Jun 27, 2011

Iron Butt Rally Checkpoint

The 2011 Iron Butt Rally is now running. The rally started in Seattle, and the first checkpoint was Friday June 24th in Cheektowaga near Buffalo, NY.

I had been planning to go as it is three hours from my house. The day before departure, I heard through the mailing list for previous Iron Butt Rally finishers that a 1200RT rider was in need of a fuel pump controller module.

I asked my friend, a one time BMW tech and RT owner if he had a spare module. He had one and lent it to me.

I was all set to leave, including a full tank and fuel cell and was on the highway when I noticed my ST1100 had a vibration through the chassis. I took the next exit and in the pouring rain checked the tires for nails. I saw two nails in the rear tire. Here is one of them:




I went to a dealer who had no tire to fix it. After some calling around, it was obvious the ST wasn't going too far. I had a previous experience with a damaged tire from plugging a nail hole, and I will avoid that again if I can. Two holes is even worse.

So I came back home and rigged up my GPS on the Suzuki Burgman and carried on. Great machine and very smooth. Here I am with Jeramy Loveall at the checkpoint helping him fix his bike:




It was great seeing all my Iron Butt friends, and witnessing the scene at the checkpoint. I am now back home and it is tire time in my garage. I took the ST rear tire off to replace it, and the rear tire on the KLR is also due for replacement.

So here is a pic of both bikes down for the count:



Jun 16, 2011

Article

Here is an article about me that came out today in the Halifax Chronicle Herald:

Click here to read the article entitled 'Going the Distance.'