|
|
||||
|
Destination: 2001 Iron Butt Rally -- 11 Days / 11,000 Miles |
||||
|
Rollin' eZine Volume 1, Number 12 April 2001 =============
Special for Rollin' readers
|
Butt
Wait! -- by
Bruce 'B2' Barge At 10:00 AM on Feb. 27, 2001, the digital Day, Hour, Minute and Second timer started clicking downward to what will perhaps be the most momentous moment in my own personal motorcycling "career". Get the Rollin' Dude Wallpaper I am sure I was not alone in my noticing the starting of this timer, approximately 99 other IBA members around the country, yes even around the world felt their pulses quicken a bit as the numbers began to click down. In exactly 6 months, 100 or so of the most determined, and committed (committable?) riders in the world will be sitting on their bikes in line in a motel parking lot in Madison, Alabama, waiting for their turn to depart on one of the hardest rides they will ever undertake.
Preparation for this ride actually began last summer when the first of our 2 entrance fee checks were due to at the IBA headquarters in Chicago, IL. While I do not normally write $425 checks everyday, I wasn't terribly concerned about writing that one, however a certain day during the second week in January of this year was another story. I will never forget writing and signing my name to that second entrance fee check for $525 to the Iron Butt Association. Believe me, I more than paused and thought long and hard before signing that one piece of paper. Entrance fees submitted for the Iron Butt Rally are non-refundable. While $425 is no small amount of money to me, at the point of sending that first check in I could still have come to my senses, called Iron Butt Association, President Mike Kneebone, claimed a momentary attack of delusion, told him I was just kidding about wanting to ride this rally and to award my starting spot to another more deserving rider. However, signing and sending in that second check signaled a level of commitment to myself that nothing in this world was going to reverse. As I sat and stared at that unsigned check this past January, I couldn't help butt pause and think, and think some more. "What in the hell do you think you are doing?" I said under my breath to myself. Even in the IBA, where a 1000 mile in 24 hour day is just the most elementary prerequisite to "joining the club", 11 days of a 1000 miles a day is still recognized as being off the end of the scale of madness. For a few minutes, I thought back and relived each of the rallies and timed IBA rides I've completed (or did not finish as the case may be) in my 2-1/2 years of membership in the IBA. Each and every one of those would be butt a stroll on the beach in comparison to the IBR.
Am I in water way over my head butt still shallow enough to be able to make my way to the shore and forget this lunacy? Then I thought back to some of the passages in the beginning of "Against the Wind", the book by Ron Ayres about his first IBR ride in 1995 where he had expressed some of the same feelings of self-critique. I also remembered seeing the same emotions expressed in many of the hundreds of pages of IBR ride reports that I've read written by other "IB Doners" (IBR finishers). I knew I was not alone in having these moments of self-examination, concern, and apprehension, they had been felt by most every rider to ever start this bi-annual test of man, his mind and his machine. I think when folks first lace on a pair of running shoes and start "jogging", then reach a level where they can legitimately call themselves "runners" they quickly recognize that the Marathon is considered the ultimate self-test in their sport. So it was for me when I began the transition from being a "touring rider" to becoming a member of the IBA and a Long Distance rider, it wasn't long before that little carnivorous fly with "IBR" on it's underbelly landed on my ear. While some LDR's are able to flick this devilish little beast away, I think most are not and sooner or later allow it to crawl into their heads and begin to eat it's way into their subconscious. We allow this knowing full well there's only one way to kill this little flesh eating insect of wonderment and self-questioning. And that's to someday do whatever it takes to work you way through the masses to the starting line, stand face to face with the challenge, and give your all to conquer it. Only by actually riding this ride (and any other IBA ride for that matter) will you be able to answer that question festering deep inside yourself once and for all. In the next 5 months, the 2001 Iron Butters will be making a multitude of preparations in order to be as ready as humanly possible for the start of this year's rally. Some will be making physical and mental preparations while all will be doing everything possible to make sure their bikes are in the highest state of rally readiness. While it is understood within the LDR community that "it's the rider not the bike" if your motorcycle doesn't finish the rally, then neither will you (unless you are able to "pull a Manny" and by necessity switch to a backup second bike, taking the massive point hit for doing so in the process). In the upcoming months leading up to the IBR, at the end of each of my regular articles, I'll use this segment to keep you, our readers abreast of some of the preparations that the "Team Rollin' Mag" effort is making in order to be ready for the start in August. The Saga Begins with Barf
With the assistance of Larry Buck, owner of Surface Applications of Boca Raton, FL, and Connie wrench par excellance, we have hardwired in the Valentine V1 radar detector, (so graciously donated to my IBR effort by fellow LDR/IBA member Jim Frens). Then we installed and hardwired in the Garmin Streetpilot GPS and CB/FM/Weather radio and installed a centralized fused electrical junction to tie in all the accessories. Two of the last major mods to be fitted to the "Barfrocket" are a pair of auxiliary driving lights and a custom 3.7-gallon auxiliary fuel cell designed and fabricated by Terry and Ron of Sampson Sport Touring Products. These two modifications are those which we'll preview in this month's "Butt Wait! -- There's More" segment. Let There Be Light
Hella FF200 Driving Light, mount by Surface Applications. Photo by Larry Buck There are many other very high quality manufacturers that have been producing driving lights at least as long if not longer than PIAA.
After corresponding with several "lighting experts" on the LDR list, and visiting a Hella web site where I was able to actually view representative beam patterns of various models of lights, I decided on the Hella FF200 driving light for the "Barfrocket". There is to my knowledge only one commercially available light mount sturdy enough to hold larger sized driving lights, that being the CBT mounts that retail for about $100 per pair, these mounts fit under the stock Connie mirrors and work just fine other than that some riders report some vibration of the lights with heavier units. I decided to take a different route and mount my lights on the side fairing where the stock Connie side reflector is.
Photo by Larry Buck Again, Larry Buck of Surface Applications came to the rescue and has fabricated a mount especially for these Hella FF200's to fit them in that side reflector position where they can be easily adjusted. The mounts are made from aluminum and shown here are some pictures of the almost finished product. There is still some trimming of the mount to be done yet before they will be painted black and the Hellas installed on them. Let There Be Fuel The most common method for utilizing an auxiliary fuel cell on a Concours is to temporarily mount a 3 Gallon Jazz fuel cell on a rack behind and approximately even with the rear of the seat. This is about the only fuel cell sized to fit easily on the Connie without putting oneself over the mandatory 11.5 gallon IBR maximum fuel loading Last year, Terry Smith, a fellow LDR/IBA member/Chatty Moron and owner of Sampson Sport Touring Products, approached me with the idea of making a permanent custom fuel cell designed especially for the Kawasaki Concours. Sampson manufactures a specialized range of touring accessories predominantly for the Honda ST1100. They also create custom fuel cells for ST1100s, Triumph Trophys, Harleys and Vulcans. Terry was interested in adding a Concours cell to his inventory. They will also make one-off custom fuel cells for other bikes. Terry would use his own bike to ensure proper fitment of the cell in California and once everything was fabricated, welded and finished to his satisfaction, the Connie cell would be shipped to Boca Raton, FL where Larry Buck and I will install it onto the Barfrocket. Having seen Terry's first rate work before, I leaped at the chance to be the first to sport his prototype cell custom made for the Concours.
Photo by Terry Smith This cell was unlike any Terry had attempted before and presented challenges specific to the Concours. The quarter-inch welded, high-grade T6061 aluminum fuel cell will completely replace the rear fender assembly of the Concours including new a tag holder and rear light. The fuel will be routed via an electric fuel pump hidden under the Connie's rear cowling directly into the main bike tank. The placement of the rear-turn signals on the Connie was an especially tough challenge for Sampson's to overcome, butt overcome it they did. The fuel cell will contain 3.7 gallons and together with the prodigious, stock Connie tank, will bring me to just a few tenths of a gallon short of the mandatory 11.5 IBR maximum fuel load. Terry and Ron's cell will also carry the extra weight much lower than the Jazz rack mount option would, which is much more advantageous to the bike's handling than having all that extra weight hanging out from (and higher than) the rear seat.
Photo by Terry Smith They photos are of (again) the almost finished product. All that remains is to grind the welds down flush with the surface of the tank and send it to the powder coater's where it will be finished in Satin Black. I can't wait for it to be completed and shipped to Florida for installation. I have no doubt that it will be of the same highest quality construction and finish as the rest of the products produced by Terry and Ron. The increased fuel capacity will allow me to go almost 400 miles between fill-ups and this, almost 50% increase in range will allow less time to be spent at gas stations and more time spent gathering boni and maybe a few more winks of that all important sleep each night. Stay tuned during the next couple months as the finishing touches are made to these light mounts and auxiliary fuel cell and they are installed on the Team Rollin' Mag Barfrocket. We'll also be bringing you some of the other preparations being made for this year's Iron Butt Rally. B2 is outta here |
|||
|
|
||||
While
past veterans of this ride at least noted the start of this timer, I think
it was probably us first time rookies whose pulses quickened the most.
From that Madison, AL parking lot on Monday, August 27th, at 10 am, myself
and about 99 other riders will depart on the biannual, 11 day, 11,000
mile, 2001 
