The Shake Down

Nearly 10 months, 1 move, 1 winter of furloughs and nor’easters, and we find ourselves once again a day out from heading to a Rally HQ.  This weekend, we’ll be rejoining the fabulous crew for the Mid-Atlantic’s Mason Dixon 20-20 Rally. 

In an odd turn of events, Kirsten was temporarily re-located to the frozen, fallen-tree filled, powerless for weeks tundra of Pennsylvania for the winter, leaving her new rally bike parked (gasp!) at home until just a few weeks ago.  We know other friends and rally pros who have literally parked their bike after more than one Iron Butt Rally, only to pull it out again a year later for the next IBR (Chris Sakala knows who they are, but we’re not naming names).  Those are proven rally bikes.  This bike doesn’t even have additional headlights or an onboard rider hydration system. 

Tonight, Kirsten is going down her list of Things Not to Do the Night Before a Rally:

•          Don’t change major parts on your bike (a new seat and handlebar risers, never tested, don’t count right)
•           Don’t rewire elements critical to your routing (like the GPS and phone system, which are not exactly functional at this point)
•           Don’t install new software (hours of updates to the rally computer are complete)
•           Don’t test out new gear (check!  It’s the same jacket, but has it been washed since Minneapolis….?)
•           Don’t worry about riding with a stock gas tank (ummm, ok, though it brings her from a 400+ mile range with the old aux tank to a 250 mile range… at least we think so).
•           Don’t be distracted – focus on the rally (Memorial Day weekend at a National Battlefield is kind of a busy time; she may need to dip into park mode in between bonus locations, but that shouldn’t be distracting at all)

Needless to say, this is shaping up to be a fine rider - new bike shake down cruise.  (For those who may not recall the events that brought us to bid farewell to the previous rally bike and most of its custom farkles – read the blog posts from the 2017 IBR.  You might want to start at the beginning.)  However, the new bike, a stock 2015 BMW R1200RT, is smooth.  It has bells and whistles (literally – don’t try to move it without turning off the alarm).  It sure is pretty.  And it’s getting its adornments to launch into its new role as rally stead.  Tonight, the little hand-felted lamb from IBA Ireland last year was installed on the dash.  The old tank bag though is not fitting quite as smoothly.  In fact, we’re not even sure how to attach it at the moment.  But hey, we’ve got less than 24 hours to get it all squared away.  Plenty of time – almost as long as the rally itself!  

The new rally bike, a stock 2015 BMW R1200RT, on a recent trial run.