Ride report 120115

The Big Money Rally has been going for three days, and since the weather was very clear (albeit somewhat crisp), I headed out to bag a few bonii. As you can see, the bike was reporting the chill in the air -- the icing warning (the snowflake above the odometer) didn't stop flashing for the entire 7 1/2 hour ride.

I was wearing my usual riding gear, plus a Gerbing's heated jacket and trouser combination, my usual winter Gerbing's heated gloves, and a wool balaclava from Aerostich. The heated gear, plus the grip heater and saddle heater made the trip a wonder. I felt a little chill on my ankles (I wasn't wearing the heated socks, today, which I'll add for the next chilly ride), but other than that I was really comfortable.

Those are my beady little eyes, peering out from my helmet.

I knew I wanted to head to southern Maryland, so off I went. The Big Money Rally has a whole set of bonii locations for the first "phase" (12 January through about 1 April 2012). The bonii include National Parks and selected U.S. Post Offices. The National Park units must have the word "park" in their name, so I was off to Oxon Cove Park in Maryland, which is one of the closer units that fit the criteria. Oxon Cove Park contains Oxon Hill Farm, which is a real demonstration farm. It's been YEARS since I've been there -- it'll have to wait a little longer for a re-visit, when I have a bit more time on the clock and the mercury is a bit higher in the sight glass.

Part of the challenge with photo bonii is getting the shot composed just right. I don't have the right hangars for the rally "flag" yet, so I improvised by using the bike as a prop. This was my first bonus location for this rally. As you can see, the parking lot was completely empty on a beautiful Sunday afternoon.

The next stop was Fort Foote, one of the U.S. Civil War forts that ringed Washington, DC.

And from Fort Foote, I was on to Fort Washington. Fort Washington is another place I've haven't visited in years...perhaps later this year.

 

As I mentioned earlier, in addition to U.S. National Park Service units (that have "park" in their name or official signage), selected U.S. Post Offices are on the bonii list. My next stop was the post office just outside Naval Surface Warfare Center Indian Head Division.

And, here I am, again, peering out of my helmet, in the bright winter sun.

Since I was in the area, I stopped off at Smallwood State Park to bag a geocache. 

The U.S. Post Office in Nanjemoy, MD is pretty small, as most of the rural post offices are.

One of the reasons I enjoy these Grand Tours so much is that they, like geocaching, cause me to go places I wouldn't otherwise have visited. I spent a lot of time rolling through some amazing places in rural Maryland this afternoon. While I saw only two other motorcycles (both dirt bikes), I saw quite a few young people out either walking along or playing basketball.

The U.S. Post Office in Welcome, MD shares a building with what appeared to me to be a residence.

I just couldn't pass this one up. Apehanger's Bar & Grill in Bel Alton, MD has a LOT of motorcycle parking. When I'm by here in better weather, the bikes are stacked up like cord wood. Today, there was only one, lonely BMW R1200RT out front. The other motorcycle parking spots had cages in them. Apehanger's is, I've learned, for sale. There's one heckuva investment opportunity for someone, waiting in Bel Alton.

Piney Point is a very interesting spot...I've never been in that area, before, but want to go back and explore more when time permits. For now, though, I've "bagged" their local post office.

As I rolled out of Piney Point, I was getting hungry, and the sun was heading down, so I turned northward to return to the barn. I headed for what was to be the last U.S. Post Office of the day, in California, MD.

There's a serviceable, but not great, Mexican restaurant near the post office, so I parked the bike and grabbed a bite to eat before heading north.

So far this year, I've been able to ride on two weekends. It was chilly both times, but the weather was otherwise excellent. It's great to get out to ride, and to practice rally skills (e.g., route planning, bonii searching, timed stops). Here's hoping the weather holds out reasonably well the rest of winter!

Butt Lite 6IX

Butt Lite 6IX closed for new registrants today. I realized, as I was starting this post, that I hadn't blogged that (a) I was interested in participating in Butt Lite 6IX, (b) that I had registered, and (c) that I have a slot.

So, here's that post:

(a) yes
(b) yes
(c) YES!

I have the next few months to train...I have a slot in this year's Cape Fear 1000, and want to run the Minuteman 1000. I wanted to run the Mason Dixon 20-20 "Mountain Do Do", but Joe's graduation ceremony is that weekend, so I'm off to a nice family occasion!

2012 Cape Fear 1000

The Coastal Carolina Rally Crewe runs the Cape Fear 1000 every year in April. It's two concurrent long-distance endurance rallies: a 29 hour version and a 10-hour mini-rally. 


This year's (2012) 29-hour version starts at 1000 Eastern Time on Friday, 20 April 2012 in each of three locations:

• Arcadia, FL
• Jamestown, NY
• Paris, TN

Each rider in the 29-hour rally must be at the rally HQ not later than 1500 Eastern Time on Saturday, 21 April 2012. 


There is a mandatory 4-hour rest stop (which can be extended to six hours for additional points), so the rally involves a maximum of 25 hours in the saddle. For those who ride a consistent 50 mph over long distances (which includes fuel stops, bio-breaks, snack stops, stretch breaks, flower-sniffing, and bonus-location-finding), that's about 1250 miles.


The reward at the end is satisfaction for a safe and fun ride and a BBQ dinner on Saturday evening.



The 2012 Cape Fear 1000 opened for registration this morning at 0100 EST. One of my riding buddies registered at 0107 and found all of the slots except Jamestown, NY already closed. I slept in a little longer than I should have, but found a slot when I logged on about 0200. So, I'm all set for the first LD rally of the year.


Here's the distribution of bikes registered in this year's rally:

BMW              47

Harley-Davidson   6

Honda            41

Kawasaki         13

Suzuki            6

Triumph           1

Victory           1

Yamaha           10

Total           125

Total w PAX     142

There's a lot of prep work that needs to be done over the next three months -- additional farkling (new camera to install, sort out audio improvements (time for SiriusXM?), improve the mount for the traffic service, and so on), practice runs, practice planning sessions, 24000 mile check, new tires, ....

Last ride of 2011?

It's always hard to tell when the last of some things happens. I'm guessing, that because of scheduling and weather, that today's all-too-short ride may have been the last ride of the year.

The Void 2011

And...that's a wrap, until the Cape Fear rally in April 2012....

The Void 2011 -- Ride report

What a great ride!

I completed The Void yesterday afternoon. I started in Lebanon, PA at 0900 Friday, and finished at about 1330 on Saturday.

A few thoughts:

• I learned a lot from the MD 20/20, and didn't make those mistakes this time around...I made some new ones, but nothing serious.
• I still plan too aggressively...I need to give myself more time -- at least 10 minutes. The good news is that my plans always include bail-outs. The bad news is that I usually need them. Fuel stops are under five minutes, and most bonus locations are quick, but they aren't free.
• I had almost everything I needed. I forgot the road food at home, so needed to stop by the store Thursday evening. Not a big problem, but a distraction anyway. I needed stamps, so needed to stop at a post office on the way...took just a few minutes, but every minute counts.
• I need to think about traffic light density and construction zones -- these two factors destroy a timeline. U.S. 13 in Delaware comes to mind as a perfect example of a time-robbing route. Just because it says 45 MPH or 55 MPH on a sign, doesn't make it so.
• I had never done a rest bonus at the host hotel. I learned how to stop the clock quicker than I did last night. This cost me a big double bonus in North Carolina this morning. An extra half hour would have really helped.
• I made a few wrong turns, based on either my interpretation of really good signage, or signage that just wasn't clear enough. Either way, I was able to recover very quickly, so didn't lose any time.
• Choices. I went for a 999 multi in Delaware on Friday; that decision slowed me up enough to ensure I couldn't make it back to Lynchburg in enough time to do the difficult "Multi-N" loop in Virginia (which is what the winning rider did).
• I had fun. I had a lot of fun. I learned a lot about myself, about my motorcycle, and about motorcycle riding.

And now, on to the narrative:

I started in Lebanon, Pennsylvania on Friday morning. The start window ran from 0850 to 0910; I spent a few minutes unsuccessfully riding to the Lebanon Post Office (which I didn't locate), then rode to the Rite Aid downtown (at which I'd seen another rider earlier). One candy bar and a good receipt (to start the clock) later, I was ready to place the telephone call that let the Rally Masters know that I'd started the clock.

Note to self: these large chain drug stores are nearly everywhere (except in small towns where you want to buy sun screen because you're getting baked behind your helmet visor, but that's another story), and they have good receipts (meaning: the city, state, date, and time are on the receipt).

I had planned to pick up a two-bonus multi in PA and DE first, so I was off to find a cemetery in Bristol, PA. It was a beautiful morning, and the road conditions were really good.

Here's what I was searching for in Bristol:

This poor gal was killed in an automobile collision, and had more than a few visitors on Friday to pay their respects.

From Bristol, I was off to Dover, Delaware to visit the Governor's House. Pretty nice place.

As I alluded to earlier, I spent a lot of time navigating the streets and highways of Delaware...nice place, but very time-consuming.

The combination of Bristol, PA and Dover, DE (in any order, and with no other bonii in between) was worth 999 points (333 + 333 + 333 for the combination)

From Dover, I needed to travel just a short distance up the road to Smyrna, Delaware, to take a picture of a water tower. Very conveniently (for me), the water tower was adjacent to a Sheetz (and I needed fuel):

Smyrna was worth 111 points.

From Smyrna, I traveled north to Newark ("New Ark", as opposed to "Nurk", which is some other place, at another exit):

The Peoples Plaza get their own giant advertising sign, in the form of a water tower, which was worth 222 points to me.

Having spent A LOT OF TIME in Delaware, it was time to head north again to Pennsylvania. More time slogging along roads that had some construction and A LOT of traffic lights.

For 999 points, I went to Bernville, Pennsylvania, to visit the Kirkhoff Funeral Home (the site of the former Penn Valley Hotel):

My last stop in Pennsylvania was in Selinsgrove, for 1111 points:

There was a big traffic delay, so I just pulled over to the side of the road, jumped off the bike, and snapped the picture. As you might be able to see, it was getting late in the day when I made this stop. The traffic snarl around Selinsgrove added more delay to the plan. By now, I'm far enough behind on the plan that I abandoned the stop in Gettysburg (Devil's Den) which I'd been looking forward to all day. So, I'm now off to Virginia (via Maryland and West Virginia) to do the required odometer check in Lynchburg. My GPS told me that I'd be there right before midnight, and after a long ride, that's exactly where and when I ended up.

The odometer check was a ~15 mile route around a part of Lynchburg. That took about 30 minutes and was worth 1 point.

I stopped the clock at the rally hotel (the Quality Inn in Lynchburg) to begin the mandatory three-hour rest stop (which was worth 2000 points, plus 2000 points because every bonus after the odometer check was doubled(!)).

I got some good sleep in Lynchburg, then it was time to mount up again and head out. I'd dumped the massive 6672 point bonus (1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 6666 for the combination), so did a quick-replan. I planned to go to Kingsport, TN then Danbury, NC then back to Lynchburg (the fellow who placed second ran that route, but went to Danbury before Kingsport).

This is what (888 x 2) points looks like in Kingsport, TN:

This is one of the places to which I intend to return. I like river towns a lot, and Kingsport has a lot of appeal in that regard. It looks like they have good BBQ, as well, which is another good reason to return.

Next stop was in Abingdon, Virginia, for (111 x 2) points:

Abingdon is another place that I want to visit again.

Further up the road was Crockett, Virginia, where I aroused the attention of the person staffing the post office while I was earning (333 x 2) points:

She was wondering why so many people on motorcycles were running around her post office, taking pictures. By this time, I had been worried enough about getting caught on rural roads, in Virginia, on a beautiful fall Saturday, that I'd abandoned the Danbury, NC bonus (which would have been worth 777 x 2 points), so I chatted with the post office lady for a bit, explaining what we had been doing around her post office.

With Danbury off the plan, I now had enough time to stop for a bite to eat (which I did). Then, just for fun, I stopped off at Hiwassee, Virginia (for a whopping (6 x 2) points:

One of the many high points of this rally was seeing a very large black bear on a very small country road coming out of Hiwassee. The bear saw me about the time I saw it, and stood up on its hind legs. It looked at me for a split second, then went back down on all fours to amble a few paces, then stood up again. I was moving pretty slowly at the time (and as quietly as a motorcycle will allow), but the bear though better of a bear-motorcycle encounter, and ran through the brush downhill.

The road out of Hiwassee was beautiful -- another must-do visit in the future.

Also on a lark, I stopped by Bedford, Virginia, for my last stop (also worth 6 x 2 points).

Bedford is a charming town...on the list for revisits.

I finished 9th out of a field of 23 who started in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, and learned lot. Now, it's off to the Cape Fear 1000 in April, 2012!

Many thanks to Scott LaShier and Gary Stipe (and a lot of others) who planned and executed yet another great The Void!

The Void start

Well, it's nice and quiet in Lebanon, PA this morning...I saw three RTs, one LT, and one Wing in the parking lot this morning....

2011 The Void

The rally packet arrived Tuesday evening, and I'm planning my ride. It should be a nice ride -- the weather sure is cooperating.