skyway
Well-known member
Though a rather lengthy read, this is our final ride report of our participation in the Cal24 Endurance Rally. We had a blast! 
June 10-12 2005. Location - Keefer’s Inn, King City, CA.
Start/Finish line for the 2005 Cal24 Endurance Rally.
After reading Ron Ayres book “Against the Wind” which describes the authors first hand account of his participation in the 1995 Iron Butt Rally (11K in 11days), my wife and I wanted to experience first hand, though obviously on a much smaller scale, what it would be like to participate in this type of event. Since my wife does not ride a motorcycle, we signed up for the Cal24 Endurance Rally riding 2-up (1000 miles in 24hrs).
We were comfortable that our bike, the FJR1300, would be capable of completing the distance. Not knowing what to expect from ourselves, we sought information from many places including the IBA’s archive of wisdom, online web chat forum’s such as sport-touring.net and yamaha-fjr1300.com. Based on the responses we got from the more experienced riders out there, the main points that stuck in our heads were to take long rides prior to the event, monitor diet and hydration and to never ride outside of our abilities. So, with our tips in mind, one month prior to the event we attempted to hopefully transform our candy butts into rally butts. Each weekend we would set out with the goal to increase our distance covered. By the fourth week we were averaging 650 miles in 12 hours, which translates into an average speed of 54mph. We always tried to stay in the mountains without slabbing up and down freeways, as the Cal24 is not about riding interstates for 24hrs. This riding preparation proved very fruitful for what we were about to experience.
We arrived at the Keefer’s Inn on Friday afternoon, prior to Saturday’s 8.00am departure, to sign in, complete the bikes tech inspection and complete the odometer mileage check, which meant an approximate 17mile round trip on Hwy101. One week prior to leaving I did a complete fluid change on the bike and had new tires installed, hopefully to ensure that if we did not finish, mechanical failure would not be the reason. While outside in the parking lot of the motel I spotted a bike where the owner had left his lights on, and went over to tell him. The owner seemed a little miffed that I pointed this out. Being a little gun shy and not knowing anyone else attending, I spotted another bike with its lights on, but this time said nothing. Within 15 minutes the rider was having his bike pushed around for a bump start and I felt really bad for him. I then wished I had said something, as apart from this one incident we became acquainted with some of the friendliest people over the duration of the rally. We met at 7.00pm with the Rally Organizer Tom Melchild to go over what to expect during the rally, and to answer any last minute questions anybody had. With the Q and A out of the way, we headed to our room to get as much sleep as possible.
At around 7.00am the next morning everyone gathered to receive the rally packs which included the base route and the bonus locations available for extra points. The Cal24 is not an all out race, but a combination of accumulating points by visiting various locations to answer certain questions, while simultaneously managing time, in order to make it to checkpoints promptly and arrive at the finish within the 24hr period. The rider who manages to accumulate the most points is the winner. With our rally pack in hand, we headed to our room to plot the route on a map, which turned out went right through our back yard over the Sonora Pass on Hwy108. Though the Cal24 is about riding and gathering points along the way, we decided that we only wanted to ride the route, make checkpoints and just successfully finish, as one of our goals was to get an IBA cert for completing the SaddleSore 1000 2-up. We do not have GPS on our bike, though most did. It turned out some riders did not utilize their unit’s full potential by not plotting all of the waypoints of the base route, which we felt like that would be the biggest advantage to have GPS.
We set off from the motel 6 minutes after the official start time of 8.00am and started along the base route, which in order to accumulate enough mileage for the IBA Cert, we would not want to cut corners and come up short. The route took us on Hwy25, which also had the largest concentration of furry little critters I had ever seen and then through the hills on J1 and onto a short ride on I5. After leaving I5, for the next 14hours or so of riding, we were familiar with all the roads that we traveled, which included making our way across the Central Valley and into the Sierra Foothills via J59. On our way to Hwy49 one highlight of the rally happened when our bike got complete air while going over a very steep hump in the road. At the point of leaving the highway, my wife gave out a weeew, and even though we did not get very high off the road, and the bike was never out of control, I only wish we could have had our photo taken for posterity.
We made our way from J59 to Hwy49/Hwy108 to the first checkpoint, which was Jamestown Harley Davidson. I pulled up behind a rider and was a little confused as to what was going on. Tom Melchild walked over to me a told me that there was a little competition for riders to go as slow as possible between two points marked in the concrete of the parking lot, about 20 feet. I did my best, parked up to grab a quick bite to eat and saw a couple of riders actually drag race it instead of going slow, which was amusing to watch. Being that we in the parking lot of a Harley Davidson dealership, some of its patrons had wandered over to see what was going on, since the kind of bikes arriving were not of the Milwaukee variety. I remember how weird it was that nobody participating in the rally was really communicating with each other. Instead, they were focusing on bonuses and navigation. This could have only seemed doubly strange to the HD riders looking on, as group riding is more about camaraderie right?
We gassed up and headed past our home town of Sonora and made our way east over Hwy108, which has a technical stretch of highway at the summit that includes a 26% grade. We have traveled this road many times in the past, so it was like a normal ride to us, though for one rider it turned out to be anything but that.
We headed east on Hwy108 to Hwy395 and stopped in Bridgeport for fuel and to refill on water, as there was some wide open desert coming up in Nevada. Two guys out riding walked over to us while we were getting gas, and asked us how we liked our bike and where were we heading. We proceeded to tell them how we had ridden around 300 miles so far today, and one of them turned around and rolled his eyes and said “that’s nothing, we already have that today”. We them told him how we planned on making another 700 miles or so before the day was out, which quickly reduced the size of their puffed out chests. They asked my wife if she was riding all 1000 miles on the back, and she enthusiastically said “Of course”! They slowly walked away with a look of astonishment on their faces. It surely was one of those “priceless” moments. We left Bridgeport heading south on Hwy395. We passed the turn for Hawthorne NV, until my alert passenger reminded me that we were going through there, as up until then I had not been reading the map. I’m so glad one of us knew where we were going. After turning around and getting back on track we made our way to Hawthorne, which initially has a 20 mile straight stretch of highway, which gave my wrists a rest after navigating the Sonora Pass. Even though we had just filled the tank, I decided to refill in Hawthorne, which proved to be a good decision, as we made it all the way to the first checkpoint in Lone Pine without running out. I do not like to see a low gas gauge, especially in wide open desert.
We pulled into Lone Pine, refueled and made our way down the street to the first checkpoint. My trusty wife knew exactly where the parking lot would be, as we had only been staying in Lone Pine earlier in the year when visiting Death Valley to see the ‘100 year bloom’ of wildflowers. We were greeted at the checkpoint by 2 very nice people who signed our paperwork and refilled our water. You see the Cal24, like most other rallies, is put together by people who volunteer their time and make nothing from it. Without them this event could not exist, and we thank you all who gave up your time in order to make this event happen.
We saddled back up and headed south on Hwy395, Hwy14 and then west onto Hwy198 towards Lake Isabella. By the time we reached Hwy198 it was starting to get dark, so I planned to make it to the lake and then refill with gas, as the next section of road looked secondary on the map, and boy was I right about that hunch. One thing we did before the rally was to figure out how to navigate at night, as we do not have any light mounted on our bike to study the map in the dark. At the last minute before leaving, my trusty riding companion came up with the great idea of using an LED type headlamp which is normally used by hikers and campers. I put it around my neck and pointed it at the map in my tank bag. It worked like a charm and we were back in business. Another bonus is that it allowed for hands free light while off the bike, since it was pitch black along most of the night route. As we were getting gas in Lake Isabella, several riders were also pulling in for fuel. One of them in particular had my sides splitting with laughter. It was around 10.00pm and this particular riders’ rest stop strategy to stretch his legs is to always pay cash inside at the counter for gas; I was inside also, but there was no one at the counter with 4 or 5 five people waiting for service. I will never forget the look of bemusement on peoples faces as the rider, in full biker garb, was impatiently calling out loud “hello, hello, hello” trying to get the attention of employees. It still makes me laugh when I think about it.
We were warned back in King City that the next stretch of highway would be quite curvy, which I think turned out to be an understatement. I would call it a goat trail at best. Some after the rally had other names for it. Since we ride in the mountains most of the time, we made it though there without giving it a second thought. Even though we were 2-up, I recall passing 4 other riders in this area, while at the same time picking up a gazillion little flying bugs looking for a free ride. After snaking through some very steep windy mountain roads we eventually crossed Hwy58 and headed back into the flatlands of the Central Valley towards Bakersfield.
What we found most interesting when following the base route is that, even though there were 60 or so riders in the event, you really only ever see maybe a dozen or so who are riding at your pace, and with whom you end up overlapping with the whole time. Sometimes, when you do not see other riders for quite some time, thoughts of a missed turn and wrong direction can enter your mind. We made our way onto Hwy166, gassed up in Maricopa, and made our way nice and easy towards Santa Maria. We could tell at this point that we were well on our way to making the required distance, since before today we had never done 1K in 24 hrs. It was on this stretch of highway that we both started to feel tired, so I decided to pull over for a while and just stretch our legs, which gave us both renewed energy for our ride towards the third checkpoint at the Wharf in Pismo Beach.
After a short ride on Hwy101 we got to Pismo beach 1 1/2 hours before the checkpoint opening, so I decided to get gas since there was plenty of spare time. As we were getting gas another rider pulled in on a CBR1100xx and introduced himself as Brian Roberts. We talked for a while and he suggested we get out of the cold for a while at Denny’s since the checkpoint was not open. This was good advice. We sat and talked for a while, then headed down to the Wharf for the opening checkpoint. We were given 2 options to carry on. Either wait for 20 minutes before leaving or walk onto the beach and retrieve a baggy with salt water and sand. We opted for the water and sand as we had already been hanging out at Denny’s. We got quite a few stares from the locals as we, a bunch of crazy folk in full motorcycle regalia, were walking onto the beach at 3.00am to retrieve sand and water. We were told that we had to safely carry it back to the finish line any way we wanted, so now there was a bunch of sand and water heading back towards King City. As it turned out, it did not reap any reward of points for the rally at the finish line. We had just learned another mind trick played on us by the Rally organizers. Thanks guys.
During our previous conversation with Brian, he had suggested that we go for the last 2 base route questions as there would be ample time to finish the route in 24 hrs. Since they were valued at 370 and 400 points each, we decided we would stop for them. Later on, Ed Kelly and Douglas Webb, who were some of the riders we had been seeing throughout the day, made a good point that you can actually stay more alert by actually working to find answers to questions along the way, instead of just trying to complete the thousand miles. We also found the different strategies of riders quite interesting. Some rode in pairs and conferred at each stop, while others who were clearly out to win rode solo.
Our final leg of the Cal24 put us back on Hwy101 north toward Paso Robles. With temperatures dipping, as we were near the ocean with some fog starting to settle, we were thankful for how nice it was to turn on our heated vests and gloves for warmth. We left 101 and headed north on G14, which is where we stopped and answered our only 2 base route questions. It was just starting to get light when we arrived at the Keefer’s Inn half an hour before the 6.00am finish line opened. We asked Tom if he would verify our mileage, in case we needed to hop back on the bike to get over 1K. He came back from his room and gave us the news that we had covered 1020 miles; Wahoo we made it!
We hung out for a while watching other riders make it back, and I asked Tom if everyone had made it through all of the checkpoints. He seemed quite concerned and told me that one rider had not made it to checkpoint 3 and had not called in to rally headquarters to verify his location. We remembered that Friday afternoon a large amount of police patrol cars had gathered in front of the gas station next to the motel. One rider told us that a lady in a black Mercedes had been carjacked at the pump and they were trying to find the car’s whereabouts. We do not know if this story was true or not, but we hope that if it was, the driver was found safely.
A little after an hour of returning I saw an FJR pull in with a decent amount of damage, and remembered the conversation earlier the previous day about how scenic Hwy108 was near to our home, as the rider had never been there. Well, as it turned out, we did go over Hwy108, and the rider had a low speed high side while nearing the summit. The reason for the get off was due to looking around at the scenery and misjudging a sharp left turn ahead. My wife felt guilty for beforehand pointing out how awesome the scenery is there and how a ride over the Sonora Pass should be done one day. The rider also got a puncture along the way for riding over glass. The day earlier the rider had recalled a conversation with a friend of his, Dale (Warchild) Wilson, who is a veteran of the LD riding community and also just happens to be the IBA’s Chief Technical Inspector. He had been grilled about the importance of always putting on fresh tires before any event of this type, but this bike did not. Who could ask for a better mentor? Now I cannot say for sure that the fresh rubber would have made the difference or not, regarding the puncture, but it is a coincidence. It turned out that this rider suffered a fracture in his hand as a result of this get off and actually continued to finish the rally, while along the way stopping to help a fellow rider who had problems. The actions of this rider really speak a lot about the person and have earned our utmost respect. We hope you make a speedy recovery and get back to riding soon. Another rider, who happens to be the editor of a well known motorcycle magazine, also had a toasted rear tire. I like to put it down to the fact that the FJR just likes devouring rear tires.
After a nice power nap and shower we headed over to the banquet to get all of the final rally standings and enjoy a nice hot meal. We came to find out that the rider who had not made the final checkpoint had actually made it and it turned out to be an error with paperwork. The rider, who was in attendance, did not seem very happy, and we were feeling pretty bad for his wife who must have been beside herself with worry until hearing the good news that all was really ok. We sat at a table in the corner and joined 3 other riders, exchanging stories and past experiences. One story that comes to mind is of one very mild mannered rider who lives in Oregon and commutes to Los Angeles, and actually makes the trip on his ST1100 with only one six minute stop for gas and no restroom. There is no way our bladders could ever achieve this distance without multiple stops along the way. There were tons of raffle prizes given out, and I have to say that Cycle Gear came through huge for the Cal24 along with many others. We actually won 2 prizes from the same motorcycle store, Honda Peninsula. Thanks everyone for your support. We also got to meet a representative from the Center for the Education of Infant Deaf (CEID) who received over $6000.00 in donations from all who attended. The funny highlight was getting a few lessons in sign language related to motorcycles. One rider, Lisa, who donated over $1000.00 to CEID, won a Garmin 2610 GPS receiver for the largest donation. She said she was going to give it to her husband who is planning on running in the Iron Butt Rally in August. He was also planning on riding in the Cal24, but his own bike had mechanical problems at the last minute and forced him out. The right person definitely deserved to win this great prize for good karma after raising so much to help others.
The final results were announced in reverse order, along with one special “OOPS” award going to the rider who dropped the biggest ****oo along the way. According to Tom, it was a very tough decision amongst the organizers, as there were many riders deserving of the award. For example, one rider who, after reaching the first checkpoint, was very proud of the fact he had made the out of the way bonus location of the Madonna Inn, only to find out that it was actually right off the main route later on in the rally. The winner though, turned out to be a long distance riding veteran who made it a grand total of 0.7 miles from the start, when he rear ended a car that had stopped in front of him while looking down at rally literature. Despite this he remained in very good spirits. It just goes to show the caliber and character of the people assembled here who you just don’t seem to meet every day. We actually finished in 37th place, due in part to the fact that we stopped for the last 2 lucrative main route questions. For us it was never about placing high in the standings, just to complete the route in a comfortable fashion. This we did and we our very happy with our accomplishment. As the final standings were getting announced, there were 2 people at our table who had not yet received their plaques. It turned out that that we were sitting with the winner John and seventh place finisher Josh. Judging by the caliber of riders who were trying to win the Cal24, John beat out a very good field of experienced riders on this technical 1000 mile course.
When we first started talking about doing the Cal24, my wife was talking of only participating this one time and then from that point on I would be on my own. She is now talking of us completing an IBA BunBurner Gold IBA Cert and planning to enter us in the Utah1088 next year. What have I let myself in for? After all that has taken place we have come to the conclusion that the 24hr rides are painful but in a very nice way; Sort of like an itch that hurts when you scratch it, but it just feels so good. Thanks once again to Mike Heran, Tom Melchild and all of the volunteers who gave up what must have been a lot of time to organize this event for us. We hope we can do it again next year. It really is true that this is the most fun you can have with your clothes on.
Authors Ian & Kristi Laing
June 10-12 2005. Location - Keefer’s Inn, King City, CA.
Start/Finish line for the 2005 Cal24 Endurance Rally.
After reading Ron Ayres book “Against the Wind” which describes the authors first hand account of his participation in the 1995 Iron Butt Rally (11K in 11days), my wife and I wanted to experience first hand, though obviously on a much smaller scale, what it would be like to participate in this type of event. Since my wife does not ride a motorcycle, we signed up for the Cal24 Endurance Rally riding 2-up (1000 miles in 24hrs).
We were comfortable that our bike, the FJR1300, would be capable of completing the distance. Not knowing what to expect from ourselves, we sought information from many places including the IBA’s archive of wisdom, online web chat forum’s such as sport-touring.net and yamaha-fjr1300.com. Based on the responses we got from the more experienced riders out there, the main points that stuck in our heads were to take long rides prior to the event, monitor diet and hydration and to never ride outside of our abilities. So, with our tips in mind, one month prior to the event we attempted to hopefully transform our candy butts into rally butts. Each weekend we would set out with the goal to increase our distance covered. By the fourth week we were averaging 650 miles in 12 hours, which translates into an average speed of 54mph. We always tried to stay in the mountains without slabbing up and down freeways, as the Cal24 is not about riding interstates for 24hrs. This riding preparation proved very fruitful for what we were about to experience.
We arrived at the Keefer’s Inn on Friday afternoon, prior to Saturday’s 8.00am departure, to sign in, complete the bikes tech inspection and complete the odometer mileage check, which meant an approximate 17mile round trip on Hwy101. One week prior to leaving I did a complete fluid change on the bike and had new tires installed, hopefully to ensure that if we did not finish, mechanical failure would not be the reason. While outside in the parking lot of the motel I spotted a bike where the owner had left his lights on, and went over to tell him. The owner seemed a little miffed that I pointed this out. Being a little gun shy and not knowing anyone else attending, I spotted another bike with its lights on, but this time said nothing. Within 15 minutes the rider was having his bike pushed around for a bump start and I felt really bad for him. I then wished I had said something, as apart from this one incident we became acquainted with some of the friendliest people over the duration of the rally. We met at 7.00pm with the Rally Organizer Tom Melchild to go over what to expect during the rally, and to answer any last minute questions anybody had. With the Q and A out of the way, we headed to our room to get as much sleep as possible.
At around 7.00am the next morning everyone gathered to receive the rally packs which included the base route and the bonus locations available for extra points. The Cal24 is not an all out race, but a combination of accumulating points by visiting various locations to answer certain questions, while simultaneously managing time, in order to make it to checkpoints promptly and arrive at the finish within the 24hr period. The rider who manages to accumulate the most points is the winner. With our rally pack in hand, we headed to our room to plot the route on a map, which turned out went right through our back yard over the Sonora Pass on Hwy108. Though the Cal24 is about riding and gathering points along the way, we decided that we only wanted to ride the route, make checkpoints and just successfully finish, as one of our goals was to get an IBA cert for completing the SaddleSore 1000 2-up. We do not have GPS on our bike, though most did. It turned out some riders did not utilize their unit’s full potential by not plotting all of the waypoints of the base route, which we felt like that would be the biggest advantage to have GPS.
We set off from the motel 6 minutes after the official start time of 8.00am and started along the base route, which in order to accumulate enough mileage for the IBA Cert, we would not want to cut corners and come up short. The route took us on Hwy25, which also had the largest concentration of furry little critters I had ever seen and then through the hills on J1 and onto a short ride on I5. After leaving I5, for the next 14hours or so of riding, we were familiar with all the roads that we traveled, which included making our way across the Central Valley and into the Sierra Foothills via J59. On our way to Hwy49 one highlight of the rally happened when our bike got complete air while going over a very steep hump in the road. At the point of leaving the highway, my wife gave out a weeew, and even though we did not get very high off the road, and the bike was never out of control, I only wish we could have had our photo taken for posterity.
We made our way from J59 to Hwy49/Hwy108 to the first checkpoint, which was Jamestown Harley Davidson. I pulled up behind a rider and was a little confused as to what was going on. Tom Melchild walked over to me a told me that there was a little competition for riders to go as slow as possible between two points marked in the concrete of the parking lot, about 20 feet. I did my best, parked up to grab a quick bite to eat and saw a couple of riders actually drag race it instead of going slow, which was amusing to watch. Being that we in the parking lot of a Harley Davidson dealership, some of its patrons had wandered over to see what was going on, since the kind of bikes arriving were not of the Milwaukee variety. I remember how weird it was that nobody participating in the rally was really communicating with each other. Instead, they were focusing on bonuses and navigation. This could have only seemed doubly strange to the HD riders looking on, as group riding is more about camaraderie right?
We gassed up and headed past our home town of Sonora and made our way east over Hwy108, which has a technical stretch of highway at the summit that includes a 26% grade. We have traveled this road many times in the past, so it was like a normal ride to us, though for one rider it turned out to be anything but that.
We headed east on Hwy108 to Hwy395 and stopped in Bridgeport for fuel and to refill on water, as there was some wide open desert coming up in Nevada. Two guys out riding walked over to us while we were getting gas, and asked us how we liked our bike and where were we heading. We proceeded to tell them how we had ridden around 300 miles so far today, and one of them turned around and rolled his eyes and said “that’s nothing, we already have that today”. We them told him how we planned on making another 700 miles or so before the day was out, which quickly reduced the size of their puffed out chests. They asked my wife if she was riding all 1000 miles on the back, and she enthusiastically said “Of course”! They slowly walked away with a look of astonishment on their faces. It surely was one of those “priceless” moments. We left Bridgeport heading south on Hwy395. We passed the turn for Hawthorne NV, until my alert passenger reminded me that we were going through there, as up until then I had not been reading the map. I’m so glad one of us knew where we were going. After turning around and getting back on track we made our way to Hawthorne, which initially has a 20 mile straight stretch of highway, which gave my wrists a rest after navigating the Sonora Pass. Even though we had just filled the tank, I decided to refill in Hawthorne, which proved to be a good decision, as we made it all the way to the first checkpoint in Lone Pine without running out. I do not like to see a low gas gauge, especially in wide open desert.
We pulled into Lone Pine, refueled and made our way down the street to the first checkpoint. My trusty wife knew exactly where the parking lot would be, as we had only been staying in Lone Pine earlier in the year when visiting Death Valley to see the ‘100 year bloom’ of wildflowers. We were greeted at the checkpoint by 2 very nice people who signed our paperwork and refilled our water. You see the Cal24, like most other rallies, is put together by people who volunteer their time and make nothing from it. Without them this event could not exist, and we thank you all who gave up your time in order to make this event happen.
We saddled back up and headed south on Hwy395, Hwy14 and then west onto Hwy198 towards Lake Isabella. By the time we reached Hwy198 it was starting to get dark, so I planned to make it to the lake and then refill with gas, as the next section of road looked secondary on the map, and boy was I right about that hunch. One thing we did before the rally was to figure out how to navigate at night, as we do not have any light mounted on our bike to study the map in the dark. At the last minute before leaving, my trusty riding companion came up with the great idea of using an LED type headlamp which is normally used by hikers and campers. I put it around my neck and pointed it at the map in my tank bag. It worked like a charm and we were back in business. Another bonus is that it allowed for hands free light while off the bike, since it was pitch black along most of the night route. As we were getting gas in Lake Isabella, several riders were also pulling in for fuel. One of them in particular had my sides splitting with laughter. It was around 10.00pm and this particular riders’ rest stop strategy to stretch his legs is to always pay cash inside at the counter for gas; I was inside also, but there was no one at the counter with 4 or 5 five people waiting for service. I will never forget the look of bemusement on peoples faces as the rider, in full biker garb, was impatiently calling out loud “hello, hello, hello” trying to get the attention of employees. It still makes me laugh when I think about it.
We were warned back in King City that the next stretch of highway would be quite curvy, which I think turned out to be an understatement. I would call it a goat trail at best. Some after the rally had other names for it. Since we ride in the mountains most of the time, we made it though there without giving it a second thought. Even though we were 2-up, I recall passing 4 other riders in this area, while at the same time picking up a gazillion little flying bugs looking for a free ride. After snaking through some very steep windy mountain roads we eventually crossed Hwy58 and headed back into the flatlands of the Central Valley towards Bakersfield.
What we found most interesting when following the base route is that, even though there were 60 or so riders in the event, you really only ever see maybe a dozen or so who are riding at your pace, and with whom you end up overlapping with the whole time. Sometimes, when you do not see other riders for quite some time, thoughts of a missed turn and wrong direction can enter your mind. We made our way onto Hwy166, gassed up in Maricopa, and made our way nice and easy towards Santa Maria. We could tell at this point that we were well on our way to making the required distance, since before today we had never done 1K in 24 hrs. It was on this stretch of highway that we both started to feel tired, so I decided to pull over for a while and just stretch our legs, which gave us both renewed energy for our ride towards the third checkpoint at the Wharf in Pismo Beach.
After a short ride on Hwy101 we got to Pismo beach 1 1/2 hours before the checkpoint opening, so I decided to get gas since there was plenty of spare time. As we were getting gas another rider pulled in on a CBR1100xx and introduced himself as Brian Roberts. We talked for a while and he suggested we get out of the cold for a while at Denny’s since the checkpoint was not open. This was good advice. We sat and talked for a while, then headed down to the Wharf for the opening checkpoint. We were given 2 options to carry on. Either wait for 20 minutes before leaving or walk onto the beach and retrieve a baggy with salt water and sand. We opted for the water and sand as we had already been hanging out at Denny’s. We got quite a few stares from the locals as we, a bunch of crazy folk in full motorcycle regalia, were walking onto the beach at 3.00am to retrieve sand and water. We were told that we had to safely carry it back to the finish line any way we wanted, so now there was a bunch of sand and water heading back towards King City. As it turned out, it did not reap any reward of points for the rally at the finish line. We had just learned another mind trick played on us by the Rally organizers. Thanks guys.
During our previous conversation with Brian, he had suggested that we go for the last 2 base route questions as there would be ample time to finish the route in 24 hrs. Since they were valued at 370 and 400 points each, we decided we would stop for them. Later on, Ed Kelly and Douglas Webb, who were some of the riders we had been seeing throughout the day, made a good point that you can actually stay more alert by actually working to find answers to questions along the way, instead of just trying to complete the thousand miles. We also found the different strategies of riders quite interesting. Some rode in pairs and conferred at each stop, while others who were clearly out to win rode solo.
Our final leg of the Cal24 put us back on Hwy101 north toward Paso Robles. With temperatures dipping, as we were near the ocean with some fog starting to settle, we were thankful for how nice it was to turn on our heated vests and gloves for warmth. We left 101 and headed north on G14, which is where we stopped and answered our only 2 base route questions. It was just starting to get light when we arrived at the Keefer’s Inn half an hour before the 6.00am finish line opened. We asked Tom if he would verify our mileage, in case we needed to hop back on the bike to get over 1K. He came back from his room and gave us the news that we had covered 1020 miles; Wahoo we made it!
We hung out for a while watching other riders make it back, and I asked Tom if everyone had made it through all of the checkpoints. He seemed quite concerned and told me that one rider had not made it to checkpoint 3 and had not called in to rally headquarters to verify his location. We remembered that Friday afternoon a large amount of police patrol cars had gathered in front of the gas station next to the motel. One rider told us that a lady in a black Mercedes had been carjacked at the pump and they were trying to find the car’s whereabouts. We do not know if this story was true or not, but we hope that if it was, the driver was found safely.
A little after an hour of returning I saw an FJR pull in with a decent amount of damage, and remembered the conversation earlier the previous day about how scenic Hwy108 was near to our home, as the rider had never been there. Well, as it turned out, we did go over Hwy108, and the rider had a low speed high side while nearing the summit. The reason for the get off was due to looking around at the scenery and misjudging a sharp left turn ahead. My wife felt guilty for beforehand pointing out how awesome the scenery is there and how a ride over the Sonora Pass should be done one day. The rider also got a puncture along the way for riding over glass. The day earlier the rider had recalled a conversation with a friend of his, Dale (Warchild) Wilson, who is a veteran of the LD riding community and also just happens to be the IBA’s Chief Technical Inspector. He had been grilled about the importance of always putting on fresh tires before any event of this type, but this bike did not. Who could ask for a better mentor? Now I cannot say for sure that the fresh rubber would have made the difference or not, regarding the puncture, but it is a coincidence. It turned out that this rider suffered a fracture in his hand as a result of this get off and actually continued to finish the rally, while along the way stopping to help a fellow rider who had problems. The actions of this rider really speak a lot about the person and have earned our utmost respect. We hope you make a speedy recovery and get back to riding soon. Another rider, who happens to be the editor of a well known motorcycle magazine, also had a toasted rear tire. I like to put it down to the fact that the FJR just likes devouring rear tires.
After a nice power nap and shower we headed over to the banquet to get all of the final rally standings and enjoy a nice hot meal. We came to find out that the rider who had not made the final checkpoint had actually made it and it turned out to be an error with paperwork. The rider, who was in attendance, did not seem very happy, and we were feeling pretty bad for his wife who must have been beside herself with worry until hearing the good news that all was really ok. We sat at a table in the corner and joined 3 other riders, exchanging stories and past experiences. One story that comes to mind is of one very mild mannered rider who lives in Oregon and commutes to Los Angeles, and actually makes the trip on his ST1100 with only one six minute stop for gas and no restroom. There is no way our bladders could ever achieve this distance without multiple stops along the way. There were tons of raffle prizes given out, and I have to say that Cycle Gear came through huge for the Cal24 along with many others. We actually won 2 prizes from the same motorcycle store, Honda Peninsula. Thanks everyone for your support. We also got to meet a representative from the Center for the Education of Infant Deaf (CEID) who received over $6000.00 in donations from all who attended. The funny highlight was getting a few lessons in sign language related to motorcycles. One rider, Lisa, who donated over $1000.00 to CEID, won a Garmin 2610 GPS receiver for the largest donation. She said she was going to give it to her husband who is planning on running in the Iron Butt Rally in August. He was also planning on riding in the Cal24, but his own bike had mechanical problems at the last minute and forced him out. The right person definitely deserved to win this great prize for good karma after raising so much to help others.
The final results were announced in reverse order, along with one special “OOPS” award going to the rider who dropped the biggest ****oo along the way. According to Tom, it was a very tough decision amongst the organizers, as there were many riders deserving of the award. For example, one rider who, after reaching the first checkpoint, was very proud of the fact he had made the out of the way bonus location of the Madonna Inn, only to find out that it was actually right off the main route later on in the rally. The winner though, turned out to be a long distance riding veteran who made it a grand total of 0.7 miles from the start, when he rear ended a car that had stopped in front of him while looking down at rally literature. Despite this he remained in very good spirits. It just goes to show the caliber and character of the people assembled here who you just don’t seem to meet every day. We actually finished in 37th place, due in part to the fact that we stopped for the last 2 lucrative main route questions. For us it was never about placing high in the standings, just to complete the route in a comfortable fashion. This we did and we our very happy with our accomplishment. As the final standings were getting announced, there were 2 people at our table who had not yet received their plaques. It turned out that that we were sitting with the winner John and seventh place finisher Josh. Judging by the caliber of riders who were trying to win the Cal24, John beat out a very good field of experienced riders on this technical 1000 mile course.
When we first started talking about doing the Cal24, my wife was talking of only participating this one time and then from that point on I would be on my own. She is now talking of us completing an IBA BunBurner Gold IBA Cert and planning to enter us in the Utah1088 next year. What have I let myself in for? After all that has taken place we have come to the conclusion that the 24hr rides are painful but in a very nice way; Sort of like an itch that hurts when you scratch it, but it just feels so good. Thanks once again to Mike Heran, Tom Melchild and all of the volunteers who gave up what must have been a lot of time to organize this event for us. We hope we can do it again next year. It really is true that this is the most fun you can have with your clothes on.
Authors Ian & Kristi Laing
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