At this point in my long distance riding résumé, I’ve been fortunate enough to do several different rides. I believe I have been fortunate to succeed with every long distance ride I have accomplished to date. Much of it is bike preparation, but a lot of it is mental preparation.
One of the rides I’ve not blogged about is an annual get-together at a hot-dog stand in the middle of Los Angeles on a Saturday night in November. The fact our son lives as close as he does to this establishment has made it easy enough to visit the child and his bride for a weekend, but to also partake of the evening festivities. This is a group of other long distance riding enthusiasts that gather, tell stories, eat hot dogs and go home. One year, a gentleman from Florida showed up, the same year, two Texans came to town to enjoy a late-night meal with the locals. Crazy? Sure…we all are! Why not?
During the last get-together, I spoke once again to Doug, who puts together a motorcycle long-distance rally in mid-May in Nevada. A lot of Nevada!
When he announced the date, it conflicted with Mother’s Day (ugh). With a penance and an apology to mom served early, I zipped across the desert and joined up with some people I’d only read about doing many of these same rides as I’m going to do – again. I took the opportunity to hang out with the 'big dogs' and snag another BBG during the Team Lyle event out of the fantastic long distance riders metropolis of Alamo, Nevada (population: ~1100)
Is this a tough ride?
Well, ride 500 miles (I broke this leg up over two days…I’d left early from work), then try and get some sleep, turn around and ride >1500 miles, try to get more sleep, rest up about 12 hours, then ride 500 miles home? Yes, but since the only expectation by anyone there was to come back safe, regardless of succeeding in getting any sort of certified ride, was all that really mattered.
It's a hard ride, simply because it truly is - for many. For those that have mastered the time-distance equation and are able to achieve these distances and durations, these are the riders that truly understand the extremes of long distance endurance motorcycling.
The Ride: It’s simple. There are a total of six unique gas stations on this route. The same one at the beginning is at the end. There is a second station that will be visited two times as well.
For some bikes like mine, there is no way I can get from one fuel stop to another because it’s outside my range. I have this dilemma two different legs of the run; I must make intermediate stops for fuel.
Are you confused yet? Click the link below to see a map, maybe it will be easier to see it graphically.
Team Lyle Alamo Route Map
If you’ve clicked on the map, you’ll see this blue-lined spaghetti route. I’ve borrowed this link from the web page for this ride, and have slightly modified the explanation the rally provided. I've taken that map and turned it into a picture below, if you're having a difficult time visualizing the route.
- There are two markers for the Alamo Inn in Alamo, NV. This is the beginning and the end of the ride.
- There are two markers Tonopah Shell in Tonopah, NV. Yes, you will be here two times.
- The markers represent required stops. While riders with large fuel capacity could ride directly from Alamo to Battle Mountain without refueling, you are required to stop in Tonopah to meet the requirements for this event as set by the Iron Butt Association.
- All required stops are within the IBA's 350-mile maximum between documentation stops.
- The stop in Baker, Nevada is an unmanned, 24-hour, credit-card-only station. The nearby fuel pumps at the Border Inn, on US-6/US-50, are located just past the state line in Utah.
I’d written something in an earlier blog post: “What happens in Nevada, stays in Nevada”. I’m going to live up to that. The ride was every single thought and feeling you can think of in 22 hours and change.
Getting that final receipt, knowing that the clock was stopped, and eventually figuring out that I was within minutes of my previous BBG time, had me relieved.
When a ride ends, and you're welcomed back to warm up by the fire by the likes of other very accomplished riders that know exactly what you just went thru, you know you’re hanging out with a lot of interesting – and very, very competent motorcyclists.
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| A tough one to obtain! |
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