It's Gettin' Interesting Up in Here - Day 11

The weather in ABQ is just fine.  Roadrunners are running, coyotes are yipping (we heard a few last night), and the jack rabbits are scrambling across the arroyo.  Riley likes New Mexico – the Chihuahua has apparently come home. 

The SPOTs on the public page are lining up along the big roads back to ABQ.  Ride reports from the past couple days have shown that folks are still finding little ways to provide encouragement to riders at parks – a sticky note on a wayside, a sign along the road.  And one of my staff called me on Wednesday from their fieldwork along the Potomac River in DC to say they had just talked to someone in the rally- ‘Hey man, are you riding the Iron Butt Rally?’ And he said, yeah!’ (I may have mentioned the IBR once or twice and maybe I’ve shown them a refreshed map now and again.) 

Kirsten took a short cut off the reservation yesterday through Canada and is now heading south.  She and two other riders saw each other in northern MI a couple days ago and have been on a similar route since.  Kirsten said she had been through the wash cycle several times as she drove in and out of soaking rain storms.  At one park, the entrance road was partly flooded when she went in and by the time she came out, there was a huge snapping turtle crossing the road.  But the skies in Canada were bright and clear (I suspect that Bill Watt had something to do with ordering up the sun – showing off the hospitality of our northern neighbor and all that.).  After riding wet through 45 degree weather for hours, she was shivering and her feet were pretty white by the time she got to a hotel.  Hot shower, sleep, and fresh socks did the trick.  I told her to keep doing some yoga stretches and she said, “Actually, I feel really good.  I’m just driving around looking at parks.  Sometimes I feel like, ‘when is the Iron Butt Rally going to start?’”  I took that as a good sign- after over 10,000 miles, she’s feeling relaxed and excited for what’s next down the road.

Because at this point in 2011, it was a very different story.  On Day 11 then she was riding at night through Donner Pass and felt like she wasn’t tracking the turns in the mountain road very well.  She had to pull off and take a micro nap to get re-focused.  Then, with all her heated gear on, she came out of the mountains and had to beat feet to the finish in southern CA heat.  Rally watchers may remember that nail-biting finish by Kirsten and Mark Crane with only seconds to spare.  I asked them both not to do that to me this year.

And there’s so many things coming in at once here on Day 11 – FB posts, blog replies, e-mail, phone calls, texts – all encouragement and excitement.  Rally HQ is hopping with people lingering outside along the entrance, inside the lobby, hugs, smiles, SPOT watching.  I have to give a shout out to the Motor Maids who are at their 75^th convention right now in New Brunswick!  They’ve set up a place on YouTube to post notes to “Iron Butt Motor Maid Kirsten” – so cool.  This is an amazing group of talented women riders in the oldest women’s motorcycling club in North America.  The Golden Life Members have been riding for over 50 years – true legends.   

Finally – a friend shared this helpful link.  We know that Day 11 can be a mixture of dragging and adrenaline, so we thought we’d share in case someone needs a reminder of how to get back to the final checkpoint…. http://youtu.be/e8TUwHTfOOU