Alan Leduc's 2003 MN1000 Report

The reputation of Team Strange events is well know in the long distance riding community both for their organization and for their "STRANGE" twists. In 2002, I participated in the Great Lakes Challenge and experienced a route that took you down along a river, ahh, the Team Strange twist. Looking at my calendar this year, it looked like the only 24 hour rally that I could fit in was the Team Strange's MN1000.Unfortunately, I procrastinated and missed the getting in as the event was limited to the first 100 entries. Because of their reputation, the event was sold out very quickly. I posted on the Team Strange Discussion board, that I wanted to buy a spot, which was allowed by Team Strange rules. Fortunately, Pat Stitzel contacted me and agreed to sell her spot. Thanks Pat for giving me the opportunity to play.

A week or so before the rally, I was fishing around the Team Strange website and noticed that there was a post regarding Critical Pre-Rally Info. Hmmm. I better check that out. In addition to a weird poem about the clowns eating you, the information contained five Mandatory Bonus Locations. I plotted the locations into the computer and discovered that the bonuses could all be obtained in roughly 170 miles in about 3-1/2 hours. This seemed like a strange set up for Mandatory Bonuses but hey, it is a Team Strange event. A few days before starting the rally, I was reading the Pre-rally information for about the fifth time and I noticed that the Mandatory Bonuses could be obtained any time the week before or during the rally. Well, I guess I want to be competitive, I better get them before the rally. Basically, this meant that I would have to ride all night  and then fight Friday's traffic as most of the bonuses were in the City, or leave a day early. I opted for leaving a day early. This ended up being a good choice as my friends from the Motorcycle Tourer's Forum advised me that US35 along the Mississippi River would be a good choice for a Flower Sniff'n ride on the way to the rally.

I wanted to start the Flower Sniff'n part of the ride in Galena, IL so I opted for the super slab on the way. It was a weekday, so Galena was quite but it is still a Unique Town. Unfortunately they had several of the streets torn up, evidently preparing for the tourist season. Below is one of my favorite views. A long stairs climbing the hill.

From Galena, I took US61 north to Tennyson, WI. I looked like US61 was going away from the river, so I opted to take Wisconsin Highway U (one of the great Wisconsin Alphabet Roads). This was a good choice. Some great farm carving and a few technical twisties. Eventually I ended up on 35 which took me to the river. I was really surprised by 35. I expected it to much more of a rural road and have some tight twisties. It ended up being a very good road and was full of sweepers. It was a very scenic ride along the river. The disappointing part was that I had some great views where I would have like to have stopped to get a picture, but there was not much of a shoulder and it seemed that the pull off's did not offer the pictures that I wanted. I settled for this one, which does not really represent the beauty of the ride.

There were many great views of the river and also some nice views of the cliffs along the river. A most enjoyable very casual ride. Thanks to those that recommended this route. I took the time to stop at Cabela in Prairie du Chien, WI. If you are into hunting, fishing, or guns, you need to make this one of your stops. 

As I approached LaCrosse it was getting dusk so I decided to abandon my flower sniff'n and picked up I-90 to Highway 52. I decided to stop in Rochester, MN for the night and stayed at a Courtesy Inn. It was cheap ($32.95) but I was trying to stay on a tight budget so thought I would give it a shot. It turned out to be one of the cleanest cheap hotels I have ever stayed at. I asked for a good local place to eat and they pointed me to Famous Dave's Barbeque. I have now learned that this is a franchise and not a local restaurant, but the rib tips hit the spot as I had not eaten all day.

I got up the next morning and headed to the City to gather my mandatory bonuses. There was no need to get up early as the bonuses were Motorcycle Dealers and they didn't open until 9:00 a.m. I picked up the Mandatory Bonuses at:

• Warner Outdoor Power Sports, Minneapolis, MN

• St. Paul Harley Davidson, St. Paul, MN

• Midwest Cycle, Minneapolis, MN

• Delano Motorsports, Delano, MN

• Moon Motors, Monticello, MN

The mandatory stops were uneventful. Warner was a Victory Dealer and had a pretty good line of products. I would not be surprised to see them to continue to gain market share in their niche. St. Paul HD was huge with a large amount of merchandise. Midwest was a small quaint shop with a lot of accessories. While getting my bonus a Delano, a group of service folks came out to check out my gidgets and gadgets. Moon Motors carries Honda, Yamaha, and BMW. So the overgrown GS was there tempting me once again. The total for the pre-rally ride was roughly 780 miles.

A trucker had told me over the CB that I had a taillight burned out. I think I already knew about this but had forgotten to get it repaired. I decided that I should get it fixed at Moon so I would not have any problems during tech inspection. Just remove three nuts and the whole taillight pops out. Well that is if things go right. I had heard reports that the nuts were put on too tight and that when you tried to remove them that the studs would turn. Yep. All three nuts turned. So I waited until they mechanics got back from lunch. They worked me in but the mechanic found the same problem that I had encountered. He gets out his impact wrench and loosens two of the nuts. The third one did not cooperate. He continued spinning the stud, while I was pulling out on the taillight. End result, he heated the plastic to the melting point and the stud, nut and all pulled through the trunk. Oops. He continued to try to remove the nut, and finally ended up using a die grinder to grind it off. They wrote up the work under warranty and I will get the taillight replaced. I will also have my dealer to replace all of the other taillights so I don't deal with this kind of a problem while on the road. Another weak link in Honda's design.

I had a chat with Eddie James while at Moon Motors regarding insurance and rallies. I was thinking that AMA's Charter Club insurance would work. Unfortunately, AMA's carrier does not sanction Endurance Rallies and it seems that there are no carriers that do. Interesting conversation. Thanks for the advise Eddie.

I checked into the hotel and sat up my computer, laid out my clothes, etc. for the next days ride and relaxed waiting for 4:00 p.m. when you could do the OD check.

I headed back to Moon and did the OD check which ended at Vintage Grill, which was a Bowling Alley. Yep, typical rally with about every type of bike that you can imagine. The fellowship begins.

After a couple of hours of chatting in the parking lot, it was time for the Liar's Banquet. Yes, you hear old jokes, the usual warnings, have some marginal food, and then the bike moment -- the Rally Packets. The packets had a list of routes but none with any points. These rides were basically for folks that were needing miles to obtain the The Ray Bentdahl Award which is given to any rider that compiles 5,000 miles in the first four Minnesota 1000’s they enter and The Keith Collins Award which is given to any rider who compiles 10,000 miles in the first eight Minnesota 1000’s they enter. Surprise. There were no bonus locations being given out the night before the ride. This was the first time I had heard of this, but I guess the MD 20/20 and some other rallies have done this as well.

There was a bonus in the Friday night pack that indicated it might be a good idea to do some bowling. So the lanes were filled with rider in rented bowling shoes. Not getting the poem about the clowns eating you, I figured that it would be safer to be a clown. So I put on my hat that matched my bowling shoes. I also had on my Flamingo Nose but I will have to wait and see if someone sends me a picture. Oh by the way the Bowling Bonuses ended up being something like this. Take your bowling score. Check off items from a list and multiply the items you checked time your bowling score. Add your age and multiply the total by zero. That is your bowling bonus. What do you get? I seemed to get zero every time. But my whopping 125 score was fun. I bowled with Ron and Carrie Hanson and Chris Berg. Thanks to Carrie for taking the picture.

I had purchased an AC to DC converter so that I would only have to carry DC cords. I trashed one of these earlier and discovered that once again that the converter was not working. I suspect that my laptop draws too much power for the converter so I am going to have to look at alternatives. I didn't bring my AC cords so it was a good thing that there were no bonuses that evening. I made a trip to Wally World. no converter and it was too late to find a Radio Shack. I guess I will just have to use the DC cord at the bike for plugging in my bonuses.

Did I mention that there was about every kind of bike you could imagine. How about a Vespa with a sidecar. He had a fuel cell in the side car and had removed the windshield so he could get above 45 mph.

The rider meeting started promptly at 9:30 a.m. and we soon had rally packs in our hands. We were release about roughly 9:45 a.m. to start our planning. There were 40 total bonus locations. This is a small number but given that we did not have all night to plan was a welcome surprise. Not being from the area all of the city names, etc. were meaningless to me. So I now had a full charge on the lap top and headed inside the bowling alley to start plotting locations. There was one bonus that required five stops. It was worth a lot of points but appeared to be about 1350 miles. I decided that since it was not about 10:30 a.m. that I better scratch that bonus. There was another big bonus up north but there was mention of gravel and a border crossing. I had forgotten my birth certificate so I opted not to try that bonus. That left me choosing a southern route. We didn't get to keep our rally sheets and I didn't have any pre-ride notes so I will just have to attempt to create my route to the best of my recollection.

My first stop was Warrior Boats (9)in Maple Lake, MN. I took MN25 to CR-37 into Maple Lake. The bonus sheets did not provide addresses or GPS coordinates, so I decided to stop at an implement store at the intersection of CR-37 and CR-8NW. Just go down to the light and turn right, you can't miss it. Don't you just hate those words "You Can't Miss It"? Well ends up he was right. There was another rider there. He had on a 2002 Buckeye 1000 T-shirt so I should remember his name. I also chatted with him before the rally. I know he was from Massachusetts and that he was riding a HD Shovel Head, but can not remember his name. I get my picture of the boat with my bike in it. There were no rally towels so all Photo Bonuses had to include the bike and the object of the bonus. It is always nice to put that first bonus in your pocket. The Mandatory Bonuses were worth 1000 points and this bonus was worth 374 points so I now have 1374 points in the bag.

My next stop was the August Schell Brewery (28), in New Ulm, MN. I was surprised to see my bowling partners there as I did not get started until about 10:50 a.m. due to the need to plug in the points and get an idea of my route. The bonus required that you buy something in the gift shop. You could keep the item but you had to bring back the receipt. First I went into the museum instead of the gifts shop. As I exited the gifts shop, I said, "You didn't tell me that I was going into the wrong building. They responded that they had not been in yet so they didn't know. I walked to the gift shop and purchased a meat stick. Hey an opportunity to combine bonus points with food. Unlike my bowling partners, I was in full rider gear including my helmet. This would be my trend throughout the ride. The brewery bonus was worth 777 points and my total is now. 2151 points.

The theme of the rally was Fish, so there was a lot of picture taking of roadside monstrosity fish. The next stop was in Hope, MN (30). This was a residence with a large fish that had been carved with a chain saw from a dead tree. I pulled up to the end of the drive and unloaded my Polaroid and walked across the street to get my picture. As I was putting the camera back in the saddlebag, I noticed the owner peaking out from the back of the house. I wanted to tell her that there would be more to follow but she didn't approach when I waved so I figured I might as well scoot on the the next location. Another 480 points bringing my total to 2631 points.

I am now off to the SPAM Museum (25) which is at the 178B Exit on I90. I have always wanted to stop at the SPAM Museum and now I have my chance. Unfortunately, I am doing a rally so only have the time to buy a can of Spam which will be given to a food shelter. I guess I will just have to go back. A look around the gift shop would be worth the trip. I pulled in and parked in a regular parking spot close to the entrance. As I was leaving I noticed a guard routing riders to a back corner of the parking lot that had a concrete pad. Hmmm. I guess I got lucky and got the short walk. Another 919 points and my total is now 3550. Of course you know the number of points are meaningless as you have no idea what it will take to be competitive. But I will keep you up to date just the same. I have only ridden about 213 miles and have plenty of gas because of the fuel cell, but there is a gas station there and I could use a restroom break so I decide to gas up. There are several riders in this area but I'm not sure how many, if any, are part of the rally. No pay at the pump, dang I hate that. I get gas, give the guy my card and go to the rest room. Come back and sign the slip and head to the bike. As I am putting my helmet on, another rider runs out and gives me my credit card. Ouch. That would have been a big mistake. Thank you whoever you are.

My next bonus was in Preston to take a picture of the Big Trout (13). This is a 15 foot long trout mounted on a trailer and is used for parades. I was a bit apprehensive about this bonus as the bonus write up included a warning that if the trout was not there, you must find it -- after all this is a fishing expedition. Fortunately the trout was at its regular location. This fishing expedition was worth 516 points bringing my total to 4066 points.

I am now off to Lock and Dam #7 (33)on the Mississippi River, just north of Le Crescent, MN. I had passed this on the way to the rally but did not stop. Now that I have visited, I wish I had stopped and spent some time there while flower sniffing. I had a tourist take my picture. So here I am in my riding gear, helmet on with  laptop and rally sheets in hand.

This is as far as I planned at the beginning of the rally. I was feeling the pressure of taking so long at the beginning and decided to make it this far and then make a decision for the rest of the rally. In hindsight, I should have just taken the 3 hour rest bonus right at the beginning and done a good job of planning. I didn't so I lost about 50 minutes in the initial planning session and another 15 minutes here. The guy with the lady that took my picture said, "Man you look hot." Well the temperature was about 80, so yes when I stopped it was pretty hot. But I have decided that this is likely the outfit I will wear during the Iron Butt Rally. This way I only have to have this layer plus electrics instead of also having to have a water layer. I picked up another 2080 points bringing my total to 6146 and now had a plan for finishing the rally. I was going to head west and then north. I had no particular strategy except that this was going to keep me away from the City.

The next bonus was a mural at Round Lake, MN. This was not a photo bonus but one in which we had to answer a question. Actually it was two questions: How many fish is the boy holding (3) and when was the mural done (1994)? I got a picture with the digital anyway. Since I was taking digital pictures at about every stop, I think I had subconsciously realized that my late start was not going to let me be competitive, so I was just enjoying the ride. As I was taking the picture a couple came buy in a pickup, they seemed to be amused that I was standing in the middle of the street taking a picture of the mural. This bonus was worth 935 points and I now have a total of 7081 points.

On the way to the mural, I had stopped for gas (about 475 miles into the ride) at Blue Earth, MN. Exit 119 on I90. I decided to grab a soda and a Ham and Cheese sandwich. While checking out I noticed a statute of a "Jolly Green Giant". The clerk said it was just a couple of blocks down the road, so I couldn't resist and went down to snap a shot. Later I would wish that I had those few minutes back.

I am now on my way north to a cluster of three bonus locations totaling 2025 points. The first is Madison, MN, USA's Lutefisk Capital. The bonus was to find the statue of Lou T. Fisk in the park. I drove around the park twice and saw no statue. Finally, I parked the bike in the parking lot of a bar across the street from the park. I decide that I should take off my helmet and then approach the bar. Two guys and and gal are exiting and I ask if they know anything about the Lou T. Fisk statue? They said it isn't there. They sent it in for repair. But it usually sets on that stand that says Madison, MN, Lutefisk Capitol, USA. I ask, who is Lou T. Fisk? It is a fish, they reply. A fish? Yeah, it is a Norwegian fish. I was later told that if you have the opportunity to eat it that you might want to decline. Something about it being aged in lye. This was a photo bonus. It was not dark and I now learned the challenge of trying to take a Polaroid picture in the dark. I had to have both the bike and the fish stand in the picture. The fish stand was several feet off the road. I took two pictures and wasn't sure that either was good enough to be accepted but you could see the bike and the an outline of the stand and the words Madison, MN. In the end this bonus was counted, so I picked up the 476 points and now my total was 7557 points. I stopped taking digital pictures as I figured they wouldn't be any better than the Polaroids.

The second stop in the cluster was Salt Lake WMA in Marietta, MN. Every rally seems to have a real challenging bonus. This was the one for me, although I hear there is some controversy over one of the northern bonuses so it definitely was not the most challenging. The instructions read to go to a stated intersection of MN40 and CR-7 Then go 3 miles south and you will find a gravel road take that road west 1 mile. I used my GPS to check the mileage but was not real confident that I would find a gravel road at three miles. However, much to my surprise, there it was. I traveled this road for 1 mile according to the instructions. It was good hardpack but it was in the middle of the night so I was only doing about 35 mph. The gravel road T'ed into another gravel road. I was supposed to be looking for a platform that overlooked the lake. Did I say it was dark and that my headlights were pointing directly into the lake and that no platform was visible. Plus it looked like a big lake. I had to make a decision. I decided to go left. I only went a short ways and I spotted a what looked like a platform off in the weeds about 100 feet off the road. I park the bike on the road and get out the 4D Maglite and start walking through the weeds. I had ran over a snake early in the day while it was trying to sliver across the road and all I could think about was that it's spirit might want revenge. I find my way to the platform and get the answer to the question of who the lake honored. I don't remember the answer now but it was the correct one so I picked up the 583 points bringing my total to 8140 points. I traveled the 1+ mile of gravel and headed on to the next bonus.

I'm on to the third bonus in the cluster. This was Paul Bunyan's Anchor in Ortonville, MN. This was in a little park and they had virtually no lighting. I swear there was some kind of spooky sound playing in the background but I couldn't discover the source. As I listened and examined, I noticed these shadows floating on a white building. It ended up being a shadow from a flag, but in the early morning hours this was spooking. This bonus required that you answer a question. What is the anchor made of? If you read the plaque carefully, it said Granite. Wonder if anybody answered stone, which was my first thought. Hmmm. If they did, wonder if the got the points. Remember rallies are a test of reading comprehension. Speaking of reading comprehension, when a bonus says "Photo Bonus", that is a pretty good indication that you should take a picture. Then when the instructions say picture and answer the question. The and should be a pretty good clue that you have to do more than one thing. I answered the question but did not take the picture. I realized this as I was adding up my points so did not even attempt to claim the points. Fortunately, this was only 177 points that I left on the table. I know several folks had their photos thrown out because there was not enough light to get a clear shot. So it is probably just as well that I didn't take the extra time.

I now had a big decision to make. I could play it safe and head for the end and pic up the sleep bonus and arrive an hour or so early or I could shoot 200 miles north to Erskine, MN to pick up a big 1601 point bonus. The bonus was west of the end so the total to Erskine and then to the finish was about 400 miles. If I did this I would be cutting the opportunity for the 2000 point sleep bonus really close. If I lost the 2000 point sleep bonus, it looked like I would only be able to pick up about 1500 points in the three hours allotted for the sleep bonus. I decided to gamble and head north to Erskine. 

Gas is really sparse in this part of the state. I stop twice for gas at stations that have lights on only to find them closed and with no pay at the pump available. I finally found a station with pay at the pump, but was wondering what would happen if I didn't get a receipt. The fuel log was worth 759 points. I really had no choice but to stop and fortunately the receipt was provided with all of the necessary information: Gallons, Location, Date, and Time. Whew! I needed that.

It  was a long ride to Erskine and I was constantly monitoring the distance to the finish wondering if I could make the sleep bonus. It was going. to be close.  It was during this leg that as I rounded a curve I see a deer standing in the middle of the road sniffing road kill that was laying right on the centerline. The deer's body was on my side of the road. I hit the brakes hard. I get a little to much front brake and lock up the front tire and get the front nose dive. The deer hears the tire squeal and heads to the right. I'm off the brake and countersteer to the left, just hoping the deer does not come back to the left. Dave Shealy told me that in Don Arthur's 4-corner presentation, he indicated that the deer he hit looked as big as a dinosaur. Well this deer was not that big, but it was big and we were looking eyeball to eyeball. I don't want to get any closer than that.

I finally get to Erskine (20) and find the Giant Walleye. I try to take a picture and you can't even see the fish. I try another getting another with my headlights pointed toward the fish. Again no good. I try a third trying to just capture the dash. No Good. I notice that I'm not the only one to have trouble. I see tracks in the grass leading up to the Walleye. I go down the street a half block up onto the sidewalk and off into the grass next to the Walleye. I hated doing that but I also knew that my pictures woudl not be acceptable.  If the rallymasters read this, a rally towel would have eliminated the need to ride in the parks grass. I got the 1601 points bringing my total to 9741 points. I punch END into the GPS and the estimated arrival time is 7:09. The sleep bonus requires that you be in one spot for 3 hours. That would put me in at 10:09 which would be 9 minutes late. All I can do is head for the house and hope to make up some time. I know from previous rides that I can outride Microsoft Streets and Trips but I think Garmin uses an exponential smoothing model which weights your actual travel pattern and with your current speed and it has always been pretty accurate. The fun part of the ride is over, this is now work.

I start south on US 59 and the first thing that happens is that I hit a detour. This takes me a bit out of the way and I am now showing 7:15 as an arrival time. That is not the direction I was hoping for. I stop to get gas in Mahnoman, MN. This is my fourth gas stop. I know I am going to have to make one more stop and here is an open station so I might as well stop here. This is a quickie. No time for a restroom break. Gas and ride.

The original route had me taking US 59 all the way to I94 and then to the END. It looked like I might be able to take 34 west and pick up I94 sooner. But instincts just wouldn't allow me to turn away from the end in order to try to make up time. I continued searching for routes. After the detouring, I get a route that has me taking 59 to 78 to I94 and this put me at a 7:08 arrival. I started wondering how far the fastest route, that I had been using differed from the shortest route. I change the preferences and get an arrival time of 6:54. Now how is that? If this is the fastest time, why didn't it give me that in the first place. There are some things that you just can't explain about the GPS. Maybe that is why their stock just dropped as Chrysler and maybe Ford are dropping their system for competitors, but I diverge. My new route is to take 50 to US 10 all the way to the END. To my surprise and relief US 10 is a divided highway. I was making good time on the two lanes but the little towns were killing me. Seemed every town had a local running radar so you had no choice but to do exactly the limit in and around the towns. All of a sudden the divided highway ends and I am back on two lane and then going through towns again. Maybe this wasn't such a good choice afterall, I'm thinking. I start searching for the bonus points and consider abandoning the sleep bonus for other bonus locations. I finally decide I will go to the sleep bonus and if I don't make it will go out and pick up what points I can.

I am eventually back on divided highway and picking up some time. I arrive within three miles of the finish point and get a receipt reading 6:35. Another rider pulls in, I should know his name but it is escaping me. His time was 6:38. He says it looks like that is Critter over at the restaurant. So we go over to have breakfast with Critter. Critter bought lunch and I don't think I said thanks, so I need to do that now. We all got our receipts in order and talked about our ride. Critter and the other rider had tried the loop bonus and fell short. I was glad I didn't try that now. However at the end I found there were some riders who completed it. DSabre2000 and another rider came in just a few minutes later. The last ride had a time of less than 3 minutes before DNF. He went out and rode the ride to the end and figured it was going to be very close. He ended up finishing with 20+ seconds to spare.

I finished the rally with 12500 points. I was happy with my ride but knew that it was not going to be in the top group. I had taken just too much time planning. The overall winner had over 15000 points and the top 5 riders in the expert class (this was my class) had over 13000 points. It appears that the bonus that required you to go through Canada was the key to being in the top group. We will have to wait until the results are posted but I would guess that I was in the top 15 overall. Most of all I had fun and finished safely covering roughly 1150 miles..

I didn't leave St. Cloud, MN until about 2:00 p.m. and since I talked during my sleep bonus had not had any sleep. My original goal was to get to southern Wisconsin and then take a nap. I wasn't going to make it that far. I pushed through the city and soon realized that southern Wisconsin was not going to happen. I stopped in northern Wisconsin, took a restroom break, pulled out the dirty clothes bag for a pillow and hit the picnic table. I woke up with the sun bearing down on me and I was sweating like a pig. I got a couple of hours of sleep but now my eyes were matted shut. The northern climate extended what should have been the end of my allergy season. The rest of the ride home would be very difficult. I was not tired but my eyes continued to water and then mat shut from both the inside and outside. I stopped several times just to wipe my eyes. I stopped just north of Rockford, IL for gas at a Flying J. Got some Hot Chocolate and a sandwich. I wasn't that tired but thought I might as well try to get an hours sleep. I set the screaming meanie and layed down on the sidewalk in front of my bike. Three good Samaritans woke me up within 20 minutes. I decided that I wasn't going to get any sleep and headed off. By the time I got through Chicago my eye were really giving be trouble. I stopped and noticed that my pupils were about the size of a pencil lead. I don't really know what that means but I didn't feel that bad and decided to push on. I finally stopped at a rest park in Lebanon, IN. I was only two hours from home, but just did not feel safe riding any longer. I got out my clothes pillow and laid down beside my bike for a two hour nap. Finally pulled into home about 7:00 a.m.

Another great experience. I am truly lucky to have the time to do things like this.

Want to see if you can beat my score? Pick an average speed and an allotted time for stops. Starting planning. You have 24-1/2 hours to finish the rally. Let's assume that you got all of the mandatory stops (1000 points) and completed the fuel log (759) points. If you take a 3 hour sleep bonus you get 2000 points. Download this Garmin file and see what you can do.

Click Here for Garmin File

2003 Minnesota 1000 Riders