Cape Fear is over

[2wTraveler]

And I am sore. I had a great ride although a bit ambitious (rode 1455miles) and finished 8th from Murfreesboro. I will get a ride report typed up in a few days.

It was great to meet fellow ST-Ners Squeezer and Lion Lady!
Congrats on the second place finish Ed, and congrats to Lion Lady for not "having to lay er down" smashing into that fence post in the road. It was a great rally, with some very hardcore riders, I'm already looking forward to next year!

[guitardad]

Sorry I didn't get a chance to say hi.  Lionlady pointed you out at the banquet, but I think we were both pretty whomped at the time.  

And let me add my contrats to Squeezer.  Bell curve be damned!!

So when's the next rally for you guys?

[2wTraveler]

Well, I am economically challenged this year So it looks like the Void 5 will be the only other rally I ride this year.

I couldn't even afford a hotel room for my rest bonus, had to use the Iron Butt motel option. Well worth the price of admission for this rally. I had a great time...

[squeezer]

Thanks for the congrats.  I'm sorry I missed you, guitardad, but it was nice to meet yamatech.  I packed it in pretty early on Saturday, though.  I hadn't ridden much this year and that ride beat the crap out of me.

Like yamatech, I won't do another rally until the Void in October.  I usually do the Mason-Dixon, but a nephew is getting married that weekend.  I wanted to add You're Not Superman this year but budget and schedule woes make that look pretty unlikely.  

Lionlady -- you've got to tell your story on here!  You've got danger, heroes, lessons learned -- c'mon, write the fence post smackdown up.

[Rincewind]

Congrats to squeezer for 2nd place!  

[guitardad]

Thanks for the congrats.  I'm sorry I missed you, guitardad, but it was nice to meet yamatech.  I packed it in pretty early on Saturday, though.  I hadn't ridden much this year and that ride beat the crap out of me.

So all that time hanging out with you and Pam and Rick, talking about your "beta-testing" for the MD2020 doesn't count?    Seriously, maybe we should have multiple nametags!

[squeezer]

So all that time hanging out with you and Pam and Rick, talking about your "beta-testing" for the MD2020 doesn't count?    Seriously, maybe we should have multiple nametags!

 

F&%$, Chaz.  I thought guitardad was someone else's handle.  I guess if I had looked at your sig, I'd have figured it out.

And while we're tossing out congrats, folks, guitardad won the minirally.  In fact, he smoked the field.  No one was close to him.  I think you're banned from that one now, Chaz.

You said you're doing the Mason-Dixon, right?

[lionlady]

Lionlady -- you've got to tell your story on here!  You've got danger, heroes, lessons learned -- c'mon, write the fence post smackdown up.

Can't figure out if the tale belongs here, or in ride stories...

Here's the "just the facts" tale I emailed to the insurance rep:

At about 3:30 pm, Friday, April 17, my husband and I were traveling to Wilmington, NC from Baltimore, MD. We were keeping up with traffic (doing 80 mph, or so) on I-95 south. Two lanes of travel each way, divided by a wide median. Traffic was heavy, averaging 2 car lengths of space between vehicles, and moving.

At about NC exit 156, we were in the right hand lane riding staggered with my husband leading, in the left wheel track, and me in the right wheel track, separated by about a car length. We came up on a slower car in our lane, and changed lanes.

My husband moved to the right wheel track of the left lane, and just missed some pieces of wood debris in his side of the left lane. As I changed lanes, behind him, my husband's motorcycle obscured my view of the piece of lumber that was rolling/bouncing along directly in my path of travel. Having just straightened up from the lane change, I had no chance to swerve. All I could do was grip the bars tightly, stand up a bit on the pegs, and try to hit the wood squarely.

The piece of wood was approximately 2 feet long and 4-5 inches in diameter. One end looked broken off. I hit the lumber and maintained control. But the impact obviously damaged the tire. The front end felt "heavy" and difficult to turn. The front brake worked. I managed to bring my motorcycle to a stop
on the shoulder of the median, out of traffic.

I carry an electric air compressor on my motorcycle, and we tried, but the tire would not hold air. With the assistance of a county sheriff, we got off the median and onto the right shoulder of the road, where we found a big dent in the front rim.  

We were able to arrange overnight storage for the motorcycle, in [at Kawasaki of] Rocky Mount, NC, and with help, found a suitable "replacement" wheel to get me home on, at [Capitol] BMW-Triumph in Raleigh, NC. We were able to continue our trip on my husband's motorcycle, but the rear shock is going bad, so that wasn't going to work for the whole distance back to Baltimore.

...AMA road service was able to arrange a tow... in 4 hours. And when Lorenzo at Kawasaki of Rocky Mount, heard that, he offered to come and get me with his truck/trailer.The AMA tower was relieved to hear from us when we told him we wouldn't be needing his services.

The wheel turned out to have a 4 inch crack in it. No wonder the tire wouldn't hold air!


P

[DNA]

Awesome results STN Team!!!  Just got back and saw the results.  Ed - you are working hard to kicked out off Team mediocrity.  One more trophy and you will need a new shelf we will have to start calling you "Jim O"

Chaz - you better stop that 1st place stuff as well - we try to maintane the high ground.

Alas I have been on the road for a few weeks, and with a new born at home there is not time to properly address some minor service issues with the Rally Sprint.





It looks like my season is shot, but I am considering a ride to eat and taking the 'Tard to the MD2020 for the dinner and stories.

There were a large number of big name DNF's from the Altoona - can someone explain what specific form of hell I missed this year and why so many big dogs got neutered?

LionLady - it seems that practicing the emergency drills and going over board inthe road worked well. Thanks be to God and all your practice time and skills or that sounds as if it could have been nasty.  


Great job everyone - hopefully I will see you at dinner - and potentially in the Void - if I can find an inexpensive motor.

[squeezer]

Alas I have been on the road for a few weeks, and with a new born at home there is not time to properly address some minor service issues with the Rally Sprint.

I guess no engine counts as a minor service issue.  Is yours really toast?  That sucks.

There were a large number of big name DNF's from the Altoona - can someone explain what specific form of hell I missed this year and why so many big dogs got neutered?

Rallybastard threw a monkey wrench into everyone's normal routing plans by making it a low score wins rally. Each starting point had a mandatory bonus that ensured everybody rode over 1K miles.  Then, you had to score a minimum of 5 boni on Friday and 5 on Saturday. And the layout of the boni made it a bitch to put a low scoring route together.  Most routes were right on the edge of possible, and small mistakes left you time barred.

And then, just to make it that much tougher, the Altoona and Murfreesboro starts had an alternative routing choice involving the Moonshine Run that was sooooooo tempting, though it turned into a sucker bonus for many.

Mike Allen probably had the winning route out of Altoona, doing the Moonshine Run thing.  About twenty minutes after his rest stop, thinking through what he'd just done, he realized his rest stop receipts came to 2:59 instead of 3 hours.  By the time he went back to get a new receipt, he was in time barred land.  Ouch.

I won't make the MD2020, but Rick is planning on handing out a "Top of the Bell Curve" award this year.  I'll be at the Void.  I hope we see you back on your Sprint by then.

[guitardad]

In the 10-hour, we had a similar set of rules - minimum 8 bonii, lowest score wins.  Then  at the Rider's meeting on Friday night, the RM threw us a knuckler.  Get a 9th location, it adds to your score but then you deduct 100 points.  And get a 10th location, it doesn't add to your score and deduct another 300 points!  Along with letting us leave early, if we paid 150 pts for each half-hour.  So there was a LOT of replanning going on Friday night.

And Ed - now I have a goal to shoot for next month!

[Bounce]

Anyone stop for the Barge Bonus?

The low-score twist was something everyone's talking about. Seems it's worth trying again given how many people DNF'd. Not that trying to DNF people is an intent but shaking up the status quo is always worthwhile.