Pete's Place

Latest Fuel Cell

2011-02-11T12:14:00.000-05:00

This is my latest iteration of a two up fuel cell for a K1200LT. This is an early look so don't mind the fact that the aluminum is not polished.

Here are some of the features that have been incorporated (some original some borrowed):

retains pillion seat for 2 up riding
5.15 gallons (just under Iron Butt Rally maximum for the K1200LT)
fully baffled
mounting system and platform are separate entities from the fuel cell
customizable platform both in size and configuration for any type of case or luggage system desired
bar on side of mounting system allows for bungee cord or velcro attachment point

I welcome opinions, feedback, and suggestions.

BMW K1200LT Powered Hydration System

2010-08-05T18:18:00.000-04:00

I rigged this hydration system up without power for the 2007 Iron Butt Rally and found out that having to suck water from down by my foot got very tiresome. I converted it to a powered system using a automotive windshield washer pump. Wow, what a difference! I found out that there were many other benefits besides getting a drink without sucking my brains out: (there may be more but this is to date):

can pump water into my jacket and helmet
can get water to wash my hands, face, etc.
can water my windshield for washing
can spray water at cagers that are following too closely

More detailed pictures can be found on my web album.

2010-08-02T20:23:00.005-04:00

Hello all,

It's been a long time since I've posted or updated my blog. I guess it's time to get back into it.

Here is a quick summary of events since my last post:

9/2009--Rode the 2009 Iron Butt Rally unsuccessfully. I didn't acquire enough bonus points to be a finisher. Lots of contributing factors but perhaps the biggest was that I am too competitive and bit off more than I could chew. I vow to get back to a "have fun" mode.
9/2009--Moved to San Diego (the IBR was my cross-country trip (on steriods)).
10/2009--Bought a house and moved in.
10/2009--Hauled the moving trash to the dump and fell off the truck incurring a back, neck, and hand injury--this put a major cramp in my riding.
12/2009--Attended the midnight Ride-to-Eat at Pink's in Los Angeles. That was my first ride since the injury and it was a killer (~200 miles round trip).
2/2010--tore down the bike and replaced the clutch.
4/2010--rode the LowCal250 in San Diego to get back into the swing of riding (hand and neck are getting better). It was a lot of fun and my son (his 1st rally) took 1st place--some detail is here.
6/2010--needed an update on my MSF endorsement to get a base sticker so I enrolled in the Military Sport Bike Riders Course. The fastest enrollment was at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, only 250 miles away. Up on Friday, attended course on Saturday and came home. This is a GREAT course, they are teaching real world riding. If you ever get chance to get this course I highly recommend it. That 500 miles over 2 days really took it out of me and I had to spend more time in the saddle.
Mike Kneebone sent a request for volunteer for the Redmond 1000 ride-in to the annual BMW MOA International Rally. Since I'd never attended one of these rallies, and since it was only 960 miles away, I jumped at the chance. It was a great weekend and I really enjoyed the rally, sites, and scenery of the Redmond, OR area. This was my proximate location in the IBR that my stamina gave out and I bailed on trying to get more points. It was a bit of a homecoming albeit with some not-so-great memories of last summer. On the trip back I rode to San Jose to visit with a nephew and get some rest. U.S. 1 was the route home. Don't ever take this road on a nice summer Sunday! Traffic was horrible.

This brings me up-to-date on the history. I am off next week to ride in the 2-day version of the Spank Rally. This will be my first big dog rally since last August. I fully plan to enjoy the trip and not be so competitive. The rally ends at the IBA National Meet this year in Denver, CO. I am looking forward to visiting all my IBA buddies and then taking a sightseeing trip home.

Stay tuned in for more, I promise to not be so quiet. :-)

2009-08-23T17:04:00.002-04:00

IBR check in is completed, rally packs have been distributed and the game is on.

There were a couple of final rules and regulations that come out.

First off is that my SPoT tracking page has been made private. What that means is that it is not public and you need a password to view it. You can post a message here requesting access (include your email) and, if my wife approves, she will provide you with the password.

Second, is that this blog will not be updated during the rally. The rationale will be explained after the rally but for now we will have to be silent.

Again, you can post questions here and Patty may or may not reply privately.

Thank you for your understanding,

IBPete

2009-08-23T10:11:00.000-04:00

This is Patty testing to verify that I am still able to post to this blog. Age has a way of making one just a wee bit forgetfull! :-) All of us in San Diego will be following closely and we will try to update the blog for everyone. Good Luck Mike (aka Pete)!!

2009-08-21T09:11:00.000-04:00

Pictures of my bike preparation.

http://picasaweb.google.com/IBPete/2009IBRPrep#

2009-08-20T19:20:00.003-04:00

T minus 3 days and a few hours to the start of the "Big Show", the 2009 Iron Butt Rally!

I am so ill prepared it is unbelievable. The stress of having a house on the market this year, coupled with getting it sold (certainly a blessing but stressful nonetheless) has left me with little time to prepare myself for this rally. I have gone from shooting for a big dog finish to just hoping I can finish.

We went homeless 2 weeks ago. Patty got her good friend Sarah to drive her and the dog to San Diego and I got my good friend Bill to let me camp out at his house these last 2 weeks. All I can say is that Patty and I are both blessed to have friends such as these that will willingly disrupt their lives to help us out. Life doesn't get any better than that so my performance or lack thereof in this endurance rally is of no importance at all. I just hope that in some small fashion we can repay the debt we owe these good friends that helped us in our time of need.

I rode the bike a bit this last weekend. Mostly to acclimatize myself to the heat and to take a bit of a farewell tour of the state. While moving to San Diego and being closer to our grandchildren is exciting, I have mixed emotions. My Saturday and Sunday journeys took me into the eastern side of the state where I sauntered around the outer banks. In many ways it was a sentimental journey, a final fare-thee-well to the state that has become home. Our 23 years here have the longest of all. North Carolina is a beautiful state and there are many things I will miss. Especially the friends and acquaintances we have made.

I took vacation from work this last week to take care of getting the bike ready. After a trip to Capital BMW for some expert tuning and thorough pre-IBR checkover by Jon Ross and his team of experts, I mounted my spare tires and made some last minute adjustments and modifications to the bike. It is far more well prepared than I am.

I will head out to Spartanburg in the morning. I want to give plenty of time to the check in process and the tech inspection. My custom fuel cell will have to be given a thorough once over and checked for its maximum capacity.

Expect more updates from me up to the start of the rally and then I hope Patty will be able to make posts as she did in '07. It was very interesting to me to come back from the rally and see her interpretation of my daily voice reports.

Later,

K1200LT Auxillary Fuel Cell FOR SALE

2009-07-19T17:42:00.002-04:00

My new cell is working out fine so it is time to get rid of the old one.

4 gallon RCI (3.5 actual).
It mounts in place of the pillion seat and uses the same mounting method/bolts.
Has shutoff valve and vent.
Backrest hardware mounted.
I have a well used cover and backrest that come with.
asking $250 + shipping (over $1000 invested in engineering time)

Let me know if you want some more detail. Older pix here:
http://employees.org/~mlangfor/2005/accessory_05.html

Thanks for looking,

Service Experience at BMW Touring Sport, Greenville, SC

2009-07-13T11:13:00.000-04:00

This post has been languishing for a few months because it is negative
and I really hate to go public with negativity. The reason that I post
this now is because the Iron Butt Rally is starting in Spartanburg, SC
and Touring Sport <http://www.touringsportbmw.com/> is the nearest BMW
dealer and I feel that sharing my experience may help others make an
informed decision on whether or not to use this dealership for service.

I had a breakdown on the Cape Fear 1000 rally and, based on the high
recommendations of others, chose to have my bike towed to Touring Sport
over a closer dealership. My bike has quite a bit of long distance
customization and I know that it costs extra to deal with non-stock
motorcycles. I fully expected to pay time and material for the repairs.
The failed ignition switch is deep inside the tupperware on a K1200LT so
the $500 labor charge, while not pleasant, was not surprising.

What was surprising was that the job was not done properly. While I
expect that my customization will cost extra, I also expect that my bike
will be returned to me in the proper condition. I had to ride the bike
home and then completely tear it down to reconnect my communications
system properly, essentially replicating 90% of the labor for which I
had just paid. In the process of reproducing this work I found other
examples of poor workmanship, stripped and missing screws, improperly
routed wiring, and missing spot ties.

I brought all of this to the attention of the management at Touring
Sport with little satisfaction. Their position was that they had to
charge flat labor on non-stock work and that the charges were normal.
They never did seem to understand that I was not objecting to charges
for work that was properly performed but was objecting to paying the
full freight on improper work.

Bottom line is that I felt they fully understood that I was a "one time"
customer who they would never see again.

My apologies for cross posting this to my blog
<http://ibpete.blogspot.com/>, the BMW Luxury Touring Community
<http://www.bmwlt.com/forums/cmps_index.php>, the Iron Butt Association
forum <http://www.ironbutt.org/forum/default.asp>, the LDRider forum
<http://www.ldriders.com/>, and the IBR private forum, I normally try to
be a good netcitizen but in this case I am following through with a
promise to Touring Sport that, should we not be able to resolve the
issue, I would make this post.

If anyone wants to see the entire email exchange please let me know and
I will post them on my web page.

--
Mike Langford [aka Pete]
Raleigh, NC
IBA#341
http://employees.org/~mlangfor/
The mysteries of life?
"it's faster horses, younger women, older whiskey, and more money"
Tom T. Hall

Not Superman Rally Withdraw

2009-07-13T09:50:00.002-04:00

I managed to do what I have read of others doing and didn't see how--I lost my wallet.

I was going strong on leg 1 and was about 50 minutes ahead of plan when I stopped at the GA welcome center for a hygiene break. As I dismounted I felt for my wallet and, not finding it in my pocket, proceeded to turn the world upside down searching. It was definitely missing in action! Talk about discouraging, after some consultation with my wife and rallymaster Jim Pucket I headed back to my last 2 stops (one for fuel where I knew I had last used the wallet) in the hopes of finding it on the ground. 100 miles later, no joy.

I still had my cash, another credit card, and my drivers license (thanks to the bonus that required us to seal it up--it was tucked in with my paperwork) but two factors influenced my decision to drop out. Tough to say which was most discouraging; losing a valuable piece of ID (with my SSN) and the sickening thoughts of identity theft, or the fact that the additional 100 miles and loss of 2+ hours ruined any chance of a good finish.

I opted to head home via my daughters house in Columbus, GA.

Later that night, resting at my daughters, I came to a startling revelation about myself. I am so competitive that once a top finish was out of the picture I no longer wanted to play. I think I need to seriously rethink this rallying hobby and make sure I have my priorities straight.

Now that a couple of days have passed I am rethinking my decision. I missed out on the true reason for rallying--coming into the finish, tired and whipped, and sharing the experience with the other riders. The camaraderie is the true joy of this sport!

To those of you who may have been tracking my progress on SPoT, I apologize for the late report and hope no one was as concerned as my mom.

NotSuperMan Rally -- I'm off!

2009-07-08T17:38:00.001-04:00

Early Thursday AM (7/9/09) I head out to Cape Girardeau, Mo for the Not Superman Rally starting at 0600 Friday morning.

This is a 54 hour venue with two 27 hour legs. Each leg has a mandatory 3 hour rest stop, leaving 24 hours for travel time for each leg. I've planned some pretty aggressive routes for each leg in the hopes of being a top scorer. Time will tell whether or not I can maintain the 56mph average needed to meet my goals.

If you want to play along virtually you can follow my progress with my public SPoT tracker page. You can find tracking linked from this blog page in the upper right corner.

This will be my last big shakedown ride before the Iron Butt Rally starting August 23rd out of Spartanburg, SC. Between the trip out and back and the rally itself I will rack up about 4500 miles before Monday evening.

I have been trying to support my expensive hobby with some advertising, so feel free to click on some of the advertisments you find on this page. So far I have earned a whopping $4.08 ;-)

thanks for looking,

--  Mike Langford [aka Pete] Raleigh,
NC IBA#341 http://employees.org/~mlangfor/
The mysteries of life? "it's faster horses, younger women,
older whiskey, and more money" Tom T. Hall

A Sunday Ride

2009-06-16T17:35:00.005-04:00

After the hard time I had riding to Columbus, GA to visit my daughter (a mere two 500 mile days with lots of aches and pains), I decided I needed some more saddle time so I went for a little ride this last Sunday.

A fellow IBRer, Joel Rappoport was embarking on a 100CCC (Coast-to-Coast-to-Coast in 100 hours or less) ride out of Wilmington, NC and needed a witness at 2300 Sunday night. Since I am only 2 hours out I volunteered. The problem was that this was too short of a ride for me to really get in any IBR training and prep, so, in true IronButt form, I decided to add a few miles.

I left out of Raleigh early Sunday morning and grabbed a start receipt for an instate Saddlesore 1000. My route was mostly secondary roads and I needed to make 18 stops to document the corners. My map planning software told me that a 0300 departure would put me in Wilmington about 2200. With all the stops and a drop dead arrival time window (to meet Joel) I figured this would be good rally practice. I was worried about the mountain leg from Ashville, through Murphy, Highlands, and on to Hendersonville. US 64 is tourist haven and in my previous rides on this route have seen trip averages sink like the Titanic. I didn't want to miss the time window in Wilmington and make Joel hunt up an official witness.

I grabbed the start receipt at 0247 with 111594 miles on the odometer. As it turns out the roads were great, traffic was light, and my stops were efficient. I got to Wilmington at 2030, a full 2 1/2 hours early! Now I just had to kill time to wait for Joel. He showed up a bit early, we completed his paperwork and I was off to Raleigh. I snagged my finish receipt at 1255 with 112671 miles on the odometer. BMW miles were 1077 and the GPS showed 1046.

The ride was pretty much a normal 1000 mile day and rather than bore you with turn-by-turn details here are the highlights:

Deer--between 0300 and 0530 I saw more deer along the road than I have ever seen before. This was the first time I've ridden a deer infested area with the new wide angle Soltek Fuego HID driving light. I can't help but think that they had always been there and this was the first time I could see them.
Ashville to Murphy on US74--this is a beautiful road and beautiful country. A most enjoyable ride.
Highlands, NC. If you have ever traveled US64 in this area on a sunny Sunday you, like me, do not have fond memories of the traffic. I stopped alongside the waterfalls on US64 and there was only one vehicle in the turn out. In the 5 minutes or so I was there NO traffic passed me in either direction! I traversed downtown Highlands at the speed limit and didn't have to wait at the stop light. In all honesty this was pretty scary stuff. I had allotted myself an extra hour to traverse this area and, compared to what I have seen before it was like a ghost town. It may have been too early in the season. I sure hope that was the case and not a sign of the economy.
East coast heat and humidity--in the afternoon the thermometer was pushing high 80's. When you are AGATT (all the gear all the time), it can be a bit uncomfortable. Getting acclimatized to this heat is part of the training. I was keeping myself well hydrated thanks to one of my new farkles. I added a water pump to the water cooler. It sure is nice to just push the button and have that water flow instead of trying to suck it up a 4 foot straw :-)
Rain Squalls--Horrible downpour east of I95 on US74 for about 10 miles. It was actually pleasant. The temps dropped 15 degrees and my new Olympia jacket performed as advertised and kept me dry. Much more so than the 20 or so bikers parked under the overpass waiting out the rain. I love it when I ride past them, wave, and smile.

Lessons Learned
This was a shakedown run of the bike and my body. All-in-all the bike is near perfect. I'm sure there will be some minor tweaks but everything seems to be shaping up nicely. I found some things that needed fixing:

Exercise--I've got to spend more time getting in shape. My desk job may well prepare me for sitting hours and hours but it does little to help with the aches and pains.
Game Face--This ride was much easier than the trip to Columbus. I guess having a set goal and getting your game face on helps out. Thank Goodness, I was really worrying about the 11 days in August.
Seating--This was the longest run with the new Ricky Mayer saddle that I had bought used. This was a trial replacement for the custom saddle from Cycle Solutions. The seat needs some adjustment and I shipped it off to Cycle Solutions today for a custom rework of a custom saddle. Look for updates on the results in the future.

Further updates coming please stay tuned.
Mike (IBPete)

Shark Evoline First Impressions

2009-06-03T11:23:00.003-04:00

I got the Evoline earlier this year. So far I have about 1000 miles on it. It replaced a Caberg Flipup that was okay but I couldn't get a replacement shield for it. Here are my impressions of the Evoline:

First off, I don't wear a full face for safety but for weather protection and if it wasn't so time and space consuming I would carry 2 helmets, one full face, one open face. The perfect helmet for me was the Gallet ISR in which the chin bar was a clam shell set up (open & closed). Regretfully, after 7 years my inner lining deteriorated beyond repair and they are no longer available.

The flipups don't do open face worth a darn. If I left the Caberg open, I would get horrible neck strain, either from the balance point or the wind pushing against the chin bar. That was my main interest in the Evoline, opening it puts the chin bar behind the helmet and out of the windstream. I had some concern that the extra weight of this helmet (~4lbs) might defeat this feature. My initial feeling is that this is the case but it is still better than the Caberg. With my budget I don't have a choice, so we will see if it's just a matter of getting the proper muscles toughened up over a few more days of riding.

Out of the box this is the best fitting helmet I have ever had. The cheek pads a firmly in place but not too tight and I am not getting any hot spots around my head.

This helmet is NOT headset friendly. Due to the inner lining (nice construction), there is no space for speakers. Adding a headset requires judicious surgical work (on the helmet not on your head). I wear custom molded in-the-ear headphones so all I needed to do was to make some room for the wiring and boom mic.

Now to my major problem (which I have had with all of my helmets). The space for my ears doesn't seem to align properly. It feels just fine for a few hours and then my ears get really sore. In the case of the Evoline the problem is where the straps come through the cheek pads. I think the strap is touching my earlobes causing the eventual irritation. I have removed some of the foam from the cheekpads to let the strap move away from my head but this has not yet solved the problem. More foam surgery is going to happen but again, due to the excellent construction of this helmet, not an easy process. FWIW--it took me several tries to resolve this problem with other helmets so it may just be my ears that have the problem.

Noise--The earplugs coupled with my hearing impairment make me a poor judge. That being said, it seems this helmet is pretty noisy. I know when I have the chin bar open and close the face shield it seems to have a lot of wind noise.

Bottom line--if you want the benefit of an open face and full face helmet this fits the bill. For me there is no other alternative and this benefit outweighs all of my other observations.

Farkling for 2009 IBR

2009-05-31T21:03:00.006-04:00

I have been busy since getting the bike back from Greenville, SC after the ignition switch failure. I had to tear the bike down to correct the errors made during the repair and so decided it was a good time to clean up the wiring and finish up my farkles.

I put the final touches on the homemade custom fuel cell I built. It sits on the rear deck. The original plan was to have the box on top of it but the when I tried it with my full scale model the box was too tall. I bought a Storm Case and made a quick release mechanism for it. I have filled it several times now and it comes in between 5 and 5.1 gallons so I will be just below the 11.5 gallon limit.

I have added the following:

Second Soltek Fuego wide angle driving light
Storm Case
tool canister
storage bag on pillion seat
map light

Other pictures of the bike, farkles, and the fuel cell building process are posted on my web album.

Bike Status

2009-04-26T11:42:00.002-04:00

The bike power failure on the Cape Fear 1000 rally was a failed ignition switch. The dealer in Greenville seemed to think the tipover and switch failure were just coincidental. The switch was replaced. I rode the bus to Greenville and brought the bike home yesterday. It turned out to be a doggone expensive DNF. Almost as much as the final drive failure on the Mason Dixon 2020 a couple of years ago.

Product Updates

2009-04-26T11:28:00.003-04:00

Olympia Air Glide Overpants

It got chilly last Saturday night on the Cape Fear 1000 rally and I had to stop and put on the cold weather gear. I wasn't looking forward to taking off my pants to put in the liners. It occurred to me to try the liners over the pants (on the outside) and that worked. The liners easily slipped over the overpants. Probably not quite as warm as it would have been with them on the inside but acceptable and the time saved was welcome. When it warmed up removal was just as easy. I'm sold on these pants.

BeadRider

First use since riding to Jacksonville almost 8 weeks ago but bring the bike back from Greenville, SC yesterday was quite warm. My butt was cooking so I stopped and put the BeadRider on. It was great having the airflow! This product gets my recommendation.

Cape Fear 1000 Ride Report

2009-04-23T15:50:00.005-04:00

I wish I was reporting my 1st place trophy but alas we will have to suffice with my 1st place DNF (did not finish).

My plan was an aggressive 1250 mile route that, according to my scoring estimate, would yield me a negative score. [Unlike other rallies where high score wins, this year's Cape Fear was low score wins.] My route required a 53 mph average over the 24 hours available for travel (subtracting rest stop). This would push my ability but I had some bailouts that I felt would still keep me in the less than 500 point range. I officially started the rally at 1108 Friday morning at by 2324 had bagged my last bonus for Friday (we had to have 5 each day). My schedule was on track with current trip average of ~56mph.

Next up was Christy's Mission in Del Rio, TN and thoughts of the three hour rest bonus was foremost in my mind. Christy's was a foreboding bonus. Deep in the Tennessee mountains, our beloved rally master, Jim Bain, had warned us of the ingress route. Departing the main road towards Del Rio I watched my trip average slowly sink and began to think of how I might need to adjust my route if and when the average moved below 52. I need not have worried.

Jim had said the last 1/10th of a mile to the cabin was a goat track and we should walk it. Before I realized it I was ON the goat track and I stopped to see if I could turn around. Since another bike was coming out I decided to push on rather than risk a turnaround. It was not bad at all and I quickly spied the cabin. It was 0115, slightly over plan but still okay. As I tried to position the bike to put down the kickstand it tipped over on it's right side! Being up against an embankment I couldn't get under it far enough to get upright it on my own. Just then 3 other riders show up and help me get it up. I then realized that the ignition key was only powering the accessories, there is no power to the bike proper! We check fuses and disconnect the battery in the hopes of resetting something but this bike is DEAD. I send my helpful compatriots on to finish their quest and I stay behind for there is nothing that can be done. I am officially out of this rally. There is no cell service in this "holler" and very little civilization—it truly is Tennessee mountain dark as Jim had promised.

There was a house about a 1/4 mile back but I'm sure not going to go knocking on a mountain man's front door at 0200 [interestingly I would later find out that I could have and should have]. I am bedding down here for the night and survey the decrepit old cabin as an IronButt motel. The mattress on the porch looks like good bottom insulation and the covered porch looks like good dew protection.
I roll out my bed mat and settle myself in for a fitful night. At 0500 a rider's bright flashlight awakens me so I arise to greet them. I wave as the light flashes in my direction. It is Miss Kitty (Nancy Oswald) and when she gets within earshot I hear, "Holy crap you scared me to death. All I could see was the reflection from your gloves and didn't have any idea who or what was up there". This should give you a clue as to the insanity of the endurance rallier—the lure of a hard to reach high value bonus exceeds the fear of harm or death. Since it was late enough I asked if she would call Jim Bain and have him contact my wife, Patty and let her know I was okay. I knew she would awake soon and see that my motorcycle had not moved (I have a SPoT satellite tracker).

Little did I realize that Jim wouldn't call her until after she had gone nuts. [This was my most major mistake. In my stressed out state it never occurred to me to send the "I'm stopped for the night." message which would have gone to her.]

Dawn arrives and I dawdle until I think it is late enough to stir up life on Chapel Hollow Road. I gently knock on the front door of the nearby house, don't see any life inside, and decide to walk on down the road. About a ½ mile further on I see a vehicle approach and flag it down, it is Larry Meyers, the owner of the nearby house. He graciously invites me into his home, makes coffee, and provides me with unlimited use of his phone for all of my needs. He and his daughter, Deanna (pronounced Dean-ah) live in this beautiful backwoods paradise. As it turns out Deanna was awake at 0200 and Larry said I should have come on down, I could have slept on the sofa (and called Patty)! What wonderful people. There truly is a silver lining in every cloud and the Meyer's were mine.

After many phone calls and arrangements I finally get the bike towed to the BMW dealer in Greenville, SC. It appears that the ignition switch failed. I will know for sure later. During the four hour drive to Greenville I was lucky enough to have the pleasant company of Craig and Kathy from Rocky Top, TN. They moonlight with a tow truck on weekends. Craig really wanted to take me all the way to Raleigh but it was not his truck. What great folks.

I rode the bus from Greenville to Raleigh and when the bike is repaired will go back for it. More to come on its status.

Some folks I need to recognize for their support and contributions:

The great guys (sorry I didn't get names) that helped my upright my bike at Christy's and stuck around to try to help it get power.
Miss Kitty, for contacting Jim Bain and letting him know I was broke down.
Larry Meyers (the owner of Christy's Mission) and his daughter Deanna, who graciously took me into their home and reinforced my belief in human nature. [He called me at home to make sure I had arrived safely.]
Sal Terranova and his riding partner came along just after Larry had taken me into his cabin. Sal found my bike but no rider and spent a lot of time marshaling a search party and searching for me. My apologies to him for not leaving a note and my great appreciation that he was worried about me.
Jim Bain for a couple of reasons; 1) finding my emergency contact information and calling my wife (even if it was 2 hours after she had already been calling law enforcement in 2 states and 1 county ). 2) Sending us to Christy's (a great location) with the admonition that this is 'Tennessee mountain dark' and the road is a goat track (even if he did omit the admonition that this is Black Bear country and one should NOT spend the night on the front porch of the cabin. [Craig, pointed out to me that there were lots of signs of bear (slides down to the creek, bear poop on the rocks). He said, "It was good it was a dark night and you are hard of hearing because I suspect you were surrounded by bear. But they don't usually bother you unless you are carrying food."]
The CapeFear Rally Krewe, for supporting us riders in our insane quest for recognition and glory.
Patty Langford (last but far from least) who, even after panicking upon waking at 0600 and seeing that my bike hadn't moved in 5 hours, still managed to support me in getting a tow and travel arrangements home. It is amazing that she still loves me in spite of my LD hobby.

Product Update Olympia Air Glide Overpants

2009-04-13T15:24:00.001-04:00

I have been using First Gear HT Overpants which were initially very
satisfactory. They kept me dry and had winter liners for the cold days
but they didn't wear well. After the first year the seam in the crotch
started leaking and continued to deteriorate, the pockets ripped out
after about 2 years, and after 8 years I decided I really needed new pants.

Based on a recommendation by Jim Glimpse, the local Olympia distributor,
I now have a new pair of "Air Glide" overpants. These are attractive and
well fitting pants. The only drawback I could see is that the outer
shell is not waterproof, waterproofing is achieved with the inner liner
(an attractive pair of pants in their own right). The problem with an
endurance rider having to don an inner liner is the time required. While
this is a serious drawback I decided I wasn't all that pleased with the
waterproofness of the First Gear pants and it was time for a change.

My first ride of the season was to the IronButt Association Pizza party
in Jacksonville, Fl. This is an annual event that occurs the last Friday
of the Daytona Bike week in March.

I left out of Raleigh Friday for my 500 mile trip early in the morning.
It was still dark and the temps were in the mid 30's. I donned the
Olympia Air Glide pants with the liner.

I was impressed with the way the pants kept me warm. The weather was
chilly until almost Savannah, Ga. It warmed up quite a bit but not so
much that I wanted to stop and remove the pant liners. I think they
would have to go if I knew I was riding very long in 80+ temps.

The weather Saturday morning was a balmy 80ish in Jacksonville so the
pant liners were removed. This warm weather really sold me on these
pants. The mesh allows plenty of air flow. The First Gear HT overpants are
NOT warm weather pants, even though I have worn them in 100+
temps. The trade off of having warm weather pants is well worth the time
I may need to spend donning the pant liners in cool or wet weather.

Thankfully there was no rain on this trip so I will have to report on
wet weather riding on a future report.

Look for more updates. I am off to the Cape Fear 1000 this coming weekend.

--
Mike Langford [aka Pete]
Raleigh, NC
IBA#341
http://employees.org/~mlangfor/
The mysteries of life?
"it's faster horses, younger women, older whiskey, and more money"
Tom T. Hall

2009 Events

2009-03-01T18:50:00.000-05:00

Gosh it has been over a year with no postings. Time to get up to date with my busy '09 schedule.

I tossed my name in the lottery for the '09 IBR and was "lucky" enough to be selected. So I have a busy riding season to prep. IBA Pizza party in Jacksonville, FL., followed by the Cape Fear 1000 rally in April. Slack time for just building callouses until July when the Not Superman Rally launches out of Cape Giraudoux, MO., and then the big show at the end of August starting in the southeast.

I have several new products that I will be reporting on during this riding season. Some just because I want to share my experiences and some because I have been given some support. Look for updates on these products as the riding season progresses.

Shark Evoline Helmet
Bead Rider
Olympia Riding Gear
Rick Mayer Seat

More to come so please stay tuned.

--  Mike Langford [aka Pete] Raleigh, NC IBA#341 http://employees.org/~mlangfor/

The IBR is Over

2007-09-21T09:16:00.000-04:00

Hi folks,

It's been 3 weeks now and the 2007 Iron Butt Rally is in the history books.
The final scores are in,
my 26th place finish surprised me,
and my ride report has been completed.
Now the bills need to be paid, and they are not small.

Last but not least the dreams have almost come to an end.
Just in time to sign up for the 24 hour '07 Rally the Void.
I'll try to post an update afterwards on whether or not my
IBR experience helped my performance there.

Thank you all for following along and keeping me in your thoughts,
Mike Langford (aka IBPete, or "pappy pete" to the grandkids")
New IBA number 341

GOLD FINISHER!

2007-08-31T21:51:00.000-04:00

The scores have been tallied, and he moved up from slot 61 at the end of Leg 1 to position 26 at the end of Leg 2. He was a gold finisher. He said he was listening to them call off the bronze and then the silver and when his name still hadn't been called he thought 'wow, I thought I had more points than that...guess not' and was feeling a little dejected that he hadn't placed in either the bronze or silver group and then they started reading the gold group. Even though he really wasn't listening, he managed to hear his name called! Number 26. Impressive, indeed for a newbie....especially after his Butt Lite last year ended with him breaking his foot and having to drop out. CONGRATULATIONS! :-)

Leg 2 total 167K

2007-08-31T11:34:00.001-04:00

Well, he is all scored and total points for Leg 2 is 167,099....sounds pretty impressive to me. His mom said she didn't even hear him when he left (we are guessing about 2 am) and Claud said that he had been starving, having not eaten all day. So, they fed him, helped him organize his stuff and made him rest for a few hours. Thank you!!
So, he said someone asked if he wanted to do this again and he said he had not decided yet whether he wanted to do that or sell his bike! :-)

St. Louis Safe arrival

2007-08-31T06:53:00.000-04:00

Got a call at 5:30 a.m. from the St. Louis Hotel. SAFE ARRIVAL! The 12 day trek is over and he has proved he really does have an Iron Butt! More to come later after the scoring.

Day 11: Getting closer!

2007-08-30T20:43:00.000-04:00

As of 7:00 p.m. central time, he had collected his last bonus in King City, Missouri and was on his way to his mom's house in Kansas City. There he will get something to eat, organize 6 days worth of paperwork and grab a couple hour nap before heading out to St. Louis. She was pretty excited when he called and told her he would be there about 9 tonight. Now, he just needs to get all of his documentation in order, sleep for a bit, and drive safely the last 3 1/2 hours from her house to St. Louis. Then, he can finally relax and get some much needed sleep.

Day 10: Getting tougher!

2007-08-30T09:37:00.000-04:00

Day 10 was really long, having started out 350 miles west of 'the plan.' By the time he got to the area with the 3 bonus locations in Wyoming, he was feeling the miles! This was especially apparent when he called and said he just realized that he had driven 65 miles past the first bonus location and 20 miles past the second one....ouch! The 3 were all daylight locations, so he backtracked and picked up the 2 he missed and then went on to number 3 and got some pictures that were less than optimal. He probably will not get the points for the 3rd location, but he wanted to try. Perseverance he has in abundance! Adding the unexpected 130 miles at that point, along with the extra 350 miles at the front end were taking a toll, and he decided he needed to rest although still 180 miles from his planned stop in Nebraska. Of course, there was nothing out there. As he said this morning, Wyoming is called God's country because nobody lives there! So, he pulled off the road and took a 1 hour catnap and then continued until he found a motel where he slept for 3 hours. At this point, 8:00 a.m. Mountain time, he has had something to eat and picked up the first 2 of his bonus locations for the day. After the next bonus location he can either head straight for St. Louis (another 850 miles) or pick up one additional bonus in King City, Missouri--which would add about 30 miles, but takes you off of the interstate for a few hours. I knew he was really hurting when he proclaimed "Thank goodness this isn't a 12 day rally!"
Well, it IS day 11 and he is still in it and has collected an impressive amount of points so far. He just needs to safely get back to St. Louis by 8:00 a.m. central time. Will update this later.

Day 9 and 50k points!

2007-08-29T08:29:00.000-04:00

Day 9 started out tremendously....off to Lick Observatory to pick up the 24k, quickly north to Livermore and another 3k, then West to San Fran and a loop around the city collecting a total of 16k points, and off to Sacramento for another 1k...for a total of 44k points by 2:45 local time. Wowsa!! But all silver linings tend to have their clouds..... That tremendous push for the day took its toll and by 7:00p.m local he had only made it another 61 miles by my routing (map points not entered at quite the right location) but actually about 110 miles to get the Grass Valley locations. The goal had been to make it to Salt Lake City by 2:00a.m. and then get some rest. However, he only made it as far as Winnemucca, Nevada. So, as of 5:00 a.m. (pacific time) he is still 350 miles shy of Salt Lake City and he loses an hour there as the time changes. I hope he got some good sleep. This is Day 10 and the original plan had been to get as far as Alliance, Nebraska today....via 3 bonus locations in Wyoming and then Mount Rushmore. Mount Rushmore is now out....and I will keep my fingers crossed that he can get to the Wyoming locations while still daylight (a requirement). It is doubtful at this point, but still possible. Did a quick calculation this morning and he has accumulated almost 119k in bonus points so far in this second leg, so he has done really well. Only 48 more hours to go.....hang in there!!

Day 9 : Lick Observatory

2007-08-28T09:07:00.000-04:00

Oops...yesterday was Day 8 and today is Day 9! Ok, no excuse for me to be so tired that I am making mistakes, but that doesn't stop me.

Day 8: Lick Observatory

2007-08-28T08:57:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was a ROUGH day! After picking up the Bristlecone Pines bonus, he went on to Glacier Point where they had to a hike after getting to the lookout (and the Ahwahnee hotel I had him stop at was apparently a 'rat hole' with having to deal with Yosemite Village and all the crowd), and then on to Mono Hot Springs. By the time he got out of the twisty mountain roads with all the hairpin turns it was 9 at night, but he had picked up 46,000 points along the way! WOW, great job! He was sore, tired, and ready to stop. He went on a ways and called me (finally got cell service back), ate something and decided to go ahead and stop at a motel. It was probably in Madera California, but he wasn't sure.....hmmm, a wee bit tired? He is up and getting ready to check out and head to Lick Observatory up on Mount Hamilton, just outside of San Jose. He is hoping to be there by 9:30 this morning. Then he will head on to Salt Lake City, collecting some bonus locations that are 'roughly' along the way. Day 7 was strenuous. Hopefully, Day 8 will be a bit less so (after the initial bonus location at Lick Observatory).

Bristlecone Pine Forest...and BEYOND

2007-08-27T14:01:00.000-04:00

OK, so the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest was just the stepping off point for where he had to go. Once you got to the visitor's center, there was another 15 miles or so of harrowing, non-paved roads....the kind that would have given me a heart attack had I been along. One biker went down in the sand and gravel. Another one was having some difficulties. One who had been ahead of Mike earlier today was just coming into the correct area as Mike was leaving. Heck, the actual location wasn't even in California.....it really was in Nevada....you just had to go through california and a million miles of harrowing roads through california to get there! But by 10:30 a.m. (local time) he was out of it all and back on a real road. As he put it, you "earned those 18k points."
Just wanted to mention that he said that last night heading into Vegas the San Rafael Swell was an incredible site. http://www.sanrafaelswell.org/about/about.php
Then, still going into Vegas, he was impressed with the Virgin River Canyon. It was like 60 as he entered and 95 as he exited! Then on 95 out of Vegas and headed up to Beatty, where he spent the night, he noticed a sign that said "OPEN RANGE NEXT 20 MILES"....OK, lots of deer but he was watching out for them and was ok..then a chipmonk ran in front of him, and later a mouse! They didn't fare so well. :-(
Today has already been rough, but hey, he is an IronButt rider. He is on his way to Glacier Point and if he makes it there in time to do the Mono Hot Springs, that is next on his list. I forgot to remind him that today is the call in bonus day. Guess that is for the next call.
Later

Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest

2007-08-27T09:42:00.000-04:00

Just spoke with Mike and he left the motel in Beatty Nevada a couple of hours before I anticipated.....and being pitch dark, he missed the turnoff to get to the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest (what is it about this 18k bonus location that is giving him fits?) and went 40 miles to far. When he reached Bishop California he suddenly understood why he was passing motorcycles going the other way! duh
So, now he is headed back the other way and hopefully will be in the forest in about an hour. I reread the Ironbutt report to see if there were any other major oops that I could discover, and the only one I saw was that he missed plotting a hotel that is only 4 miles from Glacier Point in Yosemite (his next stop after the pine forest) and it is an added 4500 points. So, now he knows about that.
Things always mount up....he just informed me that he had a message from T-mobile that he is about out of money and needs to add...something I don't know how to do since the phone came from Jacob at Christmas, so I will be waking Jacob up shortly to help out. This endurance rally stuff is really a group effort! This will be a 45k day if he makes all of the National Park stops that we have routed. Good Luck, Mike!

Colossal OOPS!! Which National Park?

2007-08-26T19:37:00.000-04:00

Well, let's see....Mike was headed out today to the Great Basin National Park to pick up 18,000+ points. After picking up 8k in Leadville, Colorado and environs, he was not going to make it by dark (daylight only bonus) so I talked him into skipping a 9k bonus so that he could make the 18k bonus by dark and head on towards a couple 10-12 k bonus locations for tomorrow. All well and good. Made sense. Then this afternoon, Jacob called and said that the Ironbutt site had updated their site..................well, being the acute observor that he is, he noticed right away that there was no 18k bonus location in Nevada....but there was one in California....about 350 miles further west. Called and left a message for Mike to call me when he was stopped and could look at his routing sheets....and sure enough, he had put the bonus location in the wrong National Park, in the wrong State! OOPS!! So, quick change of plans and he is now headed towards Las Vegas (he is about 300 miles away) where he can pick up a small bonus and get a few hours rest before heading out to the right location.

As if that was not enough, he called earlier today to let me know that his heated handle grips were stuck on hot and he couldn't turn them off. So, I had to look up in his manual and see which fuse supplied current to the handgrips. Sure hope I gave him the right fuse! Forgot to ask when I just talked to him. All in all, an eventful day. OH...IT IS RAINING AGAIN! :-(
More tomorrow.

Day 7: Denver to Great Basin National Park

2007-08-26T09:06:00.000-04:00

Just got a call from a motel in Denver, where he shared a motel room with David Derrick (the surprise number 1 finisher in Leg1). David got up early and headed out. Plans are to get to Baker Nevada tonight and get some rest in order to be at the Bonus location at first light in the morning.
Pretty impressive.....on Day 7 already (not counting the day to get there!).

Westward HO!

2007-08-25T14:17:00.000-04:00

Well, the new bonus locations were handed out at 4:00 a.m. and then the planning began. I am now back in Raleigh and Mike was near Olathe Ks when he called Nicole about 30 minutes ago. I think he left St. Louis about 10:30 ...but I could be mixing up time zones...probably 9:30 local time.
Hoping for Denver tonight. He finished the first leg in the top 2/3 and was actually only 6,000 points below the number 29 finisher on Leg 1.........so there must have been a lot of people concentrated in that same 75k to 82k range. 6 people so far are out of the race. Kudos to all who are still in!! Go, Mike!

75,000+ points and beautiful country

2007-08-24T20:20:00.001-04:00

Points have now been scored and the total was over 75,000. Good job! Low points of the trip were day 1 and day2 with all of the rain and flooding and soaked gear... and Day 4 with the no plan and the endless trip to Niagara Falls on no sleep. Highlights of the trip were day 3 and the gorgeous countryside getting to Perce, Quebec, Canada...north of New Brunswick. Another highlight was day 5, today...with the beautiful countryside of Northern Ohio and the pristine land and gorgeous homes. There was even a covered bridge outside of Marysville, Ohio.
Lesson learned: the days after getting a motel and 6 hours of sleep were the best days!
Oh, and having an E-Z pass to get through the toll roads is invaluable! :-) I will post again later tomorrow after I am back in Raleigh and Mike is well into the next leg of this trip.

St. Louis Safe Arrival!

2007-08-24T16:38:00.000-04:00

Arrived at the mid rally checkin point back in St. Louis at approximately 3:00p.m. central time.
He will call later with details. 5 days down and still going..woo hoo!

Honda dealer in Marysville, Ohio

2007-08-24T08:52:00.000-04:00

Well, he stopped at a motel and got some rest after missing the daylight bonus in Cleveland by a mere 30 minutes...ouch! But at least he got some rest. As of 7:30 am central standard time he was at the Honda dealer in Marysville, Ohio collecting the daylight bonus and has 430 miles left to get back to St. Louis. No more bonus stops....just get to the hotel by 5 and remember to fill out the paperwork correctly before checking in. Then a nights rest at the hotel before being handed the next set of locations at 5 a.m. tomorrow. 4 days down and exhaustion is already taking its toll.

Falling a wee bit behind plans

2007-08-23T08:52:00.000-04:00

Well, Niagara Falls by 7:30 this morning was a bit optomistic! He was actually almost 400 miles shy of Niagara at 7:30 this morning....tired, but persevering. Rain is due all through the toronto, cleveland,chicago area dna we will have to see about routing the last part of this leg a bit more southerly! For updates on what is happening with others on the rally, you can check the following link:
http://www.ironbuttrally.com/IBR/2007.cfm
Some people gave up on the northeast route to Perce after the first day of maximum downpour!

Perce Rock at low tide

2007-08-22T21:56:00.000-04:00

Well, made it to Perce Rock at low tide and was able to grab the big points. The last 350 miles is pretty remote and rural canada....it was a push to make it in time.....then, when he encountered road construction, he also encountered two other rally participants (one of them canadian) who knew a short cut that saved them 45 miles! He must be living right! :-) So, with 6 hours sleep under his belt (there were bonus points for sleeping 6 hours today) and the big bonus collected, he is enroute to Niagara Falls, Canada and is hoping to be there by 7:30 in the morning. Of course there was no cell service in any of this remote New Brunswick and the out reaches of Quebec, but he did call in the minute he had cell service. I was talking to him as he was whizzing down the Canadian highway with his two fellow rally members. He may be riding like crazy, but at least I can sleep tonight! :-)
Will update this tomorrow when I know more.

Maximum Downpour from St. Louis to Connecticut

2007-08-21T17:54:00.000-04:00

Well, this is the first time I have had internet service up here in DC, so I will update everyone on the great IronButt rally! Rain, Rain, and more Rain! Cold, Cold, and more Cold! Wet clothes and cold bones....hmmmm....does this sound like fun to anyone? I think the first 32 hours of the rally have been bone chilling and exhausting and making time is almost impossible. So, Mike is behind the curve, but the weather is looking up....it may be cold, but it is supposed to be clear all of the way from Maine up to Nova Scotia where he will be headed. Ultimate goal is on up past Nova Scotia and back into Quebec...a place called Perce, Quebec, Canada. He MUST be there by 1:45 tomorrow afternoon to collect the big points...that is when the tide is low and he can walk out to the rocks he has to take a pic of...if he is too late and the tide comes back in....well, let's not think of that! Then back to St. Louis, via whatever points we think can be collected along the way....but probably Niagara Falls and some northern Michigan areas. He must be back in St. Louis Friday afternoon. If the internet service holds up, I will update this tomorrow....God willing, and the creek don't rise.

Testing to see if I can post for Mike

2007-08-19T17:44:00.000-04:00

Mike is in St. Louis busy doing all those "rally" things and this is a test to see if I can post for him to this blog. :-)

Down to the Wire

2007-08-17T16:40:00.000-04:00

Here it is Friday already and I am still packing up. The new Soltek HID gave me some wiring problems and I didn't get the bike reassembled until Wed. night. Makeing sure I have all my paperwork in order and all the accouterments of rallying properly packed and stowed.
I have some pix of the new light and the final packed up bike posted on my web album.
Plus last week on a business trip to Tampa I took a detour to Key West to "practice".
http://picasaweb.google.com/IBPete/IronButtRallyPrep

Last Minute Prep

2007-08-12T15:18:00.000-04:00

Never make changes before a rally. Yep, that the conventional wisdom but what do you do when the goods ordered weeks or months before come in the last week? Suck it up I guess and make the changes. The shock that finally came in this last week and it didn't fit. Luckily (for logistics not price) the Oehlins plant is only about an hour away, so I am picking one up Monday. The Soltek came in this last week too. Have the brackets 90% complete and wiring to go.
The GPS was flaky and Garmin wanted 225 for a repair.
GPSEdge has refurbished (I think they are new old stock) for 199.
Pix to come.
Pete

Initial Test

2007-01-04T14:30:00.000-05:00

Just set it up. How does it look?