Many hands... Not many bikes!

Many hands make for lighter work, but Paul is riding many bikes to help make a difference.  Want to be a hand to help with the work?  Check out his amazing... crazy... courageous story!

Long haul Paul's link

One man with MS riding many bikes, many miles, working to make a difference!  Join the journey - hope to see you in NH tomorrow to cheer Paul.

Looking into the Water - Reflections

A number of things have happened in the last year that make one stop, or at least slow down, and look into the reflective pool of time.  It's time for me to reflect and share thoughts of rides... the being and doing of long-distance rides.

It's been a while, but I'm going to endeavor to share some of my thoughts and yes, pull back the curtain a bit on one rider's thoughts on the "why" behind pushing ourselves so hard.

Please join me on this journey.

Party at Morton’s BMW on Saturday!

Happy surprize – Morton’s BMW, our local dealership, is planning a little party to celebrate the fantastic finishes by Kirsten and Roger Sinclair. They will be hosting cake and refreshments at the dealership at noon on Saturday, July 9. Come and hang with the IBR finishers, see the rally bike, and enjoy a little informal story telling!


Where:
Morton's BMW Motorcycles
Fredericksburg, Virginia
540-891-9844
http://www.mortonsbmw.com/

When:
Saturday, July 9 @ noon.

Kirsten and Roger after the Finisher's Banquet, IBR 2011

Interview Tonight: Listen In!

Kirsten will be pausing in her return trip to participate in an online interview this evening! Tom Lowdermilk will be hosting IBR President Mike Kneebone and several riders on his Internet Motorcycle Roadshow tonight, July 5th from 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. (Eastern).


To tune in go to SideStandUp.com and click on the "Listen Now" button.  Past shows are also available on iTunes.

It’s a live show – so you’ll hear it there first!

Rally Reflections

It’s decompression time. Saturday was a mix of stories over breakfast, some people leaving, others taking a much needed day of rest. By Sunday morning it was pretty quiet around the rally hotel. It was nice to have a chance to talk with people still around, but it was definitely starting to feel like the post-after-production party.

Kirsten riding into the final checkpoint.

How do riders make the transition back to “real” life? One said- it’s like the philosopher under the tree dreaming he’s a butterfly. When he wakes up, he doesn’t know if he’s a man, or a butterfly still dreaming he’s a man. Riding a motorcycle for 11 days with the focus on your bike, yourself, and your progress, starts to feel like “going back” is the unreal part. I think it’s the same for family and friends who have also supported these riders in their months (year!) of preparation. So we reflect.

I think of the couple walking around the parking lot looking at the bikes, stopping to see Kirsten’s bug-coated front windscreen and asking, how far everyone had gone. We said about 11,000 miles. Amazed, the guy said, “Wow! That’s like 8 or 10 states!” I said, “actually, it’s all 48 states in the past week and a half, and three people went to Alaska too, so 49.” They were speechless. Then they went around looking with new eyes at the other bikes and riders in the lot.

There’s rider Alex Harper who was in the “hopeless” class of the 2009 IBR on a rare bike that he was asked to ride, just to see if it could be done. He had lots of trouble and ended up riding 3 different bikes to make it through. This year he came with a more ride-worthy bike with the goal of finishing and being back at the final checkpoint for his daughter’s first birthday. He was and she is a beautiful girl who entertained us all at the banquet and breakfast the next morning.

Then there’s the realization Kirsten had about not only finishing the IBR, but being a podium finisher. It’s still sinking in. She leaned over during the banquet and said, “we’re at the finisher’s banquet for the Iron Butt Rally!” THAT was exciting enough! She was ready to go up during the middle of the pack announcements, even though she already knew she was in the Top 10. To receive the crystal 6th place award was amazing.

Kirsten and Mark Crane - both over 13,000 miles-
stopping the clock at 9:59 a.m.

Even more, when Mike Kneebone announced her name and her miles,-13,110- he said,

“welcome to the club.” We realized later that before this rally, only 4 people in the entire rally history had ever ridden 13,000 miles during the event. This rally added 7 more to that elite list, and 1- Jim Frens, who rode an incredible 14,185 miles. These truly are the toughest motorcyclists in the world.

Kirsten’s making her way back home – via Denver and Michigan. She took a 100 mile detour yesterday to go through Kelso in the Mojave Desert where she first learned to ride a motorcycle over 15 years ago. This is decompression time. She’ll visit friends, go to the Motor Maids convention (the oldest women’s motorcycling organization) and finally come home after three cross-country trips in just over 2 weeks.

My decompression started on the flight home yesterday. As we flew across the country, I could see lots of fireworks out the window scattered across the ground from Texas all the way back to DC. It was so interesting to think about these IBR riders who are spending this July 4 having literally just seen the entire country. From 30,000 feet, it was so beautiful to look at those small flashes and at the same time the huge flashes of lightning in the clouds immediately out the window from the plane. There’s what we do, and what is. Happy 4th of July everyone.