Naturally I had to flip through the rag to see what other images were there. Only one bike related.
IronButt Association rides, reports, and product evaluations.
Saturday, February 18, 2017
The Latest in Motorcycle Safety Gear
Just got my March WSJ Women's Style Magazine wrapped inside the newspaper. Normally this hits the trash pretty quickly but the cover caught my eye. I guess this is fashionable but I'm curious about how good it would look with some road rash.
Naturally I had to flip through the rag to see what other images were there. Only one bike related.
Naturally I had to flip through the rag to see what other images were there. Only one bike related.
Tuesday, October 4, 2016
The Trip To Gerlachfest 2016
I had an interesting trip to Gerlach, NV for this year's Gerlachfest (a Cognoscenti/Iron Butt social gathering). Gerlachfest was a good event this year. As always, there are motorcycles, guns, and liquor. We're sane, so the liquor is never combined with the guns and motorcycles. But after we're done with the riding and shooting the liquor flows freely.
I usually do the 650 mile trip all at once but I get in late and am tired. Plus I haven't ridden much this year, so I took 2 days for the trip. Made a back road route of about 750 miles. I visited with a friend and had lunch in Hemet, CA then meandered to Lone Pine, CA where I stayed at a hostel. Good facility and considering the $30 total price was more than $100 less than the lowest cost (and probably cheapest) motel I was pleased.
I took off fairly early and my EPA for Gerlach was about 1430. That was before I got rear ended at a stop sign in Hawthorn, NV. I was stopped at the stop sign waiting for traffic to clear for a right turn. There was a pickup in front of me. Since the turn was at a 45 degree angle as the pickup rolled forward I was going to angle to the left a bit so I could see better. Just as I started this maneuver, my bike violently took off. In the split second before I hit the truck, I thought my clutch had engaged. Of course, once I'm crunching into the truck and going down that thought disappeared.
The young man that hit me had gone to sleep. He has no recollection of the accident. It's hard for me to piece together the sequence of events and I was awake. In surveying the damage to all the vehicles I'm having a hard time figuring out what really happened.
The impact was pretty major. You can see from the photos that his car traveled at least one car length after the impact. All of the ram ball mounted equipment on my dash shelf was completely straightened out. My Storm case which was securely fastened and had a security strap was ejected. I was thrown to the pavement landing on my right side.
Because I was slightly angled when he hit me his bumper got my tire and muffler. I think this launched my motorcycle into the truck at an angle. You can see that the truck took a good hit on the right rear bumper but the obvious damage to the front of my bike is the right crash bar and the left side of the windshield. Go figger. [This keeps playing in my head and I'm now wondering if my rocketing Pelican case is what hit the truck's bumper. The Pelican case does have some damage.]
I was damn lucky. This could have easily been a major injury accident. Incredibly the bike was ridable and after a 2+ hour delay I made it into Gerlach at 1630. The ride home was all in one leg and with the aches and pains from Friday's event was not particularly pleasant. But I did make it home safe and sound.
Here's a couple of the photos to show the accident.
I usually do the 650 mile trip all at once but I get in late and am tired. Plus I haven't ridden much this year, so I took 2 days for the trip. Made a back road route of about 750 miles. I visited with a friend and had lunch in Hemet, CA then meandered to Lone Pine, CA where I stayed at a hostel. Good facility and considering the $30 total price was more than $100 less than the lowest cost (and probably cheapest) motel I was pleased.
I took off fairly early and my EPA for Gerlach was about 1430. That was before I got rear ended at a stop sign in Hawthorn, NV. I was stopped at the stop sign waiting for traffic to clear for a right turn. There was a pickup in front of me. Since the turn was at a 45 degree angle as the pickup rolled forward I was going to angle to the left a bit so I could see better. Just as I started this maneuver, my bike violently took off. In the split second before I hit the truck, I thought my clutch had engaged. Of course, once I'm crunching into the truck and going down that thought disappeared.
The young man that hit me had gone to sleep. He has no recollection of the accident. It's hard for me to piece together the sequence of events and I was awake. In surveying the damage to all the vehicles I'm having a hard time figuring out what really happened.
The impact was pretty major. You can see from the photos that his car traveled at least one car length after the impact. All of the ram ball mounted equipment on my dash shelf was completely straightened out. My Storm case which was securely fastened and had a security strap was ejected. I was thrown to the pavement landing on my right side.
Because I was slightly angled when he hit me his bumper got my tire and muffler. I think this launched my motorcycle into the truck at an angle. You can see that the truck took a good hit on the right rear bumper but the obvious damage to the front of my bike is the right crash bar and the left side of the windshield. Go figger. [This keeps playing in my head and I'm now wondering if my rocketing Pelican case is what hit the truck's bumper. The Pelican case does have some damage.]
I was damn lucky. This could have easily been a major injury accident. Incredibly the bike was ridable and after a 2+ hour delay I made it into Gerlach at 1630. The ride home was all in one leg and with the aches and pains from Friday's event was not particularly pleasant. But I did make it home safe and sound.
Here's a couple of the photos to show the accident.
Sunday, April 17, 2016
Iron Butt Association™ Artwork
The Iron Butt Association™ has some pretty cool artwork they use on the Iron Butt Rally™. I regret that I haven't paid closer attention to it.
I recently borrowed a motorcycle from a friend to do some engineering work. He had it up in LA having a custom windshield made. He brought it down and later I returned it to LA. I really hadn't paid much attention to the windshield aspect until I pulled up the shop, met Paige Ortiz for the first time, and discovered I was at Aeroflow!
My son and I got a tour of their facility, learned how they design, form, and test windscreens, and best of all learned about Paige's background and skill sets.
Turns out he is quite an accomplished artist and has been producing the art for the Iron Butt Rallies for some time. I should have been paying more attention to this art over the years. He does these great line drawings and manages to "personalize" each one. The elements of his identity extend far beyond his signature.
Consider this image from the '07 IBR.
I recently borrowed a motorcycle from a friend to do some engineering work. He had it up in LA having a custom windshield made. He brought it down and later I returned it to LA. I really hadn't paid much attention to the windshield aspect until I pulled up the shop, met Paige Ortiz for the first time, and discovered I was at Aeroflow!
My son and I got a tour of their facility, learned how they design, form, and test windscreens, and best of all learned about Paige's background and skill sets.
Turns out he is quite an accomplished artist and has been producing the art for the Iron Butt Rallies for some time. I should have been paying more attention to this art over the years. He does these great line drawings and manages to "personalize" each one. The elements of his identity extend far beyond his signature.
Consider this image from the '07 IBR.
The theme that year was National Monuments and as you can see that reflected in the art with things like the Golden Arch, Statue of Liberty, Mount Rushmore, and so on. So where is Paige's imprint? First off is the motorcycle, that's his bike and him riding it. Next is Mount Rushmore, we have George Washington, Abe Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, and Teddy Roosevelt or do we? Look closely at Teddy and you'll see that it's a self portrait of Paige. I've been looking at this for years and never noticed.
There are lots more examples of this in past and present IBR art. Regretfully, I didn't take pictures at his shop where he has the originals. I'm going to have to make another trip before long and make up for that.
Thanks Paige for your support of the IronButt Association ™ and the long distance riding community.
Friday, February 12, 2016
Triumph Trophy Handlebar Risers
I was searching for something and ran across an ad for some handlebar risers for the Trophy. Since I had done this job I was curious about the product and read the ad.
First off the $139.95 (plus $5.95 shipping) seemed to be really pricey. Considering that I had raised mine by merely sticking a 1" spacer under each bolt and using longer bolts. I happened to have the spacers and bolts on hand but even if you didn't the cost at a local hardware store would be $20 or so.
The reason I haven't posted about doing my risers was because the wiring harnesses are pretty short. I raised my bars 1" and the wiring harness on the left side was stretched really tight. Enough so that turning to the full right position was initially impossible. With a little tugging and stretching I finally decided it would work okay.
So I was curious about these risers. I thought perhaps they were shorter and wouldn't pull the cables. Not so, they are 1" and the ad says; "does not require cable or wire extensions".
Nice looking risers but since you can't see the spacers I used, this looks like overkill to me.
First off the $139.95 (plus $5.95 shipping) seemed to be really pricey. Considering that I had raised mine by merely sticking a 1" spacer under each bolt and using longer bolts. I happened to have the spacers and bolts on hand but even if you didn't the cost at a local hardware store would be $20 or so.
The reason I haven't posted about doing my risers was because the wiring harnesses are pretty short. I raised my bars 1" and the wiring harness on the left side was stretched really tight. Enough so that turning to the full right position was initially impossible. With a little tugging and stretching I finally decided it would work okay.
So I was curious about these risers. I thought perhaps they were shorter and wouldn't pull the cables. Not so, they are 1" and the ad says; "does not require cable or wire extensions".
Nice looking risers but since you can't see the spacers I used, this looks like overkill to me.
Thursday, July 16, 2015
IBPete's 2015 Iron Butt Rally
I wrapped up the IBR and got home safely Sunday 7/12. I didn't have a great finish but I finished and that was my major goal. I was hoping for a good enough finish for a Medal but managed to make a few mistakes that cost me a Bronze status. Following is a short recap of my adventures.
I had planned 10 states and 20 or so sites for leg one. I briefly scanned the point values but didn't focus on them since my goal was to finish. For me, the points were serendipity. I should have paid more attention.
On my way to Boulder Dam, I endured 113+ degree temperatures from Kingman, AZ, through Las Vegas, NV to St. George, UT. (several hours). After the heat in the Las Vegas area, I opted to skip Death Valley, CA. I just didn't see that I could get in and out without having some major heat issues which were a factor in my '09 DNF. That left me with 9 states in the plan which I was okay with.
At some point, my route sheet (a 3x5 card I hand write my planned list of stops on) blew out of my map case. Just a PITA to stop at some point and recreate it. However, in the process of recreating this list at a motel stop, I managed to omit the two bonus's I had planned for Montana. By the time I caught this mistake I was at the point of no return. It was frustrating that I was now down to 8 states for the leg.
At the checkpoint I was relating this story to Eric Lipps and he said, "You missed Little Big Horn, that was 3300 points!". My heart sank, I scored 12000 or so points for the leg and the two MT parks I missed would have been almost 4000 points. This is precisely why I don't bust my chops to be a "big dog" finisher. I've learned that I do stupid crap like this.
I fought the position of the backrest for the whole leg and, FINALLY, found the sweet spot 100 miles from the checkpoint. Shortly thereafter I ran into one of those big New Mexico storms with tremendous crosswinds. I leaned forward to lower my profile and when the storm passed and I leaned back the backrest was gone. Sigh.
I met my goal of getting good rest. I claimed the full 8 hour rest bonus plus stopped 2 other times at a motel.
Okay this is a short leg in time so I'm going to pick up states. Points are secondary, although I did scan to make sure there weren't any high value targets in my path.
I wanted to get an early start since all of the bonus locations were daylight or less. I only planned the first day. Once I reached Fort Smith, AR. I had no idea where my next stop would be other than south and/or east. I had been thinking all day about what to do for a backrest. It was looking like rain (again) and I had this great idea to get some hot water pipe foam tube to use as a backrest. I found a Home Depot, got the foam, rigged the backrest (which didn't work) and then sat under their overhang and planned the remainder of my leg.
By the time I got away it was getting dark and I headed south. My route took me across the Ozark mountains, It would have been a fun road, in the daylight, without fog, and without rain. With those factors it was slow going and, at times, downright scary.
I had run through some minor storms but never really got wet. The Trophy is very calm in the cockpit and as long as you can maintain some decent speed rain goes right over you. That all ended on my way to the group photo bonus at Andrew Johnson National Historic Site in Greeneville, Tennessee. (from the IBR Day8 Report)
I had to traverse the Appalachian mountains over more than one pass. The winding, twisty roads, with torrential downpours was almost as bad as the Ozarks. At least it was daylight and not cold. You can probably tell my jacket is pretty wet by the time I arrived.
I managed to finish this leg with none of my stupid mistakes. Lots of time for rest. I even had a great sit down meal at an Outback Steakhouse outside of Atlanta.
My back was killing me. It had actually improved by sitting upright with no backrest but I was still having spasms. I finally figured out that my nylon bike cover, stuffed into it's bag, and strapped on my luggage deck was perfect. By the time I got home my back was feeling much better.
I was well rested coming into the checkpoint and got a good rest during the layover. My plan was to grab as many points as I could while finishing up the states and parks I needed to be a finisher. I was headed to Washington DC and then up towards Philadelphia, PA.
As I headed east the temperature wasn't bad but the humidity was horrible. The jacket got stowed and I rode with just my LD Comfort shirt.
My performance in DC was horrible. I wasn't efficient locating the bonus locations. We had been warned that reading comprehension was really important in DC. Half the locations were 10 points and I caught that before heading out. There were 3 locations that could be taken "anywhere within the limits of DC". I got to LBJ's Memorial Grove and sure enough you could see the Washington Monument, the Jefferson Memorial, and the Lincoln Memorial right from this island. I snapped my bonus photos of all three. Then I looked at the map and saw a border on the other side of the river. Shucks, I'm not in DC! So I proceeded to spend the next 90 minutes or so fighting the DC traffic to get these photos. What a putz! I should have called Lisa, or Googled, or something. Here's what the daily report said; "From this sliver of land within the District of Columbia, but on the Virginia side of the Potomac, an observant rider could see the Jefferson and Lincoln Memorials, the Washington Monument and the LBJ Memorial." Sigh.
After fighting the rough roads, the rough traffic, and the rough humidity I was just too tired and worn out to attempt Philadelphia. I decided to get off the east coast as fast as I could. I stopped at Hancock, MD for the night. If you're ever in the area I highly recommend the Americas Best Value Inn. It's dated but the owner is a sweetheart and for the $55 it was my best budget hotel of the trip.
A bonus that I shot at and missed was Abraham Lincoln Birthplace in KY (some 900 odd points). I arrived 15 minutes after the gates were closed. Blame it on rush hour traffic, blame it on weather, blame it on road construction, blame it on staying too long at the nice motel in Hancock. Fact is, I screwed up and drove a long way for naught.
Prelude
Everybody seemed concerned that I might be a DNS (did not start) but I got in late Saturday (amidst typical New Mexico storms). Check on Sunday went without a hitch. At some point during the day I noticed that somebody had placed an envelop in my top case. I opened it to find a letter and a business sized "Smurf Card". This had come from Troy Martin. It seems that Dancin' Dave has some Karma that is passed around from the original Smurf via these cards. I'm not at all superstitious so I smiled nicely, and thanked Troy for his consideration. I tucked the Smurf card into my papers and didn't give it much more thought. As Dancin' Dave's website says; "It Can't Hoyt!!!".
I broke a long standing rule about LD riding. I made a change before the rally with no time to test it. I'd had my seat adjusted by Russell at the end of the Cal24 rally on 6/15 thinking I'd have at least a week after the service on the bike was completed to fine tune things. The tech at Russell moved me forward a bit in the saddle and suggested that I move my backrest up to compensate. I moved my auxiliary tank forward an inch. I hadn't gotten to Albuquerque before my back was hurting. The backrest that had done so well for 10,000 miles was now in the wrong position. Sigh.
I planned to get lots of rest on the rally. During the Buttlite last year (2014) I was whooped about the time I had a short ride on a ferry with John Frick who is a few years older than me, I asked him how it did it. He said, "I make it a point to be off the bike at least 6 hours a day. Sleeping or planning I'm off the bike and in a motel." John is a strong rider and fierce competitor so I took his advice and made my plans accordingly.
The theme this year was National Parks. We had to visit at least 50 sites in at least 25 states to qualify as a finisher. Each site had a point value. The total points acquired would be used to rank the finishers.
Visiting National Parks is always a pleasant experience. While the parks are nice, getting there wasn't always so pleasant.
Visiting National Parks is always a pleasant experience. While the parks are nice, getting there wasn't always so pleasant.
Leg1
A pretty good pic of me leaving the starting line. Dale (Warchild) Wilson made sure I left last with a fond farewell. (my apologies for not being able to attribute this photo beyond Iron Butt Magazine)
On my way to Boulder Dam, I endured 113+ degree temperatures from Kingman, AZ, through Las Vegas, NV to St. George, UT. (several hours). After the heat in the Las Vegas area, I opted to skip Death Valley, CA. I just didn't see that I could get in and out without having some major heat issues which were a factor in my '09 DNF. That left me with 9 states in the plan which I was okay with.
At some point, my route sheet (a 3x5 card I hand write my planned list of stops on) blew out of my map case. Just a PITA to stop at some point and recreate it. However, in the process of recreating this list at a motel stop, I managed to omit the two bonus's I had planned for Montana. By the time I caught this mistake I was at the point of no return. It was frustrating that I was now down to 8 states for the leg.
At the checkpoint I was relating this story to Eric Lipps and he said, "You missed Little Big Horn, that was 3300 points!". My heart sank, I scored 12000 or so points for the leg and the two MT parks I missed would have been almost 4000 points. This is precisely why I don't bust my chops to be a "big dog" finisher. I've learned that I do stupid crap like this.
I fought the position of the backrest for the whole leg and, FINALLY, found the sweet spot 100 miles from the checkpoint. Shortly thereafter I ran into one of those big New Mexico storms with tremendous crosswinds. I leaned forward to lower my profile and when the storm passed and I leaned back the backrest was gone. Sigh.
I met my goal of getting good rest. I claimed the full 8 hour rest bonus plus stopped 2 other times at a motel.
Leg2
I wanted to get an early start since all of the bonus locations were daylight or less. I only planned the first day. Once I reached Fort Smith, AR. I had no idea where my next stop would be other than south and/or east. I had been thinking all day about what to do for a backrest. It was looking like rain (again) and I had this great idea to get some hot water pipe foam tube to use as a backrest. I found a Home Depot, got the foam, rigged the backrest (which didn't work) and then sat under their overhang and planned the remainder of my leg.
By the time I got away it was getting dark and I headed south. My route took me across the Ozark mountains, It would have been a fun road, in the daylight, without fog, and without rain. With those factors it was slow going and, at times, downright scary.
I had run through some minor storms but never really got wet. The Trophy is very calm in the cockpit and as long as you can maintain some decent speed rain goes right over you. That all ended on my way to the group photo bonus at Andrew Johnson National Historic Site in Greeneville, Tennessee. (from the IBR Day8 Report)
I had to traverse the Appalachian mountains over more than one pass. The winding, twisty roads, with torrential downpours was almost as bad as the Ozarks. At least it was daylight and not cold. You can probably tell my jacket is pretty wet by the time I arrived.
I managed to finish this leg with none of my stupid mistakes. Lots of time for rest. I even had a great sit down meal at an Outback Steakhouse outside of Atlanta.
My back was killing me. It had actually improved by sitting upright with no backrest but I was still having spasms. I finally figured out that my nylon bike cover, stuffed into it's bag, and strapped on my luggage deck was perfect. By the time I got home my back was feeling much better.
Leg3
As I headed east the temperature wasn't bad but the humidity was horrible. The jacket got stowed and I rode with just my LD Comfort shirt.
My performance in DC was horrible. I wasn't efficient locating the bonus locations. We had been warned that reading comprehension was really important in DC. Half the locations were 10 points and I caught that before heading out. There were 3 locations that could be taken "anywhere within the limits of DC". I got to LBJ's Memorial Grove and sure enough you could see the Washington Monument, the Jefferson Memorial, and the Lincoln Memorial right from this island. I snapped my bonus photos of all three. Then I looked at the map and saw a border on the other side of the river. Shucks, I'm not in DC! So I proceeded to spend the next 90 minutes or so fighting the DC traffic to get these photos. What a putz! I should have called Lisa, or Googled, or something. Here's what the daily report said; "From this sliver of land within the District of Columbia, but on the Virginia side of the Potomac, an observant rider could see the Jefferson and Lincoln Memorials, the Washington Monument and the LBJ Memorial." Sigh.
After fighting the rough roads, the rough traffic, and the rough humidity I was just too tired and worn out to attempt Philadelphia. I decided to get off the east coast as fast as I could. I stopped at Hancock, MD for the night. If you're ever in the area I highly recommend the Americas Best Value Inn. It's dated but the owner is a sweetheart and for the $55 it was my best budget hotel of the trip.
A bonus that I shot at and missed was Abraham Lincoln Birthplace in KY (some 900 odd points). I arrived 15 minutes after the gates were closed. Blame it on rush hour traffic, blame it on weather, blame it on road construction, blame it on staying too long at the nice motel in Hancock. Fact is, I screwed up and drove a long way for naught.
The Lost Flag
The Harry Truman site in Independence was a good bonus for me. That's about 15 miles from my Mom's house in Mission, KS and I'd be able to get my rest bonus and a good meal at her house. I managed to make it through the horrible St Louis storm cells (I was now well dressed for rain with my pant liners in place, and the Frogg Togg overcoat protecting my jacket) and headed west to KCMO. I hit the HST site and snapped the photo and headed west. I was tired and had get-home-i-tus.
The next AM I'm packing up and saying goodbye to my Mom and I don't see my flag. Yep, in my haste the previous night I'd drove off with my flag draped over my top case. Sigh my ass! I was downright SICK! I headed back to Independence in the hopes that my flag could be found. I'm about 1 mile from the site when I realize it could be anywhere along a 15 mile stretch of streets, roads, and freeways, My sickness deepens because, up to this point, I hadn't been watching the road. About that time, a 1/4 mile or so from the bonus site I spy my flag lying on the center line of the 4 lane Truman Road! It was worse for the wear but intact! Smurf? I'm still a skeptic but not so much as before.
The Finish
This was the best finish I'd ever had at a rally. Not based on score, but because it was the first time my lifelong love was there to greet me.
Summary
This was the most rest I'd ever had on a multi-day rally. The shortest motel stop I had was 4 hours and it turns out it could have been longer.
I finished! That was what I wanted. My standing was: 53rd with 57,414 points, a mere 1000 points from a Bronze medal. If you've been adding things up, my dumb errors cost me about 5,000 points which would have moved me up 8 slots or so. Sigh.
My ride home, like most of the trip, was uneventful. I snapped this photo on I-8 somewhere east of El Centro, CA. I thought it was a fitting picture for the end of an era.
Saturday, June 27, 2015
Friday, June 26, 2015
2015 IBR Rally Prep
Friday 6/23/15 0830.
I've worked for months to get the ergonomics of my bike fine tuned and get in lots of saddle time. Now, with slightly more than 72 hours to the start of the 2015 Iron Butt Rally, my planning has gone amok. Here is the current status of my bike.
Yes, those are parts lying all over the garage floor and no bike in the picture! I took it in last week for a major tune up so it would be ready. They found a bad switch which caused the starter motor to engage intermittently. Not starting when you want is pretty bad.
This is what I hate about Triumph, parts ALWAYS have to come from the UK. Parts are supposed to come in this AM and (supposedly) I'll have my bike back this afternoon. It will take me several hours to get it back together. Then I have a 12 hour trip to Albuquerque, NM. I'm okay as long as I get there in time to finish check in on Sunday.
Nothing like being well rested and unstressed for the start of the rally.
I've worked for months to get the ergonomics of my bike fine tuned and get in lots of saddle time. Now, with slightly more than 72 hours to the start of the 2015 Iron Butt Rally, my planning has gone amok. Here is the current status of my bike.
Yes, those are parts lying all over the garage floor and no bike in the picture! I took it in last week for a major tune up so it would be ready. They found a bad switch which caused the starter motor to engage intermittently. Not starting when you want is pretty bad.
This is what I hate about Triumph, parts ALWAYS have to come from the UK. Parts are supposed to come in this AM and (supposedly) I'll have my bike back this afternoon. It will take me several hours to get it back together. Then I have a 12 hour trip to Albuquerque, NM. I'm okay as long as I get there in time to finish check in on Sunday.
Nothing like being well rested and unstressed for the start of the rally.
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