Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

even I. .. In other words, it will not be as much of a ra ce in th e future. New bery was d efinitel y o n th e gas a n d a lso not o ne o f the luck ier riders as he received six speeding tickets d u ri ng the run. Win ner Eg lo££ had five tickets wh en he fin ish ed. " Remember," sai d Ne w be ry d iscu ssi n g h is six- pack o f tick ets, " no w here doe s it say tha t if yo u 're ru nn ing th e Iron BUll you 're a llowed to speed ." Most of us were very comforta ble with ou r choice o f bike excep t for J e££ Smi th (no . not the fo rm er MX cha m p io n ). Smith co u ld no t ge t Up th e ninth day . H e rode a Kawasaki GPz750 wit hout a fairin g. " I j us t wore my self out a nd proba bly became dehydra ted goi ng th rough th e desert the seve n th da y. If I ride next yea r I'll defin it el y hav e a bik e with a fa irin g a nd it will probabl y be big g er than 750cc." sa id Smi th . If I h ad a ny id ea o f ho w g rueli ng th e event would be I p robabl y would not ha ve entered, even wit h a ll m y prepa ration. H aving finish ed , I a m ready to go again n ext yea r. My biggest mi stake bef ore th e ra ll y was thinkin g I co u ld get five to six hours slee p a ni ght a n d do well or win. My bigges t mi stak e durin g th e eve nt was sto ppi ng too ea rly to sleep o n th e fir st n ight o u t. I discovered th e a mazing af fect ad re na li ne ha s o n th e hu m an bo d v o n th e second day when I rode m y fi~s t-ever 1000 mil e day. By th e seve nt h n ight o u t I'd ridden Jive 1000 mi le d a ys. All o f us wert' pretty fres h w hen we reached th e fir st m andat o ry stop in Bux ton . Ma in e, by 7:00 p .m , on day o ne. Patterson showed his sense o f h umor by purri ng a lobster cla w from Massach u setts or Ma in e o n the bo nus sheet, The claw was worth 50 points, At least one " fu n" 50-fX>illl item was o n ever y bo nus poi nt shl'l·t and it helped me 10 re tai n a sense of humor thro ughout th e ra lly . T he fun poi nts wer e in cluded to g ive th ose ri ders who just p lanned to lak e the most direct route 10 each ch ec kp o in t a nd fi ni sh . so m eth in g 10 do a lo ng the wa y. For those of us w ho "raced," a bonus po in t was a bonus po int 10 be o b ta in ed h o we ve r a n d when ev er possib le. T here was o ne r ider wh o had h is secre tary ca ll the Ind ian a po lis Mo tor Speedway Museum (wo rt h 50 poi nts ) a n d as k a sa les cl er k 10 dro p a so uven ir o ff at the motel next door. V nfortuna tel v, th e clerk rem embered th e inciden 'l the next da y and m enti oned it to severa l other rider s wh o "had 10 h av e a receipt because we a re o n a scav en ger hunt ." Since th e intent wa s to be in In d ian a p o l is whi le th e museum wa s open th e rider lost his points for th e souveni r. Six riders - Eg lo ff. Newbery, Ea stwood, Lo u is Bo yd , Al an Greenwood a nd Alan Pease - earned th e m aximum poin ts (600) o n what was to be o ur easiest pan of th e rall y from th e sta n 23 mi les north of P h iladelp h ia to Reyn ol ds Sport Cen ter in Buxton, Ma in e. I was a mong th e n in e rid ers with 550 poi nts tied for seco nd. . By th et ime we an-i ved in Eau Claire. W iscon sin. a t Road, Track & T rai l Thursday ni ght at 7:00 p .m., Egloff, Bo yd a n d G reenwo od had each co llect ed 1850 po ints. Jim Plunck eu a nd P aul P er sin ger wer e in second with 1800. Eil err son . G ary Moore. Ross Copas a nd Ed Thompson had 1750 points. I wa s o ££ic ia ll y tied for seventh with 1500 points and I was wi shing I'd g o ne to the bridge the fir st night so I co u ld hav e made th e 300point ci ty o f St . Louis. Persinger. from n ear An ch o rage. Al a ska. was th e onl y rider 10 m ake a ll o f th e bonus ci ties between Maine and W iscon sin . H e went 10 th e Thousand Island Bridge. which jo in s Canada a n d New York; Columbus. Ohio; Indi an apolis. In d ia na ; Grand Rapids . Mi chi gan ; St. L ouis, Misso uri. a nd Mil waukee. Wi sco nsin . T he foll o win g da y o u t of Eau C laire hi s H o nda had ig ni tion prob lem s fo rcin g P ersin ger out o f th e eve n t. I hav e n o d oubt h e wo uld ha ve rema i ned one of th e to ughest co m petitors. Eight riders - Persin ger. Bo yd (cr as h / bro ke n co ll arbon e). Co pa s (eng ine problems), Sommer s (Iate/ dropped out ). Ni ck Nichol s (engi ne problem s). H o wa rd G endro n (eng in e problems ), John Shuck (ill ness in fa mily ), a nd Ed Thom pson wer e OUI of the event by L yn woo d . the th ird checkpoi nt in the ra ll y. T hompson had th e most bi zarre story o f the grou p ; he had been chased by a nu mber o f veh icles a nd had to go cross co u nt ry to escape. Luckil y he was ridin g a n o n /o££ road BM W G80S. Th o mpson sto p p ed a t a rest stop , H e sa w a bun ch o f bri ght lig hts as if so me people were film ing. bu t a p parent ly so meone in th e gro up th ought Thompson had seen so methin g else a n d th ey to ok o u t a fte r h im in th e middle of the nigh t in U ta h, H e fin all y got to a pol ice station. but was OU!o f th e run . That in cident wa s o ne o f th e co nt ri b u ti ng fac to rs to Patterson ' s d eci si on 10 ca nce l bonus p o int s fro m Wa sh in g ton State to Ca liforn ia . Eilertson 's to ughest m omen t also ha ppened o n the way to L ynwo o d. Ell en son 's wall et had bee n stolen the S u ndav before th e even t sta rted. H e was de te rmi ned to ma ke th e r u n anyway si nce he had put too much ti m e and effort into p rep a rin g . bu t he didn ' t have a driver 's license. H e had already receiv ed two tick ets - one for speeding and one for being sto p ped on the side o f th e road - bv th e time he a rr ived in Nebraska . H e was o n hi s way to Bo ise, Idaho . when he was stopped and held for three hours w hi le the officers d eterm in ed he was rea ll y okay. H e was re leased, got a motel and thought abou t co n tin u ing t he rall y. " I was lat e," sa id Eil ertson, " a nd I a lm ost gav e up , but then I de cid ed to j ust g o o u t and do i t. I a lm os t do n' t believe I went 1300-pl us miles in 24 hours." Ei lcr tso n a rrived in Lynwood w ith a bo u t two m inu tes left before t he c heck cl osed . "That ride gave me t he str en gth to fini sh . I j ust k new if I co u ld make th a t run I co u ld certa in ly fini sh ," I rode with Eil en son quite a bit in th e last th ree d ays. We m et up o n th e wa y to Albuquerque a nd h e shared hi s baked po ta to (co o ked durin g the day o n th e G o ld Wing's cy li nder heads ) and th e su p p ly o f h ealth fo od he'd had th e fo resigh t to ha ve sen t 10 himse lf a t eac h o f th e checkpo in ts. We were a help. in d iffer en t wa ys.r o eac h o ther th ough I don 't know if I' ll forgive him for missing m y m ost spectacul ar side trip of th e rall y. I found . lik e Bi ll Bird . th e o n ly rider besides Bo yd to retire from th e eve nt due to a crash . tha t I co u ld fa ll asleep o n my bike. Bir d wo ke up by the side o f th e road in Wash in gl o n w i t h a co nc ussio n a n d h is bik e undamaged . I was lu ck y. th e sus pe nsion reaction to the so ft din in the m edian 30 m iles wes t of San Antoni o wo ke m e up fast ! T he m edian was very wid e, fairl y smooth a nd d o wn hill. I mana ged to ge t th e Beem er turn ed in th e so ft stu ff before reach ing a c u lve r t and popped back up o n to 1- 10. I had no prob lem stay ing a wa ke for th e rest o f th e r ide int o Sa n Antoni o . I ca ugh t up to Eile nso n . " D i d yo u se e th a t?" I s ho u ted . " W ha t?" he rep lie d. " Ne ver m ind , I'll tell yo u lat er ." I a ns we red . Egl o ff' s momen t o f pa n ic occurred o n th e way in to Wa shing ton . D.C. . o n th e final n ight of th e rally. In Da yto na we had been given an ad ditiona l ... (1) ..0 o ..... u o (Above) This li cense plate holder sums up the riders ' fee lings, (Below ) Suze Mann (left), George Egloff (left center) and the other fini shers. sheet to go wi th the bonu s p oi III o ne. It stated " ma ndatory stop a t T h e Motorcvc le Shop. " T he sheet gave the address' in College Pa rk, Maryland, a n d sta ted th e purpose o f th e stop was th at we'd be as ked to do so meth ing s i m ple . Bonu s po i nts would be a wa rde d. If th ere were bo n us p oints we wer e a ll goin g - besides, it sa id manda tory. Earl y in th e eve n in g a tru ck ov erturned on th e beltway so u th of th e sta ted ex it, Alltra££i c was routed off th e road, I'd arriv ed in plenty of ti m e. j us t in case. sin ce we h ad to be at th e s to p by 9:00 p .m . Egl o££ push ed th rough a no ther bonus ci ty and was CUll ing hi s tim e a bi t close. H e arrived a t the acci dent and to ld a po lice offi cer , " Yo u would not bel ieve how im po rt an t it is th at I be a t this exi t u p the road by 9:00 p .m .," sa id Egl o ff. " I had vis io ns o f every th ing going d own th e d rain ,' h e sa id lat er. H e arrived at th e check with 15 mi n ut es 10 spare. Gary Mo o re mi ssed th e Co llege Pa rk ch eck on the way fro m Da ytona to the fin ish . bu t hi t every th i ng else in betw een incl udi ng a stop in Charl esIon . So u th Carolina , at Sto kes H onda fo r' mino r repairs. Moore ca lle d th e fini sh lin e h eadquarters and asked wha t would happen if h e didn 't m ak e Co llege Park . Severa l o the rs al so questi o ned th e stop . Pa u erson had not a n tici pa ted th e q ues tion . Since he had pl anned for th a t poi nt to be th e ti ebr eak er a nd thus not carry a ny pe na lty poi illS th ose riders w ho called wer e tol d to keep go ing a nd get i n to the fin ish . In a m eet in g the fo llow ing d a y a t th e fi nis h, the decision was ma de to award all the bo nus p o ints to th o se wh o ma d e th e check as well as th os e who m issed it. It wa s n ot quill' fair a nd yet those wh o foll owed d irecti on s a nd did not questi on th e word m andatory did not deserve to be pen a lized . R ich a rd Hoffman deserv es specia l mention for his a mazi ng rid e from San An ton io to Da ytona through both Dall as (w h ic h was sti ll on some sheets by acci d en t) a nd New Orl ea ns as we ll as Mo n tgo m ery and Orlando , Florida. H o ffman co vered almost 1600 mil es in 26 hours! H e ea rned an ex tra 100 bo nus poi nts for th at trip and agreed he'd definit ely ea rned it. On e amazi ng point is tha t my bu tt never .d id ge t so re. My wr ists gOI so re o n th e eigh th da y a nd I a m s u re m v mind was mush a t severa l po in ts fro m lack o f sleep. Ma ybe I' m to ugher th an I th ough I. Th e en tire tr i p wa s an amazi ng adven t u re fo r a ll o f us. I'll do it agai n n ext yea r if poss ible. The CO U Ill rig ht n ow is 15 w ho p la n to return a nd yo u ca n bet th at each a n d eve ry o ne o f us wou ld lik e to win thi s 'in cred i bly roug h. ri gorous a nd demanding ra lly. • Results 1. George Egloff (Suz I6150; 2. Gary Moore (Hon ) 6 100; 3. Rob Eilertson (Hon ) 6001 : 4 . Jim Newbery (Hon) 5800; 5. Su zie M ann (BM W 15750, 6. Richard Hoff man (Hon ) 5200; 7. Roy Eastwood (BMW) 4500; B. Alan Pease (BMW) 4450; 9. Jeff Je nks (Hon) 4350; 10. John " St u " M oore (Hon) 3450; 11. Dave Hein eur (Hon ) 3300; 12. A lan Greenwood(Honl ; 13. Joe Tracy· (Hon). - No offic ia l score. Comp leted co urse w ithin ti me limit. but was late at on e che c kpoint. • _ ' . ~ 4 . •• • . , _ ~ • 11

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