, South Carolina to take a picture of a couple of life size elephant statues and then went on to Key West. I took a picture at the southern most point in the US, in the middle of the night, and then made my way to Grassy Key to sleep for a couple hours and capture a picture of the giant dolphin statue at the Dolphin Research Center. This is where the ride gets interesting as I would head up to Orlando once day broke on Day 3. I'm running up the turnpike to Orlando when I went to adjust my windshield. Instead of going straight up it decided to slide to the side at a 45 degree angle. I was on the phone at the time and had to hang up. I pulled off and tried to manually put the armatures back into place but my efforts only made it worse. By the end, one armature was fully up and the other was all the way down. After some phone calls with Tom and Mike I decided I needed to resolve the situation myself even though within minutes people were responding with help online and Tom had a dealer in Orlando ready to look at the problem. Without a windshield the next 8 days would be pretty tough. I managed to bolt one side on and line up the other side enough to put one bolt in it and a zip tie around the other half. I was back on the road in about 45 minutes. After all that I decided I wanted to run up and down a few hundred steps in high heat and humidity. Thank goodness I stopped in at the sinkhole in Hardeeville, SC. Once I had worked up a good sweat and my heart was about to pound through my chest I got back on the bike and collected bonuses for the next two days in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Kentucky and Tennessee. I didn't forget to snag Graceland or the Barber Vintage Motorcycle Museum. I was back in St. Louis on the 24th before the 7:00PM deadline and needed to address the windshield issue as well as get scored and then get some sleep. The next leg would be handed out at 4:00AM. Gary, Mike, and Tom were all there to see how me and Rebecca were doing. Rebecca Vaughn and I kept crossing paths on and off through the whole leg and we ended up riding into the checkpoint together.
As luck would have it Bob (AZDesertRider) from ST-Owners.com had shipped a windshield adjustor mechanism overnight to St. Louis from Arizona, after Mike (LDMike) and Tom (TOM BOGNAR) had posted my problems to the board. The generosity of people on this ride was unbelievable. Tom and Jody Lutker (Biddyman), as well as Mike Tomsu, were there in St. Louis to help install the new assembly and I was all set for the second leg of my ride. My friend, Gary Klinker, helped to keep me focused, made sure I got enough sleep, and was ready to help me map the next leg. Mike and Gary also took the time to check over Rebecca's bike to make sure it was in running order. I scored 84,570 points putting me in 26th place overall for the first leg. For not going to Canada it was a respectable score and I was ready for the second leg to try and make up some points. I managed to grab about 5 hours of sleep and then made it to the 4:00AM riders meeting to receive the second leg bonus packet. There was another 100+ bonuses scattered all over the western US and Canada. Some points were even in Alaska (Prudhoe Bay, Homer, and Hyder). However, after looking at the packet, staying in the US seemed to have more potential points with less miles. After 6 hours of planning a route, I left St. Louis and headed west toward Seattle, or so I thought.
After talking with Rebecca Vaughn, the idea of going to Denver and then Arizona seemed better than spending 2 days getting to Seattle so I headed straight west. The bonuses on this leg were worth a lot more points so you had the chance to grab a lot of points. There was the north rim (Cape Royal) of the Grand Canyon, Death Valley, Yosemite, and the Patriarch Tree in the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest in the White Mountains of California. This is home to some of the oldest living organisms on earth. I headed for the north rim and then Las Vegas for the night. The next day would be Death Valley and the Sierra Nevadas. It would be a tough day of riding but I had no idea what I was in for that day. Day 6 came and I was up early in order to be in Beatty Nevada, near Death Valley, to start my day. The ride up was terrifying as thunderstorms lined the sky and lightning seemed to be coming from every direction. In the desert you tend to be the highest point and so I was just hoping that I would not be struck down by a lightning bolt. I made it to Beatty in one piece without being turned into a toasted waffle on a bike. However, as I was getting ready to pump gas the entire town lost power. "Perfect", I thought to myself. No power + no gas = no bonuses = bad day to be on a rally. It was going to be daylight soon so I was going to be losing time once the sun was up. I contemplated what to do and decided to head back south to get gas. I gave the woman at the gas station in Beatty my card and asked her to call me if the power came back on. I made it quickly back south to find out their power was also out. The next gas station was 40 miles further south. I needed gas and the sun was coming up so I was already burning daylight. 60 miles south and, finally, I had gas but I was now sans-phone. I made a call when I was headed south and after I hung up it fell off the bike and exploded into a million pieces on Nevada 95. The day was off to a great start. Now back 60 miles north and off to my first bonus which was Scotty's Castle in Death Valley. I realized, before I got to the bonus, that I had burned up too much gas and would not be able to make it to the next gas station and get Scotty's Castle plus the Patriarch Tree in Bristlecone Pine. Scotty's Castle would have to wait for another day. I kept telling myself not to worry about it but my problems had really just begun. The Patriarch Tree at Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest in California's White Mountains was the next bonus on the list and was by and far the toughest bonus for me, and many others, on the rally. Patriarch Grove sits at 11,400ft and requires 20+ miles of tight, twisty roads and another 12 miles of rock, gravel, sand, and dirt to get to it. Not a trivial afternoon ride. I didn't know if I would have enough gas to get in and out so I had turned around to head for Big Pine when a tanker truck pulled into the park. That would be Rebecca Vaughn who had just filled her fuel cell and was willing to share gas if I ran out. It turns out I wouldn't need the gas but it saved me an hour of screwing around. We headed to the tree at a slow pace once we hit the rough road. The suspension took a beating and about half way in so did my rear tire -- in fact, it had gone completely flat. It was a cut about 3/4" long. I started to think my rally might be over but after a few choice words and two plugs it held air. Other riders that came by were concerned but there wasn't anything they could do that I couldn't do myself. We managed to make it to the tree and then quickly headed back out. Rebecca went ahead and I stayed far behind. I decided to pull over for a second to make an adjustment, hit a berm, and dumped the bike. 850 pounds isn't very light and I couldn't pick it up no matter what technique I tried. After 5 tries I was exhausted. The bike was in sand and as soon as I tried to lift it, the bike either slid or caught an edge that made it too hard to upright.
As I stood there wondering how to lighten the bike so I could lift it I distinctly heard trumpets sound as Eric Jewell came riding around the corner. He stopped and between the two of us we managed to lift the bike. We were off again in minutes and we both managed the rest of the deep sand without an issue. Rebecca was waiting at the bottom and we made our way to the nearest town to regroup. The two bonuses in Yosemite were next but the park was crowded and twisty so we were quickly separated. I managed to get Half Dome at Glacial Point and the Ahwahnee Hotel. The tire was still holding air so I decided to head for Mono Hot Springs but it was going to be tight because I only had until an hour after sunset to get there and it was already late afternoon. It was 120 miles and an estimated 3 hours of riding. I'm not sure how much time I had but it wasn't any more than 3 hours. I was just hoping the tire would hold. I made my way as quickly as I could towards Mono Hot Springs but I could tell the tire was going flat again. I chose to ignore it until it got worse. Shaver Lake was the last place to get gas so I pumped a few gallons to get a receipt. As I rode (what I thought was the last 16 miles) the rear tire went completely flat. Daylight was fading quickly but I needed to plug the tire again and fill it with air. It would only hold 30 pounds but if I was going to make the bonus it was going to have to do. As I made my way up the mountain I could tell the rear tire was losing air again. When I reached the point I thought was Mono Hot Springs there was a sign saying it was another 16 miles through the woods on a narrow and rough, but paved, path. It was barely wide enough for a car. I stood up on the pegs for the last 16 miles navigating the road like it was a motocross track to keep my weight off the rear wheel in hopes of getting the, now completely flat tire, from coming off the rim. I made it with 20 minutes to spare as my time/date stamped receipt from the general store would show. What an out-of-the-way place. The people there were very friendly and lent me a flashlight, let me use their compressor, and allowed me to use their cellphone to make my call-in bonus at the end of the day. Everything was just in time. Kendall Anderson was still there so after I plugged the tire again we both made tracks and got rooms in Madera for a few hours of shut-eye. Thanks for the room, Kendall!! It was my greatest triumph of the rally to get the Mono Hot Springs bonus and I was very glad that the rear tire was still on the bike and holding air once again.
The tire held pressure over night so I decided to grab the General Sherman Tree in the Sequoia National Forest since in the early morning it would be void of tourists. I got my photo of the tree just as it started to get light and on the way out of the park I got a way too close up view of a rather large black bear that was out for a morning stroll to get the paper I guess. I've never grabbed so much brake in my life. Thank goodness for integrated brakes and ABS! I made my down to Fresno and I needed to fill my tire again. I asked the gas station clerk if there was a motorcycle shop near by. They pointed me to Wilson's Motorcycles and that establishment would save my day. They knew what the Iron Butt Rally was and helped me get a tire mounted right then and there. I was in and out of there in an hour. I really can't thank Linda, Duane, Cory, and Dave enough for their help. Others helped too but I didn't get their names as everyone was pretty busy. Everyone was very nice and helped me out to the nth degree. Not having to explain why I needed a tire right now was reason enough to be thankful but they totally saved my rally. I needed to get to the Lick Observatory that morning which was the cornerstone of the second leg. It was over 24000 points and without that new tire I wouldn't have made it. The road to the observatory was 12 miles of twisties but I made it there, bagged the bonus and headed for Livermore to see the centennial light. The road out the back side of the observatory to Livermore was 50 more miles of twisties. I made it to the Livermore Fire Station to see the longest burning lightbulb just before the fireman left for training. I lucked out as they had to be there for you to get the bonus and they would be out the rest of the afternoon for their training session. The rally takes some luck to do well and I was getting my fair share after the previous day's events.
The rest of the day was spent in San Francisco, getting photos of some very popular local attractions. I would get a hotel for the night east of Sacramento and snag the Gerlach, Nevada Iron Butt Circle of Honor bonus first thing in the morning as I started back east. I thought I could make the dinosaur bonus in Colorado but it was going to be so close that I decided to head for Rawlins, Wyoming to get some sleep. I was wrong as Jack Shoalmire, who was right behind me, would make it there just in time to get it. There was still one more full day to get bonuses though and I wasn't going to waste it. In the last 24 hours I would cover 1600 miles and collect over 30,000 points to, hopefully, have a decent finish. I left my wallet at Mount Rushmore that day but the points were worth it. Someone turned in the wallet and the park mailed it back to me. I got lucky once again through the generosity of strangers. But the adventure would continue because the last 600 miles would be shaky as the rear shock would go out and the back end became loose. I decided that I just needed to take it straight and easy to get back. I arrived in St. Louis about 3 hours before the checkpoint opened on the 31st at 7:00 AM and I was thankful to be there in one piece and on time before I started losing points or my mind.
There were plenty of people there to welcome the riders back in and it felt good to be in one piece at the finish. The windshield, the tire and the shock were all obstacles to overcome above and beyond routing, riding and sleeping but that's all part of doing the rally. The awards banquet was that evening and Tom, Gary, Mike Tomsu, Mike Walls, Dick, and Jonathan Rutschky were all there to see the festivities. I managed to place 13th overall with 285,512 points which I was pretty surprised about considering everything that happened. I think a lot of it had to do with a large rookie percentage and several top ten riders dropping out for various reasons. I'm not discounting my ability to ride the rally but I know there are things I could have done better. My routing wasn't quite what it should have been to pick up some of the big points but shoulda, coulda, woulda doesn't cut it in these events. You learn from your faults and you move on. It's all about adapting, overcoming, and tackling obstacles. I'm very pleased with where I finished and I hope to get the chance to do it again in the future. One thing I learned was that both you AND the bike need to do the miles. I over drove the bike a couple times during the rally and I'm pretty sure that caused two out of the three problems I had with the bike. Lesson learned.
Thanks again to everyone who helped me with this ride. That goes for all the people that donated to my ride and/or gave up their time to help out or gave up their SO so they could help. I also want to thank everyone that was following along online at ST-Owners.com and through the IBR website. I've called in every favor I've ever had and I few that I didn't. If you're interested, read the Iron Butt Rally Daily Reports to get a feel for what else was happening during the rally. It was one of the more challenging rallies to date, according to the IBA, and I would believe it from the drop rate but it was still a super fun time. If you've read my pre-rally page, you know that I've known about this rally since I was a teenager. Completing the rally was one of my main goals but anything beyond that was just icing on the cake. I finished safely, completed over 11,000 miles, placed well, didn't lose a single point at the scoring table and never gave up even though there were a couple times where I thought my mechanical failures would cause me to have to drop out. No one can do this rally alone. Everyone needs some kind of support. Support comes in many different forms and I'm grateful to everyone that made this possible for me. We'll see if '09 is in the cards as I'm anxiously awaiting another crack at the rally. Apparently the anti-venom for the Iron Butt Rally bite, injected after the rally, did not seem to have any effect on me.
Thanks, If you want more pictures from the event feel free to visit these sites:
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