With a kiss for luck and an updated weather report for thunderstorms to the west, I left home for what turned out to be a three week odyssey. Heading west into the mountains of Maryland, I made a few telephone calls to friends, using the new Bluetooth J&M set-up. The unit had worked perfectly since being installed a few months earlier.
On the Road
Nancy’s prediction of thunderstorms turned out to be right on target. I stopped at an exit west of Cumberland, Maryland and quickly put on my new one piece rain suit. Within 5 minutes, I was back on the road riding into a steady downpour. The suit was an improvement over the gore-tex liner I previously used. It could go on and off quickly and without removing any other clothing. If need be, I could even put it on without removing my helmet.
Approaching Deep Creek Lake, I felt the slightest vibration in the engine. It was almost unperceivable at first. I convinced myself that the vibration was a result of a rough spot in the road and nothing more. My self delusion came to an abrupt end when the engine quit a few miles later. I coasted the bike to a stop on the shoulder of I-68. I now know there is something worse than putting your head down and riding through a violent thunderstorm. Sitting on the shoulder of an interstate at the top of a mountain as the storm rages on, is definitely a notch or two up the “this sucks” scale.
I had no idea what the problem was, but it closely resembled a fuel starvation problem. I had filled up at a small gas station about 100 miles back and thought it was possible I had gotten some bad fuel. I called my mechanic, Roger Sinclair to see if he had any suggestions. Unfortunately, in addition to being in a full blown storm, I also had intermittent cell phone coverage. I managed to get a phone call out for a tow truck before losing service completely. After that there was nothing to do but find whatever shelter there was and wait.
Going Nowhere Fast
I climbed a small hill to a clump of trees and waited. After an hour of waiting, no help was coming, but at least the storms had passed. I went back down to the bike. Not really expecting it to start, I pushed the starter button and it fired right up. I hopped on and headed down the road. Perhaps the bad fuel had passed. A slight delay and nothing else I mused. But it was not to be as the engine began acting up not a mile further down the road. It finally quit as I coasted down an exit ramp and into a gas station parking lot.
I tried a couple cans of Dry Gas to see if this would solve the bad gas problem. Once again, the bike started up. I let the bike idle for nearly 10 minutes with no noticeable problems. I was beginning to think that I may have solved the problem. I tried riding the bike up and down the road in front of the station. As soon as I got some speed up, the bike would die. I spoke to Roger again. The nearest dealership that would work on the bike immediately was in Pittsburgh, PA nearly 150 miles away. There was little to do but wait for the tow truck to haul the bike up there.
Almost on cue the truck arrived. We loaded the bike on the truck and headed for Pittsburgh. I talked with Bill, the driver, but I was only slightly connected to the conversation. I was still stunned that after so much preparation, I had not even made it out of Maryland without breaking down. My mind was going over a dozen different options to get to St. Louis for the start of the Rally.
Bill told me he was recovering from his sixth heart attack as he fired up one cigarette after another. He went on to tell me he had just buried his son who had recently died after battling a life long illness. As he spoke about his son, I could see him fighting back his tears. It was also clear that he was extremely proud of his son, who would never make his college graduation. It was a sobering conversation. It made me realize that I really had no problems.
Bill asked me where I was going. I told him I was headed to St. Louis to compete in the Iron Butt Rally. I explained what the Rally was, using the “Mother of All Scavenger Hunts” analogy. He then asked me, “So how do you get involved in something like that.” Once again, Bill had pushed me back in thought. How the heck did I get here? Riding through the mountains of western Maryland in an old rickety tow truck, desperate to fix a broken bike to ride across the country to do something no one in their right mind would want to do.
Bill would be the first of many people that would come to me aid in the next two weeks. I am indebted to each and every one of them. Though it may sound a little strange, I would not have been able to fail so spectacularly without their assistance. It would become a tragic comedy of Shakespearean proportions.
We arrived a few hours later at Pittsburgh BMW. The service manager had cleared a spot on their schedule for me. I explained the problem, unloaded the bike and started browsing motorcycles in the showroom, just in case. Less than an hour later, the problem had been diagnosed and fixed. I had been having problems with the Rider Information Display (RID) on the bike. It had been freezing up intermittently. Though not a major problem, this would deprive me of both my fuel gauge and more importantly, the clock on the bike.
Roger had suggesting changing the relay to fix the problem. About a week before leaving, I had done just that. However I had failed to secure the new relay firmly in place. The more I rode the bike, the more vibration it got. This caused the relay to gradually work loose. Once the relay lost contact, the fuel pump stopped working and the bike lost all fuel pressure and died. The mechanic merely had to snap the relay back in place. Problem solved.
I appropriately felt like a moron. But I was a happy moron, even if my wallet was now some $600 lighter for the experience. This would only be the first of many unexpected expenses for the Rally.
I quickly headed west on I-70. I added a relay check to my list of things to do when the bike breaks down. Sounds pretty simple, but I had never thought about it before. I stopped east of St. Louis Thursday night. The ride had been fairly forgettable. I was ready to go. The waiting was nearly over.
The next morning, I headed to Gateway BMW to have a new set of tires put on the bike. I planned on running Metzler Tourance Tires for the entire Rally. Though the rear tire would probably get a little thin near the end, I was pretty confident I would make it through the Rally on one set. I was mistaken.
I ran into Jim Owen and a couple other riders at the dealership. We talked briefly. Jim had been in excellent position to win the 2005 Rally when his bike suffered a catastrophic breakdown on the last leg. I looked at his bike and was impressed by the set-up. I made some mental notes about some of the things I liked. Many long distance bikes are set up with way too many gadgets. Every time you add something to your bike, it is just one more thing to fail or distract you. You need to weigh that cost against the benefit you will get from the accessory. Jim’s bike seemed to strike a good balance.
A couple of hours later I was back on the road for the short ride to the Rally Hotel. As I rode into the lot, I saw a couple dozen other bikes already there. People were milling around, but things were as expected with three days to go to the start. I checked into the hotel and made some calls to friends and family. Nancy had started her blog about the Rally and was appropriately making fun of my “operator error” breakdown. Another problem had reared its ugly head.
The GPS tracker I was using was not working. The unit allowed Nancy to track me over the Internet and, in cases of emergency, locate me and send assistance. We tried everything to get it working, but it was useless. Once again, I got the credit card out and purchased another unit. I made arrangements for the overnight Saturday delivery. Roger would be arriving late Friday night and could help me with the install if necessary. Another $600 was gone with the wind. But there was no compromise on this one. I would not ride the Rally without a functioning unit. More importantly, Nancy would not let me ride it without one.
I spent the rest of the day catching up with friends and riders I had not seen for a while. Paul Taylor was working on a job in nearby town and would be around for the entire Rally. John Ryan, while not riding in the Rally, was nonetheless planning a monster ride of his own. He planned to ride eleven straight 1500 mile days to set yet another endurance record. Mad scientist Leon Begeman had helped John set up his FJR 1300 with a special long distance fuel tank. I believe Leon retrofitted a fuel tank from a 1963 Volkswagen Beetle so that John’s bike would now carry something like 43 gallons of gas allowing him to only stop every 3rd day for gas. If I ever doubted John’s sanity, this confirmed to me that he had truly lost his mind. I also had no doubt that if anyone could do it, he could.
John Ryan and his U-Boat Bike…and yes that is a gas tank you are seeing
I ran into Bill Shaw, Rebecca Vaughn, Jim Shaw, Paul and Voni Glaves, Ed Phelps, Vicki and Sherril Johnston and many others. If not for the little 11 day ride coming up, it would have been a very pleasant weekend. As it was, the weekend passed interminably slow. I met many of the riders and was more than pleasantly surprised to count more than twenty bikes with BeadRiders on them. Very cool. I tried to get as many pictures as possible.
Gotta love that BeadRider
Saturday tech inspection came and went without any major problems. Once again, riders waited in line for long periods as the check in process progressed. One new twist was a videotaped interview of every rider by Dean Tanji. Dean was working on some type of film of the Rally. Every rider was asked a series of questions, including what their goal was for the Rally. Having finished second in 2005, I was only interested in one goal. To win. Anything short of that would be disappointing.
Once again, a very smart rider!
After completing my check-in, I went out to the bike to replace the GPS Tracker. To replace the unit, I needed to remove the fuel tank, a fairly straight forward task, but one that leaves the bike looking somewhat “disassembled”. As I worked, Bob Higdon walked by and remarked, “Oh, this can’t be good.” I assured Bob that things were not as bad as they appeared. I completed the swap within an hour and after some quick testing, found the new unit to be working perfectly. Nancy could even identify what space the bike was parked in at the hotel.
The never ending lines to check in
As in 2005, many riders were working on their bikes in the lot over the weekend. Though this may seem to the casual observer that the bikes were not ready for the Rally, nothing could be further from the truth. Most of the bikes are very sophisticated machines, running multiple GPS units, laptop computers, Satellite trackers/Radios, Radar Detectors, XM weather, HID lights, CB Radios, etc. Sometimes gremlins seem to invade these items.
Video Games Anyone?
Though Roger had come to St. Louis to provide whatever support he could to me, he ended up working on the bikes of nearly two dozen riders. He was one of the busiest persons in the lot, working from early in the morning to well into the night. Many of the riders owe him debt of gratitude for his assistance.
Roger Saving Yet Another Rider
Late on Saturday, Dean Tanji approached me and asked if I would be willing to allow him to videotape some of my route planning after the Bonus listings for the first leg were handed out Sunday night. I was hesitant to say yes and told him I would get back with him. In 2005, things were very hectic after the initial bonus packages were handed out. I was easily distracted and more than overwhelmed. This led to a horrible routing error during the first leg. I did not want a repeat of that scenario. I talked it over with Paul, Nancy, John and Roger. Dean also assured me that the intrusion would be minimal and that he only wanted to observe. Against my own advice, I agreed to let Dean videotape my route planning. I could only hope the distraction would not lead to another disaster like 2005. I anticipated this Rally would test the route planning skills of the even the best riders. I would not be disappointed.
Yet Another Superior Rider! BeadRider Was Well Represented
