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Still riding After All These Years |
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August 2001 Volume 2, Number 4 =============
Member of the
Concours Owners Group
"In the week before the rally, I rode as much as possible on the mountain roads to get the cobwebs out from straight-line Florida riding."
"Many LD riders will tell you that it doesn't pay to try to outguess the Rallymaster."
"I called my office for messages and learned, my friend, Bruce Barge had been in an accident and was in surgical intensive care at Holmes Regional Medical Center in Melbourne, FL."
"Riding with a partner is not a bad idea, as another set of eyes can prevent wrong turns and other problems that plague LD rally riders."
"The base route was 1,038 miles and had to be ridden in the following order: Asheville, Boone, Wilmington, Charlotte; then back to the Raleigh finishing point."
"A cute co-ed came up to Gary and asked: Are you Ironbutt guys?"
I kept saying to myself: "NO FRONT BRAKE - EVER!" as I crept along in 2nd gear.
"I recited the pilot and sailor's prayer. "God, if you will just get me through this, I promise, I'll never do it again."
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Speak
of the Devil The
2001 Tarbutt Rally by Larry Buck The
Tarbutt Rally is hosted by Herbie Saint from Raleigh, NC. Herbie has been
an outstanding rally master for previous Tarbutts, but the pre-Rally
publicity indicated this would be his last one. I had never done a 24 hour
rally before, and wanted to get the experience in such a contest as part
of my Evolution as a rider (February 2001 issue of
rollinmag.com). I
had participated in the 1999 and 2000, Feast in the East 12-hour rallys,
hosted by Bryan Moody, and had learned the basics of rallying. The Tarbutt
was different in two important ways; it was 24 hours and it was to be
scored on a efficiency weighted system which rewarded riders who got the
most points, but had ridden the fewest miles in obtaining them.
Originally, Herbie said he was going to limit the number of riders to 45.
I just got in under the wire as rider number 43. Later, the large response
of LD riders to the theme of the Tarbutt (Speak of the Devil), made Herbie
increase the number to 60. BIKE
PREPARATION My Kawasaki Concours is usually always in the "ready" mode, but this rally called for some additional items to be installed. I had always used the Walgreens, $1.89 flex-neck light for nighttime map reading, but I felt I needed more light, a longer neck, and 12 volt power. I found a light at Radio Shack ($3.99) that had a 12" long, flexible arm and modified it to tie into the bike's electrical system. If
you have followed Bruce Barge's preparations for the Waltz Across Texas
and Ironbutt Rally, you know I have been trying to design a driving light
mount for the Concours. I made Bruce's mounts to position the lights (Hella
FF-200's) where the side reflectors are located. This mount location
proved to be less than optimal because "scatter" from the lights
made the mirrors practically useless at night, particularly if the mirrors
were dirty (aren't they always?). Also, this location made the lights and
fairing very vulnerable in a tip-over. Kawasaki plastic is very expensive.
In
the week before the rally, I rode as much as possible on the mountain
roads to get the cobwebs out from straight-line Florida riding. While
returning from Asheville on the Parkway, the bike suddenly quit running.
On the side of the road, I frantically flicked the key, kill switch, and
anything else I could think of, the get the beast running. Bingo! The dash
lights came on and the engine started. Off I went……..for about 5 miles
and it quit again. Did the drill one more time, got it running, and made
it back to the house. Reflecting on the situation, I remembered that this
same thing had happened in almost the same location last fall, before the
Feast, but had not occurred again until now. Then I remembered Bruce had
had a similar thing happen (to his headlight relay) on the way to Jack
Tollett's "Waltz Across Texas" rally. The dreaded Concours,
J-Box (junction box) problem had struck again. The solder joints of the
main relay had degraded and prevented the relay from doing it's job, i.e.,
keep the darn thing running. I hoped the problem would go away like it had
the last time… My wife and I had to go to Harrisburg, PA for a few days to visit her aunt and, while there, I remembered that Bob Bihl (a fellow Concours Owners Group member) lived in a nearby town. He was doing extensive modifications to his bike and I called him on the hunch he might have a spare J-box. "Yes I do…you want it?" Thank you Bob! Thank you lord! Things
were looking up. PRE,
PRE-RALLY PREP Many LD riders will tell you that it doesn't pay to try to outguess the Rallymaster. Ignoring
this, I went on the internet and searched for anything remotely related to
"spooky" things in North Carolina…and South Carolina,
Tennessee, Georgia, and Virginia. It was quite a stack of stuff. After a
wrench session on Bruce's bike before the "Waltz", I showed my
handiwork to him. I didn't know Bruce was going to be helping Herbie with
the Rally, so the look on his face surprised me. He said he didn't know
where the rally would take the riders, but I was sure to have a number of
the bonus locations covered. All we could be sure of was that Herbie would
not take the riders into the mountains during the night hours in the
interest of safety. I later learned that I was not the only one who had
done this. Forewarned
is forearmed……….I am learning.
Having
recently completed the IBA, BBG, I was aware of several things I needed to
do from the physical standpoint. To get my legs in better shape, I joined
my wife on evening walks of about 30" at a brisk pace, for the 3
weeks before the rally. Light exercises were also part of the plan for
this 60-year-old body. I also got off the caffeine. I knew this ride was
going to be a "war" and I needed all the stamina I could muster
to do it well. I wanted to win it, if I could. BAD NEWS, June 5th I
called my office for messages and learned, my friend, Bruce Barge had been
in an accident and was in surgical intensive care at Holmes Regional
Medical Center in Melbourne, FL. Billy Street had called and said he was
on the mend, but couldn't take calls yet. He had lots of broken ribs and a
punctured lung. I got to talk to him a few days later. All he could say
was to tell Herbie that he was sorry he couldn't make it. Damn, this has
been a bad year for this stuff. I picked up a card to take to Raleigh for
the riders to sign. Rally T-shirts were also signed by all and sent to
him. Godspeed Bruce. TARBUTT RALLY, Friday, June 8th I arrived at the Best Western, south of Raleigh, about 3:00 P.M. I had miscalculated how long it would take to get there from Banner Elk, NC (Boone area) via Siler City, NC (The Devil's Tramping Ground bonus?). Darn, this is a big state. I went to the meeting room to register, and was greeted by old friends Bryan Moody, Steve Bream, Dale Horstman and Herbie; all Concours riders. It was like old home week. Herbie took care of my insurance papers, other required documents, and my contribution to the Special Olympics. I was good to go for my odometer check. Bryan sent me off on the prescribed route that went South on I-40 and back to the hotel for a 15 mile loop. This is done to establish any speedometer error to be applied to one's ending mileage to get a true distance number. My correction factor was "0"…….the odometer was spot on. So was the GPS and bicycle computer.
After finishing the odo check, Gary Dehner, from Lexington, KY, greeted me and we renewed recollections from last year's Feast. Then there was a silence. "You want to do this thing together?" Hmm. I had ridden the Feast with Gary Norton last year and we had done pretty well. Riding with a partner is not a bad idea, as another set of eyes can prevent wrong turns and other problems that plague LD rally riders. Besides, I wasn't looking forward to scouting graveyards and such in the middle of the night, alone. I had no idea what Herbie had in store for us. "Sure! The range of your VFR versus the Concours won't be a factor because the stops will be frequent." Then he said, "What if we get separated?" "Then we do the best we can alone." I replied. Done deal. It was really great to see friends I had made at other get togethers…this is a wonderful fraternity. Some of the riders already had on their "rally faces" which I have come to understand the longer I know them. I also met many of the IBA "big dogs" (as Bruce calls them) that came from as far away as California and Texas to partake in Herbie's ghoulish plans. Later we all gathered in the meeting room for the distribution of the Rally packets. 1-2-3, now everyone can open his or her packets. Herbie did an excellent job of explaining all the instructions and answered everyone's questions, including why the Ferry schedule had been included to get to the huge boni in Okracoke, NC (2,550 points). There were other bonus locations in the Coast area too. The formalities over, we all adjourned to our rooms to plan our routes. Gary had a laptop, which would make the planning easier. Herbie had a devilish intention for this rally. Riders could collect bonus points at more than fifty locations with spooky names and histories; such as churches, railroads, and houses/mansions, county names, and point values containing 6's. The base route was 1,038 miles and had to be ridden in the following order: Asheville, Boone, Wilmington, Charlotte; then back to the Raleigh finishing point. The cities had to be in the above order, evidenced by computerized, gas receipts with the city and time imprinted and mileage noted. Bonus hunting could be anywhere a rider chose, as long as the cities were done in order. Gary and I immediately pulled out the Ferry schedule and studied it intently. There HAD to be a way to do the coastal boni. After nearly two hours of frustration, we concluded the Okracoke bonus was "suckersville." This is rally-speak for: go there, and be time barred (LATE!) or worse. It was getting late and we needed to get some sleep. "Hey, lets look at the Western side of the State. Hmmm, Deal's Gap with 1,666 (there's those 6's again) points." I suggested. Gary:
"I don’t know…. that’s a loooooog way, up in the mountains, and
Saturday traffic you know." Me:
"Yeah, but if we can pull it off, we'll do well." "Lets
plug it into the mapping program along with some other bonus locations and
see what it says." Hard
disk light blinking, blinking; 24 hours, 35 minutes. "Yikes!
That time doesn't allow any time for taking pictures at the bonus
locations (with our rally towels), or gas, or rest!" Gary lamented. "I
told you it was going to be a war." I answered and added: "Let's
do it. We can always skip some locations if we're running late." That was our PLAN and we were determined to do it. Off to bed and a 5:00 A.M. wakeup call. Briiiiing! I knocked the phone on the floor trying to reach it. My roommate stopped snoring and rolled over. "I had my shower last night, you go ahead." He said. A quick "Navy" shower and shave and I was off to the 6:50 A.M. memorial service that John Harrison was leading to remember fallen riders in the recent past and to get everyone's mind thinking of a safe ride and rally. Good job John, as usual. Then it was off to the bikes to finish packing up and to get in line for the start. Riders with partners would be at the back of the line for the start. I looked around and noticed Harold Brooks with his riding partner, Hal Smith, nearby. I didn't know it then, but we would be seeing them several times in the ensuing 24 hours. At 7:30 riders took the start in pairs, at 1 minute intervals. Gary and I started at 7:52 A.M. Gary led the way on I-40, West. The traffic was moderate and we moved along with the traffic flow. Just East of Greensboro (I think) a LEO had three riders stopped for a little selective enforcement. I don't know who they were, but having three "rabbits" out front never hurts. We caught up to Harold Brooks and Hal Smith a little later and fell in behind them. Shortly, we all came up on a local Sheriff out for a Saturday ride, going exactly 70 MPH! None of us wanted to push our luck so we tagged along behind him for the next 40 miles or so when he exited. About this time I figured we were a little behind the curve, and since the LEO presence was light, we'd better put some time "in the bank" for later. I took the lead and off we went, for Asheville. Got there at 11:35 A.M., gassed up and continued toward Deal's Gap. Traffic was light on Route 23/74. Somewhere near Maggie Valley, Gary came on the CB and asked if there was a bonus there. I said there was, The Ghost Town In the Sky, worth 99 points. Silence. My CB was dead. We missed that bonus (a huge mistake, along with one later) and continued on Route 74, to Route 28 and the Gap. We rode up to the "top" (or bottom to some) and took the required picture overlooking the lake and dam. A cute co-ed came up to Gary and asked: "Are you Ironbutt guys?" "You on a rally or something?" Gary gave her the briefest explanation he could with great courtesy, finally explaining, we had to GO! Back to the store and the other required picture, a dash to the restroom and we were gone. Our
next stop was to be Mystery Rock (500 points). We got there at 3:40 P.M. I
had just got off the bike and in rolls Harry Kaplan from NY. I met Harry
(an IBR veteran) at the 1999 Feast and I learned a lot about rallying from
him. He was riding a BMW, K-model then; now he had bright red, 2000
Concours. Pictures done, we
were all headed for the Transylvania county line marker (375 points) via
Route 281. Route 281started out as a nice, paved road and we were making
good time……..whump! What was THAT! Oh, sh--, IT'S DIRT! I had promised
my wife that no rally was worth riding on a dirt road…especially with my
short legs and lack of dirt bike experience. I'm sorry honey, I lied. The
Devil made me do it. Gary and Harry soon left me in the dust with my
"death grip" on the bars. I kept saying to myself: "NO
FRONT BRAKE - EVER!" as I crept along in 2nd gear. Up
ahead, what's that? A PAVED road. Yippie…wait, the paved road sign
doesn't say route 281! Turn right, past the locals, who are fishing. STOP.
Am I sure? When in doubt, ask for directions. "Yup, 2 red bikes came
through here a few minutes ago. They went thataway." The pointing
finger meant more dirt road. I caught up with Gary and Harry at the county
line at we did our thing with the Polaroid’s and were off to the
Fletcher, NC bonus. The unpaved road continued to Lake Toxaway and Route
64. This 20 mile leg ate way too much time we could not spare.
At Chimney Rock, Gary and I put our towels on the shrubbery under the sign, and got the required pictures to get the bonus. Then we were off to Boone at 6:20 P.M. Before leaving, Gary suggested we go through Marion and take route 221 to Boone. I suggested we go to Morganton and get the 72 points as the mileage was only about 35 miles further (better than 2:1 point to mileage ratio) and furthermore, Route 181 was a better road with less traffic. We exited I-40 and headed into Morganton to find the intersection of White and Valdese Streets. Gary had it in the GPS and we were soon there and parked. "Damn!"
"What
Gary?" "I don't have my towel!" I opened my saddlebag. "Damn!" "Mine's gone too. Don't worry, the instructions said to make sure we were in the picture if we didn't have our towels." I said. We got the pictures and we were off to Boone. We stopped at Seven Devils (13 points), and got into Boone at 9:10 P.M. After
fueling up, Gary suggested we take a few minutes to get into warmer
clothing for the all night ride. "O.K., but lets do it fast." I
replied. Gary wears a one-piece "Stitch" and was soon out of it
and donning his "jammies" for the night. I got out my shorts (under my Cortech riding pants) and into jeans. I also put on my Widder vest, just in case. About that time, Harold and Hal rolled it too. A few pleasantries were exchanged, but I had a funny feeling they picked up more points in the mountains than us. They left along with some other riders and we were still poking around. "Hey Gary! We gotta go…now!" It was about 9:30. For the next leg, we took Route 421 to I-40 near Winston-Salem. This I-40 thing was wearing thin. We arrived in Wilmington, NC at 2:15 A.M., got our gas and directions to Route 74, which would take us to Charlotte. It was getting foggy by this time, and we were not making the time we had planned. I was starting to lag further behind Gary who was keeping the pace up, because we knew it was going to be difficult to make the finish without penalty points. Suddenly, I realized I had lost Gary's taillights. Great. No CB either. I was fading, and fast. No place to pull over and re-group; the road had concrete guardrails on both sides with no shoulder. I recited the pilot and sailor's prayer. "God, if you will just get me through this, I promise, I'll never do it again." Beep, beep. It was Harold Brooks on his Wing! He waved at me and pointed ahead. I was startled out of my wits. The adrenalin was flowing. I was renewed. Thank you Harold! I was determined not to lose their taillights, as this was my last chance to finish on time. We
continued on to Charlotte and our required gas slip. Several other riders
had come into the same station and were discussing the best way to get to
Raleigh and the finish. I asked Art Holland how he was going to go and he
said most were going to take I-85 up to I-40, because of the faster speeds
allowed on the interstates', even though it was farther that way. I asked
Harold if they were going that way, and he said: "Route 49 to Route
64…we can book. "How
far is it Harold?" "150
miles." was the reply. I did the math. We had about 2-1/2 hours to do 150 miles over non-interstate roads; it would be close. We got to the finish at 7:57 A.M.; 5 minutes late (25 penalty points). I was never so glad to get off something that did not move. My legs were a little shaky, and as I was gathering the paperwork together, I noticed a figure coming toward me. "Gary
Norton!" "What are you doing here?" "I
just wanted to come up and welcome you in." "Geez, I wish I had
entered!" "Be careful what you wish for Gary. This ride was a war. Sorta like our BBG, with more stops. I think we did a little over 1,300 miles. Sure glad to see you!" At the scoring table, Gary Dehner and I learned two of our bonus locations (Morganton and Seven Devils) would not be allowed because we failed to call Herbie after we discovered our towels were missing. Stupid mistake, we didn't read the instructions carefully enough. The Devil's in the details, you know. At
the awards ceremony, Herbie announced the finishers in ascending order.
Gary and I were holding our breath when they got to 40, 30, 20, 10, and 5.
Herbie
continued: "The
number 5 finisher with 3,314 points, is E.L. and Karen McGuire."
"The
number 4 finisher with 3,374 points, is Gary Dehner." "The
number 3 finisher with 3,461 points, is Larry Buck." WOW! "The
number 2 finisher with 3,521 points, is Peter Withers." "There is a tie for 1st, with 3,582 points, are Harold Brooks and his partner, Hal Smith. One of them also receives a guaranteed spot in the 2003 Ironbutt Rally." Thank you Gary Dehner for being such a great partner in this effort, you are special, and a heck of a rider too. Thank you Harold Brooks and your GL-1800's horn. And lastly, thanks to Herbie Saint and his great staff for putting on such a fine rally for we "certifiable" riders. See
you at the next Tarbutt!
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