Posted: 06 February 2008 at 10:20pm | IP Logged

Executive Summary

The Iron Butt Rally is an 11 day motorcycle challenge to traverse the North American continent performing tasks at appointed locations and earning points in doing so.  It requires riders to solve the time/distance equation with precision and efficiency.

This year consisted of two legs both emanating and ending in Chesterfield (west St. Louis) Missouri.  The first leg I would encounter torrential rains while heading for the far east regions of Quebec to capture the prime 33,000 point bonus at Perce’ Rocks on the Gaspe Peninsula.  I would then return via Grand Marais, MI and Milwaukee to capture more high value bonuses.  A little less than 5 days after the start the scores would be tallied from the first leg and I would find myself in 24^th place.

The checkpoint would be challenging with a disagreement with the Rallymaster that finally concluded with an apology from myself while I disintegrated a new rear tire that was put on the bike for leg 2.  That wheel was replaced with the original from Leg 1 and I started out finally for the westward swing.

The westward leg would take me through CO, the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas and Death Valley before I had a full crash in a sand pit while obtaining a large bonus at the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest.  Recovered from that incident I would again fall off the bike while in traffic in Livermore, CA before getting back on my game and obtaining the prime 24,000 point bonus of the leg at the Lick Observatory on the top of Mt. Hamilton.

Lunch with my wife (Jan) in Colfax, CA got me off to a good start on the return to St. Louis.  Some good bonuses’ and a subsequent stop at my other home in Fernley, NV allowed me to put a new rear tire on by hand and get the bike back up to standard for the rest of the trip.  The westward leg was completed by scooping up bonuses across NV, UT, WY, NE and MO before the return to St. Louis where the final scoring yielded a 20^th place finish.

Unsatisfied with that performance I headed home with Eric Jewell and through conversations with that experienced IBR veteran started to better understand my disappointment - and so begins a recovery.

Brian R.

Posted: 06 February 2008 at 10:22pm | IP Logged

Prologue

The Iron Butt Rally is a biennial event that is sometimes referred to as the “Worlds Toughest Motorcycle Competition”.  It requires riders to navigate around the continental United States, Alaska and Canada in search of bonus points during an 11 day period.  It is a classic time/distance endurance competition. 

These bonuses (referred to as bonii) are normally a Polaroid picture of a particular item.  Each rider is given an identifying flag with their personal number on it and it must appear in each photo thus proving their presence at the location.  It gets more complicated as some pictures have very specific requirements and if the rider does not meet those requirements the points will not be awarded – this is where reading comprehension and an ability to follow instructions becomes critical.  At the end of the 11 day period the points are finally totaled and the riders awarded their position based on total points.  It is an honor just to finish and as they like to say – “more people climbed Mt. Everest last year than have ever completed an Iron Butt Rally”.  Still, make no mistake about it is a competition and while just finishing is an honor, everyone who has ever finished will readily be able to tell you what position they finished in!

This is the King of endurance rallies – the superbowl if you will, and it is a very difficult process to even get into this event.  The process starts within about 6 months of the end of the last event with applications.  If selected (by random drawing) you are notified shortly and you start the arduous process of preparing for this activity with time off, a specially outfitted bike, gear etc.  Most riders need the full 18 months just to prepare and may still be ill prepared when the start arrives.  During this 18 month period the riders will be notified of the starting location, any interim checkpoints and other critical information to get them to the starting line.  Reservations are made, fees paid, and arrangements made.  It is a big commitment and a once in a lifetime experience for most.

In the past the rally used to start in one place and circumnavigate the USA but it is an ever evolving activity and done so to adjust to riders skills and to keep the event fresh.  To this end the organizers – Mike Kneebone, President and Owner of the Iron Butt Association (IBA), and Lisa Landry the Rallymaster for the Iron Butt Rally (IBR) along with many dedicated staff members ( http://www.ironbutt.com/about/adjutants.cfm ) have worked hard to keep riders on their toes and challenged.  It is a huge undertaking!

For the 2007 IBR riders were informed that the start would be in Chesterfield, MO just outside of St. Louis and that there would be at least one mandatory checkpoint back at the same location 105 hours after the start.  They were also finally informed that at the checkpoint there would be a nine hour hiatus before the second leg bonus sheets would be given to riders.  This really was a mandatory rest period for riders.

In my preparations I had the remains of my rally bike from the 2005 event when I totaled it in an unfortunate incident during the first night of the rally.  I had spent more than a year rebuilding that into a very special built rally machine suited to me and specially intended for this competition.  It was a painstaking process and the rebuild cost in excess of $6,000 just to get the motorcycle where I wanted it to be.  I had also tested the configuration extensively (over 30,000 miles) and as late as May of 2007 had ridden the bike over 13,000 miles on the most awful roads that I could find in this country and Canada just to ensure it could handle the rigors of this test.  After that activity I had to completely strip the bike and rectify some weak spots but I was pretty certain that it could withstand anything the organizers could come up with.

I also concluded that the best way to perform maintenance on the bike (it would need one oil change and a new rear tire) was to perform the oil change prior to starting the rally in Chesterfield and to swap a full rear tire (rim and wheel) at the checkpoint myself.  To that end I located the nearest Wal-Mart where I could do the oil change and sent a brand spanking new rear tire with rim to the hotel.  With that my rally plan was set.

With the date of the start fast approaching I purposely held off on my trip to St. Louis from Fernley until the very last second.   With the requirement to have a mandatory checkpoint in the middle of the rally I concluded it would be two legs – one to the east and one to the west (or maybe south and north).  I felt that I would have to cover these roads (1800 miles) in the next two weeks under great duress and wanted to replicate those conditions prior to getting  to St. Louis.   It was an 1800 mile trip and I wanted to see how well I could cover them (even while not collecting any bonuses).

I left at 4:00 am on August 15^th with a reservation at the hotel for the following night.  By 3:00am the next morning I was having breakfast in Kansas City.  I knew that I could get there by 6:00 am or so thereby completing the journey in 24 hours (remember the two hour time change) but also realized I would not have a room until later that afternoon.  I stopped and took a two hour nap at a rest area just outside of Kansas City which I knew might come in handy later (nice picnic tables!) and then cruised into Chesterfield where I found the Wal-Mart and started prepping by completing an oil change on the bike.

By now I could feel the rally mode kicking in.  My normal pleasant and jovial demeanor had been changed and my psyche was changing dramatically.  I’m sure this was hard on the many friends I have in the endurance motorcycling community but just as your body starts shutting down the blood flow to your extremities when it is going into hypothermia (to reserve resources for critical organs) I shut down extraneous emotions and thoughts when I am confronted with a critical task to do – this to me was a very critical task as I had to make reparations for my performance in 2005 and uphold promises made to those close to me to be safe.  That end was all I could see, and while myopic and possibly unpleasant for others, it serves a critical purpose in keeping me focused.

As planned I was there on Friday with Technical Inspection of the motorcycle and required documentation (Insurance, Registration, License Endorsement etc.) scheduled for Saturday before the banquet Sunday night where the flags and first bonus sheets would be handed out thereby starting the event.   Once parking I moved off to the side where nobody would bother me and fixed a couple of small things on the bike.  Then I put the bike under cover, said as few hellos’s as I could and moved to my hotel room to relax and knock the 1800 miles off.

Check-In and Tech Inspection

Saturday came and I wandered out for the lengthy check-in and tech inspection.  I quickly finished the tech inspection, did the required odometer check test ride (they verify the accuracy of your odometer so that an accurate calculation of your mileage can be made) and moved on to the interview process.

This year an additional interview was added as they wanted to document each riders expectations etc for posterity.  I completed the standard “hold harmless” video and then got in line for the rider expectations interview.  It was getting late and Rallymaster Landry walked in and informed us that this interview was “optional”.  You did not have to tell me that twice – I was in no mood for this and was of the notion that the less I said the better anyways.  I completed the final personal interview with Mike Kneebone and called it a day opting to go to my room rather than socialize at a prearranged BBQ that was being put on by BMWMOA.  Rest came very easy.

Sunday and I was out in the parking lot packing the bike and retrieving all that I would need to perform routing later that evening when Dean Tanji cornered me to do the interview that I missed.  Dean is an old friend and it was difficult to be rude to him – but I tried – unsuccessfully and he still put me in front of the camera (Dean had more persistence than I had resolve).  Afterwards I slipped away to my room where I rested and prepared for the nights activities, only to emerge for the required riders meeting at 2:30.  Then I immediately returned to my room where I stayed until the 5:00pm banquet.  The packets were handed out and I was assigned number 57.  After looking over the packet and determining that I had one garbled page I borrowed another riders correct copy and wrote in the corrected language and retired to my room for route planning.

Brian R.

Posted: 06 February 2008 at 10:27pm | IP Logged

So it begins:

When I competed in 2005 I just used a GPS alone with paper maps to do my routing and found it difficult.  Over the two years I devised a very strict routine for evaluating a bonus pack and processing it into a route complete with timing.  I made this system so that I could do it with or without the assistance of a computer just in case they decided to offer bonus points to those who completed and declared their general route without the aid of a computer (want rallyists to do something – give them points for doing it, ala Rest Bonus) – or if my Dell laptop gave up the ghost during the rally.

I had practiced this in rallies in 2006 and then practiced in 2007 by using all the bonus listings from past IBR’s since 1995.  I had it down to being able to generate a route in as little as 30 minutes with the more complicated 2005 listings taking about 2 hours.  I knew it would be difficult and was not surprised at all when I numbered the bonuses for leg one and came up with 126 bonii. 

As the instructions say (paraphrasing) “The bonus listing is like a restaurant menu, it may all look good but ordering too many things and you may ge sick and die”.  From working past IBR’s I knew the organizers had a penchant to send riders up to Maine, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island and had prepared myself all day for that occasion (I felt the shorter leg would be to the east) and knew that there was a big weather front in that direction.  I was mentally prepared to ignore the weather and go where the points dictated.  After processing, my spreadsheets clearly told me that while there were plenty of bonuses not in the weather the route for me was directly into the teeth of the storm.  It also looked like It might not be that bad as the heart of the front was about 75 miles north of my route and I would really encounter it when I turned north and pierced through it going towards Maine from Pennsylvania.  I finished my routing by about midnight and actually slept well.  All the practice paid off as I was pretty secure in my decisions without the second guessing that I experienced in 2005 without a system.  I also knew that my route was very conservative and that the points I was looking at would put me in the middle of the pack.  I just wanted to “survive” the eastward leg especially with the weather and be well rested for the westward swing where I felt my strength was and that my finishing position would be determined in the west.  You can see my final route below.  Those little flags are bonus locations.  I thought this to be around 95,000 points and we were told that you would need at least 70,000 to be a finisher and around 100,000 to be a contender.  The route was about 4,100 miles and easily achievable for me.

The idea was to swing quickly to New York picking up a bonus at the Jefferson Memorial Arch, one in Marysville, OH, then on to a nice 5,000 point bonus in Wheeling, WV before punching north and skipping the New York City bonuses (daytime bonii and I wanted to get through there in the middle of the night).

I had two targets for the morning in Maine.  The Federal Cigar Store in Portsmouth for 900 points, and Reynolds Motorsports in Buxton for 5300 points.  Both of these were solid bonuses and IBR traditions (besides how can I resist a Cigar Store?).  I will admit that I was a bit worried about the Federal Cigar Store becoming my equivalent of George Zelenze’s  2005 Hot Springs (where he spent 19 hours practicing his Polaroid techniques in a hot bath) but I thought I could show some self restraint!  Then I had a couple of modest bonuses on the way to the Perce’ Rocks that was out on the corner of Gaspe Peninsula.  That was worth a whopping 33,000 points, was 1800 miles from the start, and we had a daily four hour window (low tide) when we could satisfy the requirements of the bonus instructions.  This was the bonus the whole route was built around and getting it was paramount if I was to have any success at all in this rally.

There were several large bonuses located out in Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick that I spent almost two hours analyzing but I finally determined that bagging those along with the 33,000 Perce Rocks bonus would take more than I was willing to expend this early in the rally (possibly more than I am capable of).  I knew somebody would do this but I did not want to be stuck 1800 miles from the barn for another day chasing after points and not making any progress back to the checkpoint – not my way of rallying.  I decided to give those points up (a total of about 26,000 points) and opt for a plan that would take me across Canada to Grand Marais, MI where an easy 10K bonus was.  With some luck I felt I could then get to Milwaukee/Chicago area where there were about was about 13,000 more points to be had.  Bagging all these would keep me up with the more industrious riders who stayed in eastern Canada but would place me only about 300 miles out from the checkpoint as time counted steadily down.  When I started planning I thought a total of about 4750 miles might be doable but wanted to cut that back with the severe weather.  My final route came in around 4100 miles and I was very happy with that.

Day 1 - Monday

The start is listed as 10:00 am but in reality we had to be at our bikes at 8:30 am for odometer checks.  That means I had about 7 hours or so for sleep and I got most of it.  Coming outside I saw it was threatening rain and when they called a riders meeting the clouds gave way and we all found ourselves standing in the rain.  I kept to myself as riders like to talk about where they are going to get verification that they are on the right track and I did not want to be swayed from my assigned plan – it was a good one for me.

On the bikes at 9:55 the clouds burst forward with a full shower.  I was in serious mode and ready to go when I saw Rallymaster Landry running down the aisle of bikes telling Dale “Warchild” Wilson to get the riders rolling.  Now those of you who have never seen Lisa,  I can describe her as a very attractive mom of three who has a ton of class, can handle a bike as well as any other rider, and has more chutzpah than any two people should ever be endowed with.  Seeing her running down that aisle in the pouring rain without any raingear on caused me to break my first smile – I’ve never seen her perfectly kept blonde hair that flat before!  At this moment, it was OK to smile, I had my helmet down…

Off to the first quick bonus which was the Jefferson Memorial Arch.  We all parked in the north lot as that was right where our mapping (at least mine) indicated the entry to be.  Seeking the exhibit we needed to photograph required us to take a walk and enter a secured area with an airport like search.  Well, LD riders are like boy scouts and carry all kinds of metal objects in their heavy coats and doing a strip search was a real pain in the ass and as we piled up at the entry point the line got long.  Fortunately I was there quickly and into the exhibit.  Amazingly there was rallymaster Landry – all dried off and coiffed again.  Wow, I knew she was full of tricks but never knew she had a twin!  I grabbed my picture and headed back to the bike.

From here it was a long ride to Marysville and it started raining in Indianapolis.  According to my reports the bulk of the storms were supposed to be farther north so I did not regear at all.  My coat is waterproof so my top was dry but my pants require a gortex liner to be waterproof and I decided not to put it on and just soak through.  I did that and (as usual) the water wicked down my pants and into my boots.  They are leather with no Gortex but I’ve waxed them and they are waterproof – how do I know?  Well as the water flowed into them the held it very nicely (thankyouverymuch) and it was not long before I had boots full of water and that was how I spent the next 500 miles.

The Marysville bonus was 47 miles off my path and by that time it was raining so hard I decided to forego that smaller bonus and get through the rain.  By Wheeling, WV I had picked up with other riders (Dick Fish, Bill Watt, Bob and Sylvia Torter and others) and cruised into Hoagies Roadhouse where they quickly put a burger in front of me and I decided the Gortex finally had to come on for night time.  I pulled off my pants and boots and one of Hoagies gals took my boots and emptied the water to her amazement (they were full!).  With my liner on the boots are covered and there is no more draining into them so I would stay dry.  The gals brought me a bunch of towels and I dried everything off and regeared before leaving (Hey – does this constitute outside help?).

The Hoagie bonus was the one that was garbled on my handout and I had written in some of the directions but not the one that said to take a picture.  After watching a couple of riders take pics I found another complete instruction and did the same – whew, that was close.

Having my first two good bonii I was well ahead of my 05 performance and feeling pretty good even as wet as I was.  Bob and Sylvia asked me what I was doing next and I said “getting as far past New York as possible”.  That is what I did.

I made good time up the coast even in the never ceasing rain but somewhere about 3 miles from the Jersey turnpike I saw a little impish figure jumping up and down along the side of the freeway waving his arms feverishly.  After deciding it was not an aberration I realized it was John (two fingers) Langan jumping up and down by his capsized Gold Wing Luxobarge.  I immediately put the bike into an emergency stop and parked it in a median strip between the freeway and the end of an entrance ramp (talk about bad places to be).  As I dismounted my bike I screamed “Two Fingers, what the $@c* are you doing out here?”

John replied “I head some noise coming from under the bike and stopped beside the freeway to investigate and found my centerstand dragging without a spring to hold it up.  I was tying it up with some wire when I pulled the whole bike over”.  Holy cow, he was damn lucky he did not just get trapped under that 1200 lb mess – I will say, for an old guy he is a quick little SOB!  We quickly got the bike uprighted (and yes – I have a lot of experience in these situations) since it was almost in the #1 lane and I wanted to get out of there.  John did a quick inspection and we were underway and heading across New Jersey towards New York.

John – next time get OFF THE FREEWAY to do your inspection!

Brian R.

Posted: 06 February 2008 at 10:28pm | IP Logged

Day 2 - Tuesday

I made good time up to Maine and was at the Federal Cigar Store by early morning.  I managed to get out of there with just a single Arturo Fuente in my coat pocket and the required newspaper (bonus requirement instead of a picture) and then was on to Buxton where I was required to rest for 1 hour.  Vicki Johnston was there looking as fresh as if she had just started while I tried to get a few moments of sleep (impossible).  By now the weather had cleared and it was a glorious day.  I could finally start to dry out all of my waterlogged gear (what a mess).

Somewhere on the way up there I stopped at a rest station for a quick nap since I had not had any rest yet and while laying on a picnic table (my favorite spot) I heard another motorcycle pull up.  It was Chris Sakala on his BMW.  He stopped, threw the bike up on the centerstand and just folded himself backwards to rest on his aux tank.  You yogi folks may recognize this as a bridge pose and I was damn impressed to see him pull that off and sleep!

I left Buxton and was almost convinced to skip the smaller Main bonuses because I had them as 456 points and 949 points (as you can see from my pushpins).  When I checked the bonus handout the second bonus was in fact 1888 points and not 949 so I decided to grab both of those after all.  The first was a coffee shop with a unique sign we needed to take a picture of and the 1888 was of the Bath Marine Museum where there was a skeleton of a Schooner under construction we needed a picture of.  I got the coffee shop and headed to Bath which I found quickly. 

During the past days rain my left boot had rubbed a hole in the back of my ankle and I was limping badly.  I had pulled my medical kit out for band aids but it was soaked including all the bandage materials.  I limped up the steps to the museum and paid for entry obtaining a receipt and inquired about the schooner (each step was painful and I needed to get some attention on that ankle).  The manager and clerk both replied no schooner but we do have huge lofting exhibit that is under construction next door.  Great – now for those uninitiated, a lofting in shipbuilding is the skeleton of the boat.  This term was borrowed for aerospace and as an engineer there, in a past lifetime, I used to do loftings (http://dixdesign.com/lofting1.htm ) so I felt this was probably what was meant in the instruction.  I took several pics of the exhibit under construction and felt that with the receipt I had it.

Then it was on to New Brunswick but  I spotted a Wal-Mart by the border crossing I pulled in to get some medical supplies to fix my ankle later that night before it got infected.  The border crossing was slow and it was getting dark.  I had another small bonus just past the border but it required a daylight photo.  As I approached that bonus my GPS changed from daylight mode to nighttime and I knew my chances at bagging the daylight picture of the covered bridge just ended.  I traveled on, but by that time had picked up Eric Jewel on my tail who had beat me to the bonus and managed to get it.  Good news was that with Chris Sakala, Vicki Johnston and EricJewel (all top riders) in the neighborhood I had to be on the right trail.

Nightime came and it was time for our rest bonus.  These are different from the normal photo or receipt bonuses where we get points for resting (great idea in my opinion).  You prove it by getting a computer generated receipt for something in a location and go back to that same location for another receipt after the required time interval thereby verifying that you did not travel during that time.  I stopped and got the last hotel room in Grand Falls, New Brunswick and the receipt for my room was properly time stamped providing my starting time.  It was a 6 hour stop that was to start on Wednesday.  It was Tuesday around 11:00pm so I would be there for a minimum of 7 hours to fulfill the requirement.  Great in my book, and it was a very nice room.  I fixed my foot and messed with my cell phone which would no longer hold a charge.  This kept me from calling about small issues as the Maritime Museum bonus but I was determined to run a very quiet rally anyways and not be a pain in the ass to any of the organizers so no phone was no big deal.  In the morning I actually slept a bit longer to about 6:30 and then packed the bike.

Posted: 06 February 2008 at 10:29pm | IP Logged

Day 3  Wednesday

After packing up I plugged my phone into the wall and called Rallymaster Landry.  Before starting Lisa Stephens had told me about her GPS screen delaminating and that she had received a new one from Garmin.  I had never heard of such a thing but guess what – in the rain mine started to separate and was quickly destroying itself.  In addition to that my radar detector had self destructed in the rain so I wanted to see if she could get replacements for me to pick up at the checkpoint.  This went against my “low profile” goal ( I really did not want to be a high “maintenance rider” and just keep to myself)  but I knew Lisa Landry would want to help if she could.  I also called my wife Jan to see if she could arrange a replacement GPS from Garmin and then left for the day knowing both of them would be helping me to obtain replacement units.  Let me comment here that Jan had given me dispensation not to call each day.  I have a separate tracking system on the bike called Star-Traxx and it reports my position hourly to a website on the internet.  Many other riders have that system also and the Star-Traxx managers usually show all IBR riders on a public screen so the public can see where they are going.  I asked them specifically to exclude my signal from public display – especially since their layout from the 2005 IBR STILL shows me in Coeur d’Alene, ID.   Jan was to be the only one with access to this data flow so she would know my general status

Off towards the feature bonus of the leg – Perce’ Rocks, way out on the end of the Gaspe Peninsula.  I stopped in Cambellton and captured another significant bonus (3,000) then wound my way through Pacific Coast Highway like traffic to Perce Rocks.

I kept picking up more LD riders on the trip out and when I got to the Rocks there were bikes all around.  This was one of the most beautiful bonii I have ever visited and our requirement was to take two pictures.  One picture was to clearly show the tide was out and another was to be taken as a close up of the rocks after walked across the normally submerged bay to the big rocks and take a close up picture.  When the tide comes in it evidently does so with a heavy current and it is dangerous to try to make this walk and you could see that would be the case.  It was another Chamber of Commerce day and the sight was just beautiful.

I stripped and locked up my gear putting on my Keen sandals for the walk.  That made the walk very easy and the Tech Sox that I wear took on the water and were dry before I was putting my boots back on.  As I said, many riders were there and it is always amazing to see the group at a bonus like this all showing up at the very same time 1800 miles from home.  I had told Rallymaster Landry I would call her from the bonus as she was interested to hear first hand how that was going.  I forgot about my phone but the thing had enough charge left for a short call so I did and reported that it was a beautiful sight and that all of the riders looked pretty good (with a couple of notable exceptions who were looking a bit worn).  Good job organizers – spectacular bonus.

Now was time for me to start the long trip back to the checkpoint.  I worked to laboriously get off the peninsula.  I made one stop for a subway sandwich and pulled out my computer.  The manager came out and asked me to test his new wireless network and I logged on and was glad to check the weather back to Michigan – looked fair.  I also verified my route plan and I still looked right on schedule but would need to pull an all nighter to get across Canada and around Michigan to Chicago if I wanted to get those bonuses.  I talked to Jeff Earls at Perce’ and he thought that was ambitious (and I have a tendency to listen to Jeff, he is one of the best) but it was my plan, I had a nice 7 hours or so sleep and I was going with it as I knew the weather system was still hanging over the Ohio Valley area if I wanted to go that way and pick up alternative bonuses on the way back to the checkpoint.

Coming off the peninsula back to the Trans Can Hwy 1 ran into Paul Peloquin, another old rally buddy.  He had looked a bit worse for wear at Perce’ (Sorry Paul, you were kinda fried).  He seemed a bit unsure as to where he was going (John Langan had just split off from us heading south and I think that confused Paul a bit) and when I told him what I was doing he said that was his plan also.  I wanted to ride this rally alone for various reasons but decided it would be good to ride with Paul and see how he was doing.  If necessary maybe he would listen to an old friend and possibly get some rest or even a hotel if need be.  We started down the Trans Can and Paul was just fine so we set a reasonable pace and were doing great with good weather.

Posted: 06 February 2008 at 10:31pm | IP Logged

Day 4 - Thursday

We made good time through Canada and into the wee hours of the night seeing a couple of other riders on the way (Rob Nye and Dick Fish) and it was a nice nighttime ride until we got to Montreal.  Here in this city I had one of the most bizarre experiences of my rallying career.  Ok, let me set this up for you:

1. The freeway through all of Montreal was closed!  As a workaround they had stitched together all the freeway access roads through the city along side the freeway as a work-around.  You were twisting and turning going over cross roads bumps and making sharp turns filled with barricades.
2. If you did not see the most recent movie ”Fast and Furious, Tokyo Drift” it was about kids with souped up small cars like Honda Civics and Hyundai’s who street race on twisty roads by sliding their cars through the turns.  They are pretty much in a constant slide called a “drift”
3. It is about 1:30 or so at night and the roads absolutely empty.

Paul and I are sitting at a light and a bunch of these little hot rod imports pull up around us revving their engines.  As the light changes they all peel out and hit the first corner throwing their cars into slides.  Those who had been behind us are now using Paul and I like moving pylons to “drift” around.  I feel like I’m in the middle of a movie shooting and am absolutely amazed that this is going on in the middle of a major metropolitan area.  Soon we hit a stretch where the road dumps us back temporarily onto the straight freeway.  Now these cars may be running nitrous but they just do not have the horsepower to pull any real speed (that is why the drifting is so fun to them).  Paul and I were really not that amused (more amazed) so we quickly say good bye to our young compadres as we hit the throttles on the much more powerful motorcycles and get clear of our playmates.  I have to say that kept me awake for the next couple of hours.

Sometime around 3:00am we stop for a bite at a Tim Hortons (the Starbucks of Canada) and then get back on the road.  Soon after we stop at a rest stop and pull in for a nap.  I believe we slept for about 2 hours and it was needed at this time.

Up again we did hit some rain but the rest of the ride into Sault St. Marie was uneventful.  I knew with the two hours sleep and rain we did not have a lot of extra time to bag Grand Marais and get to Chi Town so the border crossing would be critical.  That crossing took almost an hour and was a further set back in our aggressive schedule but I still felt it was doable.  We made Grand Marais after coming upon a totaled FJR parked along side the road that had obviously hit a large animal.  After a quick spin around we determined it was not one of “ours” and continued on our path.

About 75 miles south of Grand Marais as we were coming into Manistique the skies opened up.  It was raining again – HARD.  On Monday I had 18 hours straight where I did not crack the face shield on my helmet but this was different.  We got stopped at a light and were on an uphill slope with the light at the top of the hill.  The water was rushing over the top of the hill and was ankle deep and I was having trouble holding the bike against the current as it rushed downhill over my shoes.  I wanted to pull into a gas station that had a cover to take my rally pages out of my tankbag and put them in my waterproof Pelican case and there was knee deep water in the left lane preventing me from getting there.  About 80 miles down the road in Escanaba we passed a parking lot with a single car in it THERE WERE WHITECAP WAVES LAPPING AT ATHE CAR.  Thankfully I had all my gortex liners on but my extremities (hands) were still soaked and I could barely see.  It was getting to be dusk and I was worried we would not pull out of it before dark.  We were following Lake Michigan and each time we came close to the lake the rain really picked up into sheets as the “Lake effect” kicked in.  All I could think of is that if I had a dog I would let them pee on the rug rather than making them go outside in this – and here I was on a motorcycle in it!  Finally as we approached the Wisconsin border the rains started to let up and nighttime came.

Somewhere around Sheboygan we stopped for a bite and the young man who made my sandwich came over to the table and hovered asking me if we were members of the Iron Butt Association.  I reluctantly said we were and he got very excited and told me he knew about Dale “Warchild” Wilson and how he had completed 7 straight days riding 1500 miles each day.  His MSF instructor knew Dale and had told him all about this great feat the past weekend while in training.  Paul pointed to me and said “there is the mechanic for that great endeavor” and after a few gushing minutes Paul and I left laughing about what a “Rockstar” Dale had become.  It was a fun memory to push us on the last hundred miles or so!

By now we knew that Chicago was out of the question so we set our sights on Harley Davidson and Buell headquarters for the morning which would be worth about 5,000 points.  We got a hotel just outside of Milwaukee and set up for some sleep and an early start.

Posted: 06 February 2008 at 10:33pm | IP Logged

Day 5 - Friday

With another nice night of sleep we got to Harley Headquarters just before the time set for us to be able to get a picture.  We obtained our bonus and headed to Buell.  The Buell headquarters is out in a rural area in a very nice modern industrial complex. This looked like a great place to work, and Eric Buell himself was even out front talking to Dick Fish when we arrived.  After securing that bonus all we needed to do was get back to Chesterfield by the 5:00 deadline.

We cruised back with minimal effort but as we approached East St. Louis the weather started to change dramatically.  As we approached the bridge over the Mississippi into St Louis there was a huge storm cell moving in.  I took a wrong turn into East St. Louis and the cell hit with fury.  There was crap and a thick cloud of black smoke flying across the road and I was waiting for flying cows.  I made the fastest U-Turn I could and headed back to the bridge.  As we climbed up onto the bridge sheets of rain started coming down (great – I was finally dry) and traffic was stopped as the winds really whipped up.  It was muggy hot and I thought we might be in a tornado cell and was quite worried.  The wind was strong enough that I feared being blown off the bridge as we were in the right lane so I moved over one lane and we put the bikes on the sidestands to hold them against the wind in the stopped traffic.  Normally in an emergency situation like this I would split traffic and get the hell out of there but there was no splitting with these winds and rain.  Suddenly, a truck that was two lanes over and in front of us just started backing up.  It looked like the wind was pushing it back but I think somehow he lost his brakes or engine power and the cars started piling up behind him (and beside us) like dominoes.  I felt like I was in another “B” movie and there were strings pulling the truck back – it was amazing.  Horns blaring cars just stacking up, chunk, chunk, chunk – I wish I had a movie camera.  He seemed to pull forward a little then once again started moving backwards again and just piling up the cars.  All of a sudden the truck started to jackknife TOWARDS US!  I thumbed the starter and quickly moved up into the space left empty by the backwards truck.  As I did, we had a clear shot down the bridge and took it.  We hit the first exit and Paul whipped around the first corner in the city where he spotted an open door to the loading dock to the Westin hotel.  Paul overshot it and ended up on the sidewalk dropping his bike as he clipped a bus stop bench.  I got of the bike and helped him get his FJR up (see, I’m really good at this!) and then we took refuge inside the loading dock of the hotel.  We waited there for about 20 minutes until the worst of the storm passed and then finished the ride into the Checkpoint.  What a leg!

Checkpoint

We got in about 2 hours early for the checkpoint but I had a lot of work to do.  Rallymaster Landry was at the registration desk when I walked up and immediately told the hotel registry that I should have a pre-keyed room so that I was very quickly registered and on to my room.  I got my room and moved my things for the evening up there.  Immediately I came back and got my spare tire out of the storage room.  By now it was raining hard so I moved my bike under a tree and proceeded to change the rear tire.  The tree did not help much but I still got the job done.  Afterwards the wheel felt a bit “tight” but I just chalked it up to needing to have the rear floating brake “float” back into position after the bike is moved a bit.

It was now time to go and get scored.  I moved back to my room where I would prepare for scoring.  Over the years I have lost many points at the scorers table because of poor preparation.  It is one of the facts of rallying that you step up only when fully prepared because you cannot leave the scorers table to get additional supporting information etc.  you need to be prepared.  Over the past several years I have worked hard to be better prepared so that I would quit making silly mistakes and get all the points that I actually earned.  In doing this I have created a checklist for myself that I use in preparation.  Since using and refining this system my lost points have declined steadily and I normally walk away with all the points that I claim.  Here is my checklist for arrival at a checkpoint and scoring preparation:

I spent about 1 hour in my room running through this list and when all was said and done I had a nice neat stack of fuel receipts and fuel log (worth 10,000 points) and I had all my bonus photos that I intended to claim in order.  Ready to go, I had calculated that my total score including gas log, rest, call-in, photo bonuses would total around 87,700.  Not the 95,000 I had targeted but remember I had to give up on all the bonuses in Chicago so I was satisfied that this would give me a solid standing to work from for the westward swing.

As a final step I reviewed the “Scoring Procedures” we had been sent a couple of weeks before the rally and I had in my rally book.  They clearly stated that any bonus where you did not follow exact instructions should be recognized by the participant and the reasons explained.  I had the anomaly at the Bath Maritime Museum so I identified that and provided an explanation that I had taken pictures of the “Lofting” exhibit under construction and a copy of my receipt for entry into the museum showing when I was there.

I was one of the last ones to be scored as I had been so busy getting everything else done so I could sleep immediately after scoring.  It was a breeze as my preparation did pay off and when we came to the Bath Maritime Museum Chief scorer Ira Agins was called to make a determination.  He was not sure and felt that other rallyists had successfully accomplished the bonus so called in the final authority Rallymaster Lisa Landry.  A quick check determined that many others had successfully bagged the bonus which was next to the museum and not at it, and my points were denied.  I tried valiantly to make my point but to no avail.  I’ve been doing this long enough to know that when this occurs you just smile and move on and that at this point in the rally 1888 points would be pretty meaningless but that is not what I did.  We finished the scoring with me being silent – basically pouting…(I had a score of 85,818 so I did get everything I claimed except the single denied bonus).   I quickly left the scoring room in silence and went to my room (steaming all the way).  Rallymaster Landry was out in the hall milling around a bit as I blew through the door but even though we are old friends I wanted nothing to do with her at this time and just made a bee-line for the elevator completely ignoring her.

Because I was so hot under the collar my critical sleep was affected and I was very restless.  At 3:30am I got up and prepared my room for receipt of the leg 2 rally pack to be processed.  I have a nice list for that also ….. too bad it is too long to reprint here 

Brian R.

Posted: 06 February 2008 at 10:38pm | IP Logged

Day 6 – Saturday

At the 4:00am meeting some of the rally staff reminded me I had a package which included a borrowed V1 and GPS unit from Eldon Cannon whom I had met last year at the NorthWest Passage Rally.  Lisa Landry had secured that while I was out on leg 1 after I told her mine had given up the ghost.  My wife Jan had tried valiantly to get a replacement for me but it was just not to be.  She had called Lisa distraught that she could not get a replacement GPS for me in a timely manner no matter how she tried.  Lisa told her that it was taken care of and Jan felt much better – in her defense it had also been our wedding anniversary and she had not heard from me yet at the time she called and that may have had something to do with how distraught she appeared to be at the time.  Note:  (I did call my wife on our anniversary prior to scoring)!

Leg 2 Planning

We were told that a score of 190,000 would be required to be a finisher and that about 240,000 would be required to be in the upper echelon of finishers.  That meant to me that because of my substandard leg 1, and lost points, I needed to get about 130,000 in bonus points to go with 10,000 points for gas log, 4,000 for turning in my emergency badge, 4,077 for call in bonus and 7723 for the 5 hour rest bonus. I would probably need a lot more if I wanted to improve my standing from 25^th place where I ended up after leg 1.  The rally pack was as expected, to the west, and was 137 bonuses deep.  It was complex but many of the locations I knew well (several being within spitting distance of my home)

It took me several hours to distill the complex list but I finally did to the following route:

Looks weird but it has me going to California along Highway 80 picking what daytime bonuses I can on the way along that route.  Once there I was to go to Gerlach in the early morning and then sweep the Eastern side of the Sierra’s and Death Valley followed by a swing up the Western side ending at the biggest bonus which was 24,000 points at the Lick Observatory near San Jose on the top of Mt. Hamilton.  There were some 20 bonuses valued between 8,000 and 24,000 points and 6 of them were along this route and another 6 were in Canada and Alaska so I felt these two were mutually exclusive tracks to take (once again – for this rider).  This route also had plethora of medium sized bonuses from 3,000 to 8,000 points and when I was done it was only about 5,500 miles.  Completely doable and would allow me to sweep back and pick up anything I missed on the way  west as most all of the bonuses were daylight only (limits your total mileage since your only collecting points during daylight hours).  I thought anything under about 6500 miles would be achievable and this looked pretty good.  A check of the points from my plan yielded about 130,000.  The key was to get to the west coast and be able to spend two full days there before being at Mt. Hamilton during the time window on Tuesday of 9:00am to 3:00pm.  My goal was to be there early and start heading back to St. Louis to get another two full days of daylight bonus collecting on the way back.  My little 1800 mile test run from Fernley to St. Louis on the way to the rally was in fact good practice as that was my exact route there and back.

I was not totally convinced that this route was perfect as there were some really good bonuses out there being ignored but I had spent almost 4 hours looking at this and it was about 9:00am and I needed to be making progress westward (that is one thing I knew for sure).  I did not complete my rally pack processing list and shortcutted that process.

I cleaned out the room and packed up the bike.  I was still not to be messed with from my scoring disagreement with Lisa the prior night and it appeared that most of the participants, staff, and spectators could feel it as they mostly gave me a wide berth as I walked back and forth from room to bike.  Loaded and ready to go I spun the rear wheel and it was still dragging on the brake and I was concerned.  Still – I needed to get moving.

The freeway west was just a couple of blocks away and as soon as I was off the on ramp my bike went into a wild wobble.  I quickly stopped and checked the rear tire and the axel bolt was loose.  I tightened it and hit the road again.  Again, it went into a wild wobble and I was lucky to get to the shoulder again.  This time the bolt was still tight but now the rotor was rubbing on the brake torque arm.  There was something seriously wrong with this bike and I could hardly even roll it now.  Stranded on the side of the road (a very dangerous place – remember my advice to John) with a crappy cell phone I pondered what to do.  I looked at the phone and it still had enough charge to make some calls.  I thought about calling my towing service as the other option – calling Rallymaster Lisa Landry, just seemed too painful at the time.  I came to my senses and called her – she answered.  I explained my predicament and she immediately went into action to help me dispatching her #1 helper Steve Hobart with assistants and a trailer to get me the hell off the freeway.  A cop stopped by and pulled up behind me and asked if I was OK.  The borrowed radar detector was going wild and the extra warning lights I have connected to it were putting on a real nice light show.  He laughed and said “I should have been more courteous and turned off my radar unit”.  I replied – “No, I should have had the sense to turn off the detector” and we got a good laugh.  He knew I was from the group at the hotel and once convinced that I would be taken care of he moved on to catch some real criminals.

Back at the hotel it was a scramble around the bike as I removed the offending rear wheel.  Upon removal I could see that I had not put in a spacer that went between the hub and the sprocket carrier.  Rider error while changing tires in the rain!  The bearings on my brand new wheel were scrap and I was damn lucky to be alive.  I went back into the storage room and retrieved the wheel with 6,000 miles on it and put it on the bike with all the proper spacers and the new rear sprocket.  While doing all this I was still steaming not only about my scoring fiasco but now my failure in motorcycle maintenance that almost cost me dearly.  The group that was around me were mostly people that I have known for some time and several pulled me aside and just “recommended” that I adjust my attitude and square things with the rallymaster before leaving for the westward leg.  As I cleaned up I asked Steve to see if Lisa had a minute to see me as what I had to say needed to be done in person and not over a phone.  I was now running very late as it was nearly 11:30am, so when she appeared I wasted no time and just apologized to her as best I could for how I had treated her – she graciously accepted my apology. 

As I headed towards Kansas City I thought hard about what I had done and how I had acted terribly to a person who had been bending over backwards to 1.  Get me replacement electronics, 2. Console my distraught wife, 3.  Get me into a room quickly, 4.  Help me in an emergency situation and just in general do everything she could in her position as Rallymaster to see me succeed.  I now believe the two minutes I spent apologizing to her was the best time I spent in the 264 hours that make up the IBR and those of you who were advising me did a bigger service to me than you know – and if you are reading this I truly appreciate what you did even though I was being a jack ass at the time.

Somewhere between St. Louis and Kansas City I started to get some of my rally chi back and was questioning my decision to go out to the west the same way that I was going to return.  I knew there was another prime bonus on the north rim of the Grand Canyon and another in Las Vegas and if I just went straight through on 70 I could get those on the way to the bonii rich Sierras.  I decided to go straight through KC and then pull out the rally pack and see what all I could get on the way.

Stopping at my favorite restaurant (Subway) I pulled out the computer and rally book.  Wow – there was some great stuff I had overlooked.  An easy one for 1,000 points in about 100 miles, another for about 3,000 if I could get there by sunset and then two easy passes in Colorado for 4,300 each and another 5,300 bonus before even getting to the 12,987 Grand Canyon overlook.  It took me about 45 minutes and I completely remade my route to stay on 70, pick up these bonuses ending in Vegas and then sweeping Death Valley before crossing the Sierras and getting two big bonuses in Yosemite.  Then I could position for an early morning arrival at the 24,000 point Lick observatory and start the march back to Chesterfield via Hwy 80.  I would be giving up two big bonuses on the Western side of the Sierras but I now had a plan that was well in excess of 140,000 bonus points (not including the 10,000 gas and the “Freebies” that were about 16,000).  This was looking pretty good to me with about 160,000 points total and 5,900 miles total.  Even better it would take me right by my house about the time my tire should be shot.  At the house I had a brand new tire sitting on my shelves that I would now need since I could not use the spare that I had prepositioned at the hotel in Chesterfield.  I could also set up to do Death Valley in the morning while my other plan had me there in the afternoon (that’s not good!).  Here is the revised leg 2 route.

I started to get in the swing by picking up an easy bonus at the “Wizard of Oz” museum but was too late for the next bonus that was in western Kansas as nighttime was upon me before I could get to that Daylight Only bonus.  I motored on into Colorado and about 60 miles out of Denver I got seriously tired.  The physical stress of fixing the motorcycle along with the emotional duress of being so angry finally caught up with me and I just ran out of gas.  I was in “get the hell off the freeway” mode and took the next exit.  I was ready to just sleep on any flat ground but there happened to be a crappy little hotel right there and I got a room and probably about 6 hours of very good sleep.  That was where I finalized this plan and knew that my next big bonus was two passes in Colorado worth about 4,300 each.  I wanted to hit those at daylight and then swing south through the mountains for a 5,300 bonus before hitting the big Cape Fear (North Rim) Grand Canyon Overlook for 12,987.

Posted: 06 February 2008 at 10:40pm | IP Logged

Day 7 - Sunday

I took the time I needed to properly rest and left maybe 90 minutes later than I should have but I was in great shape physically now for a big day that I new would not end until I was at the precipice of Death Valley.  I was quickly to the two passes and as I bagged the second I checked my GPS for timing as I was about to slow down big time going through the heart of the Colorado Rockies to get the 5,300 “Shiprock” bonus.  My review delivered the news that if I went to Shiprock there was no way I would make the Canyon Overlook by dusk and it was a daylight only picture.  I opted to drop the Shiprock bonus and hot foot it straight down 70 taking the most direct route to the Canyon.

Now I usually run Steve Chalmers 1088 Rally in Utah each year and that has given me a pretty good familiarity with the state and the roads.  What a great place to motorcycle.  I was on familiar roads but as I got closer to the Canyon and could see a nice weather system in that direction.  Sure enough, it started raining and got downright cold.  I was running tight on time so I pressed on.  When I got to the final road to the overlook it was closed for fire so I (along with Karol Patzer, her son and a few others) took a picture of the road closure and headed back.

On to Vegas it was now about 10:00pm when I pulled into New York, NY casino.  I sweet talked the parking lot attendant (OK – I gave him a $20) into letting me just leave the bike right under his watchful eye and I ran (limped) back to get my picture.  Tough pic to get but once finished I made tracks north towards Death Valley.  At Indian Springs I felt close enough for an early morning start on what I knew would be my big point day so I holed up in what has to be one of the worst hotels I have ever stopped at.  I parked beside this beat ass looking Harley and the owner came out and just wanted to talk as I was covering my bike.  He was a rider and had over 40K on this three year old bike so we chatted for about 30 minutes before I excused myself to get my all important 4 hours of sleep.  Before sleep I pulled out the rally pack and checked my next days itinerary and found that there was an additional big bonus in Yosemite I had previously overlooked – good that makes up for missing shiprock!

Up right on schedule I was to bag Amargosa Opera House right at daybreak and then in succession get Bad Water (in the heart of Death Valley), Scotty’s Castle, Bristlecone Pine Forest (the big 18,000 point bonus) and then two in Yosemite that amounted to almost 15,000 points.  Finally I was to stage for the following day in Livermore, CA – territory I know well.

Posted: 06 February 2008 at 10:41pm | IP Logged

Day 8 – Monday

As I left Indian Wells and headed toward the Valley of Death guess what happened?  You got it, It started raining!  In many places throughout the morning the water had run across the roads in Death Valley and I had to be careful of the slippery mud that was remaining (if not standing water).  At Death Valley Junction (Amargosa Opera House) I pulled out my camera to take a picture and nothing came out.  It made a sound and cycled but no picture.  Another rider (Steve Branner) showed up and offered his camera.  I knew I was in trouble as I was about to attempt to get over 40,000 points in bonii before I would see any semblances of civilization and be able to replace my camera.  I started disassembling the camera and it appeared that the opening the film spits out of was misaligned.  I took it apart, removed the film and replaced a new cartridge.  Nothing……….

I did it again, making sure to get the little pins that hold the pieces of the camera together snapped together just right.  More film and bingo – it worked!  In rapid succession I captured the Opera House for 1,410 points, Badwater in the middle of Death Valley for 2,345 and Scotty’s Castle at the North end of the valley for 4,996.  I had planned on taking a little used road direct from the valley to Big Pine and knew some of it was not paved.  I had been passed by Eric Jewel on the way to Scottys and he had not double backed to that road and I thought – Eric is a smart guy so the long way around is probably the way to go.  I went that direction which is all paved and soon started passing other riders who were working from North to South on the same route.

The Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest is a classic IBR bonus and I knew it would be difficult.  You have to climb about 20 miles up into the White Mountains which face the Sierra’s near Bishop, CA.  Once up there the pavement ends and it is 12 miles of rough road to the actual ancient trees that we were supposed to Photograph.  These are the oldest living organisms on earth at an estimated 4,500 years old and reside at an elevation approximately 9,000 ft.  At the end of the pavement I checked in at the visitor center to show my National Parks Pass and then proceeded down the 12 miles of dirt.   I passed a couple of riders coming out and then in a sharp downhill corner passed Peter Leap and John Tomasovich who both appeared to be just laughing as they came up the hill.  I was up on my pegs and they had left a trail of dust so I could not see very well.  As I hit the bottom of the slope I found out what they were laughing about.  There was a stretch of about 50 yards of deep soft loamy sand and I was not prepared for it.  Going about 30 miles per hour I hit the sand and immediately washed out my front tire as it was weighted too much.  Down went the Worlds Most Expensive Vstrom and the rider in a HUGE pile of dust.  I immediately found my hearing and sight impaired as I hit face first into the sand.  I quickly hit the kill switch on the bike but the screaming remained.  It was my CB which had taken a direct hit and was now screeching static into my in-ear transducers.  I cut the power to stop that as I stood up.  I knew I looked like something out of the three stooges as I was covered head to toe in dirt.  My facemask was hanging by a thread and my mouth was full of sand.  My prescription sunglasses were crushed into the sand and I figured my rally might just be about over.  Good news was that I appeared to be OK with the exception of some bruises on my arm.  I have to say my first thought was that I was only about 200 miles from my house and another rally ready motorcycle that I could use to still finish so I was not that worried. I looked at the toppled bike which was now also just covered (almost submerged) in the sand.  Nobody came over the hill and Peter and John were long gone.  I took the bags off the bike and then with brute force just picked the bike up off the ground and put it on the stand (now you know why I’m good at this!).  I reset all the switches on the bike and turned the key to hear the familiar sound of the fuel pump energizing.  I thumbed the starter and HEY – no problem.  Only thing I could see in a pinch was that the handlebars (which were slightly bent before the fall) were now pointing about 30 degrees off center.  Being the proud LD rider that I am my thoughts now turned to getting the puck out of there before anybody saw my embarrassment!  I slapped the bags back on and started out of the pit.  The bike just did not seem right as I aimed towards the left to go straight.  Soon my brain adjusted to the anomaly and I was motoring down the road again (much more unsure of myself).  As I approached a road grader that was working the road I had difficulty in the new soft ground that lay in his wake.  Past him I came on a sign that declared the Forest was only three miles ahead.  At that time as I was reading the rally book instructions which said “If it is wet do not attempt to go the last mile” (or something to that effect) the skies opened up in a torrent or rain.  After the fall I had to remove my mask which had been broken and got a lesson in what I would now be faced with  - the rain HURT on my face.  In fact my nose is still trying to recover as it then started to HAIL.  As I approached the last mile – the one I was not supposed to take if it was wet….. I was dripping mud all over my bike but had decided that nothing was going to keep me from this bonus and just motored on even though there were little streams of water flowing down the grades of the road.  I pulled up to the Ancients and was just in awe of the sight.  I would have liked to linger but as usual I got my picture and went immediately back to the bike.  I checked everything over and headed the 12 miles back.  My dirt road skills had left me completely and I had little confidence after my fall but I marshaled on.  When I came to the sand pit the rain had stopped and I made it through very slowly.  With a great sense of accomplishment for bagging the 18,567 bonus along with the other 8,751 points in Death Valley I made my way back to Bishop over Westgard pass (an “E” ticket ride if there ever was one). 

I stopped in town at one of my favorite subways and took a good look at the bike.  Looked pretty good and the rain had helped to even clean me off a little.  The handlebars were slowly working their way back to being only slightly crooked and all seemed right with the world.  I found the strap that I use to secure my right saddlebag had been sheared and knew that I did not put it back on in the sand pit and it had been ripped off by the wheel.  I grabbed my emergency bungees and secured it knowing that I could repair it at my house when I got there to change tires.  I headed for Tioga and the beautiful Yosemite Valley.  It was a very easy ride over the pass with the exception of the undercover park ranger vehicle that tailed me for 20 miles (boy – they are getting sneaky).  It was a weekday and the park was quite empty.  I have to admit it was one of the nicest rides I have ever had in Yosemite.  I headed to the Ahwanhee hotel and got that 4,567 points and then eased on to the Glacier Point overlook where I again met Peter and John and took my picture of Half Dome for 10,234 points.

With 42,119 points in hand I headed out of the park as night descended.  I know these roads well and just took my time as I was getting tired.  I made it to Livermore in good time and got my hotel room for the night where I again grabbed the computer and rally pack to make sure there was nothing I was missing for the next day.  I realized that I would be going right by my home in Colfax, CA where my wife currently was and called her and told her that I would stop by for lunch on my way to the covered bridge in Grass Valley – a place she and I have visited several times before and take our guests often.  Sleep came easy and I got a good 6 hours.