First, a hearty congrats to Kendoo for his amazing ride and finish! Brilliantly done my friend! And I'd just like to say thanks for all the good wishes and kind words from everyone. When you are doing the IBR, the last thing in your mind (well, in mine anyway) is the fact that hundreds of people are following along and watching the rally unfold.
For me, this was by far the most difficult rally I've competed in. The routing challenges were ridiculous, and brilliantly planned. Just what I've come to expect from Jeff Earls. My first leg was a bit disapponting, as I hadn't yet cracked the code to the routing puzzle. Then on the second leg, I got a bad tank of fuel which ultimately plugged the fuel strainer in the lower tank, and seized the 6 month old (new) pump. The bike failed to start at 6:30 PM on June 29th. The wait for the tow truck to pick me up about 45 miles north of Shreveport LA was nearly 5 hours, and the bike got dropped off at a Honda dealer at midnight. The next morning I managed to convince the dealer to look at the bike, but they had no parts in stock. I eventually convinced them to R&R a used pump assembly from a 2008 ST they had, exchange it with my plugged junk, and re-assemble it. The bill came to just under 1200 bucks. Nobody said the IBR is cheap. The good news is the bike was running flawlessly again, and I wasn't going to get DQ'd by not making it back to the checkpoint in time. The biggest cost however, was the full day of riding time lost in leg two. I dropped to 82nd place when I finally made it to checkpoint 2 in Allen TX. I was very disappointed, but equally determined to salvage a finish in the rally.
At the riders meeting on Sunday morning, Jeff told everyone that to finish the rally we should aim for at least 55,000 points total. I decided to plan a third leg that would guarantee me finishers points, as long as I could ride it. By this time I had worked out a method for routing that allowed me to plan a leg with over 60,000 points. Riding it would not be easy however, as it called for two stints of around 36 hours of non-stop bonus collecting. This is because some bonuses are available anytime, and others have very specific time requirements. Planning your route meant you had to be at each bonus during the availability window. Time management between bonuses was critical.
Anyway, I somehow managed to ride the plan, and scored as expected without losing any points or incurring any penalties for leg three. I did cut the arrival time at the finish pretty close, getting there about 30 minutes before the penalty began. I got scored, and waited to see if I managed to be a finisher. After getting scored, I decided I was satisfied with my personal level of effort for the rally. I had overcome some unexpected problems, lost a lot of ground to my fellow competitors, but refused to give up. I had to ride really long and hard on leg 3, but for me it was all about doing the best I could. I honestly thought I would finish near the bottom, and I was shocked to get a silver medal finish for the second time. Had I not had the breakdown, my leg two ride would have resulted in about 18-20,000 more points but we'll never know where I might have finished.
The ST is an amazing, brilliant motorcycle. I have taken that poor bike down goat trails and mud roads, and ridden it hard for days and thousands of miles at a time. It has never let me down. The bad gas problem wasn't the bikes fault, and it continued to amaze me on the non-stop 27 hour ride home from Minneapolis yesterday. I'm going to buy another one.
Garry
For me, this was by far the most difficult rally I've competed in. The routing challenges were ridiculous, and brilliantly planned. Just what I've come to expect from Jeff Earls. My first leg was a bit disapponting, as I hadn't yet cracked the code to the routing puzzle. Then on the second leg, I got a bad tank of fuel which ultimately plugged the fuel strainer in the lower tank, and seized the 6 month old (new) pump. The bike failed to start at 6:30 PM on June 29th. The wait for the tow truck to pick me up about 45 miles north of Shreveport LA was nearly 5 hours, and the bike got dropped off at a Honda dealer at midnight. The next morning I managed to convince the dealer to look at the bike, but they had no parts in stock. I eventually convinced them to R&R a used pump assembly from a 2008 ST they had, exchange it with my plugged junk, and re-assemble it. The bill came to just under 1200 bucks. Nobody said the IBR is cheap. The good news is the bike was running flawlessly again, and I wasn't going to get DQ'd by not making it back to the checkpoint in time. The biggest cost however, was the full day of riding time lost in leg two. I dropped to 82nd place when I finally made it to checkpoint 2 in Allen TX. I was very disappointed, but equally determined to salvage a finish in the rally.
At the riders meeting on Sunday morning, Jeff told everyone that to finish the rally we should aim for at least 55,000 points total. I decided to plan a third leg that would guarantee me finishers points, as long as I could ride it. By this time I had worked out a method for routing that allowed me to plan a leg with over 60,000 points. Riding it would not be easy however, as it called for two stints of around 36 hours of non-stop bonus collecting. This is because some bonuses are available anytime, and others have very specific time requirements. Planning your route meant you had to be at each bonus during the availability window. Time management between bonuses was critical.
Anyway, I somehow managed to ride the plan, and scored as expected without losing any points or incurring any penalties for leg three. I did cut the arrival time at the finish pretty close, getting there about 30 minutes before the penalty began. I got scored, and waited to see if I managed to be a finisher. After getting scored, I decided I was satisfied with my personal level of effort for the rally. I had overcome some unexpected problems, lost a lot of ground to my fellow competitors, but refused to give up. I had to ride really long and hard on leg 3, but for me it was all about doing the best I could. I honestly thought I would finish near the bottom, and I was shocked to get a silver medal finish for the second time. Had I not had the breakdown, my leg two ride would have resulted in about 18-20,000 more points but we'll never know where I might have finished.
The ST is an amazing, brilliant motorcycle. I have taken that poor bike down goat trails and mud roads, and ridden it hard for days and thousands of miles at a time. It has never let me down. The bad gas problem wasn't the bikes fault, and it continued to amaze me on the non-stop 27 hour ride home from Minneapolis yesterday. I'm going to buy another one.
Garry
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