Smoke Chasing 2012

The increasingly popular Smoke Chasing Grand Tour begins in just a couple of weeks (1 March 2012). I have my "flag", so I'm ready to go....

Early spring?

What an unusual winter. I'm sitting on a pinnic table outside Bob's BMW, reasonably comfortable, in mid-February. If it weren't for the breeze, it would be really nice. I can't wait for the service on the bike to be complete, then I'm off for parts west.

I've heard that we're in for a bumper crop of bugs this year, because the cold usually beats their numbers back over the winter. More ticks. Sigh.

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.

Packing light?

One of the major advantages to backpacking is that it forces you to pack light. There are a few extra things here to support the front end and back end of this hike, but we were able to carry everything in one trip to the terminal.

Location : 7100-7102 Elm Rd, Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI), Baltimore, MD 21240,
Posted via Blogaway

Underway

On the tarmac at BWI...underway to CLT in a few minutes....

Location : 7100-7102 Elm Rd, Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI), Baltimore, MD 21240,
Posted via Blogaway

The Void

Registration opened today for The Void, October's motorcycle endurance rally in the mid-Atlantic and southern states.

2011 Mason Dixon 20-20 Motorcycle Rally Ride Report

This is my ride report for the 2011 Mason Dixon 20-20 Motorcycle Rally that was run on Saturday and Sunday, 28-29 May 2011. This was my first long rally; I'd ridden the 500 mile / 10 hour Rally The Void mini-rally last October. Based on that experience, I was looking forward to "getting off the porch and running with the big dogs".

Chronology

Prelude -- registration opened LONG ago...in January, as I recall. I signed up, and anticipated the day when the bonii list would be delivered to my email inbox. The list was originally promised on Friday, 20 May...giving us a week to stew over our routes. As it happened, though, the bonii list was released early, giving us even more time to agonize over potential routes.

Buford, WY (the Ames Memorial) was the obvious sucker's bonus, and I initially discounted Indianapolis (on the weekend of the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500, no less) as a sucker's bonus. So, I planned a clockwise route: Hagerstown -> Flight 94 Memorial -> Fort Indiantown Gap National Cemetery -> Easton -> Manhattan -> Brooklyn –> Arlington –> North Carolina (with the three-hour mandatory rest bonus spent at home on the way) -> Hagerstown. I spent a day or two tweaking that route and convincing myself that it was doable. Mission accomplished!

Chatter on the email list had me rethinking the Indianapolis ride, so I did a re-plan with an anti-clockwise rotation: Hagerstown -> Arlington -> Brooklyn -> Manhattan -> Easton -> Fort Indiantown Gap National Cemetery -> Indianapolis -> Flight 93 Memorial -> Hagerstown (with a few other bonii in between). That’s essentially the route I rode.

I got a late start from the house, because I hadn’t completely packed the bike earlier in the week, programmed the two GPS receivers, and so on. Riding north on I-270 on the Friday of Memorial Day Weekend isn’t the brightest thing to do, and it got worse as the day wore on. That was the first rookie mistake of the trip, because it pushed the schedule to the right so I had to quickly (a) check into the hotel, (b) get gift cards at TARGET to be used as a donation, (c) get the required six-pack of a beverage of choice, (d) check into the rally with (b) and (c) in hand, and (e) run the odometer check (15.n miles, where n = 3, 6, or whatever, depending upon the bike / tires / …). All that, and don’t be late to dinner at 1800!

Valley Wine & Spirits is the closest adult beverage dispenser to the Rally HQ hotel, so it was on the mandatory stop list.

Friday’s dinner was awesome. We had catered Mexican food – a build-your-own taco salad, with chicken and beef. Needless to say, there was good Mexican beer to go with the chow.

A mandatory first-time rider’s meeting started at 2000 and ran until about 2130. I was beat, so I set myself up for the second rookie mistake of the trip by not making sure my fuel tank was topped off before Saturday’s departure. More on that, later.

We arrived at the 0500 rider's meeting with our helmets; we had already staged our motorcycles on a very long line (~70 motorcycles) in the parking lot behind the hotel. Why did we need helmets at a rider's meeting, you ask? Rick had a treat for us: a Le Mans start. We lined our helmets up along another line in front of our bikes, and we lined up even further forward. On command, everyone walked briskly (ran?) to their helmets, then on to their bikes. Engines roared (okay, these bikes don't "roar"; many sound more like sewing machines) to life, and individual riders found their way to their selected route.

Many of the riders heading south to Arlington County, VA took the same route out of the parking lot. Individual riding styles caused the pack to thin out quickly, as each rider hit his or her stride. The weather was perfect -- the roads had dried out from the thunderstorms that had swept through the area on Friday evening (right around our dinnertime). The temperature was very pleasant, matching well with the light clothes I was wearing under my riding gear. I expected the temperatures to rise as the day went on, and planned to be uncomfortably hot by the afternoon.

I stopped for fuel about halfway to Arlington -- one of several unforced errors during the rally. As I mentioned earlier, I started for Hagerstown late on Friday, and wound up in a typical I-270 freeway parking lot. It took about an hour more to get to Hagerstown than it should have. That delay made getting fuel before the odometer check problematic, and I didn't get fuel after the mandatory first-time Mason Dixon 20-20 rider's meeting (which ended about 2130) because I was beat and there isn’t a fuel station anywhere close (that I could find). So, I took that extra fuel stop and chewed up a lot of time (ten minutes or more!) getting through neighborhoods and traffic lights on the way to the station. Fueled up, I continued south on I-270. Traffic was flowing very well and visibility was great: all-in-all a great ride.

My route took me south on I-270 to I-495, then to the Clara Barton Parkway. Even with living in northern Virginia for more than 20 years, I haven't spent much time on that road. I continued south to the turn onto Key Bridge, and made another unforced error (and one that I have made before, in a cage!). I turned onto the Whitehurst Freeway, instead of waiting another block to turn on U.S. 29S (the Key Bridge) to Rosslyn. That error ensured that I spent probably 10 minutes goofing off in DC on the way to I-66. I got through picturesque downtown Rosslyn okay, and made it to the U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial, where there were a number of other riders getting their photographs. I knew the photograph that I wanted, and walked briskly to the memorial to set it up. I knew I had to have three things in the frame: the memorial, the Washington Monument, and my rally flag.

From personal experience, I knew there was another critical stop to make at the U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial: the portable facilities between the memorial and the Netherlands Carillon. Feeling much better after that stop, it was time to head east on VA 110 to pick up I-395 northbound. That transition was trouble-free, and off I went to pick up DC 295 / MD 295 on the way to I-895. It was interesting to ride the Baltimore Washington Parkway, since that’s my usual route to and from work – the traffic was certainly different on Saturday than it is during the week.

On my way to I-895, I was nervous about getting the EZPass to work correctly; I keep the "puck" in a clear pocket on my left sleeve. Previously, I had hit-or-miss performance with the puck in my pocket. I experimented a while with placement, taking to waving the puck at the first few toll booths as I rode north.

Clearing the I-895 tool booth, I was off through the tunnel, heading north to Havre de Grace, MD. Riders that finished higher than me in the final standings skipped these MD and NJ bonii, so it was definitely a tradeoff between getting some points early and getting through Manhattan before the day wore on. It was nice to get off the bike for a few minutes to get the photo, though. I learned that the medium binder clips just aren't good enough -- the large size are needed to clip anything on to the usual roadside historical marker (later, I learned another invaluable trick: clip the flag to a clipboard, and lay the clipboard up against whatever needs to be photographed). I put my flag on the tall grass in front of the sign, and got the needed shot.

I took a wrong turn out of that location, another rookie mistake, which cost me a few more minutes as I headed back to the highway. Crossing the bridge into Delaware, I picked up I-95 north again (and more toll stops).

I picked up the NJ Turnpike just off the Delaware Memorial Bridge. I usually take I-295 (from my days of traveling to and from Moorestown, NJ), but figured that my best time could be had on the turnpike. I left the turnpike to travel to Holmdel, NJ to get a photograph of a transistor-shaped water tower. From there, I headed north on the Garden State Parkway to get to Staten Island.

Crossing Staten Island, led me to the New Utrecht Avenue Station on the BMT Sea Beach Line and BMT West End Line in the Bensonhurst neighborhood in Brooklyn. This station is where the chase in The French Connection ends, so it wound up on our bonii list. I had to find the correct entrance amid all the usual construction, then park the bike to get the shot. There was another rider there at the same time, so we exchanged a few words as we got our photographs. He was checking the oil level in his Kawasaki as I was getting ready to leave, so I made sure he was good to go. Leaving Bensonhurst, he went one way, and I went another, but we both wound up in a big accident scene. He scooted between two cars and made a right turn; I followed closely behind. We rode around the wreck successfully, and entered the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel to get to Manhattan.

I got to Battery Park just fine, and pulled up in a bus loading zone; I knew I wasn’t going to be there long, and jumped off the bike to get the required photograph. The object in the background is a sculpture that had been at the World Trade Center; it was severely damaged in the collapse of the two towers, and is now on display in Battery Park.

Another thing I didn’t plan well enough was my route from Battery Park to the Holland Tunnel. Traffic was bad and getting worse, and GPS reception in lower Manhattan is always bad. I bumbled my way north on the island, though, and managed to get on 12th Avenue. The traffic getting into and through the Holland Tunnel was miserable, and the tunnel was pretty warm. My oil-cooled bike thought it was pretty warm while idling in the tunnel, as well…I kept one eye on the traffic and the other on the temperature gauge. It was good to see the light at the end of the tunnel, even if it was New Jersey(!).

By now, I’m about an hour behind where I should have been to make the back end of the trip manageable, so I’m busy thinking about shedding some bonii as I ride along.

Leaving New York in the rearview mirror, I was off to Easton, PA to have my picture taken with Jim Owen and to purchase a food item from Fat Daddy’s Southern Bar-B-Q. I was happy to get off the bike for a few minutes, but managed to spend a lot more time there than I should have. Instead of getting something to throw in the tank bag so I could continue to roll west (another rookie mistake, motivated by saddle-induced soreness), I got a little potato salad and a little cole slaw, and ate them in the parking lot while giving my sitting apparatus a little rest from the saddle. It was nice to chat a bit with Jim; he was with us on Friday evening and at the scoring table and dinner on Sunday.

From Easton, I rode to the Indiantown Gap National Cemetery to visit Jim Young’s gravesite. Jim died near Paradox, CO during the Thin Air TT rally in July, 2001.

The cemetery is beautiful; I’m looking forward to returning to visit when I have a little more time.

It started to rain a bit as I was pulling out of the cemetery, and I needed fuel. I also needed to get another of the wildcard bonii: a $2 scratcher lottery ticket (had to be from MD, PA, or WV). There’s a gas station just down the road from the cemetery, so that was the logical place to stop to get both jobs done.

The rain doesn’t look like it’s going to be a major problem.

Major decision point. I’m far enough off my plan now, that I need to make some quick decisions. The fellow who was with me at Fat Daddy’s was on to Reading, PA – I’d decided against Reading early in the planning process because I didn’t think it offered enough points for the time and distance required. I had planned to pick up three locations to the north, up U.S. 22. With time problems, I decided to shed the U.S. 22 locations and head west. That turned out to be a good decision for at least two reasons – U.S. 22 was far more likely to be critter-ridden that the Interstate (the VAST number of road-kill on the PA Interstates is a caution flag) and I was to be riding on U.S. 22 during “critter time”, and it turns out that the extra time on U.S. 22 would have really cramped my ability to finish before the deadline. What I didn’t do, though, as part of the replanning effort, was to realize that I should have picked up the Flight 93 site on Saturday (since I rode right past it while heading to Indianapolis) – yet another rookie mistake. I had half of the re-planning effort thought out in advance, but didn’t work all the details. That mistake cost me points at the scoring table.

So, mistakes aside (and a longer meal stop than I should have taken at a rest area on the PA Turnpike), I’m on to the John & Annie Glenn Historic Site in New Concord, OH to take a photograph of their sign. Two other bonus seekers ride up as I’m finishing my little photo op. You can just make out the reflective material on their riding clothes in this shot.

Now, as you can tell, it’s pretty dark. I’m okay for a few more hours of riding, but the skies are threatening. I work the numbers in my head as I ride, and elect to stop in Springfield, OH just as the skies are really looking bad. As it happens, another rider was caught in that storm and wound up with a tank-slapper, going down in the freeway. I understand he was banged up a bit, but otherwise okay.

I snagged a room at a hotel right around midnight and bagged just under three hours of sleep. I woke up fine, and headed downstairs to check out, only to find the lobby area locked. Ugh. I walked around to the front door to see what the issue was – as soon as I left the hotel to make the turn to the front door, I was confronted with the gas station across the street being completely full of cars and people. No one was getting gas (at this, the only gas station open as far as I could see) – they were all at the gas station to party at 0300!

After staring at this spectacle for a few minutes, the guy at the front desk let me in. He wasn’t quick enough in locking the door behind me, and some party-goers came in to use the facilities (which concerned the night manager greatly). I was anxious to get out of there as quickly as possible, so didn’t spend too much time chit-chatting. My rest bonus had started at the party-goer-ridden gas station across the street, and I needed fuel for the next leg, so I shoe-horned my bike between a car and the pump and managed to get a tank-full. In my amazement at the crowd,I managed to miss getting the required photograph of the pump to satisfy the fuel log requirement, costing me 5 points at the scoring table. Five points at this rally was huge. Oh, well…another rookie mistake.

I’ve got a long, long slog now to Indianapolis, where I’m to take a picture of a driver’s statue in Brownsburg, IN. There was another rider there at the same time I was…always nice to have a little company at a bonus stop.

From there, I had to get to Speedway, IN to grab another photo. As it would turn out, the approach from Brownsburg was probably the only reasonable way to get into Speedway, since the cars were already lined up for miles to the east to get into infield parking. What a zoo! Anyway, I get to the appointed location, jump off the bike (there’s another rider there, as well, looking for the right thing to take a picture of), and start hunting. The RM had sent a text  that I didn’t get until MUCH too late, telling us that the description of the location changed from museum (which is really in the infield) to administration building (which is where I was). So, I spent a half-hour trying to finagle my way onto the infield (to no avail), then had to bail to get back to the Flight 93 memorial and on to Hagerstown before the deadline. Yet another rookie mistake.

So, I’m on my way back east, having experienced Indianapolis on race day (which is awesome), and I’m riding into the rising sun. What a beautiful sight! I’m a bit hungry, so I stop (again, for longer than I should have) for a bite at a rest stop.

After riding all morning, I arrived at the Flight 93 National Memorial, where I snapped this picture.

Two well-laden touring bikes passed me on their way in, slowing down to make sure I was okay. What a nice riding community, these long-distance touring folks are. At first glance, I thought they might be on the rally, but then noticed they had dry bags, so were out camping as they rode along.

By this time, I’m running against the clock, knowing that I’m going to lose more points at the scoring table because I’m going to bust the 1400 end time. Upon rounding the corner to the finish line, I stopped and hopped off the bike long enough to put my sponsor decal and rally flag on my bike (both were bonus points – the decal was pre-announced, and the rally flag (because it had a checkered flag on it) was a wild-card bonus).

I ended up coming in 14 minutes late (for a 14(!) point penalty). Again, oh well.

Here’s my bike as it looked when I crossed the finish line, rally flag and all.So, for about 1598 miles over 29.5 hours in the saddle, I sat here…and twisted that.

Epilogue. I was, characteristically, the last bike out of the hotel’s parking lot on Monday, taking advantage of the standard noon checkout. I’d taken advantage of a slow morning to indulge in my other scavenger hunt hobby, geocaching, in the area around the mall. While hiking around, I came upon the site of the Saturday evening skills tests, with the target times chalked onto the pavement.

With the rally over, I was left with the decision about the route home. Rick had announced, the night before, that the theme of the 2012 Mason Dixon 20-20 would be Mountain Do Do (sp?). That inspired me to ride west to Cumberland (where I tested my bike’s ability to find a Dairy Queen for a celebratory Blizzard™).

After dessert, I rode south to Moorefield to let the RT off the leash in the sweepers and twisties so common in West Virginia. Just north of Moorefield, I headed east on the infamous Corridor H (the freeway from nowhere – Virginia hasn’t lobbied / won’t lobby to get it connected to I-81 in the vicinity of Strasburg to, largely, nowhere. Senator Byrd died just a few miles too soon to fully realize this tourism boon, though I’m sure that the easternmost counties do benefit from the old guy’s fondness of spending other people’s money. The old WV 55 is still there, and is a great ride. I was still a bit sore from the ride to and from Indianapolis, though, so I took the more direct route when it was available (see, maybe the old unreconstructed southern Democrat was on to something…). I continued on VA 55 after crossing the state line, all the way to just shy of The Plains, where I picked up I-66 eastbound. Ahhh, the slab again. Traffic was remarkably light, so the rest of the trip back to Fairfax County was uneventful (but very hot and humid – the thermometer on the bike registered north of 95 deg F as I was rolling east on I-66).

Unforced errors. Made far, far too many. Practice will help with some of this. A more comfortable saddle will help, as well.

Bottom line: great experience, tremendous fun, very safe (no situations at all -- nothing hit me, and I didn't hit anything (though I did have a close call with something that looked like a small rat or large mouse that tried to charge across a road in front of my bike after I left the Flight 93 National Memorial)), somewhat sore (the IBA doesn't call it a "bunburner" for nothing), lots of good experience and many lessons-learned.

What didn't work well. Getting fuel early spent critical time early in the run. Wrong turn onto the Whitehurst Freeway -- spent at least five minutes goofing off in DC on my way to the memorial. Bad turn out of Havre de Grace.

What worked reasonably well:

• Planning – I had a decent plan that, if I’d ridden it, would have turned out pretty good. Major problem: not leaving enough time in the plan for fuel and bonus stops.
• Routing – decent routing. I came up with a way of figuring out how much of any given route is taken up with specific types of roads, which is a useful thing to know. Also, I learned how to compare the results of MapSource routing and the routing computed by my GPS receiver. MapSource allows you to tinker with the speeds for different classes of roads – the GPS receiver uses whatever the posted speed limit is to compute the route. These are wildly different results, and it’s useful to understand why.
• Options – bailout. Work them out in advance, write them down, and put them on the tank bag. Worked great for me, except I hadn’t thought through the implications of one of my bailout plans.

Additional points of enjoyment:

• Environment – this is a beautiful country. It’s even more beautiful on the back of a nice bike.
• Weather – weather was really good for me. There were a few spots of rain, heavy at times, but never to the soaking point or to a point where I felt unsafe. Following my intuition in Springfield, OH saved me a drenching (or worse). The area I rode through had really nasty weather just a few days before (lots of tornado warnings / watches), but things were generally pleasant for the ride.
• Great gear – great helmet, great riding clothes, great boots. Made for a comfortable ride (aside from the stock saddle discomfort).
• Food and water – brought the right amount and type of food in Chez Tankbag, and bought a 3 liter water bladder that I wore as a backpack, which worked great. A bit tight to get the bite valve up under the chin protector on the helmet, but doable.

Other things I learned:

• Pennsylvania ought to change from the “Keystone State” to the “Road-Kill State”. Seriously. I don’t know where all the buzzards are; there’s enough road-kill on the Interstate highways of PA to do a remake of Hitchcock’s The Birds.
• Endurance rallying is truly a mix of skills – route planning, efficient and safe riding, reading comprehension, …
• I have too much patience for some things.
• Re-read the IBA list-of-things-to-bring. I brought everything I needed, without bringing too much stuff I didn’t.
• Practice. Practice making bonus stops. Practice making fuel stops. Figure out what the average time is, and factor that into the plan.
• Packing. Keep things exactly where they belong all the time. The wallet goes in a pocket. Two sets of keys. Spare cash for when the credit card stops working. Camera in the same location each time. Rally flag in the same location each time. And so on….
• The Droid doesn’t like being hooked up to the bike in the tank bag on hot days. It doesn’t like being out in its carrier, either, because of overheating. No real, practical solution to this problem. Using the Droid as a cheap substitute for a Spot doesn’t work for me.

Bottom line. Great rally, put on by great people, ridden by great riders. Awesome experience – can’t wait until next year.

I’m inspired to run The Void in October, Cape Fear next April, the MD20-20 next May, and the Butt Lite next summer.

Beast in the East

I learned, last night, that the Beast in the East registration is open until 1 June 2011 (the same day that The Void registration opens). The BitE is a multi-day rally, run from 15 August 2011 through 19 August 2011.

With hiking around Mt Rainier and taking a long ride to Canada and back this summer, my dance card is already full. I've given more than a passing thought of the fun and challenge of the BitE (and the two non-draw IBR 2013 spots, with one as no fee(!)), though, and will be looking for ride reports when folks get back.

Mason Dixon 20-20

I've taken a few more passes through the boni list, trying to see if i can develop a route that allows me to finish within the 1666 mile cap, finish within 29:30 riding hours, maximize the number of boni points, maintain some mileage and time margin, and have fun. I struggled a bit with a candidate route, and ended up cutting two locations because they provided too little in the way of points/mile and points/minute. So, i now have a route that both fits within the mileage cap and the time limit without having to run hot for too many miles.

At rally end, there's an event that adjusts scores by plus or minus 30 points, which is a huge swing. I've been practicing my ride slow skills, and working on maneuverability at slow speeds, just in case that's on the [unpublished] syllabus.

I'm sure i'll fuss with this route a bit more, but it's looking doable.

Location : 1049 Rhue Hollow Rd, Roseland, VA 22967,
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Mason Dixon 20-20 Motorcycle Rally

The boni locations / points listing came out this afternoon -- one day earlier than advertised! I'm going through it right now to see what kinds of delights the Rally Bubbas have in store for us. This will be my first MD 20-20; I'm looking forward to it quite a lot.

I plan to write about both planning and riding, so stay tuned!

Abnormal Use: Star Wars Prequels Unreasonably Dangerous and Defective, South Carolina Federal Court Finds

Millions would agree!

Abnormal Use: Star Wars Prequels Unreasonably Dangerous and Defective, South Carolina Federal Court Finds

Maine's Labor Mural Disappears Over Weekend

Maine's Labor Mural Disappears Over Weekend:

"Controversy surrounds a mural depicting labor history of Maine. Gov. Paul LePage ordered the mural removed from a lobby of the state's Department of Labor, saying it made business interests uncomfortable. Well, the 36-foot mural vanished over the weekend."

I'd like to add to the controversy by asking why the U.S. taxpayer paid $60,000 for this mural in the first place.

While not being surprised at the usual snarky reporting from Maine Public Radio and National Public (?) Radio, I'm disappointed that the obvious question wasn't raised: Why are the taxpayers of this great country paying for artwork for state buildings? If the good people of Maine want artwork for their buildings, they ought to pay the freight and not rely on money extorted from the U.S. taxpayer.

Supervisors delay Springfield Mall redevelopment | William C. Flook | Local | Washington Examiner

"Eclipsed by better-regarded shopping centers in Tysons Corner, the mall garnered an undesirable reputation as a symbol of suburban decay."

Springfield Mall is in terrible shape, as are many suburban malls across the country. Springfield Mall reflects its neighborhood...perhaps this redevelopment (razing?) will help not only rid the county of this eyesore but put some pressure on improving the neighborhood.

Supervisors delay Springfield Mall redevelopment | William C. Flook | Local | Washington Examiner

What happened to the antiwar movement? Cindy Sheehan hits 'hypocrisy' of Left, Democratic allies. | Byron York | Beltway Confidential | Washington Examiner

What happened to the antiwar movement? Cindy Sheehan hits 'hypocrisy' of Left, Democratic allies. | Byron York | Beltway Confidential | Washington Examiner