It was 5:00 am Sunday, October 5, and I had been on the road for 22 hours. I had travelled almost 1,100 miles and I still had about 50 miles to go to get back to the finishing point at the Western Skies Hotel in Los Lunas, New Mexico. It had been raining for about six hours, at times it was some of the heaviest rain I have ever ridden in. The I-40 had many miles of road construction, and it did not appear to my fatigued eyes to be up to Department of Transportation standards. The unfamiliar freeway was missing lots of reflector strips and painted lines which would have made the trip easier to get through during this driving rain storm. The countless trucks throwing water up into my face shield did not make it any easier.
What in the Heck was I doing here??///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////In June of 2007 I completed my first SS1000 on a group ride set up by the Motorcyle Touring Forum. Then last March I rode from San Diego to Jacksonville, Florida in 45 hours to complete a 50CC. In April, I participtated in the LowCal 250, a mini-rally out of San Diego. My riding partner, Tucson Nomad (on his ST 1300), said he was interested in participating in the Land of Enchantment Rally, a 24 hour rally which requires you to travel 1,000 miles minimum and document your visit to various locations worth differing point values. By Long Distance Riding standards, any rally which is within 1,000 miles of your home is close, because you can get there in a day. Los Lunas was a mere 800 miles from my place in Los Angeles. So I called my riding partner and we agreed to ride this together.
Now, how can you prepare to ride in a rally where you will not be given the rally book with the specific locations, point values, and rules until 9:00 pm of the night before the start of the event?
Let me count the ways:
1. I found and read 8 different rally reports which described the sites used in the different years. We made an itemized list and spreadsheet documenting these locations. There would possibly be some overlap between the bonus sites used in prior years and this years event.
2. I called the New Mexico Department of Tourism and got their 2008 Travel Guide and Transportation Map. I then became very familiar with the State of New Mexico. I have been studying them a lot and will know off the top of my head where all of the previous sites mentioned in prior rallies are located, so that I will be less shocked and surprised when I get the actual rally book. I want to be very familiar with the state prior to the Rally.This was all part of the fun in preparing for the Rally.
3. jwhite518 was particularly generous with sharing his hard earned knowledge and experience. He suggested that if it was a traditional rally with a single checkpoint, to plan it in two separate legs, with mileage estimates for the loops and to have realistic expectations of how many miles could be covered during the time frame.
4. A forum member let me have a copy of a rally book from an East Coast Rally. The exercise of reading an unfamiliar rally book in unfamiliar states and finding the locations on a map was very helpful and instructive.
So with that I was off on Thursday, October 2 to Los Lunas. The ride was very uneventful and I covered the 800 miles in 12 hours, with just four gas stops. The highlight of the ride was seeing the Golf Ball House in Yucca, Arizona:
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/10371Friday was spent doing a 35 mile Odometer Check, to verify the accuracy of your odometer. Mine turned out to be spot on.
Then at 8:00 pm, the riders meeting for the nearly 50 participants began in a meeting room. This rally was different in that Lowest Score wins, as opposed to the more traditional Highest score winning. The rules, as described by Ira Agins were:
The ground rules were pretty simple:
Ride at least 1,000 miles;
Collect at least nine bonuses, only one of which could be a combo bonus; and
Be back on time.
Of course, the easy bonuses were worth big points and the hard ones small points. Combo bonuses were worth negative points. Penalties were positive.With that, Tucson Nomad and I went up to our room to plan our route. He was using his laptop and mapping programs, while I was finding the locatins on a paper map. The paper map was very helpful to see the big picture of what was where. We found an easy 600 mile loop to do during the day, then a 500 mile loop to do at night after the checkpoint/Rest Bonus.
First stop was the Trinity Site of the first Atomic Bomb Explosion:
Note the happy smile on my face. I might look a little differently as the Rally goes on.
Next bonus was a picture of a Yucca Plant, because the theme for this years event was Yucca, Yucca, Yucca:
After this it was off to the Lincoln County Courthouse and Jail:
It was particularly instructive to see Brian R. ride off and then come back to confirm with the staff that we were at the correct location because the sign in front of the building did not reference any jail, which was part of the location description in the rally book.
Next was the International UFO Museum in Roswell:
After that was the Norman Petty Recording Studio in Clovis:
Note Rosie Sperry in the picture getting her picture taken by Tom, who hollered at us, "Are you having a good time?"
After that it was to Fort Sumner to Billy the Kid's grave:
This was a combo bonus with the Lincoln Courthouse, and so it counted as a separate bonus and took points off of our score.
Next it was back to the hotel for the 1 hour rest stop/checkpoint. We got there at around 6:00 pm during daylight, and left after getting gas at about 7:30 pm for a little 500 mile ride to Nara Visa, 50 miles North East of Tucumcari to take a picture of Ira's Bar:
Now I am not quite so bright-eyed and bushytailed in this picture. We had been in the rain for several hours and had another 250 miles to get back to the hotel, over those difficult roads I mentioned in the introduction. After taking several stops for rest along the way, we got back at just after 6:00 am, 23 hours after we had initially left.
After that, we were scored and we got credit for all of the bonus sites we had claimed. None were denied. Then a couple of hours of rest, and then a wonderful lunch at the Luna Mansion, followed by the Awards Ceremony where the results were announced:
http://www.loe1000.org/LOE2008RESULTS.htmOut of 46 people who left the starting line, there were 33 finishers and Tucson Nomad and I came in 17 and 18 place, in very distinguished company, and were 11 and 12 in total mileage. We planned a conservative route which would keep us out of the mountains at night. We were pushed to our limits and if we had tried to do more, it would have been unsuccessful.
I would like to especially thank the volunteers Paul and Voni Glaves, Tom Loftus, and last but not least Ardys Kellerman. They made the event much more enjoyable and memorable by their efforts.
Special Thanks to Tucson Nomad for partnering with me on this, our first 24 hour rally. Our styles were very compatible and participating with you made it a lot more fun than doing it solo. Thanks for riding 1,135 miles with me.
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