Fernley NV – York NE
Thu Jun 27, 2024
(~1337 miles)

One may know how to conquer without being able to do it.

― Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Awakening from the best sleep in days, I went about my pack-up routine at a more relaxed pace, still absorbing the fact that I was basically just riding miles now. Still a few bonuses to collect, but the important thing now is to tick all the boxes carefully and just get there safely. I clocked out of the ZSLPF rest bonus shortly before 02:00 at around the seven and a half hour mark, riding northeast on I-80 out of Fernley into the cold desert dark.

There were three daylight-only military bonuses in Winnemucca worth a total of 50 points I might have snagged, but it was still quite a ways before dawn as I passed through. So I only pulled off the interstate there long enough to fuel up and change to warmer gloves. By the time I made it to Elko, the sun had risen and rotary-wing bonus RCUAN (another Huey – 25 points) was available only a mile or so off the exit. I fear the aliens may have already gotten here and sabotaged this helo.

Finishing out the rest of Nevada and getting across the big salt plains into the Salt Lake valley presented no delays or problems, cruise control set and just whiling away the time running what-if scenarios in my head. Mainly verifying that last night’s timing calculations and decision to abandon the central Utah bonus had been the right move. Unfortunately (or fortunately, since the decision was already long made) my thinking appeared to have been correct and there would have been no time to complete the “Swift Current” plan with the time I’d lost. Hey, it had been a good run.

Around 09:00 I exited several miles short of Salt Lake City in the suburb of Tooele to get much-needed fuel and noticed that the Flying J truck stop there had a Denny’s. Great, I’ll kill two birds and take my meal bonus here as well! But the pumps didn’t seem to be working. After a couple attempts to run my card, I looked around and noticed that almost all of the pumps were unoccupied, despite a heavy amount of traffic around the area and lots of vehicles in the lot. The other couple of customers also seemed to be having issues. Just then some friendly soul pulled up in a car with the window rolled down and told me that there was a power outage. What? Wow, really now, this is a new one on me, given the bright clear weather! Apparently, the entire truck stop was without power, so that meant no meal stop either.

I needed fuel pretty badly. With a broken gas gauge I have to play things safely, going by mileage and estimates based on the previous fill-up amount. The person I spoke with was a local and seemed certain the blackout was for this entire exit area, but told me there were fuel options a few miles further east off the interstate.  Just to be sure, I first headed down the road to another nearby gas station, but they were dead in the water as well. Shit!

So I merged back into the heavy rush hour traffic flowing onto the interstate for just one mile to get around the mountain bluff that crowds the highway and railroad lines close to the lake at this point. I went easy on the throttle to keep the fuel consumption minimal. Taking the next exit on UT 210 into Magna, it was then a couple stressful miles of stoplights, fully expecting to run out of fuel at any moment, until finally I spotted a gas station down one of the cross streets. I pulled in there and saw the pumps were functional. Big sigh of relief.

Throughout this bit of maneuvering around the local roads, it seemed to me that I was having to pull the brake lever in a lot further than normal to engage the brakes. So after filling up, I got down on the ground to try using my phone to get a close-up look at the brake pads since they were hard to see directly due to shadows from the harsh morning sunlight. I’m not sure what I was seeing at the time, but looking at the snapshots now, I should definitely have taken some time to change the pads out then and there. Most likely, I think I was feeling harried and frustrated in the heat, at the delays in getting fuel, and not having consumed any breakfast or coffee yet. 😬 I convinced myself to carry on and decided to keep a close eye (and feel) on it for now.

Google Maps brought me due east on 210 to get back on I-80 as it curves through the middle of SLC. Garmin was clueless, still trying to take me back several miles west to get on the highway where I exited – SMH. Clearing the city fairly quickly without spotting any convenient meal bonus options, I entered the Wasatch mountains, beginning to climb up from the valley. Now that I had fuel, the brake pad situation was gnawing at my brain, so I decided to pull into a tire-chaining pull-off area to double-check them again.

There was no shade to be found here and the morning was already warming up significantly, so the first thing I did was to shed a layer of clothing. Despite the pull-off being gravel surfaced and the motorcycle sitting really low due to the broken shock, I manhandled it (with colorful language) up onto the center stand, then spent several minutes lying on the ground, trying to get a better angle to see all the pads with a flashlight. I knew they were worn, but considering the possible delay in changing them, still convinced myself they would suffice to get me at least to the finish, given all that remains is straight interstate riding.  Spending an hour on this would quickly drain any cushion I had for reaching the finish on time, and that rally clock is still ticking!

Continuing onward, I quickly finished out the Utah panhandle and entered Wyoming, just ticking off miles to Green River. I really wanted some hot breakfast food and coffee by now and spotted the sign for a Penny’s Diner. Hey, I’ve been to those before! The food had been satisfactory in the past, so I pulled right off and found the diner, quickly clocking in to my final meal bonus of the rally, MEALJ. I managed a decent portion of my omelet and some toast, though I avoided the grease-laden hash browns.

 

After checking that off the list and feeling fortified with a full stomach, it’s time to engage the enemy one last time. My last alien battle of the rally will be just on the far side of town. I took the interstate down one exit to avoid the downtown area, then followed UT 530 over a bridge spanning several sets of railroad tracks and up into the nearby hills. About three miles up the incline at the top of a rise, I turned off onto a very sketchy and deeply rutted unmarked track that seemed to lead about a quarter mile to a sign visible up on the ridgeline. I should have just parked there and walked in, but thinking how bad could it be after Aztec (!), I went ahead and picked my way up that nasty rutted driveway to a small clearing/parking area.

Set off against the scenic backdrop is a strange “sculpture” that looks like (and probably is) a crushed automobile, along with a big sign proclaiming this spot as the “Great Green River Intergalactic Spaceport”. OK then. Well, disrupting the enemy’s ports of ingress is a noble pursuit and worth a significant amount of points at 7777 for bonus AGGIS. I’d learn later that my camera app must have been set to “Portrait” mode as the shot is a bit out-of-focus, but still valid for claiming the points.

Getting back down that driveway was considerably worse than getting up had been. I had flashbacks to Aztec, but at least the ruts and crowns were dry this time! After hours on the highway, my reflexes were shot and as my front wheel tracked into one of the big ruts, all I could think was “keep the throttle open or you will spill”. So I ended up shooting down towards the road a wee bit faster than I might otherwise have preferred, with both throttle and brakes fighting each other, standing on the pegs, and somehow managing to avoid disaster. Yikes. I’ll bet this was cake for the GS crowd! So much for making those brake pads last. 😬

Retracing my path slowly back to 80 while my heart climbed back into my chest, it was another 10 miles or so on the slab to Rock Springs. I exited again here to quickly bag an F-101 Voodoo fixed-wing bonus FCVRW for 20 points. Because, well why not? Points are points and it was easy off and on.

The remainder of I-80 through Wyoming isn’t the most exciting stretch of riding, mostly to be endured, with a fuel stop in Sinclair to break things up. By the time I was passing through Cheyenne, that “points are points” philosophy could go take a flying leap, as I didn’t at all feel like navigating through city streets to pick up the 25 point tank bonus there! I did regret a bit afterwards not stopping, for fairly easy points, but IIWII. By the time I’d gotten across the better portion of Nebraska to Aurora, night had fallen and it was too late to grab the daylight-only fixed-wing bonus there just a short way off the interstate.

My $50 Motel 6 room in York, Nebraska awaited. I arrived there around 22:45 and wow this place was a shithole! After parking around back closer to a door near the room, I walked inside with my stuff into an interior hallway littered with trash. Just literally trash lying on the carpet as if the floor hadn’t been vacuumed or even swept in a week or two. I had some trouble with the keycard and had to go retrieve the desk guy to come back and get me in – he had to demonstrate pulling on the door handle while unlocking to get it to open.

While I usually prefer a slightly nicer hotel ambiance, I’m generally willing to put up with a lot for just a quick few hours of sleep on the cheap. I figure if i can go camping and sleep on the ground, a sub-par hotel is still a step up, with a roof over my head and running water at least. However, I must have a clean bed. I spent quite a bit of time inspecting the bed sheets and pillow looking for any signs of bedbugs and thankfully did not find any. I still tried not to touch anything that wasn’t necessary during my stay here. Yuck.

 

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York NE – Coralville IA
Fri Jun 28, 2024
(~351 miles)

After a very decent five hour sleep, I was out at the bike and ready to go when the six-hour mark rolled around, after properly documenting rest bonus ZSLPG.

I fueled up across the street and got quickly back onto I-80 to knock out the remaining 350 miles of my rally. My friend James, whom I knew was volunteering at the finish line, called me at some point with some concern about me making it in on time. That had me worried and second-guessing myself for a bit until I talked to Char and had her sanity check my remaining time and mileage. That confirmed I was in good shape to arrive plenty early (certainly when compared to most of my rally finishes!).

There were no delays or issues crossing Iowa, making a fuel stop in Shelby and grabbing one final fixed-wing bonus FCAAI (A-7 Corsair) in some light rain in Altoona.

I pulled off the last exit by the finish with about 1:15 to go before penalties began, which felt like a luxury for me. LDX rules specify that at the finish, we must go directly from our motorcycles into scoring with no time for a “human moment” to catch our breath or clean ourselves up a bit. That all feels a bit rushed to me after just taking my helmet off. So I pulled into the nearby gas station to use the restroom, splash water on my face, get my mind calmed, and fill up the tanks for tomorrow’s trip home.

After all that and crossing back over the interstate, I realized that I still needed fill out the remaining couple of rows in my bonus claim form. So I quickly pulled in to the driveway across from the hotel to whip out the form and take care of that final task. Putting the bike on the side stand here, it barely leaned far enough left to hold the bike solidly. I had to maneuver a bit to be able to lean it slightly downhill and dismount without it feeling ready to fall. I’m wondering if the broken shock has somehow gotten worse over the course of the ride? 🤷‍♂️

Then I headed across the street and up to the finish line, amidst the small group of riders and other spectators hanging around, to receive my final check-in time and officially end my rally. Whew, I made it! And with very little drama for a change. Sure enough, as soon as I was in a parking spot and off the bike, I was asked by the rallymaster to report to scoring ASAP. Sir, yes sir!

Gathering everything I needed, I headed in to scoring and took my licks from Nancy for being an idiot with the Fire Support cards (again). Aside from the 6200 points lost for the AWIEL bonus in Wisconsin, my sheet was clean with no other denied bonuses or penalties, totaling up to 93,544 points. Oh, would have been so close to a six-digit leg score!

My hotel room wasn’t ready yet, being only midday, so after freshening up a bit in the restroom, I hung around with several other folks to watch the final riders trickle in to the finish while exchanging stories from the road. While certainly tired after the adrenaline wore out of my system, it felt strange to not be completely dead on my feet after a multi-day rally of this length. I mean, I’d woken from practically a full night’s sleep just a few hours ago!

The final rider arrived a horrifying 27 minutes into the penalty period, just minutes away from a status of Missing in Action (DNF)! Ride around then, my room became ready for check-in. I got my self cleaned up and then somewhat organized for tomorrow’s ride home.

Around 13:00 an email had been sent out from the rallymaster about our “final mission”, which was to help express all our sincere gratitude and appreciation to rally staffer/photographer Tobie Stevens. The assignment was to take a photo of our hands in the shape of a heart and be ready to send it to Tobie via text at the appropriate moment during the banquet, so he’d be flooded with goodwill and appreciation for all the effort he puts in to helping run the rally and to documenting everything with his wonderful photography. I got that queued up and ready to go.

Rider Kerri Miller had issued an open invitation to all riders (thru the Rallymaster Telegram & E-mail Service) for a gathering at the hotel pool this afternoon to hang out before the banquet and tell lies about their rally. What a great idea, count me in! This was one great benefit of finishing at midday after a (more or less) full night’s sleep. Very rarely does there seem enough time to decompress and debrief with other riders after a big rally. Everyone is usually sleeping before the banquet and then off to bed again before heading home early the next morning.

I joined others around the pool area for a couple of hours chatting at length with several riders about our rally routes and experiences. Among topics covered was the effect of the stricter rules and processes introduced for this rally.   This was the first time I’d had a chance to really talk about it with other riders in the rally to get their take, which was therapeutic. As always, it’s fascinating an enlightening to me, hearing different perspectives of other riders who have been working the same puzzle, rules, and ticking clock over the past several days under varying road and weather conditions. It’s what this hobby really comes down to, the people and the friendships you make within the craziness. Despite a lot of us being solo riders happy to be in our own helmets for days on end, these moments of camaraderie after shared effort and hardship are precious.

One thing I think was clear to everyone – Paul, Nancy and crew had put on a hell of a rally for us, and we had enjoyed ourselves immensely in the end. I was eager to see who’d managed to pull off the W on this one.

More photos from today.

Leg B Stats & Recap:

Points: 92,544
Alien Points: 41,789
# Aliens (Approved/Claimed): 5/6
# Military Assets (Approved/Claimed): 23/23
Points “left on the table”: 6200
Total miles (corrected): 5904
Rest bonus time logged: 26:02