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2007 IronButt Rally "Gold Medal" Finish full story...
New Hampshire Gazette
"These riders are not the posturing, over-the-hill wannabes who think violating noise ordinances will make up for their lack of personality. These are people with an entirely different, and far more engaging, set of character defects."
Finish full story...
I needed a route
home from San Diego. What better way to see the
sights I wanted to see and of course get some
Ironbutt Association points than to tackle visiting
at least 50 National Parks in 25 or more states. My
4000+ mile home got me halfway and subsequent
forays into Florida, Massachusetts, and some
Rallies took me to a total of 27 states and 76
national parks.
After the 1000 mile
trips a truly long ride niggled at my brain. San
Diego has two of my children and the grand kids.
Cross country in 50 hours sounded like a plan to
me.
Riding cross country
wasn't enough. I really wanted to see if I could
ride 24 hours straight so the 1st half of the 50CC
Quest was a 1567 mile 23 1/2 hour endurance run.
After doing this I ran across an important quote;
"It doesn't take a lot of courage to keep going. It
takes a lot of courage to quit."
No big deal here
just got the paperwork for the second half of the
50CC. Could have earned a Saddlesore 2000 but
didn't want too much overlap.
My second Saddlesore
1000, what I call the 5 State Springtime I-Mountain
Tour. Eric Justason (a coworker) emailed and asked
if I wanted to join him for a qualifying run. It
was short notice but I figured that was what makes
a long distance rider - good sense overriding good
judgment :-)
My initial Ironbutt
Association qualification. Raleigh to Kansas City
1060 miles in 17.5 hours.
The 4th mini-rally.
Getting better with practice and learning the
tricks. Came in 10th in a field of 41.
This was an even
shorter mini-rally, only 10 hours. Doesn't give you
much time to make up for drastic mistakes like
mine. Placed 28th in a field of 37.
The snowstorm 2 days
before the start of the rally just about squelched
it but after an icey cold ride to Columbia on
Friday and a frigid start early Saturday the
weather turned nice. Didn't perform too well but
the trip to Sheldon Church made it all
worthwhile.
I thought my route
planning and riding skills would yield a good
score. Little did I know how much I had to learn,
37th of 47.
Rode to my daughters
house in Pensacola, Fl for the family Christmas get
together. Naturally I had to truck over to visit
with my fellow LD riders.
I had a new
motorcycle and an itch for some traveling. Jacob
was in Orlando for business during Bike Week and I
figured it was high time to see what it was all
about. If you haven't been I can't explain. Just
check out the pix.
I hadn't been on a
long ride for years. Jacob was at UIUC and riding a
bike, so we teamed up in Kansas City and spent a
week visiting relatives and touring
Missouri.
Jacob had finished
up the trike and wanted it for transportation at UF
Gainesville. Unsure of this bike's long distance
roadworthiness, to appease Mom, and to log some
miles I accompanied him on the trip down. It was a
good thing, check out the story.
The first plan for
touring the southwest and western United States
abruptly aborted due to a crash--Not the long ride
just the enjoyment. Check the story.
I understand this
was one of the early long distance events. It
certainly was an experience. Glad I kept all the
paperwork and pictures.
Had to test out the fuel cell and some other LD farkles in preparation for the upcoming rally. Decided to go to my Mom's house for dinner. I didn't actually get the pin but I rode the ride.
My first real rally. 48 hours and do all your planning on the clock. I did miserably but I learned something of my limits (more than I thought). Two thirds of the way in I was tired, cold, and wet. The way I felt this was my last rally. Naturally, less than 24 hours later I'm thinking it's Iron Butt Rally time.
I think this was the hardest and the best one day rally I've ever attended. Planned aggressively, rode hard, did pretty well for me. Experience counts.
These MD2020's sure are rough. I came home and told Patty that maybe I wasn't cut out for this multi-day rally business. But I was already signed up for the Buttlite IV.
My first long multi-day rally. Too bad I hurt myself and only got to play for 5 of the 7 days.
I did really well. I planned an agressive route, and executed the plan as well as I have ever done. No mistakes I could identify that would have improved my point standing. Too bad I moved from 17th to 63rd due to a dumb paper mistake that cost me a 50% penalty. Oh well, that's what makes it a game.
My second DNF. The infamous BMW final drive failure.
I swore I would never do it but...
No sooner to I recover from the IBR until I have signed up for the next rally.
