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2003 Minnesota 1000 Ride Report
I’ll begin by mentioning that this is my first endurance motorcycle rally… It all began back in the last days of February while I was in Daytona Beach for Bike Week, when I get a call from my good friend and riding partner, Grady. “Andy, have you been out on the Team Strange website?”
“No, I’m in Daytona. Haven’t had a chance.”
“They just posted that you need to mail in your entry for the MN1K on March 1st.”
“That’s going to be tough. How critical is it that I do it on March 1st?”
“They are limiting the entries to 100 riders this year, and if you don’t mail it right away, you probably won’t make the cut.”
Anyway, I mailed in my application as soon as I returned from sunny Florida. A week later, I checked the list… I made it – barely. I was the 93rd rider on the list. The next couple of months were spent in anticipation of what would be my first rally. To hold me over through May, I figured a couple of weekend trips to North Carolina and back would make for some good seat time. I even made the trip from Raleigh, NC back to Minneapolis (1350 miles) straight through in 23 hours. It was a tough run, but it was a great way for me to test my personal limits.
Ah, June is here and some more information trickles in about the rally. We are now instructed to pick up five “mandatory” bonuses, and we are given the whole week prior to the rally to get them.
One week to rally start, I begin my preparations for the bike – change the oil - check, reattach the auxiliary fuel cell - check, GPS – check, Valentine One – check……. Now it’s time to pick up those mandatories. I go down to Warner Outdoor first and check in with Dean. While I’m there we chat about the rally and a few other things. Dean gives me a couple piece of advice about riding the rally: “There is going to be at least one ‘sucker bonus’ that is worth big points but will be just out of reach in 24 hrs. Don’t do it. Remember to ride your own rally and have fun.” As we’ll see later I didn’t follow all of his advice. Next I was off to Delano to pick up my next bonus. At the Harley dealer I see a H-D in the lot that is clearly a MN1K bike. GPS, V-1, driving lights – hmmm… this looks familiar. I step inside to be greeted by Brett Donahue. The tricked out H-D outside is his. We chat a bit, I get my $3 non-purchase receipt and head home.
The next day I’m off to Midwest Cycle and St. Paul H-D for two more bonuses. Now is Friday and the fun begins. At this point I grab a new BT020 rear tire from my “stash” and head up to Moon Motors for the ODO check in, get my last mandatory bonus, and put some new rubber on the back of my bike before the Liar’s Banquet. Brian at Moon helps me do the tire swap in record time, and then I’m off to get the ODO check in done. After rolling into the Vintage Grill and completing the ODO run, I realize I had forgotten to get my receipt from Moon Motors…back to Moon I go.
Finally I swing into the back lot at the Vintage Grill and park the scooter. Time to socialize. As I am wandering around checking out the rides of my competitors, my good friend Grady wheels in on his well equipped R1. At this point we all go inside for a wonderful meal and the sharing of some good stories. Being the rookie, I mostly sat there and listened to the tales of previous MN1K’s, Butt Lites, and Great Lakes Challenges. Ooooo…. Rally packs are being handed out! As we are instructed to open them, we hear… “and the rally starts at 9 pm tonight.” What?!! I pull out the bonus sheets and then it becomes clear. There are a couple of no points, long distance bonus locations for the guys going for the multi-year high mileage awards. Ok, this is not for me, but what’s this? Bowl a game or three and save your score sheet… it may be important later on in the rally?
So we all line up and get a pair of silly shoes to spend the evening rolling heavy balls down the hardwood and unknowingly tiring our throttle wrists. It was all in good fun as the six of us on lane one debated if we should bowl one game or three. As it turns our I chose good company to bowl with (more on that later). Of the six that bowled the first game, only three of us stuck around to bowl another two games. After getting settled up and the printing of our score sheets, it was off to home for some shuteye.
Saturday morning I was up at the crack of dawn. I was so excited; I just had to get this day started. I arrived in Monticello at 8:45 am and topped off the bike with gas at the station right around the corner from the Vintage Grill. As we all eagerly awaited our bonus sheets, we exchanged more stories, and then had a good laugh as the most unique entry in the rally rolled into the lot – a Vespe with a sidecar? What kind of animal would ride a Vespe in an endurance rally? He’s not kidding… he’s even got the fuel cell, deep cycle battery and driving lights to back it up. And I thought Jim Winterer was crazy for riding on a SR500.
Rally packs were handed out and the cue was given to open them at 9:45 am. Just fifteen minutes to launch. A quick scan of the bonuses revealed what Dean called the ‘sucker bonus’ – it was an all-or-nothing collection of the seven largest lakes in Minnesota, and it was worth 7,890 points. A point of note, the last bonus on the sheet is something to the effect of "multiply your bowling score by zero for your bonus points". I knew I was just tiring my throttle hand. A couple of minutes later, Kiecker comes over and asks me if I have my route figured out yet. Uh… no – still working on it. Now comes my first mistake of the rally. I spent a little too much time planning out my exact route - for the next 45 minutes. I hadn’t realized my folly until I looked up and saw that there were hardly any other riders left at the start. I’d better get going.
The plan was to go for the Great Lakes bonus and pick up as many other smaller bonuses along the way that I had time for. First stop was Lake City to knock off Lake Peppin. I pick up the first bonus with little difficulty, and I headed north. Somewhere on route 61 I saw Kiecker heading the other way. I gave him a wave, and was off to Rush City to pick up my first fish. I ride up next to the “World’s Largest Walleye” and see Jim Winterer, who had just finished up with his photo. I mention that I am going to make sure I have the bike in the picture, and he realizes that might be a good idea, so he breaks out his camera again and does the same. I note the weight of the fish (1999 lbs 15 1/2 ounces) on my route sheet, and now I’m on my way to the second of the seven lakes – Garrison on Mille Lacs. In Garrison I run into Jim again, and we discuss weather or not to head to Floodwood for the receipt and answer from the water tower. Jim decides against it, but I figure that it was an easy bonus that wasn’t too far out of the way. In Floodwood, I put on two dollars in gas and note on my bonus sheet that Floodwood is the “Catfish Capital”. Two Harbors – the third of the great lakes stops, was my next destination, and I am on my way. I loose some time in Duluth, as I somehow got off the main drag and on the odd network of one-way streets in North Duluth. I finally get back on track and on to Two Harbors, only to meet up with Jim again. This time he tells me that his fuel cell has just broken, and he was going to try to make it on just the primary tank. I mention that I’m going to head up through Ely to enjoy the nice roads up that way. Jim points out a short cut up county route 2 north out of Two Harbors to save me some time. Thanks Jim. Riding up highway 1 in the late afternoon sun was pure bliss. This road is certainly my favorite in all of Minnesota.
I arrived in Ely two hours too late to stop in and buy a pencil, so I continue on my way to Orr where I could catch me a couple more fish. At the Bluegill right in town, I meet up with a couple of rally riders. I get my picture and I’m off to find the Walleye north of town. This fish is actually right near the entrance to Wooden Frog State Campground, where I camped on a motorcycle trip a couple of years ago. Fighting the mosquitoes, I get my picture in the failing light of the day. Next stop – International Falls and my fourth ‘great lake’. While gassing up I decide to grab a couple of granola bars and a Gatorade to quench my thirst. I set my snacks on the passenger seat just under my fuel cell as I put on the cap to the cell. She was a bit overfull, and a little gas dribbled down the side and onto the wrappers of my snacks. Blast! I grab a paper towel and wipe off the gas. I quickly partake of the one granola bar and stash the other one away in my tankbag. It was at this point that I reviewed my route plan and took inventory of my bonus locations only to realize that I had somehow forgotten to build Walker (one of the seven lakes) into my route. This was not a good thing. I would have to do some recalculating en-route.
On my way again I opted not to stop and pick up two minor bonuses on the way to Baudette to save some time. While riding I was able to determine that I had enough time to get to Walker and then to Ortonville as long as I left Warroad by 2 am. In Baudette, I took a picture of Willy the Walleye and then stopped by the gas station to scrub off the plethora of bugs on my visor. Next stop was Warroad and my fifth of the great lakes would be done. I arrived at 11:45 pm, and I now had a dilemma before me. Do I go for the Northwest Angle bonus and possibly jeopardize getting all of the seven lakes if something goes wrong? Can I afford not to get those 3700 points? I’ve been to the angle before… that should give me an advantage… right? Aww, what the heck – I was off to the Angle. At the border the friendly Canadian girl saw me through without even making me take my helmet off. At Moose Lake the fun began and I carried a nice 60 mph pace over the smooth straight gravel. I turned right at the fork and crossed back into the U.S., checking in at the videophone. I then made another mistake by not re-reading the bonus sheet. I remember the sheet saying something about the Angle Inlet, so I turned left at Jim’s Corner and headed over to Angle Inlet, when I should have went right and on to Young’s Bay. I didn’t realize my folly until I had ridden the extra 10 miles of gravel in the wrong direction, and then I turned around and proceeded to Young’s Bay. Across the road from Jerry’s I pull out the route sheet and vaguely remember there being some sort of correction to this bonus. I run over to the videophone to get the phone number only to find that there was none. What? Ok… get out the flashlight… lets figure this out. I still didn’t find the number, but there was a sign on the booth with a bunch of numbers to call if you are having trouble with the phone. I write down all of those numbers… then I go over and write down the number of the payphone… just in case (the smartest thing I did the whole rally… or the luckiest). I then hastened back to Warroad to top off on gas before heading to Walker.
Just outside of Baudette, I passed Kiecker going the other way, and little did I know that he was trying to catch up to me on the way to International Falls…. I wasn’t going to International Falls. I turned onto route 72 and headed south. I passed a couple of rally members as I was making good time on this straight and flat road. At one point I decided to make a pit stop to stretch, relieve myself, and munch down that other granola bar. Mmmm, I was hungry too. This is the life. Sitting on the side of the road in the wee hours of the morning watching the moon set as the first light of day breaks in the east, snacking away on this lovely granola bar that tastes like… gasoline! Blaaaa. *Spit… spit… drink some water* the taste is still there. Apparently I didn't wipe off all the not-so-enjoyable liquid. I spent the rest of the morning burping up those tasty calories. Oh well, on to Walker for my sixth great lake.
I arrive in Walker a little before 5 am to find another rider there. I mentioned I was off to Ortonville for my final stop on the Great Lakes Tour, and he was rather upset that he had missed Garrison on his way, leaving him short on time to complete the mega-bonus. I was on my way again, as I had little time to spare if I was going to make it to Ortonville and then back to St. Cloud in the next five hours. Arriving in Ortonville almost exactly three hours later, I was on schedule, but I still had no margin for error. I got my gas receipt and was on my way to the finish.
Somewhere after Morris, I realized that I had no idea how to get to Donahue Harley Davidson in St. Cloud. This is not good. I had no time to be wandering around St. Cloud, and I had left the directions to the finish at home. I was starting to get worried. As I jumped on the super slab for the final stretch, I hoped that I would see a billboard with an address or directions, or run into another rally rider on his way to the finish and I could just follow him. No such luck. As I get to St. Cloud I recall that it was located somewhere on the east side of town, so I took the exit for route 23. It’s now 9:40 am and I’m running out of time. I get caught at a stoplight, and I start asking directions from people in the cars around me. All I get is blank stares. I continue on 23. I catch another red light and resume asking for directions of the cars around me. I would just like to thank the girl with her dad that gave me directions to Donahue. “It’s just outside of town on 23. It will be on your left hand side.”
“Thank you.”
As I’m heading through town, another rider on a BMW GS catches me. I mention that I’m not sure where Donahue is and he says to follow him. We catch a couple of more red lights along the way. It’s now 9:55 am. Oh wait. There it is up there… still following the GS, we ride right past the entrance to the frontage road. Not good. The guy on the GS takes her off-road through the median and pulls a u-turn back to the frontage road. I check the GPS – 9:56. I don't have enough time to get stuck at another light. I follow the GS’s lead and plow through the soft median on the FZ1 and turn on to the frontage road. Pulling into the parking lot, volunteers came to check my odometer and note the time of my arrival – 9:57. I made it.
I park the bike and my new friend Tom comes over to snap a photo of me in my tired, but elated state. Kiecker comes over to ask me how many points I got. I have no idea. Time to go tally them up and make sure my paperwork is in order. I went inside the showroom and the helpful staff pointed me to the parts counter to go through my bonus sheets and fuel log. My mind is swimming, I’m tired, I’m hungry… and now I have to do paperwork? It was a struggle, I must say. Did I miss anything? The paranoia starts to set in.
I step outside, and Kiecker once again asks me how many points I got. I still didn’t know. I had forgotten to add them up. Ok… let’s sit down and do this. Seven great lakes, the Angle, a few big fish, and the catfish capital. Add in the mandatory bonuses and the fuel log, and we have a grand total of 15,319 points. Not to bad.
At the scoring table I was able to keep all of my points, and for that I was happy. As it turns out the payphone number I wrote down at the Angle was a good thing. After a few pork sandwiches, the awards were handed out. As they worked their way through the classes, finally they were to the “Expert” class. Fifth place, Fourth place… and Third place with 15,319 points goes to Andy Mills. Holy Cow. That’s me! I had only three goals when I started this rally, and I had accomplished all three: 1) to finish the rally with at least 1,000 miles – I rode 1,415 miles. 2) to have fun – I was able to ride my favorite road (highway 1) and see some new parts of Minnesota so I did have fun. 3) to place in the top ten in overall points – I place in third in the “Expert” class, which is far better than I ever expected. As it turned out, all six of us that bowled together on Friday night went home with hardware. Good job guys.
I would just like to thank the Rallymasters for setting up this event, and all the volunteers and sponsors that made it happen. This is some of the most fun I’ve ever had.
Thanks again,
Andy Mills
Rider #532
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