ride to wilmington...

finally catching up on my ride to wilmington for the cape fear 1000 rally. had a great time on during the rally but had fun on the ride down to wilmington too. on the way, i was able to snag a couple more stops for my smoke chasing tour.

probably the biggest thing was hitting 50k on the bike!! which reminds me, it's time for an oil change!

you can head over here to see the route to wilmington...

2013 cape fear 1000...

another cape fear 1000 rally in the books. as usual the fun began wednesday night when the rally book arrived in my inbox. scanning the rally book looking for clues of the mischief the rally master might want to throw at us this year. the mad dash to convert the locations in the rally book to a format my gps understands.  the late night trying to piece together the puzzle of a successful route.

the next two nights were spent working on the outline of a couple routes. didn't want to put anything in concrete and face the disappointment of having to make too many adjustments friday night when the rally master gave us the rally pack with updated requirements for the rally.

the second biggest disappointment came thursday night when tim and julie, my mentors from last year, had to drop from the rally. the first biggest disappointment being my wife and son not accompanying me on the journey. although i do understand them not wanting to be holed up in a hotel room while i'm off exploring parts of north and south carolina i'd only see for a few minutes. with tim and julie out, my training wheels were being removed for good. we still talked and shared ideas on routes, but the execution would be all me this time...

before i knew it, friday had arrived and it was time to pack and head out. over the previous two days, while i had my head stuck in the rally book, scouring, plotting and planning, my wife took care of me by gathering some clothes and toiletries for me. it really helped me get myself together and out the door friday.

the ride down to wilmington friday was nice. i left early enough to avoid the rain; although the wind was blowing me all over the place. in order to be more prepared for travels on the bike, i've been trying to get in the habit of filling my tank on my way home. that way, when i'm ready to head out my tank is full and i'm ready to go. imagine my surprise when i check my mileage and discover i don't have too many more miles before i'm out of gas. i usually save this gut-wrenching situation for the end of the rally when i have to decide between filling the tank up or arriving on time.

i punch in the nearest gas station, which isn't so near. when i roll off the exit and head about a mile down the road, the gas station isn't there. there's nothing there. dang it! now i have to punch in the next closest gas station and hope that i have enough to make it there. luckily i did. and as it turns out, there's a smithfield's chicken n bar-b-q right next door - which i sang for my smoke chasing. maybe things aren't turning out so bad after all...

as i'm rolling in to wilmington, comfortable in the fact i have enough gas to get there, i start thinking about the rally. about the chaos that will take place at the friday night rally meeting. it dawns on me that the ten hour ride on satruday is actually the easier part of the rally. from the time the rally book arrives until we leave saturday morning is the most hectic. preparing the gps with all the bonus locations, planning routes, replanning routes, second guessing routes, time guesstimates, etc. it's all so crazy. but once the ride starts, it just time to execute. time to ride the ride.

i get to the hotel, check in, head to the room and unpack. i decide to get a little lunch to kill time until the meeting that night. of course another bbq place to satisfy my stomach and another smoke chasing stop.

it's time for the friday evening rally meeting. i catch up to my friend bill who i hadn't seen in a year or so. i also get to meet john - a fellow smoke chaser from years past. and a new friend tj. since we're all from the raleigh area we seem to have an instant bond.

so the biggest surprise from the meeting friday night was no surprise!! the only change was to the start. instead of the shotgun start from the hotel we usually have, we can start at 6am from anywhere that we can obtain a date/time stamped receipt with wilmington as the location. we have a ten minute window on either side of six. and we have exactly ten hours to get to the finish line. if we start at 5:55am, we need to be at the finish line at 3:55pm. good enough.

sleep friday night wasn't going to happen. i have an alarm set but fear i might oversleep. it seems every ten or fifteen minutes i'm waking up to check the time. at four i decide to just get up. i prepare everything i'll need. i adjust my morning plans. i decide i'll stop at mcdonalds for some oatmeal before heading out to my start location. i also figure this will be my backup plan. depending on the receipt i get, that might be my starting receipt. if it doesn't have the right information, i'll head to my original starting location.

all the mcdonalds i'm familiar with open at five thirty. i get to mcdonalds at about five forty. closed. they don't open until six. scrap that plan. and breakfast. i head to my original start location. a gas station that opens at six. i hope this isn't a sign of how my day is going to go.

sitting outside the gas station, i see the attendant preparing the coffee, putting out donuts, getting the store ready. as i'm watching him, i'm watching the time, i'm thinking how often does he open on time?? is anyone really there at six?? does he take his time and open a little later?? the clocks ticks closer and closer to six. then past six. i'm starting to panic. if i have to scrap this location, i have to bail quickly *and* find another start location. one that will give me a receipt with a time stamp no later than six ten.

luckily he opens the store. i decide to pick up a pack of gum and get a receipt with a time stamp of exactly six. i text in my starting information and begin my journey.

this year there were bonus locations of libraries. each library was worth two hundred fifty points, up to a total of a thousand points. oh, to mix it up a little, your motorcycle, passenger if you have one or rally flag cannot be in the picture. this is a twist because your rally flag must be in every picture. put your rally flag in library pictures and it doesn't count. my first stop was a library just down the street from my start.

next stop atlantic beach, sc. about an hour away. the ride is wet. and cold. it early. i've got an urge to go to the bathroom. and i'm wondering why i'm on this journey. i'm thinking how bad would it be to just head back to the hotel - to the finish line?? i can't do that. i won't do that. not without at least one or two stops under my belt.

i make my first stop in atlantic beach, nicknamed "the black pearl." interesting history, but no time to stop and look around. in order to expedite my stop, i pull up on the sidewalk next to the historical highway marker. it's a small brick sidewalk. i figure it's early enough no one is going to be out. as i back up to take the picture, i notice the marker is in front of the town hall. then, out of the corner of my eye, i catch a police car less that fifty yards down the side street. now i'm hoping they don't head out and spot my motorcycle on the sidewalk. i get the picture and get on my way...

a useful feature on my gps is the ability to find things along my route. my planned route already had four library stops built in. but i decided that if i could find libraries earlier, i could adjust my route later if necessary. so i punched in libraries along my route and discovered one directly on the route between atlantic beach and myrtle beach. sweet! two libraries down.

now on to warbird memorial at myrtle beach. i can't count the number of times i've been to myrtle beach and i never knew this hidden gem was there. makes me wonder what other treasures we're missing around us. i needed to get a picture of the stone memorial with the flagpoles in the background. when i get there, i notice there are several stone markers. now i'm starting to think to much about what's needed for the picture. nearby there's a large memorial. but it's got what looks like marble placards with people's names. is this it?? it's not what i might consider a stone memorial. crud! i'm losing time thinking. and i'm over thinking. i take a picture of the memorial and take my chances.

now it's about a two hour ride to my next stop in pineville, sc. it gives me plenty of time to think. and the thoughts of giving up and turning around are gone. i'm into the ride. i'm into the competition. and i'm having fun. it's times like these that i realize how much i enjoy long distance endurance riding. i'm in my element.

as i make the turn into my next stop, i see a motorcycle behind me. part of the rally?? most likely. darn it. i hadn't seen anyone else along the route and i was hoping i was the only one heading for these high value locations. fat chance.

i pull my bike around and almost dump the bike. before i turned my bike around, i scanned the road, noticing a lot of long pine needles and puddles. i carefully turn my bike around and clip the edge of a puddle with my front tire. what i didn't realize was the puddle of water was surrounded by a thick layer of mud. my front tire slid and the bike almost went over. luckily i managed to keep it up. although i guess i would have been lucky to have another rider show up to help me pick it up should i not be able to do it by myself.

i write down my information, grab my flag and camera and greet the other rider. it turns out to be tj - who i met the night before. pretty cool. this stop is franscis marion's tomb.

on our way out tj asks if i have any aspirin. i do and give him some. he apologies for slowing me down. no big deal. to me taking care of fellow riders is more important than winning the rally. although i don't really have any delusions that i'll be at the top!! tj mentions he's making good time and is going to his a high value location. we're both heading there so i tell him i'll see him there.

on my way there, i'm wondering if my gps is giving the quickest route. i've often wondered about the reliability of the routing of my gps. usually it's not a big deal. if i'm on the bike and it takes me a little longer, who cares?? but not now. i need the quickest route between locations. i'm also thinking this would probably be a good time to have traffic information fed into the gps so it could route appropriately.

i get to the next stop, take the necessary pictures and take a minute or two to eat some dried fruit. i missed my planned breakfast but i'm not hungry enough to stop yet. i'll keep pressing on.

the next stop is a good one. smallest police station with a library at the next stop. as i head out, tj and i pass. i wonder if we're on the same route at this point. i'll know shortly.

as i enter ridgeway, i notice they're having a flea market. it's like the whole town is out and everywhere, everyone is selling stuff. i sure hope all the people and activity don't slow me down too much.

now i'm heading to my next location and calculating time to the finish line. gps says with the next three stops, i'll make it to the finish line at three forty five. but that doesn't include stop time. including one more stop for gas and cold beverage (more points). i'm nervous about making the last stop. i've already decided to drop the last two planned stops. do i need to drop a third?? i'll decide as i get closer to my next stop.

on the way to the next stop, i decide to try another feature of my gps - optimize route. when i do this, i realize i get another fifteen minutes. fantastic, i'm feeling better now about making the last stop and having time for stops. but i the back of my mind, i'm wondering how i could have gotten the order of the route that wrong. doesn't matter, i'm saving fifteen minutes. but something isn't right. i look down at the arrival time and realize it says four thirty! not three thirty. instead of gaining fifteen minutes, i've lost forty five! so much for route optimization.

i have to manually reset the order of my stops and get everything in place. on my way to the next location, i hit some button on my gps and now it's telling me to make a u-turn. what?? i couldn't have missed my stop. i pull into a parking lot to check the route. after getting the gps back into normal mode, i see that i was indeed on the right track and i just need to keep going. this was probably the only mistake i made that cost me a few minutes.

my next stop is the forth and final library in bishopville, sc. it's nice that i can pull up to the opposite corner of the intersection and snap my picture.

my next stop is just down the street. "doc" blanchard, mr. inside, is a local hero and has three statues dedicated to him - one as a child, one as a football player in college and one as an airman.

i get the picture and check my time. it's too close for me. i decide to cut my next stop, making this the last one. except for a stop for gas and cold beverage. that should give me time to make it back with breathing room.

on my way back, i make one more decision that might cost me. as i'm turning on to the highway, there's a gas station. i can fuel up and get my beverage. the problem is i'm about 150 miles from the finish line. 150 miles is when i like to put fuel in my tank. it's my safe zone. i can go further, but why push it. of course, when i'm running faster speeds, as i will on my trip to the finish line, my fuel mileage tanks, so-to-speak. to the point, i'm lucky if i can get 150 miles out of the tank. too late, i've pulled in to the gas station. i can't afford to pull away and make another stop.

i fuel up and head in to get my gas receipt and beverage. being the mom-n-pop joint, no one is in a hurry to help. this is killing. let me pay and get out. i get to the counter, ring up my order and swipe my card. nothing. swipe again. nothing. okay, let's try credit. i swipe again. and again. now the cashier wants to try. she wipes my card, and tries again. and again. now she calls the manager over. time is ticking away. finally i decided to just pay cash. cash is king. it gets me back on the road.

now i'm looking at arriving with eight minutes to spare. if traffic isn't bad in town, i can make it. as i'm riding in, i gain another minute. good. keep adding minutes. but i'm also using fuel fast. can i gain enough time to justify another stop? will i need another stop.

cruising down the road, about a half mile in front of me, another motorcyclist pulls in front. heading in the same direction. i'm sure this is another rally rider. i'm feeling good at this point. if i don't make the finish, i won't be the only one. as i close in, i notice it's tj! i'm feeling good. i'm pretty sure we're going to make it.

we get in to town, traffic isn't that bad. we're going to make it. i'm following tj and he makes a turn down a side street that will bring us in behind the hotel. i'm thinking this is good because we'll be able to make a right onto the road in front of the hotel instead of having to make a left at the light. as we make the right, tj heads across the street to the gas station. i'm torn. do i go with him or do i head in to the finish line. i'm heading to the finish line. and make it with plenty of time to spare. but not enough time to have made the last stop. now i'm just waiting to see if tj makes it in. he should. unless the gas station is slow or he can't get across the street. neither happens and he makes in in time as well...

so the execution of the ride is done. now for the most stressful part of the whole rally, scoring. now's the time to make sure your ride is documented correctly. any mistakes and you leave points on the table, as they say. correct dates and times and locations in the correct spots. memory chip into the scoring envelope. once the envelope is turned in, no changes, no additions. it's over. i turn in my scoring pack and wait for my name to be called.

one of the last to be score. i was score by jason jonas, who's instrumental in the iron butt world. it was a pleasure meeting him and being scored by him. when it was all said and done, i ended up with sixteen thousand nine hundred seventy six points. enough to get me an eleventh place finish. didn't even make the top ten. but i did finish. which was probably my biggest goal.

as always, there are lessons to be learned from the experience. for example, don't reset your gps the week of the rally. you'll most likely forget to reset your fuel mileage. and all your personal routing preferences will be gone. not a good thing to figure out on your way to the rally.

next year i will also write my bonus locations on my windshield. this will help me with routing and i won't have to worry about opening my windshield bag and having things blow out. no, this didn't happen. but i didn't take the chance of opening the windshield bag in fear my sheet would blow away.

in closing, i'd like to thank jim, the rally master, and the costal carolina rally krewe for all their hard work in making this rally successful. and fun. it's no easy task organizing four groups of riders in four starting locations.

also to tim and julie for their support. even if they couldn't be present to ride.

and finally my wife for supporting me and letting me do crazy things like this. and for being apart from one another. i wish i could share these experiences with her but i know it's not her type of riding. we'll get to share other experiences together.

let's finish this up with the notes i took during the ride and my route...

50000k...

got some great riding in this weekend... a couple smoke chasing stops, the cape fear 1000 rally hitting 50k on the bike during the ride out to wilmington. more on the smoke chasing and cape fear 1000 rally when i have a couple more minutes to post. but here it is, odometer showing 50k!! and yes, speedo shows 80 but it's a bit off and i wasn't going that fast. seriously, i wasn't...

you can check out where i hit 50k on my 2013 rides map - it's the red icon!

new tires...

with the cape fear 1000 coming up this weekend, along with the high probability of rain, i decided now was a good time to replace the tires. i may have been able to make it through the rally but i wouldn't have been able to make it much longer. so, to be on the safe side, i got it done now.

i've been wanting to learn how to replace tires myself, with expert guidance from my father-in-law. but timing just didn't work out this time. i'll plan better and definitely next time.

i took the bike to d and q motorsports in angier. they do excellent work at fantastic prices!!

they also have several bikes sitting in the showroom. not sure if they're customer bikes or for sale. i should have found out if any of them were for sale. here's a cool royal enfield.

work was completed and off i went - taking caution for the first fifty miles, of course. if you're need bike work and are in the area, check out d and q.

time's flyin'...

wow, it's april, a quarter of the year already gone!! and this is the time of year when riding really starts. april is already packed and bleeding over into may.

this weekend have an open house at a club. the following weekend i'll be teaching at shelton's. after that i'll be riding in the cape fear 1000. the last weekend i'll be helping celebrate my grandson's second birthday. can't believe he's going to be two already!!

between all that i'd like to get a few stops for the smoke chasing gt. speaking of which, i'm still looking for members for my team. interested?? as incentive, not only are you eligible for the regular prizes they give away during the tour and at the end, you'll be in the running for a gift card of fifty dollars, up to one hundred dollars - ten dollars a rider up to ten riders. not a bad deal. let me know if you're interested.

that's it for now...

2012 cape fear 1000...

the cape fear 1000 is over and i'm finally getting around to telling about it... in an earlier post, i wondered what i got myself into. well, now i know...

before i get into the details about my experience, let me shed some light on what this rally stuff is all about. or at least this particular one. it's a scavenger hunt. it's a long distance ride. it's a puzzle. all put together. the rally master puts together a set of locations - more locations than you could ever visit in the amount of time you're given. each location is assigned a number of points based on a set of criteria, including difficulty in obtaining. the rider's objective is to get an many points as possible in the allotted time. of course the rally master likes to keep it interesting and will throw in mandatory stops or time restricted locations.

the cape fear 1000 had two types of rides, a twenty nine hour ride, starting in three different locations and ending in wilmington, nc, and a ten hour mini rally starting and ending in wilmington, nc. this years twenty nine hour rally started in arcadia, fl, paris, tn and jamestown, ny. my wife an i chose to ride in the ten hour mini rally. since this was my first rally, my goal was to just finish...

the fun actually began the wednesday before the rally when the rally master sent out the rally book - the book containing all the locations, the requirements for the locations and any time restrictions. i worked with my mentor to establish a route that would give us the most bonus points. i worked on a northern route and they worked on a southern route. through e-mails and phone calls, they took the northern route and tweaked it to get maximum points. the thought and methodology that went into coming up with the route was amazing - a great learning experience.

friday arrived and it was time to head to wilmington. the weather for the weekend was calling for rain. although it wasn't raining friday, they were calling for some rain saturday and a lot of rain sunday. my wife decided to take the cage. and threatened not to ride on saturday if it was raining. i could only hope it was an empty promise!!

the ride to wilmington was uneventful. there were a couple knuckleheads as we got closer to wilmington. but having my wife run interference helped. we attempted to catch up to my mentor on the ride to wilmington. through a mix up in communication, we ended up at the hotel and they ended up at their nearby beach house. but they'd make it to the hotel in time for us to do final planning before the meeting friday night.

did i say final planning before the meeting friday night?? uhhh, yeah, the meeting friday night. always known for the rally master throwing a wrench into the planning. for us it was a mandatory odometer check, an optional speed challenge and a mileage cap. oh, the mandatory odometer check - time restricted!! so much for planning before. after the meeting it's time to re-plan the route, adding in the mandatory odometer check, throwing out stops that might push us over our time limit or mileage limit. always weighing the time spent trying to maximize points against trying to get some sleep before heading out in the morning.

sleep that night didn't quite work out. between the anticipation of the ride in the morning and the worry of oversleeping, we didn't get any sleep. on top of that, there was a light outside our window that was shining through the window. i'd roll over, see the light, panic and check the time to only find it was two o'clock in the morning. i must have done that five or six times through the night.

finally, saturday morning is upon us and it's time to ride. we pack up the bike and head to the starting line - the end of the starting line. it's a cold, foggy morning. mileage on the odometer is confirmed and we're off...

first stop was just down the street and it was for bonus points. the requirement for this bonus stop was simply a picture of a bbq joint. this was a good first stop. it was early and gave us an idea of what we needed to do at most of the stops. the requirements for most stops is a picture of the location with your rally flag showing your rider number. since we were riding two up, my wife was required to be in the picture as well. we got there at 6:02am and were in and out...

next stop was up the road a few miles in surf city and we arrived at 6:35am. this stop required the driver to be in the picture as well, as you can see below. luckily we were with my mentor and getting this picture wasn't as difficult as it could have been. mental note for future rally's, pack a portable tripod...

then is was off to half moon to get a picture of the volunteer fire department. when we pulled up at 7:15am, it looked like the fire department was getting set up to have one of their bbq plate fundraisers. i'm sure they were wondering who these motorcyclists were, pulling up, taking some pictures and rolling out without even buying a plate. we had no time to waste. and i picked up another time saving tip - whenever possible, park the bike so that i can get the rider and flag in the picture without them having to to dismount. two stops down...

next it was to pink hill to get a picture of a replica lighthouse in the middle of pond. arrived at 7:52am. ironic that we had to get a picture of the lighthouse and it was so foggy. luckily visibility was enough that we could actually get the picture of the lighthouse. i was getting better at locating the item and positioning my bike so that it was easy to include in the picture.

we arrived in wallace at 8:29am to get a picture of the battle of rockfish memorial. when we turned in to the memorial, the parking lot was gravel and wet grass. taking care to turn the bike around carefully, i wasn't thinking of lining the bike up with the memorial to get the picture. hopefully my wife wanted to stretch her legs at that point.

then it was just down the road to rose hill and the world's largest frying pan, arriving at 8:49am. we'd been here before and knew exactly what we were looking for and where to park.

now it was time for the odometer check in warsaw. this was a mandatory and time restricted stop, from 9am to noon. we timed getting there about perfectly, arriving at 9:09am. this stop would be used to verify your odometer and check it against the mileage limit. the rally master decided to throw in an optional speed test bonus. this required you to obey the speed limit and all traffic signs. for example, coming to a complete stop at a stop sign instead of a california stop; not trying to beat red lights. this was scored based on the average speed of all riders. if your speed was within a certain window of the average, you got maximum points. if not, you lost points. to make it worse, and to keep the message that these rides are not only supposed to be fun but safe, you were penalized even more points if you were faster.

i decided i would set my speed based on the gps and not the speedometer on the bike. when times starts, you have to put on your helmet, gloves, mount the bike and go. my gloves were wet from the morning and were difficult to get on - i felt i was losing a lot of time. i finally take off, make a complete stop at the bottom on the hill, and head towards the stop light. as i approach, the light is red, there's another motorcyclist stopped. i start braking, the light turns green and i'm able to go without stopping. out on the highway i maintain my speed, thinking, watching my spacing between other bikes. i get to the ramp, stopping completely during my turn around and head back to the checkpoint. as i'm approaching, my mind starts thinking too much. should o slow down?? what are the chances that others didn't have to stop at the lights?? more likely than not, there is some wait time at the light. i didn't have any. what about my speed?? too fast?? just right?? if i'm going to lose points, i'd rather come in slower than faster. all the thoughts running through my head were crazy - i just kept telling myself to ride as i would and it will all work out.

i pull up to the checkpoint, get my odometer checked, get my time and am given a card with all the vital info. as i stuff the card into my windshield bag, the guy tells me don't lose this, you need hand this in when you get to the finish line. no card, no finish. yikes!!

with the odometer check and speed challenge out of the way, it's time to head to mount olive and the mount olive pickle company. on the way there, along the highway in loads of congestion, we're passing a fifth-wheel camper. as we're about twenty yards behind it, i smell burning rubber and start getting pelted with little bits of something. i realize the tire on the fifth-wheel had blown out and shreds were flying everywhere - and, because of the congestion, i have no where to go except the left shoulder. i start ducking and tell my wife to duck behind me because pieces are flying everywhere. my biggest hope is that a huge chunk doesn't come flying at us. thankfully none did.

as were approaching mount olive it hit me - we successfully completed the only mandatory stop on the ten hour rally. at this point, we could head for the finish line and be successful. i knew this kind of riding isn't for my wife. so i told her at any point, she just had to say the word and we'd head to the finish line. no matter what happens from this point on, we'd finish successfully, i'd finish with her riding with me, we'd be successful and i'd be happy. at this point, my wife was all in, she wasn't about to stop. she said we're going to finish what we started according to our plan.

we arrived at the mount olive pickle company at 9:54am, line up the bike and get our picture. here i learn the value of having a rider along with you. while frantically scanning the rally book, i mistakenly read the requirement as taking a picture of the sign at the corner of park avenue and cucumber street. i would have take a picture of the street sign. my wife knew to take a picture of the mount olive pickle company sign at the corner, not the street sign!!!

next stop bentonville at 10:21am. a quick stop here, lining up the bike for the photo. at this point i felt we had a rhythm with our stops and pictures. in between stops, she'd keep me in line with our next stop and the requirement.

we rode in to smithfield at 10:47am for a picture in front of the ava gardner museum. i've been through smithfield many times so i knew where this one was - although i wasn't so sure about parking. we had to park across the street, which meant dismounting, lining up for the photo, making sure i didn't get hit while standing in the street to get the photo - all taking up time.

heading out of smithfield i needed to get gas. i wouldn't have enough to get me to sandford, which was a stop that required a gas receipt. with a fill up in sanford, i should be able to make it all the way back to the finish line without needing to stop again.

so after spending what seemed like too much time finding a gas station in smithfield and filling up, we were on our way to erwin and the averasborough battlefield. we got there at 11:21am and it took us a few minutes, precious minutes, to find the marker. there were a lot of displays up around the battlefield so we weren't sure where to look or what we were looking for. after taking a little time to read the displays, we finally found the right one.

now it was on to sanford for our gas stop and then to carthage for our next stop. the stop in carthage was time restricted, nothing before 12:30pm. our timing was pretty good as we hit the cornwallis service station at 12:50pm. this was a cool mural and i wish we could have spent more time finding out about the place.

then it was on to southern pines for another time restricted stop. we rolled in there at 1:12pm. the requirements for this picture were a little more complicated - you needed four red lights from the train signal, the southern pines sign and your rally flag. and, in our case, the rider. after spending a couple minutes getting the right shot, it was time to get back on and head for the next stop.

our original planned had two more stops after southern pines, one in lumberton and one in elizabethtown. being so far from the finish line, we were concerned about time and, for me, mileage. we were already cutting it a bit close on our time getting in. and as i've mentioned before, my goal for this rally was to finish successfully. i'd be kicking myself if i didn't finish because i tried to squeeze out a couple extra points. then there was the mileage. with the additional mileage, i may have to make one final stop for gas. of course i only need a gallon or so, but it's cost time.

we decided to pass lumberton and make the stop in elizabethtown. this was the longest part of the trip. we were a few hours away from the finish line and only one stop left. the previous part of the day had been filled with shorter rides and more stops. now we were heading back with nothing but road and one stop before the finish.

my wife took advantage of the longer ride to catch up on some sleep. i knew she would be out when she laid her head on the back of my shoulder. when we got to elizabethtown at 2:33pm for our final stop, i had to wake her up. she was in a pretty deep sleep. the hum of the road and the passing of the painted lines lulled her into a good sleep. the problem was when we got there, she was still half asleep - i was having problems getting her to hold the flag up for the final picture. finally i told her just hold it in front of your face. she did, we got the picture and back on the road.

now we're heading to the finish line, about an hour out. i have to admit, at this point, i was tired and my butt was getting sore. i decided to stand up, stretch my legs and give my butt some air. when i stood up my wife started started hitting me. i know she doesn't like when i do things like stand on the floorboards. but she's never reacted like this before. so i quickly sat back down. my wife then explained that my move cost us our papers!! i didn't realize she had tucked the papers between me and me seat. when i stood up, they blew away. lucky for me they were only our notes and nothing critical that we needed for the scoring table.

we rolled in to the finish line at 3:37pm. enough before the 4pm deadline to be comfortable and feel good about dropping the one stop and not adding the extra time and mileage.

getting the scoring package together and waiting to be scored was a little stressful... did i have everything together?? were the pictures good enough?? did i have the receipts?? the waiting gave me more to to think and worry about it. then came my turn to be scored. i was asked if everything was in the envelope that needs to be there - once the envelope is opened, nothing cane be added. as far as i know, everything is in... in the end, scoring wasn't painful at all - not as bad as i had built up in my head.  and when it was all over, we scored good enough to finish tied for sixth. not bad for my first rally. especially considering my goal was to simply finish.

i learned a lot during the rally and will most likely share those thoughts in another post - this post is long enough already.

before closing though, i have to throw out some thank yous...

to jim, the rally master, and the krewe - thanks for the time and effort putting the rally together. i know there is a lot of planning and coordination that goes into making this a wonderful rally. also to the krewe for making a newbie feel welcome. they knew this was my first rally and took the time to talk to me before the rally and ask me what i thought of the rally when it was over. thank you.

to tim and julie. tim for being my mentor. not just for the rally but in motorcycling for the past few years. when i became an instructor, tim guided and encouraged me. tim has also been a mentor to me in getting into long distance riding - which eventually led to this rally!! and thanks to julie and her mad-mapping skills. sharing her thought process and methodology behind planning a route. it was amazing getting a peak in to the process. while i learned a lot, i also realized i'd never be as good as julie - my mind can't hold any more than about five three letter location codes. after that they all blur together and i'm making up my own codes. thank you tim and julie.

and a huge thank you to my wife. she's not keen on long distance riding - especially on my road king. when she does go on long rides, she likes to stop and do some sightseeing. and she doesn't like to ride in the rain. or the cold. this rally seemed to have all that. well, maybe not so much the rain, but it was foggy enough in the morning that we got wet anyway. but when the rally started, she was right there, giving it her all. even when we had the opportunity to finish early and still be successful, she wanted to stick with the plan and complete the whole ride. for weeks before and leading up to the rally, she kept trying to find reasons not to ride. i just kept telling her that i couldn't be successful without her - we (i) signed up as a two-up team, we both needed to be there. but that's only part of the truth. i'm successful because she's in my life. she's always there beside me, encouraging me. i'm thankful for every day that i get to share with her. thank you honey...

finally, here's a look at our route...

what the hell am i doing here???

have you ever had an opportunity present itself and think, "that would be so cool?" Or "that would be so much fun?" So you get involved and then ask yourself, "what the hell am i doing here??" i can't count the number of times i've done that...

for example, one time at work i had the chance to work on a team consisting of really smart, well respected developers. who wouldn't jump at the opportunity to work on a team like that? shortly after joining the team, listening to every one's input during a meeting, the reality of the challenges i would face, both in proving my capabilities and maintaining the high standards of the team, i think, "what the hell am i doing here?"

another time, after taking the msf basic rider course, i thought it would be really cool to become an instructor. i've always enjoyed teaching. i have a passion for motorcycling. what could be better than combining the two? first weekend, sitting in the middle of the range on the bike, instructors throwing information at us at a hundred miles an our, i look around the range, at the other people in the class and think, "what the hell am i doing here?"

i could go on and on with examples... and you would think over time, i might slow down and think before jumping in. well, unfortunately i haven't learned that lesson because i've done it again!!!

over the past year or so i've discovered that i really enjoy long distance riding. don't get me wrong, i'm far from being an expert in long distance riding. and compared to the folks out there who are long distance riders, my rides look more like trips to the local grocery store. but i do find a fascination in long distance riding.

a couple friends i ride with have talked about and participated in the cape fear 1000. when i had the chance to join in this year's rally, i jumped at it!! not only that, i volunteered my wonderful wife to ride with me!!

the past two weeks have been filled with preparations for the rally. paying the registration fees, reserving the hotel, reading the rally rules, getting the liability statements notarized, providing proof of insurance... as i'm doing this, i find i'm asking, "what the hell am i doing here?" what did i get us into??

looking back, every time i've been in the situation where i wonder what the hell i'm doing, i've reacted the same way... i've stuck with the original plan, embraced the challenge and didn't give up. i've appreciated the opportunity. and the feeling of accomplishment i get when i reach my goal.

i'm approaching the cape fear 1000 the same way. my goal, just finishing. i'm looking forward to the ride; looking forward to sharing the experience with my wife.