My Iron Butt Rally story

[D-Mac]

My 2011 Iron Butt Rally ride:

DISCLAIMER: This is pretty much off the top of my head, so a few of the details might be off.

Pre-rally ride: The rally to the starting line!

I rode nearly 2500 miles from Michigan to Seattle, Washington just to get to the start of the Iron Butt Rally. The ride was pretty uneventful, although it rained a lot and there was a lot of wind to deal with. As planned I reached Sioux Falls, South Dakota on the first day, Billings, Montana on the second day, Spokane, Washington on the third day, and Seattle on the fourth day. South Dakota was surprisingly interesting and I managed to get a tour of an abandoned Minuteman II nuclear missile launch control facility (a birthday present to myself). Well worth the mile-long slog down a muddy road to get there and back! My bike looked more like a GS after that trip.

I did have one issue with the bike on the way out. On the second-to-last day of my ride out, near Spokane, I noticed the rear tire was 12 lbs low. Uh oh. A thorough check of the tire yielded a small piece of metal wedged deep into the tread. Unfortunately it was too large/long to plug easily, but it was narrow, so I pulled it out and the tire seemed to hold air quite well. Rather than buy a new tire when I had another new one waiting for me in Seattle, I just aired it up and rode. Things got a bit squirrely in the mountains, but I made it.

The starting area in Seattle was already about ½ full when I arrived on the afternoon of June 16th (a little less than four days before the start of the rally). Riders immediately came over to chat, and we looked at and talked about bikes for several hours before I even checked in! The other rookies were as nervous as I was, so that made me feel a lot better. This event is too big to be cocky about I guess. It was especially fun to talk with Fazer Phil, a rider from the U.K. on a Yamaha FZ1 (a bigger brother of my last rally bike, an FZ6) and John Young, who was riding a ’69 Triumph in the rally. Few gave John a chance at finishing, and he was very nervous, but he had an excellent attitude and it was clear he was prepared to do pretty much anything to keep his bike on the road. I also met Jeff Earls (2nd place in the ’09 rally), Mike Kneebone (IBA President) and Lisa Landry (IBR Rallymaster). Nancy Oswald and Alex Harper were also there (if you’ve seen the ’09 documentary you’ll know all about these characters; Nancy rode a GS to a strong finish in ’09 and Alex was a DNF on a hopeless Suzuki RE-5, although he ended up riding something like five different bikes in his attempt to finish...if you haven't read his account it's on here somewhere). It was immediately obvious that these folks are as obsessed with this type of riding as I am. Nancy was gunning for a top finish this year and Alex had bought a reliable Yamaha FJR in an attempt to be a finisher. It’s always fun to be around like-minded people and I spent the evening at the bar mingling with a big group from Team ‘Eh (Canadian riders) and Team Strange (a legendary group of riders from Minnesota). It was a blast. There were riders from Canada, the U.S., U.K., Germany, and Australia. Some of the rally stories these guys had were unreal. Nearly all of them had ridden the IB5000 (qualifier) last year, so I felt a little disadvantaged as I hadn't been drawn for it (but somehow made it to the big show this year!?)

Three days before the start of the rally I took my bike to a local BMW dealer for a full service. I arrived an hour before they opened, and another rider was already waiting there! I spent the entire day at the dealership chatting with other riders, including Wayne Boyter from Texas (a tough-looking Texan who has ridden more miles on BMWs than I have ridden in cars) and Cletha Walstrand (a cheery rider from Utah who had finished the impressive 10 n 10 Rally the year before and was riding a new F650GS twin custom built for her). At the end of the day they wheeled out our bikes and we fired them up. Everyone else’s was fine, but mine just revved up and down repeatedly and then stalled. Yikes! Back into the shop……. Three hours later (!!) they told me to go home. Alex (chief mechanic with a thick German descent, so he seems legit to be working for BMW) told me to go back to my hotel on a loaner bike. He swore he would stay at the dealership all night if needed to get my bike running.  At 11pm that night Alex phoned and said the bike was fixed. I picked it up the next day and it was ok (beyond a stall on first start). Whew! To thank them for their extraordinary efforts, I bought IBR t-shirts for the service staff at BMW and got some pics with them.

The two days before the start were full of activities. Rider meetings, odometer check, tech inspection, photographs, camera prep, SD card check, various check-ins for medical insurance/license/VIN checks, video disclaimers, witness forms, etc, etc, etc. The odometer check was a 32-mile ride through Seattle and it was used to correct for any odometer errors on each bike. It was pretty easy EXCEPT for a construction zone right at the end. Like about half of the riders, I managed to screw it up the first time and had to repeat the course. I felt better when I arrived at the finish area to learn that everyone around me had also messed it up. It was raining the whole time, but what’s 32 more miles when you’re facing 11,000 anyway.

The rider meetings were helpful and full of cautionary tales about what can happen if you don’t get enough sleep, etc. Things started to get serious about 36 hours before the rally. I had decided to run without a fuel cell, so tech inspection was a breeze for me.
At the banquet the night before the rally we learned our fate. We were expecting to ride a lot in Canada, and I felt I had an advantage being a Canadian citizen. However, when we learned we’d be riding the lower 48-states I was still very excited for two reasons: (1) A “48-in-10” ride was the other major riding goal I’ve had for a while (other than the IBR of course) because I had not visited most of the states, and (2) several months ago I anticipated that this might be part of the rally and I spent several days preparing DETAILED checklists and a complete riding plan to cover the lower-48 states. I had brought printed sheets with lists of states I could complete each day. I had also planned a route that included 48-states plus Hyder, Alaska and one that included the four corners of the USA. Both options appeared in the rally packet as choices! I discounted them quickly though because my goal was to finish the rally. Knowing that points accumulate on each leg, I figured that the four corners might not be worth it anyway (this turned out to be partially right). The four corners of the U.S. look relatively easy to reach EXCEPT for Key West, Florida. Having to do that ride at the start of the final leg, and then ride across the South and the dessert seemed like madness to me. About 20 riders actually ended up doing it (although several more tried it and abandoned it at some point). The fact that only three riders went to Alaska on Leg 1 was surprising to me because I figured that the winning route would sure go that way (again, I was not entirely right about this).

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THE RALLY

Day 1 (June 20, 2011): Please don’t let me drop my bike.

After getting very little sleep, I arrived at my bike by 8am. We had to have our rider IDs punched and our odometers checked one final time (apparently one rider missed this step and was forced to return to the start!) Everyone said goodbye, but then we ended up doing it two or three more times because we had to wait until 10am for the start. About 15 minutes before the start we had a final rider meeting in the parking lot and then it was time to gear-up. By the time Dale Wilson (a.k.a. Warchild) pointed at me to leave, I was dying to get on the road! [Apparently only one bike failed to start, and it was on the road within minutes. From the looks of it, two riders dropped their bikes and both were engaged in repair work much of the morning] Hitting the road, I was calm. I was determined to ride my plan and not look beyond the next waypoint. For the most part (especially on the first two legs), this worked quite well. I had each day written out on a piece of card stock, so a glance down at my tankbag would tell me my ETA and mileage to each state for the current day. I had a “toughbook” in my rear case, although I rarely used it on the road.

Washington: After escaping the parking lot without dumping the bike, I immediately left the Seattle area and headed east on I-90 (hitting I-82 south and then I-84 east). Since each state capital was worth bonus points, I was a little tempted to go for Olympia, WA (not far), but the urge to start heading east was too strong. It looked like about 1/3 of the riders were headed the same way as me, and we were quickly into the mountains east of Seattle. Highlights of my day were getting my first gas receipt to prove I was in Washington State (a computer-generated receipt was required for each state unless the capital was visited [more on how that worked below]).

Oregon: After heading through the Columbia River basin (apparently one of the windiest places in North America) I entered a scrubby part of Oregon. A big highlight was a couple who had put up an enormous Iron Butt “Good Luck” sign at an exit ramp. It was cool to see that we had “fans” everywhere. I got a receipt somewhere and continued to make good time heading southeast. I could have done Portland for big points if I’d taken I-5, but again, I wanted to get some distance east before trying to collect any bonuses for photographing state capitals. The scrubby interior of Oregon turned into a more mountainous terrain as the afternoon rolled around.

Idaho: If I could only return to ride one state, this would be it. It’s most likely because I got to know Idaho quite well over the next two days by riding side roads to cut east and north to Montana. My first major stop in Idaho was in the capital of Boise. As I approached the capital building, I spotted another rider! I tried to pull in next to him but there was no room. Instead, I pulled right up to the main entrance to the capital building and just parked there. As I would learn over the next few days, having a motorcycle makes it very easy to get right up to most of the capital buildings. You can easily go around gates and barricades, and generally no one cares (except in New Hampshire…..more on that later). I never encountered a capital building that was actually being used by anyone, so it must be summer vacation for all of the law-makers. To collect the bonus I had to photograph my rider flag (a flag with the big #42 on it – my rider number) and ensure that the capital building was fully visible in the same shot. If it was between sunset and sunrise I could substitute the photo with a receipt from the capital city, although there would be a minor point deduction. We were given a “passport” book with photos of each capital to help us, although capital buildings were pretty obvious.

Having tagged Boise, I headed off to ride through Idaho. My goal was to reach Montana that night, but I ran out of daylight. I had decided to take a “shortcut” to Montana from Mountain Home to Idaho Falls via Route 20 (look this up on a map and you’ll see it).  This road was AMAZING -  twisty at the start, completely desolate, and bordered by impressive mountains. I was a little worried about gas and critters and after riding by a few LARGE mule deer and having a few pronghorns and cattle wander in front of the bike, I decided to stop a little early. The “town” of Arco, Idaho had a crappy motel and it was just the ticket. I got there right as they were closing and snagged a “room” for $30. Cheap motels are best because you can pull right up to the room and not waste time lugging stuff around. Within 20 minutes I was asleep.

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Day 2: Where am I and why can’t I see?

Idaho cont.: Setting out from Arco just before dawn, I was riding into the sunrise. It was breath-taking. The sun against the fields and mountains was unreal. Within an hour or so I reached I-15 and started slogging north. The highway was empty.
Montana: Entering Montana at about 7am (local) I reached a gas station fairly quickly. It was cold and the mountain pass was at over 7000 ft. Luckily for me the station had just opened. It was pretty unlucky for the rider I met there, who had arrived on an empty tank over an hour ago and had had to wait! On the way back south via I-15 (now heading back through Idaho for Utah) I passed three other riders who were coming the other way. At least I’m not the only one doing this crazy route!

Utah: At this point, it’s worth noting that the rally organizers had made an attempt to help riders by giving us a general map of a good route through the 48-states. That route was quite far north, but I elected to use my own, southerly, route instead. As a result, I had planned to grab Utah and Colorado on Leg One, whereas many (I suspect most) riders would not get those states until Leg 3. I wanted to make the final leg as easy as possible, so I went a bit out of my way now (later on Leg 1 I would skip Kentucky, which most other riders would get…..but more on that later).

Anyway, after slogging south, I entered Utah and headed for Salt Lake City. Since this capital was NOT on the list of available bonuses on Leg 1 (it would be on Leg 3), I could count the state of Utah (states could be counted on any leg), but not the capital bonus. So instead of heading into Salt Lake, I got gas and headed east and north to Wyoming. Getting gas in Utah was tough because the first two receipts were bad (I had forgotten that most “Flying-J” truck stops don’t write the location on the receipt). Little did I know that I would have PLENTY of time to visit Salt Lake after the rally, when my bike broke down in Utah…..

Wyoming: I rode I-80 pretty much all the way through Wyoming. It was windy and tough slogging. The scenery was fairly interesting, but it’s a damn big state. My most exciting points were a quick stop at Taco Bell, and having to pull over when one of my contact lenses blew out of my eye (ouch!) The wind blew a lot of dust/sand around and I could barely see and almost dumped the bike on a sandy patch while heading into a parking lot to check out my eyes. I had it easy compared to rider Wendy Crockett, who ended up with almost no vision in one eye from a similar incident on the same leg.

Nebraska: As the sun got low, I entered Nebraska. I had a little trouble finding decent gas (89 was the best everyone had), but the wind died down and I made good time along I-80 in western Nebraska.

Colorado: After riding in Nebraska for a while, I cut south to hit Colorado. I was only a few miles into Colorado (near Julesburg – where I-80 meets I-76) and the sun had just set. I pulled into a motel to get some sleep, but filled up the bike first in case the pumps were closed later (good move since they were closed the next morning; it’s always better to leave on a full tank too I think). The main store was closed, so I had to pull up to three different pumps before I got one to print out a receipt!

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Day 3: Endless Nebraska and other natural (and not so natural) disasters

Colorado cont.: I immediately left Colorado at dawn and started riding east again on I-80 into Nebraska.
Nebraska: I-80 in Nebraska apparently contains the longest stretch of completely straight road anywhere. I think the second, third, fourth, and top 100 stretches of straight road are also here. About 200? or 300? miles into Nebraska two things started to make life more interesting:

(1)   A STRONG cross wind started to buffet the bike. We’re taking STRONG. It was hard to hold my lane, and I had to slow down a lot to keep the bike on the road. This kind of wind really sucks the life out of you.

(2)   Much of my electrical system suddenly failed. I quickly pulled over in case there was a fire, and discovered that everything looked good. I had lost ALL “switched” power (fog lights, backup GPS, extra taillights, some charging capability). I figured it was a loose connection where I had tapped the main bus, or a fuse. After screwing around for a few minutes I couldn’t find the problem. I started to suspect the bike’s main bus setup (which uses a computer to shunt power around) had decided to disconnect the power to my relay for switched power. Rather than mess around more, I continued on. Miraculously (?) everything was working again within a few miles, so I chalked it up to water in a connector and continued (I was wrong and would experience problems a couple of days later that would last to this day).

A little later in the day I rode into Lincoln, Nebraska to bag the capital. It was tough to find a parking space, and I wrestled with my rally flag in the wind (I had fishing weights to help hold it down as the number on it had to be completely visible in the photo).
Kansas: Normally, bagging Kansas, Missouri, and Iowa is easy. They nearly all touch each other along I-29, which runs north-south along the Missouri river. However, the 100-year floods this year had closed I-29 and most of the other roads that connect these states across the river. I knew about this and had devised an alternate plan well before setting out from Seattle. One of my GPSs confirmed the closures for me as well. I had originally planned to ride south to grab the capital of Topeka, KS and the head east to Kansas City, MO, and then north into Iowa before going back west to get to South Dakota. Because the wind was TERRIBLE and I was behind schedule, I bailed on Topeka and cut east earlier from Kansas to get to St. Joseph, Missouri.  This saved me at least an hour. I stopped to grab lunch at a Subway in Kansas and then got gas. For the next week I would only mostly at Subway. Yum! Half a sandwich for now, and half in the tankbag as a reward for when I stopped for the night. Beyond that, I was surviving on jerky, Cliff bars, and Nature Valley bars. I drank water from a Camelbak mixed with various flavors of Propel crystals.

Missouri: Wind. Wind. Wind. I had picked a great day to try and ride south and then north with a wind from the west. I was beaten up badly. It also rained a lot for good measure. Some of the gusts were apparently over 70mph!! I laughed and screamed at the wind. I had to stop a couple of times to collect myself. I even contemplated stopping completely once, but I calmed myself by breaking down each segment of the ride and doing it a few miles at a time. At one low point, Jim May (friend) happened to phone and he told me he was riding from Michigan to L.A. for the finish. That helped motivate me!  I grabbed two gas receipts in Missouri to be safe (in all cases I had two for each state, housed in separate bags).

Iowa: Entering Iowa, the weather improved. The wind lessened because there were trees again to break it up. After a few more showers, I reached the town of Mapleton.  It took a while to reach because of all the detours associated with the flooded river. Mapleton also looked strange….abandoned. And then it hit me – a tornado must have come through here! Many roofs were damaged or missing, and there were debris EVERYWHERE.  It turns out that on April 9, 2011, a tornado destroyed about half of the town. Miraculously, no one was killed. Seeing the damage this was hard to believe. I skipped the gas station in town and stopped elsewhere. Floods and tornadoes have devastated much of this part of the country.

South Dakota: Heading north on I-29 (this part was still open), I reached Sioux Falls, South Dakota by nightfall. I had stopped in Sioux Falls on the way from Michigan to Seattle, so it felt a little familiar. I grabbed a hotel adjacent to a gas station and settled in. At this point, I had a series of important things to do. First, I had to do my “call in bonus.” The IBR maintains a bank of 24 phone lines in California to receive calls from riders (and immediately convert them to digital files for review). On each leg they award points for calling in during a specified time-window. To make things “fun” they vary the time and keep it on the PACIFIC time zone. The call-in window was now open, so I needed to phone in with my name, rider #, current location, last bonus scored, and next bonus planned. Got it! Next, I started my rest bonus. On this rally, you got points for documenting a stop of at least 4 hours (with a receipt from a town showing the start/end times), and there were extra points for doing as much as 8 hours. This window was always kept on a rider’s LOCAL time. I had budgeted a full 8-hour stop to get maximum sleep and points. After grabbing my “start” receipt, I went to my hotel and dined on a meal of leftover subway and gas station food. Yum!

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Day 4: The long ride to “home”

South Dakota cont.: I ended my rest bonus after 8h and 1 minute. I then hit the road heading north again on I-29 to grab North Dakota by sunrise. It was windy again, but not brutal.

North Dakota: I stopped at the first gas station inside North Dakota. As a finished fueling, a woman came running out with my receipt. She said that many riders had been stopping there! I checked the receipt and saw that the time on it was wrong (!) so I got an ATM receipt from inside instead. Within minutes I was headed east out of North Dakota. Riders who had taken the “suggested” route for the 48 states had gone across the entire state, which must have been tough due to the evacuation of Minot, ND to the west. As elsewhere, flooding was a major issue here.

Minnesota: I entered Minnesota and started riding east along route 55. Eventually I caught I-94 east to Minneapolis. Rather than hit the capital (traffic was bad), I routed myself around the city and kept moving. At mid-day I hit a Subway and geared up for the rain again. So far, the rally temperatures had been cold (40-60 degrees) and windy. Now it was a little warmer, much wetter, and still windy.

Wisconsin: Maybe it was because it was afternoon, when I always get a little sleepy, but Minnesota and Wisconsin seemed to take FOREVER to ride through. The monotony was broken up only by a stop in Madison, WI to grab the capital building.  As before, I was able to ride right up the front entrance to get my photo.

Illinois: After Wisconsin, I had to face my demons in Illinois, more specifically Chicago. I had gone west through Chicago on the way to Seattle, but that wasn’t during afternoon rush. I ignored my GPS (which advised I go directly through DOWNTOWN Chicago?!?!) and routed myself around I-294/I-355 well to the west of the city. I was fine except for portions north of the city, which were under complete re-construction. Traffic was mostly heavy and it was pretty hot. Gas was easy to find, and thanks to my EZ-Pass I could speed through all of the toll booths.

Indiana: Getting back on I-94 east (from I-80 east) I rode through the little slice of Indiana that borders Lake Michigan. I’ve driven/ridden through here countless times, so it wasn’t bad at all. It got dark just as I hit Indiana and got gas.
Michigan: So close to home! I had made the decision to push for home and sleep in my own bed tonight! This is controversial since numerous riders over the years have done this only to wake the next morning and decide to abandon the rally. Still, the thought of doing a quick laundry, seeing Viv and the kids, and grabbing some food was exciting. I pushed pretty hard to reach home by midnight. I was VERY tired when I got home. My local gas station also let me down by taking 15 MINUTES to get me a receipt! I should have gone elsewhere, but I was too tired to think straight. Time was wasted. I managed to get to bed within 30 minutes of getting home. A friend from Maryland was also visiting, and it was hard not to talk to him. I didn’t manage to see the kids since I got home so late and had to leave by 5am to stay on my schedule.

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Day 5: A short, but exhausting ride to Checkpoint 1.

Michigan cont.: Leaving home was strange. I was still tired, it was raining, and it was still early in the rally. Seeing Viv made the trip home worth it, but I felt “out of it” all day. It was a strange feeling and I now understand why going home can throw someone out of rally-mode. Although I had a very short day planned to reach the first checkpoint in Buffalo (about 500 miles), this was my most exhausting day of the rally to that point.

Since the capital of Lansing, Michigan was worth a lot of points and it’s only 1 ½ hours out of my way (there and back) I grabbed it. I ran into two other riders in the area and they looked more rested than I felt. It was good to get the bonus (the second largest capital bonus on Leg 1), but the crappy weather and the thought of leaving home for another two weeks really weighed me down.

Ohio: I-80/I-90 through Ohio if almost as rough as I-80 through Nebraska. Hot, flat, and boring. Enough said. Cleveland broke up the boredom, but only a little.

Pennsylvania: Heading through Erie Pennsylvania let me check off this state with a gas receipt. Not much to see here either (see Ohio).
New York (Buffalo checkpoint): It was great to reach Checkpoint 1. I was calm, unusually tired, but damn happy. Being five days into the rally gave me confidence that I could continue. I had claimed a lot of states and had stuck to my riding plan. I was still worried about the traffic on Leg 2 (down the eastern seaboard) and the heat and storms on Leg 3.
On arriving at the Checkpoint hotel in mid-afternoon, Steve (head scorer) came over to me and immediately told me to either eat, get scored, fix the bike, or sleep. Do NOTHING else he advised. He was right.

At the checkpoint I was met by Dan – a local BMW GS rider who had agreed to work with me on an oil change in the parking lot. I had shipped everything to Dan in advance and he had lots of tools just in case we needed them. He was gracious, competent, and he did most of the work as I stood there babbling in the heat. He accepted no payment even though he had taken the whole day off work just to be there. He also agreed to phone me regularly to chat and keep me alert, which turned out to be a MAJOR help on Leg 2 (we couldn’t talk about routing, but we could talk about subjects unrelated to the rally). I would love to meet up with Dan again. He’s a great off-road rider and he’s done a lot of riding in Europe. I think he enjoyed being part of my rally experience. I really owe that guy, and meeting guys like him is a big reason I got into this type of riding.
The toughest days lay ahead…..

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COMING SOON: LEGS 2, 3, and the ride home! I will try and dig up a few pics too.

[miles]

I hate to tell you this now, but you wouldn't have gotten any points on your first day for Portland.  It's not the state capital.

[D-Mac]

I hate to tell you this now, but you wouldn't have gotten any points on your first day for Portland.  It's not the state capital.

Oops. Salem.  :lol:I didn't pay any attention to states with capitals that looked too far off my planned route.  Once I load up my waypoints, I just follow what the Garmin lady tells me. In one case I actually pulled up to a capital building and had to ask what city/state I was in!

[miles]

IBR 2011: Revenge of Junior High School Geography!

[D-Mac]

IBR 2011: Revenge of Junior High School Geography!

I grew up in Canada so we never had to learn the states or the capitals. This was a great geography lesson for me.

One poor bastard (an excellent rider who I won't name here) managed to miss one state and discovered this at the scoring table at the end of the rally. It must have sucked to DNF because of an oops.

Now I can add one of these things to my sig line.

**States I've ridden in over the past three weeks......**

[CLAY]

Very cool Dean!  Keep the rest coming (and I expect a full report over lunch in a couple weeks)!  

[heynowref]

Love the insight - thanks for sharing. and congrats  

[endo]

Congrats on your finish!  I had a great time following the commentary on the FJR site.

[wibornz]

Well heck I would have chatted with you during the rally.  It sounds like you had a great time.  Look forward to hearing the tale first hand.

[Justin]

Congrats on the finish  

Looking forward to the rest of the story

[ScubaDave]

D Mac, great wright up. I am guessing you were the one who used the side walk to turn around due to the traffic in NH. I could not believe how so many others had parked and spent their full time in front of the state house on the sidewalk and no issues. You are on the side walk for only a few seconds and they decide that is the time to come by.

[D-Mac]

  Yup. It was me that got pulled over.

I'll write about it in my next installment.

[sleazy rider]

 

[D-Mac]

 

Haha. I did work on it last night. I have some dumb report to finish for work, but if I can motivate myself to get that done tonight I'll get back to the more important one tomorrow morning.  

[sleazy rider]

   Just tweakin' ya.  

[sammyseaman]

 

 

[Justin]

I have some dumb report to finish for work, but if I can motivate myself to get that done tonight I'll get back to the more important one tomorrow morning.  

You need to get your priorities straight ...

[ScubaDave]

  Yup. It was me that got pulled over.

I'll write about it in my next installment.

Sure hope they did not wright you up. we could not believe as soon as you pulled up and turned we saw the cruiser, but it was too late at that point. I think he was the only one that came by the whole time.

[Justin]

Sure hope they did not wright you up. we could not believe as soon as you pulled up and turned we saw the cruiser, but it was too late at that point. I think he was the only one that came by the whole time.

D-mac: "But, but, I'm part of the Iron Butt Rally!"

Police: "You're going to need an iron butt where you are going!"

[Dan]

Good write-up, look forward to the next instalments.  

[heynowref]

Good write-up, look forward to the next instalments.  

what he said

[dietDrThunder]

No more?

Sad...

[D-Mac]

  I keep forgetting to post it.

It WILL happen. I promise.  

[D-Mac]

Hello......Hello........ is this thing on?

Yup I'm working on getting back to it.   I have part II on another computer and I'm off work this week (and finished with my motorcycle course by Thursday), so I should FINALLY be able to get around to posting it. Good to hear there is still interest.

I was just interviewed by Midwest Motorcyclist about my ride, so that brought it back into the forefront of my mind as well.

[D-Mac]

You are all far too patient. GOOD NEWS though! I finished up Part II and it'll be posted in a minute.....

ENJOY!

[D-Mac]

Day 6: Escape from New York!

New York cont.: Before I get into Leg 2, I should say a couple of things about the scoring process at the end of Leg 1. The scorers (from what I could tell) were all IBR veterans. I was very impressed with how much they knew about the route. I guess riding in the IBR one or more times teaches you a lot about roads! I don’t remember the name of the guy who scored me, but he was very, very smart. He checked my photos against lots of examples (and verified that the photo resolution was correct on each one), he carefully studied each receipt, and then he poured over my passport book. Everything went into a shreadsheet and I was required to sign off on my provisional score. I can’t imagine a more thorough and fair system. These guys really know what they’re doing.

I was happy with how my scoring came out. I didn’t leave any points at the table and there were no surprises. Whew! After being scored I ate something and went to bed.
At 4:00am we had a rider’s meeting and received the list of capital bonuses for the next leg of the rally. I was in 46th place after Leg 1 – right where I wanted to be. I knew that this was likely to fall because some of the riders had skipped capitals to do the four corners, which they wouldn’t get credit for until the end of the rally.
Heading out of New York at 4:30am it was wet. Not a really heavy rain, but there was a lot of water on the road. One rider (John Coons) who had won the IB5000 last year apparently hydroplaned coming out of Buffalo a few minutes behind me, which ended his rally. Later, I heard that another rider from a different rally died in a crash along this road. Both riders who went down were VERY experienced, well rested, and smart. The organizers decided not to tell us about these incidents until the Florida checkpoint so that we wouldn’t dwell on them during our ride. There was still a lot of gossip about it whenever I ran into riders at various gas stations, rest stops, or bonus locations.

After riding for a while, I finally reached eastern New York. I decided to grab the capital Albany, which wasn’t worth many points, but it was right on the route and there was almost no traffic this early in the day. Maybe it was the fact that there was a TV crew in front of the capital, or perhaps it was because the capital is located on a hill, but I nearly dumped my bike TWICE stopping to get the capital building photo. I was a little shaken when I finally pulled out of there. It’s amazing how much your confidence ebbs and flows during a rally. No amount of telling yourself to be calm, or that everyone has such highs and lows, can help.
Vermont: Riding into Vermont, the road was a little twisty and more rural (I think I took route 9 from Albany and then hit Route 7 in Vermont). It was a little foggy with a light rain, but it was still a fun ride. Still, the going was slow, with lots of small towns and RVs to contend with. I remember being worried that I would pass through Vermont without a receipt, so I stopped at the first gas station I passed. It was TINY.  I figured the receipt would be bad because the pumps looked about 40 years old, but it turned out fine. Of course I passed about 20 gas stations rightwards.

New Hampshire: Entering New Hampshire, I stayed on Route 9. At some point I stopped at Wendy’s and justified it as a way of getting a receipt (in case my planned visit to the capital didn’t work out). In the back of my mind, I KNEW that Wendy’s never has good receipts (they don’t list all of the required information), but I guess I really needed a break. It’s also worth mention that New Hampshire was the most heavily police-patrolled state I’d been in. The cops were hiding around every corner and at the entrance to every small town. The state motto might be “Live Free or Die” but it was more like “Live Free, but We’re Watching You!”
Heading into Concord, NH the weather finally started to improve. It was now a hazy, sunny day. As I pulled up in front of the capital building there were other rally riders there and a group of locals. The locals had been following the rally and they offered to help with anything we needed. I was tempted to ask for directions, but figured this would count as outside assistance (grounds for disqualification), so I just smiled at them. As I was backing out to get back on the road, a local yelled out that I could avoid the traffic by pulling up over the large sidewalk (more of a pedestrian mall) and riding over to the side street. This made sense to me (there was no one else but riders around), so I pulled up and started to ride over……and then a cop came around the corner, saw me, and flashed his lights. I had no choice but to pull out right in front of him, which didn’t seem to make him any happier. I knew what was coming, so I immediately pulled over, and took off my helmet. Hmmmm…..this might not go well…..

Well it turns out the cop was a nice guy. He asked me if the other bikes were with me and I replied “sort of….we’re riding to the same places, but not always together.” Then, seeing them start to pull away, he asked me if they were going to wait for me. Not really thinking clearly, I replied, “not really. They’re like that.” I think he felt bad for me because he immediately told me he would just check my ID for outstanding warrants and let me go on my way! After a few minutes, he returned and we chatted about the capital building for a few minutes. I then exited the long way through town and took the short ride to Maine.

Maine: I lived in Maine from 2000-2001, so in a way I was heading into familiar territory. The capital Augusta is also familiar to me, so it took a LOT of self-discipline NOT to ride there and collect the heap of bonus points that were offered on this leg. Knowing I had to ride through Boston near New York, and having been slowed down in Vermont and New Hampshire, I just didn’t want to chance it. The weather was also crappier to the north, so that made the decision easier. Instead, I stopped in Kittery, Maine and got a receipt at an Irving Oil gas station (a privately-owned Canadian chain). I managed to get turned around somehow and wasted 20 minutes getting back onto I-95 heading south.

Massachusetts: Not much to report here. As usual, the Garmin voice (set up for the Australian accent) calmly told me to head directly for DOWNTOWN BOSTON. I think not! Instead, I routed myself around an outer ring road and steered west. A few toll plazas later I was past the worst of it. Boston would have been nice for the points, but there was just too much chance to losing two hours in traffic.

Rhode Island: I was pretty worried about missing this state, and looking at a map I had decided against going into Providence. However, after gassing up the traffic didn’t seem bad, so I had a change of heart and decided to bag the capital. I ran into two other riders at the site and easily got my photo.

Connecticut: I honestly don’t remember much about this part of the ride other than it was getting hot, and traffic on the Interstate was heavy and FAST. I know I stopped in Mystic to get a receipt because I remember staring at the receipt and thinking that it was a great name for a town. Traffic was god-awful at this point and rather than get back on the Interstate I killed 20 minutes chatting with a guy who showed an interest in my bike. He is a painter, but assured me that all of the paint on his hands was dry when he reached out to shake my hand. Upon learning I was riding through the lower 48 states, he started taking pictures of my bike and he phoned someone to let them know. He was clearly excited and, like a LOT of people I ran into, seemed mixed with awe and disbelief. It was fun to chat with him.

New Jersey (passing through NY again): Passing back into New York state, traffic got even crazier. How do people live like this!? It’s traffic H-E-L-L. There was a LOT of industry around, and at one point I witnessed a BAD accident on the other side of the highway. I just hoped that my side would keep moving, and other than miles and miles of badly grooved pavement, everything kept flowing. At one point I passed by a rider named Brian riding his Suzuki SV650. Brian was both the youngest rider (at 24 I think) in the rally and one of the quietest riders I had met in Seattle. His perpetual smile made him someone really fun to be around, and his sense of optimism seemed endless. Brian also has the distinction of having hit a BEAR in the IB5000 rally last year, and he has the blue tape holding his fairing together to prove it. His bike’s subframe also seems to have a slight twist to it, which makes is obvious that’s it’s him you’re following. We took turns passing each other for a while and eventually he dropped back out of sight (we were going just over the limit, but were absolutely mowed over by faster-moving vehicles). I had planned a LONG ride to the west and through the middle of New Jersey in order to avoid the heavy traffic around New York City. I don’t what which way Brian and the others went, but I wouldn’t see another rider until the following morning. I’m sure I gave up some time doing this, but I figured it was better to be moving than to risk hours and hours waiting in traffic. Having an air/oil cooled bike means that you can’t spend more than 10 minutes stuck in traffic without shutting down, or bad things can happen. It’s always in the back of my head when I’m sitting in traffic. If there’s an up-side it’s that I rarely hesitate to maneuver around stopped cars – thinking that I have a good excuse if I ever get pulled over for it.

At dusk, I caught a look at New York City off on the left (at least I think it was New York). It was fantastic. Very cool feeling. I then crossed an ENORMOUS bridge and within a few minutes I was in New Jersey (I might have already been in New Jersey….I don’t quite remember). Not too long after that I stopped for gas and started thinking about a hotel. With so many people, I figured that hotels might fill up fast. I was ready to stop anyway and I felt good about my ride. I had ridden the plan and it was still working.
I ended my night at a nearby Holiday Inn Express. Compared with the $25 fleabag motels I had been staying at on Leg 1, this place was paradise. The only problem was the three flights of stairs between my room and the parking lot. I got the last room, so I didn’t complain. Before heading to bed I decided to spend a few minutes re-routing. I was feeling a bit cocky having conquered the traffic and reaching the mid-point of the rally so I decided to add back in some juicy capital bonuses in West Virginia and Georgia (Atlanta). Heh heh, maybe I could break the top 25! Things were going well and I was definitely staying a little ahead of schedule. I drifted off to sleep dreaming of a high-place finish!

Day 7 (New Jersey cont....): SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT …… x1,000,000. I woke up on Day 7 having overslept by over TWO HOURS. The sun was already coming up and I had someone overslept my alarm. Usually I set two and get a wake-up call, but having never overslept in my ENTIRE LIFE, I figured one was plenty. It figures that the one time I set only one it didn’t go off. After jumping around the room for about a minute, I FORCED myself to sit down and re-plan for five minutes. My dreams of adding extra bonuses in West Virginia and Atlanta were now GONE (I was soooo pissed about that), and I fought to reconstruct my original route. A quick calculation showed that I could still ride the original plan, but no more. ARGH!

Down in the parking lot, things were taking FOREVER. My bike had some trouble starting, everything was covered in dew, and when I flipped on my bike the fog light and 2nd GPS were dead. Lovely. Now I’m late AND battle electrical demons again.

New Jersey cont.: Despite cursing myself out 100 more times, I fought hard to push down my self-loathing about sleeping in. I went through pretty much all of the stages of grief – ending up with a rationalization that I must have needed the extra sleep and that I would benefit from it later. Yeah, right. I forced a smile and rode carefully in the morning fog. At least traffic was light.

I must have passed 30 deer that morning in New Jersey. They were EVERYWHERE.

Delaware: My memory is pretty fuzzy here and I wasn’t long in Delaware. The highlight was passing  John Young on his Triumph just as I hit a toll booth. MY GOD. That guy is STILL was the rally! He looked absolutely terrible (soot all over his face and he was slumped over the controls), but he was STILL GOING. When I rode by I let out a huge whoop and I nearly scared him off the road. I felt bad, but I couldn’t help myself. Apparently he had been up all night repairing his bike. Every time I saw John it gave me the biggest lift. If he could come all the way from England on a hopeless bike and manage it – I could surely do it on a fully-equipped riding lounge chair! I was pulling so hard for John to finish that it hurt. What if….what if….naw he probably didn’t have a chance.

Maryland: I didn’t see much of Maryland. Going around Baltimore proved easier than I thought it would, and I stopped near Frederick for gas. I remember eating a six pack of cinnamon buns and taking off a couple of layers as the sun really started to beat down. I felt like I was getting back on track at least. There's nothing like a couple of hundred miles to calm me down.

West Virginia: Not much to report here either. I probably crossed somewhere near Harper’s Ferry (I was there in November to visit a friend and it looked familiar) I got gas and kept riding to Virginia. I do remember hearing very distinct accents at the gas station and having to make a tough left to get back on the road.

Virginia: I-81. More I-81. Still more I-81. I spent most of the day riding down this piece of godforsaken interstate.  The wind picked up and it was pretty awful the whole time. I also noticed a pile of storms creeping toward me on the radar. Most of the afternoon was spent worrying about when the storms would hit and how bad they would be. I ended up very lucky because I managed to slide between several bad ones, and never even got wet. Back in West Virginia things looked really BAD on the radar. I consoled myself with the fact that my original plan would have had me battling extreme weather all day, and I think I might have ended up bailing out short in any case. As fate would have it, oversleeping had put me right in the best window to avoid the weather. It turns out that at least one rider dropped out of the rally because of the storms to the northwest, and another rider to my south ended up in bad storm that nearly knocked her bike out of the rally.  The highlight of the day was running into an ADVrider "inmate" on a 650GS. We chatted for a while. He was heading home from a meet-up, and he knew all about the IBR. Nice guy.

Kentucky: I had been reminded at Checkpoint #1 that I had not done Kentucky yet (the recommended ride route had Kentucky on Leg 1). No worries I told my scorer – I would be grabbing it on Leg 2. The scorers looked worried, which made me worried. Had I made a terrible blunder?

Nope! The ride from Virginia up to touch Kentucky was AWESOME! Just as I turned off I-81, both Dan (oil change guy from Checkpoint 1) and my dad phoned, which really lifted my spirits. The road to Kentucky was also twisty/sweeper madness, and I laughed like mad as I tore through the valleys. SWEET! It was even better than the map had shown, and I could feel my energy level going back up again. As I hit Kentucky, I looked madly around for a town, and found only a little village at the foot of a HUGE mountain. I raced into the gas station, grabbed three bottles of water, and got a receipt for some snacks (I don’t think I got gas – I honestly don’t remember at this point). The accents were total Kentucky, which made me laugh out loud. Oops! I offended the locals. No matter, they were staring pretty hard at me in my spacesuit. When I asked “am I in Kentucky?” and found out I was, I jumped up and down pumping my first. Everyone stopped and just stared. Yup. I’m a freak.

Tennessee: The good roads continued into Tennessee. When I reached the border and got gas, I decided to phone ahead for another hotel. I had a little trouble with my phone, and some locals kept asking questions, which slowed me down a LOT. Finally, after 25 minutes of messing around outside of a gas station, I was free.

I ended the ride for the day at dusk. The sky was still clear and I had bagged another room at a Holiday Inn Express. Top floor of course. I dined on food from a nearby gas station and rapidly drifted off to sleep. Tomorrow I would reach Florida, and checkpoint #2!

[continued in next message]

[D-Mac]

Day 8:
Tennessee cont.: I left well before dawn and headed off into the fog. Wow it was foggy in the hills! My GPS told me that it would stay like this until I descended out of the hills and into South Carolina. OK. Just go slow then. Things were uneventful and I quickly entered North Carolina.

North Carolina: Other than facing a few “pucker moments” passing/being passed by 18-wheelers on mountain descents, North Carolina was pretty straight-forward. I got gas and quickly moved on without any problems. I don’t think I saw much of this state in the daylight. I gotta go back and ride some roads here.

South Carolina: As I descended into South Carolina, the sun finally came up. I don’t really know much about this State, but since Columbia was pretty much on my route, I decided to bag the capital building for extra points. Riding into town there was only a little traffic and the weather was perfect. The ride down the mountains was also spectacular, although challenging with the sun rising in front of me. It was only dawn but the heat was already building quickly.

South Carolina has a very charming capital building. Parking was available close by and the morning sun and mist gave the area an almost magical quality. I was feeling pretty good when I stopped at the capital and even took a minute to sit down and take a few breaths. I left Columbia in a great mood. It was one of the capitals I enjoyed the most on the trip. I’d highly recommend it. Time passed quickly, and before I knew it I was back on I-95 heading south.

Georgia: I don’t remember Georgia much other than it being in the way and on my list. I rode and rode and rode. It got hotter, and hotter and hotter. By the time I stopped for a receipt I was dying from the heat. My bike also developed a backfiring problem, which did a LOT to keep my awake (!) It went away after my next gas stop so I’m thinking it was just some bad gas perhaps. The first time it happened, I thought my rear tire had blown. Serious pucker moment!

Florida (checkpoint 2): When I crossed the state line into Florida I think they could hear my screaming all the way back to Maine. I’ve ridden a motorcycle, from Michigan, to Seattle, to Florida!?! I can’t believe I’m here! I’d only been to Florida once before (and not by car/bike) so it felt weird. The sun was really baking down now, and the trees that had lined the interstate in Georgia were nowhere to be found. The sun was relentless. I had planned to ride all the way to Jacksonville before stopping, but the heat was getting to me so I pulled over early. There was a MAJOR traffic backup coming the other way, so the gas station was packed too. Everyone got a laugh out of watching me dump a bag of ice down my pants while dancing around my bike. Kids took photos, parents laughed. Florida is a fun place.

As I hit Jacksonville, it dawned on me that I had to ride around the city to the South – and Checkpoint #2. The GPS wanted me to go straight through downtown, but I opted to ride around to the west. Between some construction, the heat, and an accident, it took well over an hour just to get within 10 miles of the hotel! I stopped yet again and grabbed lunch at a Wendy’s and anxiously rode to the hotel. On reaching the hotel, I got gas and rode triumphantly up to the entrance. TWO DOWN ONE TO GO!

I was tired, I needed to check in, my bike needed electrical repairs, and I could hear thunder in the distance. I got off the bike and the sound of the clock ticking in my head was deafening. The rally was to re-start late THAT NIGHT so I had no time to lose.
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More on the checkpoint in my next installment! In short, it turns out that the worst was yet to come. Even before the rally I knew that Leg 3 was going to be the killer. Between severe heat and storms in the South, baking desserts, dust storms, and wind, I knew it would be tough. I hadn’t realized it would nearly end my rally. Stay tuned!

[lakota]

great report.  looking forward to the next installment

[ScubaDave]

Great wright up, Sure am glad to hear you did not get a ticket for the short cut in Concord NH...

[doug5551]

Thanks for persevering in your report.

I still have not started mine, but I hope to get something done over the holiday period.

Doug
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