Southeast MA – Coralville IA
Sun Jun 16, 2024
(~1212 miles)

In July 2023, it was announced the second biennial running of the LDX Rally (Long Distance X ) would be a full nine days long. I think that may have given pause to many riders in the LD community. With the 11 day Iron Butt Rally having just finished it’s 2023 run and repeating every odd year, there’s already a rather large recurring time and financial commitment for many of us repeat offenders and rally addicts. Adding another rally of this scale in an off-year (while awesome to see happening) might likely stretch the budget, vacation allocation, and spousal patience limits for a good many riders.

There were rumblings of other cool LD rallies being planned for 2024, including a four-day event in the Pacific Northwest that looked interesting. But two weeks after registration was announced, feeling somewhat recovered from my exhausting IBR experience, I decided that I couldn’t miss out on the second LDX. Rallymaster Paul Tong’s rallies are a lot of fun, and not as exhausting physically in my experience.

While I have grown to prefer the traditional rally focus on endurance ridecraft with a higher degree of flexible decision-making left to the riders, I had enjoyed the first LDX quite a bit, thinking the balance of riding and enforced rest was pretty fairly achieved for a different style of rally. Also, the entry fee was less than half that of the IBR, so really a pretty good deal for a two week vacation! 😆 My registration was submitted/accepted on the first day it opened in early August, so let the prep and waiting begin!

Meanwhile, as the early weeks and months of 2024 wore on, there was a very loud silence from the Iron Butt Rally organizers. The pattern in recent years had been registration opening in early February, with notification letters going out around April Fools. As both of those dates slipped by without any official news, speculation was rampant in the LD riding community. Whispers spread across the interwebs after the IBA Jacksonville party in March that there were financial and/or insurance issues yet to be resolved.

This all culminated on June 10, 2024 with official notice from rallymasters Lisa Landry and Jeff Earls that they would be stepping down as organizers of the 2025 Iron Butt Rally. Collectively, the organization had been unable to secure continued liability insurance for the event venues due to changes with the carrier, despite the stellar safety record that the IBR has enjoyed throughout its history. You could almost hear riders’ jaws dropping across the US and around the world at the news that in all likelihood there may be no Iron Butt Rally held in 2025.

To say the news was disappointing would be somewhat understating my reaction. I felt instantly directionless, feeling the loss of what has become a major motivational life goal to focus on every two years. Not to mention the great camaraderie that is reinforced with fellow riders, staff, and the community by that event. Since following the IBR in 2017, and when I first decided to apply for the 2019 rally, there has rarely been a week that’s gone by where I’m not thinking about the next Big Dance in some shape or fashion. This is your team being told that the league finals may be cancelled – where do you redirect your energy and focus now?

Well, the imminent 2024 LDX Rally for one. I am so glad now that I had committed to it last summer, and no longer had immediate concerns about running a big rally three years in a row. So many rallies have been cancelled or retired in recent years. Even though I can still feel some of the long-term weariness from the 2023 IBR in my body and soul, I’m extremely grateful that Mr. Tong  & Co were still working their butts off to keep a bunch of offbeat Type-A motorcyclists entertained for a couple of weeks on the road.

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Approaching the mid-June departure date to the rally start hotel, I took stock of my state of preparation in a somewhat distracted state of mind. There were mixed feelings to deal with: the disappointing IBR news causing uncertainty, contrasting with excitement for the upcoming trip, to be heading out on the roads of America again.

• The motorcycle should be mechanically ready at this point, after the recent tire change, a valve check/adjustment in May, and a fresh change of oils. Everything felt and sounded great on the bike right now, though I would later learn that some things were overlooked that should have been obvious with more attentive inspection.
• The physique – though feeling fit enough from regular exercise, I’d once again come up far short of my goal fighting weight from 2019. I also hadn’t gotten as much saddle time and ride conditioning in this year as I might have liked. Still, no injuries or major malfunctions and I was looking forward to losing a few pounds during the rally!
• My gear, supplies, and prep checklists essentially mimic those from last year’s IBR. Everything is still very fresh in my head after just recently completing my write-up for that trip. I decided to wear my newer Klim Carlsbad jacket on it’s first long trip (replacing my nine year old Latitude Misano) to ensure I stayed waterproof as possible. Road food supplies were purchased, divided up, and either packed on the bike or boxed for shipping to the rally hotel for Leg 2. Otherwise, not much new or out of the ordinary.

This year’s LDX will be starting and ending in Coralville, Iowa,  a suburb of Iowa City along I-80, in the eastern part of the state. I’m unfamiliar with this area, aside from blasting through it on the interstate, so I was looking forward to exploring a bit of the countryside and city prior to the rally start. Registration is scheduled for Tuesday, with the rally start on Wednesday (we weren’t given a time yet), so I decided to blast west all day Sunday, getting the 1200 mile trip done in one go during the weekend. That would give me a day’s cushion on Monday to explore, acclimatize, and socialize before the clock starts ticking.

I got rolling around 03:15 Sunday morning in 45F temperatures with clear weather forecast ahead of me. The Midwest had actually been experiencing a severe heat wave over the last week, with temps over 100 for several days running, so I was mentally prepared to deal with that by the end of today’s ride. For now, I had the heated liner on and cranking nicely to keep me cozy as I breezed out of the northeast, through Connecticut and New York via I-84.

It was too early for a breakfast stop at Stewie’s when I crossed the Pennsylvania state line, so I’d scouted ahead online and picked out another place to try along the trip corridor. Rolling down through Scranton, I fueled up at the hard-to-access Pilot station in Pittston, the down onto I-80 west, my road for the rest of the day.

I took the exit for PA 26 in Jacksonville, followed that for a few miles to the edge of the wide flat valley bisected by the interstate. Buzzed through some zig-zaggy curves and through a small notch in the hills into a narrow hidden valley, a good portion of which consists of Bald Eagle State Park. The small farming village of Howard is nestled here next to a large reservoir. Along the sleepy main street, a local establishment called the Kitchen Witch Café was my destination for breakfast.

As you might tell, Howard is a bit off the beaten path. Based on reviews, this little restaurant seems like it serves mostly locals, with perhaps the occasional curious traveler like me passing along I-80 and searching ahead by Internet. Closing in on 09:30, the dining room was fairly empty, so I’d thankfully missed any breakfast rush. The place was quite and homey, and it felt good to be off the bike for a bit. I ordered an omelet, which was pretty good – fresh and not greasy.

After a solid meal, I shed a layer in the warming morning sun before continuing on, laying down uneventful miles through the rest of Pennsylvania and across Ohio, where my Massachusetts EZPass actually worked (!) at the toll gates. Miracles never cease. Fuel stop at the service plaza in Mantua OH, with a quick run inside to pee. After a final fuel-up at another service plaza in Portage IN, traffic got really backed up around Gary. By now the temperatures had climbed up to the high 90s, hitting 99 at one point. Congestion stayed heavy into Illinois including a few construction zones, until the Chicago exits.

The roadwork continued, even as I finally rid myself of the Chicagoland traffic and picked up a bit of speed again. There were REALLY bad seams left in the road surface by the construction crews that had me lifting my butt off my seat to ease the impact when I spotted them. There were just so many, then…

💥💥 BANG! 💥💥

I have no idea how big an edge I hit, but lifted me out of the seat and seemed to jar every bone in my body, causing no lack of salty language to issue within my helmet. WTAF!

The wheels were still rolling smoothly enough with no decrease on the TPMS readout, which was the first thing I checked. Nothing seemed to have fallen off the bike, checking all my cockpit farkles and through the mirrors to the saddlebags. There was really no where to stop in the construction zone and it was DAMN HOT, so I just kept on going, thinking I’d just been really lucky while continuing to curse the road crews of Illinois!

Along the next several miles of construction, I started getting bounced around in the saddle like riding a bronco. I figured at first it was just more shitty roadwork, especially in the crossover lanes and ramps. I just gritted my teeth and got on with the ride to get through the bad sections as fast as possible. Once through the construction, things seemed to settle down as the pavement got smoother, but something still seemed off whenever hitting the seams of an overpass or a pothole. Crap! I didn’t want to think about it too much right then, just get to the hotel!

On the heels of all that, some weather came rolling in ahead. I caught a bit of rain on the tail end of a small system moving by, which lasted until around Ottawa IL. The rain and clouds cooled things down to 77F for a little while, which felt nice, but then it climbed back up to the 90s by the time I crossed into Iowa.

Shortly after, reaching the Iowa City area and approaching the exit for the rally hotel, there was more construction and at first I thought maybe the exit itself might be closed. (How do rallymasters always seem to pick hotels with construction or other closures ready to stymie rushed rally riders?) But no, there actually was a temporary off-ramp through the orange cones that let me exit I-80 for the final time today, turning onto 1st Avenue. Construction cones and crews covered top of the overpass as well, with four sets of traffic lights routing traffic back and forth over the highway. Luckily I just needed to turn right off the ramp, and the hotel was right there.

I pulled into the Radisson parking lot a bit before 20:00 local time, having completed the journey in just under 18 hours, not too shabby. There were only three other motorcycles in the lot at the time, from Tennessee, Virginia, and Texas – almost certainly some fellow rally riders!

Check-in went quickly, then I scoped out my room location first in case it was closer to another outside door where I could park. This is one of those conference center hotels – very spread out with all the function rooms towards the front of the building and involving long labyrinthine walks to get to most of the rooms. Parking is only on the one side of the hotel, so I found a convenient spot close to one of the front entrances and lugged in my gear, fairly exhausted from the riding, heat, and concern about what could possibly be broken on the motorcycle.

My room was ground level, roomy with slightly-dated decor, and looked to be very comfortable for the next couple of days. I cleaned up and talked to Char by phone before turning my attention to dinner. I’d wanted to try out something local, but the hotel’s not a close walk to anything at all. Luckily, there is an on-site restaurant that I figured I’d “settle for” since it was so late and I was pooped. Turned out to be a gem!

I found my way through the maze of corridors to the inner entrance of the Twelve01 Kitchen & Tap. I’d hoped maybe to see some other riders here, but the space was almost completely empty on a Sunday night, at about an hour to closing time. The bartender, Kelly, was very friendly and full of Midwestern welcome, telling me to sit anywhere I like. I took a small two-person booth near the bar area, and noticed a placard on the table advertising $5 Moscow Mules on Sundays, so I told her to sign me up for one! A nice frosty faux-copper mug of liquid refreshment was set on my table shortly and tasted delightful.

Kelly struck up easy end-of-the-night conversation while she cleaned up the bar and swept floors, asking if I was part of the motorcycle event happening this week. She’d noticed my IBR t-shirt and had seen a couple other customers wearing the same logo earlier. I outlined the basics for her about long distance rallies and when she seemed even more fascinated, recommended some reading on the history of the sport, which she actually jotted down.

I asked for her opinion on what to order and she told me the entire kitchen staff barely knew English and did a bang-up job with their Tex-Mex cuisine options. Steak fajitas it is, then…I was famished!

A huge platter of freshly grilled steak, peppers and onions arrived shortly with some rice and freshly prepped garnishes including handmade salsa verde. Wow, it was SO delicious. It just delights me every time I travel west or south how much better the seasoning of Tex-Mex food tastes than in the northeast. I ate like it was my last meal, occasionally coming up for air to answer more questions for Kelly about rallying and the LDX, while she continued closing things down for the night.

Great meal and friendly talk to end a long ride that had been all good, up until that big bada-bump in Illinois. With food in my belly and thinking a bit clearer, I had to admit to myself that the bike’s suspension had felt off even after getting through all the construction zones. It’s possible I’d blown the rear shock, losing all the fluid. There wasn’t much I could do about it now in the dark, and the bike was obviously still rideable.

After getting back to my room, I spent some time online, reading about riding with a bad shock. The consensus in what I found seemed to be that it was possible and shouldn’t further damage the bike, though likely to continue being uncomfortable. Recommendations were to take it carefully and really watch for unexpected bumps or dips to ensure not getting thrown around by the undampened spring. Then I worked more on my plans for a local area ride tomorrow, providing I felt up for it after a good night’s sleep. A pleasure ride might be just the thing to relax and get a better feel for the bike issue.