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| The Finish | | |
I made it to the finish yesterday after a long third leg, riding in 36 degree temps over the pass on the last night. Everyone is probably wondering what happened that I went from 4th place after leg 2 to 14th at the finish. A difficult to find bonus near Antelope, OR was the catalyst for my demise. I lost a little over 2 hours trying to find this bonus that was in the middle of no where with little to no indication how to get there. In rallies past this type of a bonus would have clear written instructions on locating the correct route to the bonus, and this bonus had no clear directions. It was apparently difficult enough that at the end of the rally the Rallymaster appologized for the screw up and awarded points to all the riders that attempted to find the location - even the ones that did not find it! I did find the bonus after two hours, but I was not able to make up those two hours on the last day and it cost me the daylight restricted bonus in Vancouver, BC. On a more positive note, my 14th place finish is one improved from two years ago!
Now it is time to ride back to Minnesota! I have much more important matters to attend to in the comming weeks as I am getting married to the most wonderful woman in the world on the 26th. I will post more details and pictures from the rally as I have time, but it might be a little while.
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Andy - 09/05/2009-11:41 AM  Comments (2)
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| Update 8/30/09 | | |
| I received a voicemail from Andy last night. He said he was in New Mexico and was headed to LA for the end of the second part of the rally. I read through some of the writeups on the ironbutt official website and it has some good reads about some of the adventures that the riders are experiencing. When I get a chance to talk to Andy again I'll write some more. |
MillsC - 08/30/2009-2:26 PM Comments (1)
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| Update | | |
| I've spoke to Andy a couple times since the start. Looks like my last update disappeared, that was wierd :) The first time I spoke to Andy he was headed to Martha's Vineyard and was having a good time. Today I spoke to him again and he was in Fort Smith Arkansas. He said everything is going great. He was waiting for a tour to start at a landmark that he was at. |
MillsC - 08/28/2009-3:18 PM Comments (0)
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| Rally Start | | |
| Registration is complete, bonus listings have been handed out last night at the Start Banquet, and after much deliberation I devised the plan that will guide my ride over the course of the the next three days. This will be my last status update until the finish of the rally. My brother Chad will be providing appropriate updates during the rally. I will check back in after the finish in Spokane, WA. |
Andy - 08/24/2009-10:18 AM Comments (3)
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| Break-in Ride | | |
I made it as far as Wisconsin Dels last night before grabbing a room for some sleep. It started raining in Bemidji, MN and continued to do so even as I rolled into the Dels for the night. It was more of the same on Friday morning - rain that is. Somewhere near Indianapolis it stopped raining and then a little later the clouds started to let a little sun shine through. At this point, this is the longest trip I have ridden on a motorcycle this year. After riding 1066 miles in the first 24 hours of the trip down I was glad that I was not even feeling fatigued at all. Now I will just have to do that eleven more times.
Registration and Tech Inspection are tomorrow. It is always a long, arduous task. Time to get some sleep. |
Andy - 08/22/2009-5:18 AM Comments (1)
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| Hitting the Road | | |
| After a few long days of getting the bike ready to go, I will be hitting the road this afternoon to make the journey to South Carolina for the start of the IBR. |
Andy - 08/20/2009-4:14 PM Comments (1)
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| Bike Preparation | | |
| Luckily the Victory Vision is nearly rally ready right out of the box with HID lighting, cruise control, CB, XM satellite radio, iPod docking, heated grips, heated seat, and a sweet new integrated Garmin Zumo 660. This weekend I installed the auxillary fuel cell that I made for the 2007 IBR, the Valentine 1, and a heated clothing controller to round out the package. Thursday is getting here fast! |
Andy - 08/18/2009-2:03 AM Comments (1)
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| The Rally Approaches! | | |
| We are only a little over a week away from the start of the 2009 Iron Butt Rally. I just got my bike for the rally yesterday afternoon. This weekend is going to be a lot of prep work to be ready to hit the road next Thursday. Stay tuned for more updates as we get closer to the rally start. |
Andy - 08/14/2009-11:39 PM Comments (0)
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