Charlie's Blog

Iron Butt Rally Recap (Take 2)

2009-09-13T13:36:00.001-05:00

Before I get into reliving the details of my Iron Butt Rally ride, I need to get my "thank you's" out to all the people who helped me put together this ride. Without the support of my friends and family, this ride would not have been possible. Riding around for 11 days with only myself to talk to in my helmet makes that even more apparent than it might have been before the ride. :)

First, I need to thank my whole extended family: Mom, Dad, Brian and Christy of course, as well as Cass, Chuck, and Eli. You all sacrified if only by worrying about me while out on the road, but realistically the past 18 months have meant no trips to visit in Memphis, lost holidays that could have been spent with family that were instead spent in the garage tinkering with the bike (July 4th and the missed trip to the lake comes to mind quickest), and my general lack of attention to anything not IBR related or focused on the bike for the past 18 months. Brian ... we just never got to the right city at the right time. Sorry I missed you in Spartanburg, and after that you were always one city, one day ahead of me. Christy ... thanks for all the dinner invites even though I had to pass them up in order to save money for the ride. Cass ... I know by now you're tired of hearing about the bike, the vacations that didn't happen, the money that went into the bike, and the three weeks of me gone on the road with hardly a word. When I needed to escape to the garage, you always understood. Chuck ... I didn't get to make near as many lunch runs up to Memphis to see you, Linda, and the kids. While it may not seem like much, those trips to mean a lot to me, and that'll be rectified now that the IBR is behind me. Eli ... you might think of it as being my second mom, I prefer to think of it as being the big sister I didn't have. Thanks for keeping the eagle eye on my spot tracks, bugging me when I needed to stop for sleep, and offering to have the pit crew and fan club on standby if needed. Oh, and thanks for the coffee to break this anti-caffeine streak!

For my friends, and this ride showed I have many more than I would have thought, thanks for all the comments and words of encouragement. I'm sure I'm missing a few names which is not intentional, but: Tracy and Ed, thanks for being the sounding board when it came to my rally plans and for keeping me honest. Tracy, thanks in particular for riding all the way up to Spokane to make sure I got back home ok. 4000 miles round trip just for hotel food in WA state ... most people would think that was a bit crazy. Ed, I know you wanted to be there as well, but that pesky work thing got in the way. Curt and Jody, my ST brothers, thanks for the text msgs, the phone calls, and all the encouragement. Curt, the phone call and encouragement from Missoula was much appreciated. Beau, Jon, Jeff, JJ, Femi, David ... all my Cisco co-workers, thanks for putting up with me taking 3 weeks just as school was getting started to go and wonder around the countryside ... and for the Babe's Chicken when I got back home! Allen Dye, thanks for the encouragement leading up to the rally, the motivation during the rally (you don't know how stressed I was in Santa Ana, but I'd trade sleep for that hallway discussion anytime), oh ... and for getting me hooked on this rally thing to begin with when you and Greg put on the Texas Two Step. It's all your fault! :) Claye, for humoring me with pictures at the start and various checkpoints along the way.

Andrea, Barb, Brad, Brian Taylor, Bryan, Don, Geoff, Greg, Jackie, Jerry, Jim, Justin, Kris, Mark, Matt, Mike, Pedro, Rob (Spruell and Rapport), Russ, Terry, Tim, Todd, Vince ... we may have had a Facebook blackout which kept me from posting up during the rally, but all your comments and words of encouragement were received and much appreciated during the rally.

Terrence ... meeting up with Tracy and myself for lunch in Wichita, and riding with us part way as we left town, definitely brought back some memories. We've got to get together again soon man.

My thanks to the other riders who participated along side me.

Many thanks to the organizers and volunteers who made the IBR possible. In no particular order: Mike Kneebone, Lisa Landry, Bob Higdon, Tom Austin, Dale Wilson, Bill Watt, Steve Hobart, all the scorers and checkpoint workers. The organization was incredible, and your professionalism was amazing.

I'm sure I'm missing others, unintentionally, so I might make additional edits as I remember names. My ride wouldn't have been possible without each and every one of you.

Iron Butt Rally Recap (Take 1)

2009-09-11T21:34:00.002-05:00

So it's Friday night, and this was the evening I was going to write up my IBR experience while I had some quiet time to reflect on the events gone by. That is, until I was distracted by posts about Bob Higdon on the LDR list.

For anyone who hasn't been following the IBR documentaries, Bob Higdon is the IBA Chief Legal Council, and the architect behind this year's IBR theme. Up until the 2007 running of the IBR, it was Bob who delivered the daily updates, then Tom Austin took over for 2007 and 2009. There was a discussion on the LDR list which envoked a reference to Bob's write up of the 1999 IBR. It was this write up that was my company over dinner this evening, and had me chuckling enough that my write up will have to wait one more day.

For anyone who hasn't heard Bob speak in person (Eli, I'll get you a video clip as I'm sure you'll appreciate it), here's a link to the write up that had me laughing over dinner:

1999 IBR Daily Report

It's the stereotypical "Bob'isms" that got me going. Having heard him a few times at the IBR start in Spartanburg, then announcing the finishers in Spokane, I can hear the written text coming through in his voice and his dry sense of humor. Maybe it's the fact that I just paid $12 for a margarita with dinner, but reading him describe the opening route options of the 99 IBR brought back memories of the rookies meeting in Spartanburg before we started.

I had a draft for my opening "thank you's" for the people who helped me along the way with this year's IBR, but that blog post will have to wait a day as I've been sufficiently distracted re-reading previous years' rally reports.

Do I really have to wait another year until the IBA National Meet to hear Bob speak again?

Sunday, T -1 Days

2009-08-23T11:28:00.001-05:00

Here it is, the Sunday afternoon before the big day. All the planning and preparation that has lead up to now, the anticipation, and ... for now anyway ... the relative calm as I know I've completed the check-in process and have been officially entered.

Yesterday was a hectic day, between getting out for tech inspection, then the odometer check, then the misc other checks and tests. We had two required training sessions to attend as well. Retired Navy Surgeon General Don Arthur was on hand to give his fatigue awareness seminar, one of my favorites, on how to recognize signs of fatigue and dehydration and how to deal with them quickly. He added a portion since the last time I saw it on the medical reasonings why "energy supplements" are bad for the LD rider.

With the only thing this morning being the interview with Ira Agins to verify that all my paperwork was in order, I got in line early and got that knocked out before breakfast.

The biggest new news from yesterday came when all riders were asked (strongly) to put away the blogging and twitter updates once the ride started, until after the ride finishes. There are several reasons for this, all of them valid and reasonable IMO, so once the ride starts at 10am Monday morning my Facebook and blog will be silent until the end of the rally. I will still be taking notes and plan to do a full write up after the event, which is not in conflict with the instructions we were given. The SPOT will still be tracking, and Cass or others who talk to me at the various checkpoints can post up that the saw me and what not, but otherwise updates will not be as frequent as I had originally planned.

We have our mandatory riders meeting here at the hotel at 2pm, followed by dinner at 5:30. It is after the dinner that we anticipate getting the rally packs for leg 1 and for the route planning to begin. The bike is fueled, GPSs and laptop are in the hotel room ready to start plotting, and the anticipation begins to build.

Audio Moblog

2009-08-21T12:32:00.001-05:00

Thursday, T-4 days

2009-08-21T09:14:00.000-05:00

More riders showed up, but still probably half the field left to show up on Friday.

The parking garage had a buzz to it, with some riders heading off for final service appointments before the start, while others were doing their own service down in the garage. Some, like me, were working out last minute problems that had cropped up, with various degrees of invasiveness (if that's even a word). For me, I pulled off my windscreen to tighten a GPS mount that had loosened on the way out, and to apply dielectric grease on exposed connections into the GPS units to try and seal out moisture in case that was the cause of my intermittent XM problem Wednesday. At least one other rider had his bike pretty well stripped down while tracing down an intercom issue. Another was figuring out how to plumb in his aux fuel tank.

For what is a grueling competition that's about to start, everyone is incredibly friendly. When I mentioned that I needed to run to the store for dielectric, I had no less than 3 offers to use tubes other people had with them, while several others went checking their kits to see if they brought theirs. Others are offering help fighting the intercom gremlins, or doing last minute computer tune-ups on the routing software.

I got to talk with Davo for a pretty good bit a couple of times throughout the day. Davo has flown up to the US from Australia to participate in the IBR. Since the IBR isn't hard enough apparently, Davo knocked out an IBA Coast-to-Coast Gold ... riding from the Pacific coast in Portland OR to the Atlantic coast in Charleston, 2900 miles, in just under 47 hours. And he looked like he could do it again before the start if things got a little slow around Spartanburg. The kind of details one who seldom leaves North America would think of ... Davo showed me the double white stripes he has taped to his windscreen, to remind him which side of the road to ride on. I'm more worried that suburban law enforcement isn't going to recognize that Australian license plate on the back of his bike, but Davo says he was only stalked by a LEO once while his plate was run.

And then there's my favorite "hopeless" rider, Alex. I met Alex in LA on the Pinks RTE last November. The RTE took place the day he got back stateside from his deployment in Afghanistan. Alex is riding a 1976 Suzuki RE-5 ... one of two he bought while deployed overseas. At the very last minute, his "donor" bike became his primary ride, so he's frantically working in the garage to get things set up. This bike is a constant reminder of how far motorcycle technology has progressed over 32 years. This bike is crazy hot. This bike provides almost no electrical power for accessories. This bike has terribly brakes in the rain. All that, Alex will demonstrate some real fortitude when he lands that bike at the finish in Spokane.

I didn't get pictures from dinner, but a group of us fell in line between Terry and Lynda Lahman's direction for a pretty good Shrimp and Grits dinner at a local jazz club. I've never been a fan of grits, but these were really pretty good. Throw some great creole sauce on top, along with a flash friend shrimp and a touch of sausage, it definitely hit the spot.

Looking forward to another "stree-free" day before the real fun starts. Will have more pictures on smugmug hopefully by the end of the day.

At The Start

2009-08-19T21:32:00.001-05:00

Well, I arrived in Spartanburg just before 5pm local time.

The ride has shown me that I'm going to be hurting, at least getting started. My lack of any prep rides has got my tolerance down. Yesterday was just under 500 miles, today was just over. Getting off the bike for bonus stops will probably help me more than I had thought before.

It looked like there were about 12 bikes in the garage when I pulled in. Most were covered up, so I didn't get any pictures yet. We'll see if more people are out and about tomorrow.

Only two problems with the bike as I got my ride into Spartanburg knocked out. For some reason, my cell phone voice quality is terrible ... I can hear fine, but my voice is coming out garbled. The frustrating thing is that this tested fine before I left. I'll do some testing tomorrow to see if it's a phone issue, a coverage issue, or something new that's come up with the intercom. This issue came up before I hit any rain. The second problem came up when I stopped for gas after the first good strong rain. The 378 started complaining that it couldn't communicate with the XM antenna, but a power reset fixed it temporarily. I'll do more investigation on that tomorrow as well.

There's nothing officially scheduled until Saturday morning at 9am, so I've got two days to work out these things, rest up, and hopefully meet some of the other riders. With the bikes parked down in the garage, I've at least got an easy place to work on things ... and it's not as hot as my garage at home.

Testing

2009-08-14T19:40:00.001-05:00

Testing RSS syndication to Facebook.

Almost There ...

2009-08-13T22:09:00.001-05:00

One more day of work, then it will be 3 weeks of nothing but bike.

New tires were mounted up earlier this week, with the old rubber stored away for after I return. Going with harder tires for longer life during the rally, but still had a good bit of life left in the old Michelins.

The bike is back together, lights aimed, electronics wired. This weekend I start packing the bike with my normal multi-day rally load ... the one exception being the spare final drive assembly I'll be carrying to hopefully lower my likelihood of needing it at all. The bike will be ready to roll out of the garage Sunday, even though I don't start heading out for South Carolina until Tuesday.

Riding for one more this August

2009-07-25T19:37:00.002-05:00

Finishing up some last minute touches on the bike this weekend and took a break to grab a quick snack and check Facebook. It's now 7:30pm Saturday, and the top news item on my Facebook is that a friend and fellow rider, Andre, passed away in the hospital at 6:21pm (4:21 local time).

Andre will be sorely missed. While I didn't get to see him as much since he moved out to the PNW, we did stay in touch virtually through various online forums and the like. I did get to see Andre the last time he was in town when the old group threw a crawfish boil. Andre and I talked quite a bit about the upcoming IBR, ideas on how to set up the bike, and Andre had offered to help me find a place to store the bike once in Washington State if I decided to fly home immediately after the IBR and return weeks later to pick up the bike.

Andre, you'll be with me in my thoughts during this upcoming ride.

Getting closer...

2009-07-23T13:52:00.000-05:00

At work, the end of this week closes off our month of July and also ends our FY09. Similarly, as July comes to a close and August is fast approaching, prep work for next month's IBR is also finishing up.

Over the past two weeks I've managed to wrap up most of the smaller loose ends... my MedJet medical evac insurance has been picked up, AAA roadside assistance plan joined (since I no longer have the BMW plan being that the bike is out of warranty), and even the digital camera for the rally taken care of. This is the first rally I'll be running that has made the switch from Polaroid to digital, so my trusty construction grade Polaroid instants won't be joining me for this ride. I probably could have made do with my Sony point and shoot that has gone with me on so many rides, but I wanted something waterproof since I won't have as much say in when/where I'll be stopping for pics. The Sony will tag along, but used solely for keepsake pictures at higher res than the required 640x480 rally pics.

The bike is mostly set. The only remaining item is lights, which should be resolved next week. Tires have been stocked, major service items taken care of, and the bike could go as-is if needed. Financially, money for the fuel budget and lodging budgets has been secured, plus enough extra to pay for that tow home if need be. The anxiety attacks are starting to let up, replaced more with the anticipation for getting this thing started. Even doing the gym a few days each week to try and improve my shape before the ride. The diet restrictions (caffine/alcohol) will start up on August 2nd.

So far so good. Looking forward to catching up with friends and family before, during, and immediately after the ride. I'll get pictures of the bike and gear posted soon, as well as links to all the rally info sites.

More to come!

Getting Close

2009-07-18T15:29:00.001-05:00

As the IBR start gets closer on the calendar, things are coming together. Not entirely as I had originally planned, but enough so that I'll at least be able to get out and ride.

Tires are ordered and on the way. 2 sets ... one to mount up before I head out, and the other will be waiting in Anaheim for the 2nd checkpoint. I went back and forth on which tires to use for the IBR but in the end decided to go with my previous Metzler long life tires ... an ME880 on the rear for long life, and a Z6 up front for grip. I haven't run this combo on the RT yet, but had great results with them on the ST1300. There have been enough reports on the various LD discussion outlets that these work well enough for the BMW chassis, so I'll go with that. Along the same lines, I've not found another set of tires that would get me comfortable distance otherwise, so this puts my mind at ease. I suspect that one set of tires could get me through the entire IBR, but since we're finishing 2000 miles from home that's where I started getting iffy. I'll change in Anaheim just to make sure I can get all the way home without another service stop.

MedJet insurance has been secured, so I have the required medical evac insurance taken care of. Even if it wasn't required, I'd still have it based simply on the "what if" that something could happen while I'm on the road ... and being flown back home is much more appealing than trying to sort out medical issues potentially hundreds if not thousands of miles from home. Hey, the even transport the bike home as well, so if the final drive takes a dump maybe I can break another toe by kicking the thing and then have my insurance pay to fly us both home. :) (j/k)

Late last week I got my travel funds sorted out, so I'm comfortable that I'll be able to put fuel in the tank and pay for the hotel rooms I've already pre-booked at the checkpoints.

The bike is mostly ready to go, save for possibly one more gas tank removal to wire up some additional lighting. I keep going back and forth on this ... I can get by without the lights, but I'd really prefer to have them on there. The lights will be on their own circuit, so if that install doesn't go well, they shouldn't be able to take out anything else on the bike. If they fail, I ride like I've ridden all the other rallies so far with the RT, but if they work, it's one more comfort.

GPS arrangement has been done ... replaced my older 2730 with a 2820 in order to consolidate cell phone, xm radio, and navigation prompts into a single Autocom input. The 2820 basically combines my old 2730 and BMW Navigator 3 into a single unit. I've also added a GPSMap 378 to the dash along with a secondary XM receiver in order to provide primarily data collection and XM detailed weather info. The 378 can also be used as a backup routing platform should the 2820 fail, and will keep me with XM radio either way. While both the 2820 and the 378 are mounted to the dash, I kept the original BMW Nav 3 mount located between the handlebars powered and ready to go. If I lost everything else on the bike, I can use the Nav 3 to get me through.

The last things to get wrapped up will be making sure I have all my insurance paperwork for riding through US and CA with me, and making sure the Mac is ready to go with mapping software and able to talk to the GPSs. The Passport is still current, SPOT service is good through September ... looks like it's coming together.

New Gear - Boots!

2009-06-20T17:59:00.001-05:00

I meant to post this up in March when I made the trip out to Florida, but ...

Part of my prep work for the IBR has included looking at my existing gear and getting comfort down there. This started last August in Tulsa at the IBA National, where I started stocking up on socks and underwear. I also decided that I needed new footwear, as my old boots had seen better days.

Other than being old, these boots have been fantastic. A bit tight when layering up socks with heated/winter gear, but otherwise no complaints. Very water proof, and tested in both the Atlantic AND the Pacific on multiple occasions. Maybe the salt water, combined with zero care taken on my behalf, is what led to them looking so bad in only 5 years. Well ... five years and about 90,000 miles.

And my new Sidi boots! A Christmas present from Cass, these boots are insanely comfortable when adjusted right and also waterproof to boot. The only problem I've encountered has been when I over-tightened the arch support once on my way out to Florida. Had I loosened it up when I started feeling pain, I probably would have been pretty good, but I was stubborn. They have a large sole, makes it easier to man handle the taller bikes, and adjust more easily to accommodate different sock thickness. Excellent ankle support ... I can say that drive a manual transmission car with these boots on is a bit of a pain. :)

Two Months and Counting!

2009-06-20T16:59:00.001-05:00

With just over two months remaining until the start of the 2009 Iron Butt Rally, it's time to bring things into high gear.

Any waffling over whether I could afford the rally are in the past. I can't, but I can't afford to pass up the opportunity either. :) So, my grandiose plans for bike setup and support are out the window and we're running on more of a shoestring budget.

This weekend was supposed to be the first weekend ride to get myself back in shape, but alas it was not to be. The ride has been postponed to next weekend, so this weekend I'm working to get my web tools for friends and family sorted out. In addition to my SPOT providing tracking updates, and Hipcast giving me audio updates to the blog, I'm tying everything together through Twitter and Facebook for the friends of mine who use those resources for their updates. All this should make my life easier too ... as I only need to do updates once for everyone, rather than updating multiple places.

If been slacking off on posting my updates and progress in prepping for the IBR, and have had a false start or two along the way, but things should be taking shape now as the weekly rides start to form and last minute changes to the bike are finalized.

More to come!

IBA Spring Party

2009-03-06T22:23:00.001-06:00

Executive Summary - good times.

I hadn't done any specific IBA events until the National meet last year in Tulsa. I've been trying to make if out for the spring party in Florida for the past 3-4 years, even had tickets once or twice, but never made it out. After the fun we had in Tulsa, doing these kinds of things with this group of people moved up on my priority list, and I'm glad it did.

Most of my closer friends that I hung out with in Tulsa weren't able to make it to Florida this year, which is always good and bad. Hated not catching up with them, but also talked to more people that I probably would have otherwise ... some people I've rallied with a few times, or even just names I've recognized off a riding forum or mailing list somewhere. Got to talk with Jim Bain and Andy Kirby for a pretty good bit before dinner. Also had several good convos with Mike Langford both before and after dinner.

For me, the best story of the weekend was one about Mike Allen. I met Mike for the first time last year at the Void IV. Mike's done lots of rallies, but apparently never got around to doing an IBA certified ride (the number of rally riders who haven't still surprises me), so decided to do a BBG (1500 miles in 24 hours) into Jax to knock one out in style. Yeah, BBGs are ranked as extreme rides and aren't usually encouraged for new riders, but Mike isn't exactly new, and got approval to go for it. For me, the BBG is still the toughest ride I've done ... having certified one back in 2005, and done another undocumented BBG back from California last November. So Mike heads out to start his BBG, and about a hour in comes across a stranded BMW rider on I-95 who's run out of gas. Now Mike's never met Claye, don't know she's involved with the IBA or MTF, just sees her trying to push her bike up the shoulder to the next exit. Mike pulls over to find out what's going on, and hearing it's just that she's out of gas, proceeds to start removing his fuel cell from his bike in order to dump some fuel into Claye's. Goes so far as to start trying to get fuel to go out the vent line when they can't get the quick disconnect on the fuel line to open. Claye finally asks whether he's on the clock or not, and learns about the BBG. Mike get's her sorted, then gets back to his ride. If I remember hearing from Kneebone right, Mike finished his ride with twelve minutes to spare. 12! After checking in and getting sorted, Mike just happens to run into Claye in the hotel to realize who he helped on the side of the road.

The lawn care company with the trailer full of mowers ... and full of gas cans ... couldn't stop to help Claye out, but a guy who is on the clock riding one of the toughest rides I've done yet, stops and helps, knowing it might well mean he runs over time. Just outstanding.

On a downer note, while a group of Harley riders (4 total I think) where receiving their first SaddleSore 1000 certificates (1000 miles in 24 hours) from Kneebone, news that sounds like my friend Bo Griffin's final drive on his BMW failed him on his way out to Florida with the group. I haven't been able to confirm with Bo yet, but sounds like he got hooked up with roadside assist to take care of his stuff, and the rest of his group continued on to Jax.

I'm starting to feel so overwhelmed with stuff that still needs to get done before August, but at least it's apparent that whatever the outcome ... there will be good people there to share the experience with.

You know what they say ...

2009-03-05T01:39:00.001-06:00

One of the words of wisdom for any big motorcycle trip is to not make changes to the bike before heading out. Well, we'll throw that right out the window this trip. :)

About two weeks ago I received my custom bags ... custom tank bag and fuel cell cover. I really wanted to test out these bags on this trip, there's no time stress, short(ish) mileage, and no stress from being on the clock. Unfortunately, work has been hectic, so I didn't get a chance to install these bags until tonight.

The tank bag I'm not so worried about. It uses a strap system for mounting, which is something I'm not used to, but it looks to be pretty secure. The fuel cell cover, however, required some slight modification. For starters, in order to install the bag, I had to remove the vent line for the tank temporarily, so that I could thread the line through the bag. Once the bag was installed, the new vent line routing was longer than the previous, so it wasn't working out as just a plug and play setup. No worries, I needed to reroute the vent line anyway, but didn't plan to do it the night before.

All in all, it's a minor change, but I would have been a little more comfortable getting a few test miles in before hitting the road for Florida. I still need to install a fuel filter for the vent line, but I'll make that change when there's more test time before a ride.

Custom Bags Are Here!!!

2009-02-19T17:04:00.001-06:00

Finally starting to feel like I'm making progress (even though I didn't do anything, Linda did all the work).

My custom bags (electric tank bag, rally book, and aux fuel tank cover with bike cover) all arrived from Florida today. I ordered these at the IBA National Meet in Tulsa last year, but understandably Linda has been swamped with orders from fellow IBR riders ... not to mention it was a lot of fabric to sew together (you have seen the barn door I call a windshield, eh?).

I'll get pictures shortly ... right now I need to clean up the bike a little so I can put this stuff on for a trial fit.

Tire Problem Resolved

2009-02-07T23:50:00.001-06:00

As suspected, the sound in the rear wheel was coming from the tire pressure sensor which had detached itself from the wheel and was thrashing about for 3000 some odd miles. Once we got the tire off the rim, we found the different parts tossed around. No damage to either the tire or the wheel, so a new sensor was installed, tire remounted, and back on the street. Good to know in case the same thing happens in August ...

1st Test Ride of '09 Postponed ... Again

2009-02-06T23:02:00.001-06:00

Hopefully not a sign of things to come...

My prep plan for the IBR had me trying to do at least one big ride a month, each month leading up to August. The ride I had planned for January got postponed due to scheduling conflicts, but was slated to go down this weekend, Feb 7. Everything in place, I go out to check the bike over before heading to bed ... check oil, tires, etc ... hmmm, something is rolling freely inside the rear wheel. Tire looks ok, pressure was as to be expected, but the noise is concerning. Most likely it's the tire pressure sensor that's come off since the last tire change ... might be ok, but I don't want to get all the way out to Van Horn TX to have the tire fail and me be stranded out there.

I'll get the bike into the shop tomorrow morning and see if I can't salvage some kind of ride this weekend.

All In!

2009-01-20T00:25:00.001-06:00

January 15th was the deadline for the final portion of the IBR entry fee, so that was "D" day or the last change to back out without significant loss of money. My payment went in on the 13th, so this ride keeps on going.

Sounds like most of the other riders also stayed in, I'm only aware of one rider who backed out, although a few commented that there could still be some backing out before the actual start ... as the cost of tires, hotels, GAS, etc is still looming out there on the horizon.

Still ... with the final payment mailed in, I've got a hotel room booked for the start, and it's time to get cracking on wrapping up those loose ends before April.

More to come ...

New for 2009!!!

2009-01-05T22:48:00.000-06:00

Wow ... and I thought it had been too long between posts when I made that last post in April.

2008 is in the past, and while I didn't think it turned out to be such a good riding year for me, I was pleasantly surprised to see when checking my odometer that I still managed to do over 11,000 miles last year. But this year will be different, I promise.

The ride calendar is already packed for the year, and 2009 is only just getting started. I'll still have a couple of my favorite rallies this year ... returning to the Cape Fear after missing it in 2008, and once again participating with the Void ... but this year also has the biggest ride of my life planned for August; the 2009 Iron Butt Rally.

My goal is to use this blog to record my final prep work on the bike and myself as I get ready for the IBR, and then also to leverage the site during the IBR for tracking purposes and updates on how things are going. It's getting to crunch time as my goal is to have the bike pretty much finished and ready for a final test by the time the Cape Fear comes around in April, so I gotta get a move on. Still, hang tight, there will be much more to come.

Been Too Long ...

2008-04-17T18:34:00.001-05:00

Wow ... it's been over 4 months since my last post, with the trip report out to California after Thanksgiving still hanging in limbo.

What can I say ... so far this year things have been hectic. I've had 3 different motorcycle trips scheduled, but have had to cancel each of them for one reason or another. This year's ride schedule has been turned on it's ear, but hopefully things will all come together for next year ... that's the plan at least.

This gives me some time to do a couple of things ... update the website, update the blog, and get things back to where I can post easily. Should be good things to come ... more to come.

Trip to California - Day 5

2007-12-02T17:20:00.001-06:00

Today, Thursday, was the day of my Russell Day-Long saddle ride-in appointment.

It was up at 4:00am, quick cup of coffee, then on the road by 4:45 to make the ~200 mile trip from Benicia up to Shasta Lake (just north of Redding). I needed to be up there at 8:00am, so figured a little over 3 hours to make the trip would be enough. It would also help that I was leaving before traffic could get to be too bad.

There had been some confusion on the Russell end of things, so there ended up being two of us doing ride-in's that Thursday, so things took a little longer than they normally would. Add to that the extra complexity of the fuel cell set-up I have on the back seat, and it's easy to understand why it took until almost 6:30pm to have everything complete. These guys are a class act. Completely hand made and hand stitched, the attention to detail is incredible. My front seat and backrest were ready not long after 4, the rest of the time was taken up getting all the stitching and grommets around the fuel cell on the back seat worked out.

With all that worked out, it was time to head back to Benicia for the night ... since that's where I had left my luggage before heading up to Redding. All said, I would ride just over 400 miles today, with almost none of it being in daylight.

Once back in Benicia, the three of us (Richard, Jacqueline, and myself), headed out for dinner ... a good little burger joint not far away, with a really good chocolate shake and even better chocolate cream pie. After being on a road food diet for the past 5 days, this was a bit overload for me, and it wasn't long before I was passed out on the floor for the night.

Trip to California - Day 4

2007-12-02T17:06:00.001-06:00

What a day!

Many more pictures on my gallery than I can post here and do it justice, but ...wow!

I was up and out of Westley by 8:00am ... I just couldn't take the flies any longer than that. For some reason the GPS routed me up via some backroads rather than the Interstate, which ended up being a pretty nice route on some good 2-laners, and I don't think I lost any more time than had I stuck to the slab.

I ended up getting to Richard's house right around 10:00. After catching up with Richard, being introduced to Torrey, and getting a couple cups of coffee, we were ready to get in some riding. Jacqueline came over to join us, and around noon we headed off to Sausalito. The plan was to meet up with another GT rider and head out, but after a bit of hit and miss with the cell phone, we decided to grab a quick lunch and head off for Highway 1 on our own.

With food out of the way, we headed off.

Coincidentally, we ended up running into the other GT rider about half way through our ride, and continued on as a larger group.

From there, we headed up to Point Reyes for another coffee stop. Since the sun was starting to drop, we decided to run just a little further north, then catch a route across over to the 101 to return back down to Benicia. Not having my GPS track in front of me, I believe we headed up to Tomales, then over to Petaluna where we picked up the 101 and headed south.

Trip to California - Day 3

2007-12-02T16:35:00.000-06:00

Tuesday morning would start early, as I headed out of Phoenix with Tom during morning rush hour on his way in to work. We were on the road by roughly 8:30am. Tom pulled off by the airport, and I continued on I-10 around the city, stopping for fuel on the western edge of town, then headed for the desert.

Today would be an easy day, with all Interstate planned with the goal being to get within easy reach of the Bay area. Chatting with Tom and Richard about routes, I decided to stick with Interstate, taking I-10 towards Los Angeles, taking the I-210 loop around LA without actually getting wrapped up in that traffic, and then running the I-5 up north. There was a possibility for a side trip up to Joshua Tree National Park depending on my timing.

No pictures from today, I ended up just sticking to the route and made it up to Westley, CA just after sunset. Not one of the best Days Inn's I've ever stayed in, but the whole town seemed to have a bit of a problem with flies ... possibly something to do with all the farm land and irrigation right next to highway.

Temps today where very nice, getting slightly chilly as I headed up I-5, but no where near the freezing temps I had the past two days.

Trip to California - Day 2, Part 2

2007-11-28T00:55:00.000-06:00

Now that my pictures have been posted, some shots from day 2.

Morning frost on the bike cover.

Snow on the roof of the hotel in Santa Rosa, NM.

For all my trips to California, I've not once stopped for a picture at the Continental Divide. I rectified that this time around. :)