rickcorwn
Well-known member
FJRs did rather well in the MN 1,000 this past weekend. Derek Dickson won the expert class and in Sport Touring there were 6 FJRs in the top 10 including Lee Pomeroy who placed first. FJR pilot Brian Waletzko felt the need for a third wheel and competed in the Sidecar class. Personally I took the unofficial “Ride Harder, Not Smarter” award with 1819 miles and zero points but didn’t finish last. The complete results can be found at the Team Strange site. click here
This years MN1K would prove to be more unique than most. It all started Friday night when just before the riders meeting the severe weather sirens went off. How do rally masters pull this stuff off? A ST1100 rider, who took the 36-hour big mile bonus, crashed on the flooding freeways around Minneapolis and still managed to break 2,000 miles. Many other riders went for one other Friday night bonus near downtown Minneapolis braving monster puddles and popping manhole covers. There was a DNF winning the sport class followed closely by two other riders in negative numbers, those were the two guys I beat. There was even a kilt wearing ST1100 riding rally volunteer. Which begs the question, if Aerostitch made a riding kilt would the crotch leak? All this in addition to the normal counting steps to the top of a fire tower, 20 miles of soupy gravel roads past kegger parties and lost rally towels. In other words a good time was had by all. If you want to read more about the rally go to the Team Strange Discussion board. click here
The new Aero-Kilts
My rally was pretty simple. There was a mileage award I wanted to bag so I need big miles and was looking for a sucker bonus that would leave Friday night. The Rally master obliged with a bonus in Lewiston MT but that was only a bit over 800 miles away and I needed 1793 miles to make my goal. Couple that with the fact I’d just returned from Hyder through Lewiston. So I plotted a course to Hells Half Acre 40 miles west of Casper WY, 905 miles one way, perfect. I planned to ride Friday night to Sioux Falls SD, get a room and about 4 or 5 hours of sleep and take off in the morning for Hells Half Acre. From Sioux Falls to HHA and back to the start would be 1562 miles. Hmmm I’ve been looking to do a BBG.
I left the start about 8:30 PM and a soon as I hit I-35 south the skies opened up. So hard that the freeway speeds were down to 40 mph but thankfully it only lasted a few miles like that. I was in and out of the rain most of the way to Sioux Falls. I got in around 12:30 AM, a quick shower, check the weather channel and then lights out.
I awoke at 5:30 AM, packed and headed off for some breakfast. I wanted to eat before I got my gas and a receipt to start the BBG. This would allow me to eat “off” the clock at least the BBG portion of my ride. When I went to the gas station it was closed but with pay the pump open. Swiped my card, pumped my gas, receipt, yes, see attendant for receipt. Nooooooooo! Damn it! Now my fuel log bonus is screwed. I zoom over to an ATM and score a receipt that will at least document the start of the BBG 6:36AM. Finally I’m westbound on I-90. The weather is still overcast and humid like it could still storm some. The rain holds off for me and I break through and into a cooler and drier weather pattern. Just about perfect for a ride. Sunny and 76 degrees! Through the Black Hills then peel off the interstate at Gillette WY and head south on some nice two-lane roads. I pick up I-25 south to Casper then US-20 west to Hells Half Acre. It’s closed. But I knew that. So I ride around the jersey barriers and park in front of the boarded up souvenir shop. I grab my rally towel and Polaroid clicked off a picture and write across the bottom “Lewiston MT, odo 8192, 3:00PM MDT”. Hey you never know when you might be able to slip one past at the scoring table.
Wyoming Montana, who can tell the difference?
Now all I need to do is get back to Minneapolis. Before I even reach I-90 back to Gillette I’ve dodged 3 LEOs, what the heck are they doing way out here? I also manage to miss a bunch of deer and pronghorns, all good. A quick sit down meal in Gillette (a sit down meal for an LD rider is food eaten more than 50 feet from a gas pump) Now it’s just more “sit there, twist that” on I-90 to I-35 then north to the finish.
Things go well, thanks in part to a slight tail wind I can stretch my fuel and eliminate a gas stop I thought I’d need to make. About 2:30AM I cross the MN/SD border in and out of some fog. The fog get worse and worse and in some spots I need to slow down to around 40-45 mph. I feel the need to relive myself and pull off on a lonely exit in southern MN. As soon as I reach the bottom of the exit I can see that there’s no entrance back onto the freeway! Damn it! I wander around in the fog on an even more lonely two lane following signage “To East I-90”. I quickly decide this is fruitless and head back to I-90 and backtrack west to the last exit and turn around. Now the fog really sucks. Very seldom am I able to ride faster than 50 mph. I’m thinking this is getting stupid, I’ll either hit something in this fog or be hit by something. I finally pull off an exit somewhere thinking that this could be the end of the BBG for me. Just then a car pulls onto the entrance back onto I-90. Someone to follow! I know this isn’t a real good solution, I could just follow this guy off a cliff for all I know but it beats sitting on the side of the road. I follow this car for about 25 miles until he turns off in Worthington. But now the fog is breaking up and progressively get better and better. Whew! Last gas in Albert Lea and head north on I-35 as the sun begins to rise. Exit 86 for Lakeville and stop at the quickie-gas, receipt sezs 5:58AM, cool. The finish is just around the corner and I wheel in and park the bike. I get a couple hand shakes and “you made its” from some of the early arriving volunteers. I find a grassy spot and crash. In the last 48 hours I’ve only slept a bit over 4 hours, worked an 8-hour day then rode 1,819 miles. Needless to say I could use a nap.
I got zero points, but it was perfect. It was exactly what I wanted out of this rally. I got the miles to get my Ray Benthal award and I was able to test myself on a BBG without getting a real good nights sleep before hand, just the kind of thing I’ll need to do at the end of the Butt-Lite this year. Perfect! :yahoo:
This years MN1K would prove to be more unique than most. It all started Friday night when just before the riders meeting the severe weather sirens went off. How do rally masters pull this stuff off? A ST1100 rider, who took the 36-hour big mile bonus, crashed on the flooding freeways around Minneapolis and still managed to break 2,000 miles. Many other riders went for one other Friday night bonus near downtown Minneapolis braving monster puddles and popping manhole covers. There was a DNF winning the sport class followed closely by two other riders in negative numbers, those were the two guys I beat. There was even a kilt wearing ST1100 riding rally volunteer. Which begs the question, if Aerostitch made a riding kilt would the crotch leak? All this in addition to the normal counting steps to the top of a fire tower, 20 miles of soupy gravel roads past kegger parties and lost rally towels. In other words a good time was had by all. If you want to read more about the rally go to the Team Strange Discussion board. click here
The new Aero-Kilts
My rally was pretty simple. There was a mileage award I wanted to bag so I need big miles and was looking for a sucker bonus that would leave Friday night. The Rally master obliged with a bonus in Lewiston MT but that was only a bit over 800 miles away and I needed 1793 miles to make my goal. Couple that with the fact I’d just returned from Hyder through Lewiston. So I plotted a course to Hells Half Acre 40 miles west of Casper WY, 905 miles one way, perfect. I planned to ride Friday night to Sioux Falls SD, get a room and about 4 or 5 hours of sleep and take off in the morning for Hells Half Acre. From Sioux Falls to HHA and back to the start would be 1562 miles. Hmmm I’ve been looking to do a BBG.
I left the start about 8:30 PM and a soon as I hit I-35 south the skies opened up. So hard that the freeway speeds were down to 40 mph but thankfully it only lasted a few miles like that. I was in and out of the rain most of the way to Sioux Falls. I got in around 12:30 AM, a quick shower, check the weather channel and then lights out.
I awoke at 5:30 AM, packed and headed off for some breakfast. I wanted to eat before I got my gas and a receipt to start the BBG. This would allow me to eat “off” the clock at least the BBG portion of my ride. When I went to the gas station it was closed but with pay the pump open. Swiped my card, pumped my gas, receipt, yes, see attendant for receipt. Nooooooooo! Damn it! Now my fuel log bonus is screwed. I zoom over to an ATM and score a receipt that will at least document the start of the BBG 6:36AM. Finally I’m westbound on I-90. The weather is still overcast and humid like it could still storm some. The rain holds off for me and I break through and into a cooler and drier weather pattern. Just about perfect for a ride. Sunny and 76 degrees! Through the Black Hills then peel off the interstate at Gillette WY and head south on some nice two-lane roads. I pick up I-25 south to Casper then US-20 west to Hells Half Acre. It’s closed. But I knew that. So I ride around the jersey barriers and park in front of the boarded up souvenir shop. I grab my rally towel and Polaroid clicked off a picture and write across the bottom “Lewiston MT, odo 8192, 3:00PM MDT”. Hey you never know when you might be able to slip one past at the scoring table.
Wyoming Montana, who can tell the difference?
Now all I need to do is get back to Minneapolis. Before I even reach I-90 back to Gillette I’ve dodged 3 LEOs, what the heck are they doing way out here? I also manage to miss a bunch of deer and pronghorns, all good. A quick sit down meal in Gillette (a sit down meal for an LD rider is food eaten more than 50 feet from a gas pump) Now it’s just more “sit there, twist that” on I-90 to I-35 then north to the finish.
Things go well, thanks in part to a slight tail wind I can stretch my fuel and eliminate a gas stop I thought I’d need to make. About 2:30AM I cross the MN/SD border in and out of some fog. The fog get worse and worse and in some spots I need to slow down to around 40-45 mph. I feel the need to relive myself and pull off on a lonely exit in southern MN. As soon as I reach the bottom of the exit I can see that there’s no entrance back onto the freeway! Damn it! I wander around in the fog on an even more lonely two lane following signage “To East I-90”. I quickly decide this is fruitless and head back to I-90 and backtrack west to the last exit and turn around. Now the fog really sucks. Very seldom am I able to ride faster than 50 mph. I’m thinking this is getting stupid, I’ll either hit something in this fog or be hit by something. I finally pull off an exit somewhere thinking that this could be the end of the BBG for me. Just then a car pulls onto the entrance back onto I-90. Someone to follow! I know this isn’t a real good solution, I could just follow this guy off a cliff for all I know but it beats sitting on the side of the road. I follow this car for about 25 miles until he turns off in Worthington. But now the fog is breaking up and progressively get better and better. Whew! Last gas in Albert Lea and head north on I-35 as the sun begins to rise. Exit 86 for Lakeville and stop at the quickie-gas, receipt sezs 5:58AM, cool. The finish is just around the corner and I wheel in and park the bike. I get a couple hand shakes and “you made its” from some of the early arriving volunteers. I find a grassy spot and crash. In the last 48 hours I’ve only slept a bit over 4 hours, worked an 8-hour day then rode 1,819 miles. Needless to say I could use a nap.
I got zero points, but it was perfect. It was exactly what I wanted out of this rally. I got the miles to get my Ray Benthal award and I was able to test myself on a BBG without getting a real good nights sleep before hand, just the kind of thing I’ll need to do at the end of the Butt-Lite this year. Perfect! :yahoo:
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