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- The MN2K was my first endurance event.
I came away from it with a long list
- of do's and don'ts for myself for next time
- 1) Do remember to fill up with gas right before the start.
Somehow I spaced
- this one, so, 60 miles after the start I was looking for gas, after having
- left with less than a half tank. Doh!
-
- 2) Don't get too caught up in the moment.
Somewhere in western Wisconsin,
- on I-94, a Gold Wing and K Bike blew by me like I was standing still.
The
- gauntlet had been dropped so I kept up with them for a few miles as we
- threaded through traffic. I
hadn't ridden like that in a long time, maybe
- 10 years, and it was fun. Too
much fun. With gas getting a
little low, I
- started paying attention to the exit signs.
My route called for me exiting
- the highway at Menomonie, and skirting across the top of Eau Claire,
heading
- for Alaska, WI. I was already
at the eastern Eau Claire exit at this point,
- way past Menomonie.
-
- 3) Do have some fun, though. I
nailed Alaska started heading south along
- the western side of Lake Michigan. The
breeze off the water was cool and
- the sun was shining. Things
were getting better, and I was getting
- complacent, which brings us to the next don't.
-
- 4) Don't run out of gas. I
knew I could get 15, maybe 20 miles into my
- reserve, so when the reserve light came on at 180 miles I decided to push
it
- to 200. 200 rolled around as
I was passing the exit for a gas station.
- Some time after that, maybe a whole 20 seconds later, the bike stumbled.
I
- was merging onto the Illinois turnpike and coming up on the tollbooths - I
- made the last mile to the booth by rocking the bike and driving 30 on the
- shoulder. I stopped there and
talked to the tollbooth operators. They
- called a trooper. I'm
thinking great, now I will wait 2 hours then a
- trooper will show up with an attitude and ask what the hell I expect him
to
- do for me, then write me a ticket for running out of gas.
Imagine my
- surprise then, when a tow truck showed up with 2 gallons of gas for me -
he
- had been called by the trooper. Cool.
I got gassed up, got my receipt (2.0
- gallons, $50 - maybe the most expensive gas purchased by anyone in the
- rally). The whole thing took
about 45 minutes. It could have
been much
- worse.
-
- After skirting Chi-town on I-294 I had an early dinner at El Famousa in
- Summit, IL, picking up my second bonus locale and taking care of my hunger
- at the same time. After that
I hunkered down for the long ride to Ohiopyle
- in southwest PA. I figured I
would just need to get as close as possible,
- since the bonus did not open till 10:00 the next morning.
By 3:00 am I was
- running down the Pennsylvania Turnpike, closing in on Pittsburgh.
It was
- getting cold, and this time I had done something right.
-
- 5) Do bring your electric vest. I
don't know how I ever lived without it.
- In fact I worship it as a god. I
wish I could have kept it plugged into the
- bike while I faked two hours of sleep on a park bench out back of a rest
- area on I-76. There were
absolutely no motel rooms left. Which
brings me
- to my next two:
-
- 6) Do bring some kind of sleeping bag, or at least remember that you have
an
- emergency space blanket in your kit, and use the damn thing, rather than
- shivering and waking up every 10 minutes, and
-
- 7) Don't be shy about asking rest area restaurant staff if you can crash
in
- there for 4 hours. I should
have done that, it would he been much more
- restful. What do they care
anyway - the place was empty at 4:00 am when I
- got my receipt for my curly fries, documenting the start of my layover.
At
- 8:03 I bought gas and was out of there for a very pleasant and leisurely
- ride to the Ohiopyle/Fallingwater bonus.
I got there at 9:15 and was
- surprised to find the place open already.
In the parking lot I ran into
- fellow MN2Ker Aaron Neal. We
waited at the place until 10:01 before we took
- the pictures, since the sheet called for being there after 10, and we
didn't
- want to loose big points on a technicality.
-
- 8) Do be prepared to change your plans en route.
I was planning to blast
- straight up to Cleveland OH, maybe catch Marblehead OH, and hit Hell, MI
- before it got dark. Aaron
didn't think that would be possible, and he was
- going to Bradford, PA, which was worth more, anyway.
We looked at the map
- and the road up to Bradford looked easy to follow, was two lane, and nice
- and wiggly. The ride to
Bradford was awesome. Good
weather, good roads, a
- new riding buddy and lots of
Sunday morning Harley riders to humiliate.
- Life was good.
-
- 9) Do bring a spare speedometer cable.
After the Zippo factory bonus in
- Bradford we rode through the western end of the southern tier of NY, and
- started heading for home. By
the time we hit Jamestown, NY, Aaron's
- speedometer cable had broken. He
was tired and almost relieved that he did
- not have to collect any more bonus points.
There was no way we were going
- to find a spare on Sunday evening. He
still wanted to ride together for a
- while though, so we lit out for Cleveland, and the Rock and Roll Hall of
- Fame.
-
- 10) Don't count on running with the big dogs unless you have extra gas.
- Aaron and I ran into Lori Schmidt and Brent Bruns at the Cleveland bonus.
We
- chatted for a minute, and Aaron left to find a motel room.
In contrast to
- the relatively laid back, fun attitude that Aaron had about the rally,
Lori
- and Brent were serious and methodical.
Both in the expert class, they were
- running all the usual kit - lights, extra gas, radar, etc.
It's a great
- testament to this type of event that all participants can have fun with it
- in whatever way they want. I
wanted to ride with them since we were all
- headed to bonuses in Illinois, but I had maybe 50 miles or gas left, and
- they would not be stopping for at least 150.
I made a mental note to get a
- fuel cell by next year.
-
- 11) Do stop if the weather really, really sucks.
I ran into Lori and Brent
- again at the Illinois state line, at which point we all needed gas.
After
- that, the next bonus was within range for all of us, so I was able to
stick
- with them. Good thing too,
since the sky opened up and drenched us as we
- made our way through south Chicago. After
deciding that hydroplaning, next
- to Sunday night drunk drivers who are also hydroplaning, when its
impossible
- to see where you are going and you haven't slept in two days, is a bad
idea,
- we stopped. The motel and
shower were just what we all needed, and everyone
- felt refreshed after 4 hours. My
receipts were dated exactly 4:00:09 apart,
- and the rain had stopped.
-
- 12) And finally.. Do consider a GPS unit and radar, neither of which I
had.
- I swung by Baraboo, WI for my last bonus stop on the final leg home, some
- time after Tomah, WI, I realized that the mile markers that I had assumed
- were numbered from the I-94 MN border, where numbered from the I-90
border.
- I was not watching the map since I had the rain cover on the tank bag.
I
- had about 80 miles more to go than I had thought.
I simultaneously cursed
- my stupid self did a mental calculation of my required average speed.
It
- didn't sound good - 70 or so - If I hit traffic or construction I would be
- screwed. What really sucked
is that I thought I had tons of time, and had
- been cruising just above the limit since Madison - no sense in getting a
- ticket if you are not in a hurry, I thought.
Well all of that was out of
- the window now, and I risked my license by cranking it up, and using
- speeding cage drivers as radar shields. The final insult was that the
- Hiawatha avenue exit that I thought might have been off I-94 is off I-35,
so
- I experienced several exciting minutes on Lake St.
The clock on my bike
- said I had about 30 seconds left before incurring time penalties as I sat
at
- the light on 32nd. I could
see Trackstar right there, across the street,
- and the damn light took forever, of course.
Fortunately, I had not synched
- my bike clock to rally time, and it was a bit fast.
I made it with three
- minutes to spare and finished second in standard class.
And I had a great
- time riding - it doesn't get much better than that.
-
- Anyway, thanks to Eddy, Adam, and everyone else who helped make the rally
a
- success. Fuel Safe, Garmin,
SAEng, and PIAA should be grateful to you too,
- given all the money I will probably spend with them this winter. See you
all
- next year.
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