Kansas City approached. Ger was in St Louis by now but I needed to stop, to take a rest. Part of me wanted to keep riding but the realistic part of me said I needed to stop for a break. I pulled into a large shopping mall and into a McDonald’s and rested. Why was I stopping in McDonald’s all the time? First, you know what you are going to get for food and, second, at night there was a sense of security about the places.
There was a final bonus location about 20 miles south-west of Kansas at the Garmin GPS manufacturer’s headquarters – 40 extra miles for a good lump of points? Earlier in the Rally, I would have been there. At 22:00 in Kansas City on the last day of the Rally, I was not going off my direct route to home. I took some food and a coffee and grabbed a quiet few minutes in the back of the restaurant and I was ready to go again. I was not as fresh as I could have been but I was listening to my body and I was ready to go.
Only 250 miles to the finish line of the Iron Butt Rally. Through the night, I was planning this last leg. I had decided to split up food stops from petrol stops to give myself more opportunities for rests, if I needed them. I ran to the plan. Kansas for food. Gas 100 miles later. I forced myself to take care that all the necessary data was on the receipt and accurately transferred to my fuel log. I didn’t want to make any mistakes with the fuel log so close to the finish.
I purposely slowed down to 60 to 65 mph. I wanted to rush on to get back to see Geraldine but I was riding through deer country again, heavily wooded, and I refused to let some crazy Bambi take me down at this stage.
St Louis was 50 miles ahead, then 40, then 30. I was almost there. I reckoned that I knew which turn to take to get back to Rally HQ, but I was wrong. Two miles from the finish-line, I took a wrong turn. I ended up five miles away from the Doubletree Hotel in Chesterfield. I gave myself a good talking to, keyed the hotel into the GPS and got back there at 02:00 on Friday morning. I was six hours early and there was hardly anyone around. I went in to the hotel lobby, picked up a room key and, within minutes, this sunburnt, dirty, smelly guy was holding his wife.
Early morning 03:00, Chesterfield Hotel, Rally HQ.
But the job was not over yet. I had to check in with the Rally staff, complete my paperwork, check that my logs and bonus photos and items were correct and complete all the necessary forms. It was 03:00 in the morning and I had a grin from ear to ear. I was back, safe, from one of the world’s most challenging events for road-riders. I was in one piece, my bike was in one piece and Geraldine was there with me. Life was good.
The scoring process went off OK, with one or two of the bonus photos requiring comparison with the master photo book. One photo in particular, of one of the Kneebone family graves, needed the magnifying glass to read the name on the headstone. I was not prepared to put my flag on the headstone or the body of the grave, out of respect for the dead. This made the use of the magnifying glass necessary, but the name was there and the photo was accepted.
Overall status would be defined by a combination of the points accumulated on Legs 1 and 2. I had amassed 116,748 points on Leg 2. This was just under the amount indicated as being enough to be classified as a finisher. I didn’t care. I had ridden my ride and I was back. At 03:30 in the morning, I didn’t care.
Next morning early, I was up to watch the other guys return. The excitement was real. These were guys who had left on the same odyssey as me. They were all being counted back in. Where’s Chris, Paul, Bill, Ken, Kurt, Rebecca, Jim? As each one was accounted for, I could feel weights being lifted off me. The Rally participants’ park began to fill, it was a wonderful sight. Lots of well-wishers and supporters were there. It was strange to note that the riders seemed to occupy a slightly different space to the rest. We moved differently. We spoke to each other through broad grins. We spoke a sort of road gibberish, our own truncated language of sights and places and things.
Now, I was starting to get a bit concerned about my points score. I was just under the finisher level for Leg 2. I had had a fantastic experience, really enjoyed the ride but I couldn’t help feeling a little down about my points tally. Finishing status would be decided on the combined points from Legs 1 and 2. Why hadn’t I ridden to the Garmin site? How many points had I gotten on Leg 1? I couldn’t remember – 70,000-odd but I couldn’t remember the detail. Then the penny dropped. Back to our room and on to the Internet. There were the points totals for Leg 1. I had captured 77,323 points. Added to my total for Leg 2 of 116,748 points, this gave me an overall total score of 194,071 points. I was 4,071 pints above the finisher level. I was a finisher. I was a finisher. I had had the ride of a lifetime and I was classified as a finisher. But I quickly remembered that the points levels were clearly marked as ‘indicative’. The Rally staff could decide to raise the level. I knew I could do nothing about this but I was relieved to know that I was over the ‘indicative’ level.
The rest of the day was spent relaxing around the hotel until the awards banquet at 18:00 that evening. It was a pleasure not to have to ride the bike for a few hours and just to be with my wife and the rest of the Rally participants.
Evening time came and it was time for the Finisher’s Banquet and the handing-out of plaques and prizes. I was the fifth person to be called up to receive their finisher’s plaque. Fifth from the bottom, not from the top, but I didn’t care. I was there on the stage collecting my finisher’s plaque from Mike Kneebone in a room full of longdistance riding legends and I had done it. I was in the circle. I had faced my demons with the support of Geraldine, Aoife and Maeve, Mike and Homer. I had ridden the miles and I was back in one piece, safe and happy.
Richard Keegan receiving his Finisher’s Plaque from Mike Kneebone, Mr Iron Butt Association.
The presentations went on. Many of the faces were just that, faces I had seen in the parking lot before the Rally and who I had not seen for the past 11 days. But there were also lots of faces I recognised. Guys and girls I had met all across North America. It was a great buzz to see these friends go up to Mike Kneebone and receive their plaques, too. Then it became very serious as the top 10 finishers were called out.
The room became quiet, as all those who were in the top 10 were called forward to the front of the room. As each name was called, out a cheer rose from the floor. We all knew what we had done to be classified as finishers, bronze medallists, silver medallist and gold medallists. We could only imagine what these guys had been through to be in the top 10.
These guys are the cream of the cream of long-distance riding and had planned and executed spectacular rides to capture enough points to be in the top 10. All are legends in their own rights.
The top 10 slots went to:
Make Model Miles Points
1 Martin Leir BMW R1200GSA 12,460 344,122
2 Jim Owen BMW R1200RT 11,137 333,471
3 Brett Donahue H-D XLH1200R 11,283 316,707
4 Jeff Earls BMW K1200GT 11,059 309,681
5 Eric Jewell BMW R1150RT 10,873 304,597
6 Tom Melchild Yamaha FJR1300 10,025 299,729
7 Greg Marbach Yamaha FJR1300 10,323 298,492
8 Michael Evans Yamaha FJR1300 10,921 298,077
9 Alan Barbic Yamaha FJR1300 9,832 294,561
10 Peter Leap Honda ST1300 10,910 292,596
After the presentations, we got down to some gentle partying. It was more like gentle chatting and warmth than a party.
Now the only problem was getting back from St Louis to Toronto to ship the bike back to Dublin. Of course, we took the straight route back via Washington, New York, Hyannisport and Boston, but that is a different story altogether.
At Toronto Airport, removing my riding suit for last time on this trip.
THE ANATOMY OF A LONG DISTANCE BIKE
Almost any bike can be used for long-distance riding. Over the years, two riders – Keith Keating and Paul Meredith – have completed the Iron Butt Rally on 125cc machines, although most riders opt for larger capacity machines. I rode my Honda Gold Wing 1800 ABS, flying it in from Ireland.
The CB, telephone and GPS were integrated into the bike’s on-board stereo system through a series of Kennedy Technology kits. Thanks to Metzler for a pair of tyres and Celtrak for the loan of a tracking system for the Rally.
ROUTE LISTING: LEG 1
DAY
MILES
POINTS
1: Monday, 20
Start
DoubleTree Hotel, Chesterfield, MO
1,797
13,276
Bonus locations
Gateway Arch, St Louis, MO Honda factory, Maryville, OH Longaberger Basket, Newark, OH
Overnight
Riding through the night
2: Tuesday, 21
Bonus locations
Reynolds Motorsports, Buxton, ME
The Udder Place, Brunswick, ME
Schooner skeleton, Bath, ME
Overnight
Grand Falls, Quebec
3: Wednesday, 22
Start
Grand Falls, Quebec
1,515
38,924
Bonus locations
Giant Salmon Campbelton,
Quebec
Perce Rock, Quebec
Overnight
Riding through the night
4: Thursday, 23
Bonus locations
Niagara Falls, Ontario
Overnight
Concord, OH
5: Friday, 24
Start
Concord, OH
689
5,968
Bonus locations
FREE stamp, Cleveland, OH
Twistee Ice Cream booth, Clyde OH
Mentone Egg, Mentone, IN
End
DoubleTree Hotel, Chesterfield, MO
Additional bonus points
Gas log Call-in status 6-hour rest
19,155
LEG 1 TOTALS
4,001
77,323
ROUTE LISTING: LEG 2
DAY
MILES
POINTS
6: Saturday, 25
Start
DoubleTree Hotel, Chesterfield, MO
997
4,498
Bonus locations
Columbia University, MO
Wizard of Oz museum, Wamego, KS
Steve Canyon statue, Idaho
Springs, CO
Overnight
Eagle, CO
7: Sunday, 26
Start
Eagle, CO
913
3,690
Bonus locations
Statue of Liberty, Las Vegas, NV
Giant thermometer, Baker, CA
Overnight
Bakersfield, CA
8: Monday, 27
Start
Bakersfield, CA
519
21,371
Bonus locations
General Grant, Sequoia Forest, CA
Mono Hot Springs, CA
Overnight
San Jose, CA
9: Tuesday, 28
Start
San Jose, CA
529
50,614
Bonus locations
Lick Observatory, Mount
Hamilton, CA
Sutro Baths, San Francisco, CA
Lombard Street, San Francisco, CA
Cupid’s Arrow, San Francisco, CA
Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco,
CA
Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco,
CA
Signal Hill, San Francisco, CA
100-year bulb, Livermore, CA
Giant Coke cup, Sacramento, CA
Kneebone family cemetery, Grass
Valley, CA
Bridgeport Covered Bridge, Gras
Valley, CA
Overnight
Reno, NV
10: Wednesday, 29
Start
Reno, NV
804
10,220
Bonus locations
Iron Butt Circle of Honour, Gerlach, NV
Wendover Will, Wendover, UT Painted buffalo, Salt Lake City, UT
Overnight
Green River, WY
11: Thursday, 30
Start
Green River, WY
1,143
555
Bonus locations
Lincoln Memorial, near Laramie, WY
End
DoubleTree Hotel, Chesterfield, MO
Additional bonus points
Gas log
Call-in #1
Call-in #2
Rest
Rider Emergency card
25,800
LEG 2 TOTALS
4,905
116,748
Combined totals: 8,906 miles / 194, 071 points.
Placed 58th out of 64 finishers, from 97 starters.
Total miles logged by ALL riders combined: 783,885.
DEDICATION & ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
For Geraldine, Aoife and Maeve,
Always there, every mile of every day.
Always.
All my roads lead back to you …
Thanks to Homer and Mike for all their support and help on this monumental adventure.
Thanks to Metzler for tyres and to Celtrak for the use of a tracking system.
Thanks to all those who contributed to the Irish Cancer Society Research Fund – well done!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Richard Keegan is a member of the Gold Wing Owner’s Club of Ireland and the Iron Butt Association. He started riding in 1976 on a Honda 50 Cub. He discovered long-distance riding in 1977, riding his Honda 50 to Belfort, France for a summer job, and on to Switzerland and Austria, for a spin.
He works for Enterprise Ireland, helping Irish businesses improve their efficiency and effectiveness. He is well-known internationally for his work and teaching on benchmarking and best practice. He has several published business books to his name and has been translated into Italian and Portuguese, as well as being published in India.
Married to Geraldine, with two grown daughters, they live in Dublin, Ireland.
Richard likes to ride motorcycles …
ABOUT THE IRON BUTT ASSOCIATION
The Iron Butt Association and its 50,000 members are dedicated to safe, long-distance motorcycle riding. The Association is based in the United States, but has thousands of enthusiastic members throughout the globe.
The Iron Butt Association (IBA) does not have membership in the traditional sense; it is more a loose-knit group of enthusiasts who like to ride, far, and safely. The normal entry point to membership is to ride a Saddle Sore 1000. As the name suggests, this means successfully completing a ride of 1,000 miles within a single 24-hour time-period. The ride needs to be carefully documented to show that you completed the ride within the time-frame. Details of the Saddle Sore and other Iron Butt Association-sanctioned rides are available on the website, listed below.
The Iron Butt Association publishes information about long-distance endurance riding. Its Archive of Wisdom provides many helpful guides for those starting out on long-distance riding.
http://www.ironbutt.com/
ABOUT THE IRON BUTT RALLY
The Iron Butt Rally is an 11-day, 11,000+ mile ride held every second year, in Northern America. The Iron Butt first ran in 1984.
The Iron Butt is a fairly simple concept. Riders are given a list of bonus locations that they have to visit within a defined time-period and get to the next checkpoint on time. Points are usually awarded based on the difficulty of getting to a location. The object of the Rally is to amass as many points as you can and get back to the final checkpoint on time, safely.
No consideration is given for bad weather in North America during the Rally. Riders can expect to ride through rain, sleet, snow, severe thunderstorms, hurricanes and even an occasional tornado. Temperature extremes routinely run
125 degrees or more in the desert Southwest, to extreme cold at the top of mountains, to rain that seems to come straight from a Bible story.
The Iron Butt Rally can be a serious test of man and machine, and also great fun to participate in.
http://www.ironbuttrally.com
OAK TREE PRESS
Oak Tree Press develops and delivers information, advice and resources for entrepreneurs and managers. It is Ireland’s leading business book publisher, with an unrivalled reputation for quality titles across business, management, HR, law, marketing and enterprise topics.
In addition, through its founder and managing director, Brian O’Kane, Oak Tree occupies a unique position in start-up and small business support in Ireland through its standard-setting titles, as well training courses, mentoring and advisory services. Oak Tree is comfortable across a range of communication media – print, web and training, focusing always on the effective communication of business information.
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