Iron Butt Association Membership # 8613
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The Trans Canadian Quest, Trans Canadian GOLD, and
Ultimate Coast to Coast are
trademarks
of the Iron Butt Association.
http://www.ironbutt.com
My original plans were to ride my KLR 650 from my home in New Castle, Indiana to Halifax, Nova Scotia to participate in the Motorcycle Tourer's Forum Trans-Canadian ride to Vancouver, British Columbia and then travel to Alaska where my wife would fly in for some sightseeing, and finally ride to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska to start the Ultimate Coast to Coast ride to Key West, Florida. The plan was to meet my wife in Cocoa Beach, Florida and spend a couple of weeks relaxing on the beach. Bill Wade was flying his wife to Alaska as was Dave Hinks. The idea of bringing our wives to Alaska to share the adventure was going to break up two challenging rides and provide the wives with an opportunity to share in the fun.
As it turned out Dave Hinks had a crash due to a rear blow out and both he and his wife Sue were injured. Sue was up for the ride to Alaska so Dave made the decision to cut the total time for the two rides that he would do the Trans-Canadian and then travel from Vancouver to Key West and do the UCC from South to North instead of North to South. I was ride coordinator for both rides and I noticed that Dave was registered for the UCC from South to North and contacted Dave thinking he had made a mistake. Nope, he gave me the lowdown and said his wife was being very understanding and he thought this was the best thing to do. Let me tell you something about Dave - this was not his first two long distance rides of the year. He had already done the 100CCC, Jacksonville to San Diego to Jacksonville in less than 100 hours with the MTF, and a Border to Border Canada to Mexico in less than 24 hours with the Minnesota Northstar group.
As time approached it became obvious that my wife was not going to be able to work out the trip to Alaska either. I'm thinking, heck I might as well do what Dave is doing. I was so busy planning the events I didn't really stop to think about the logistics of what Dave was doing, I just figured I would do it too. One good thing about doing the ride this way, I could ride my Gold Wing on the Trans-Canadian ride and return home to swap it for the KLR for the Ultimate Coast to Coast ride. This would give me the most suitable bike for each of the two rides. The Trans-Canadian required the riders to stay in Canada during the whole ride stretching the mileage from Halifax to Vancouver to 3,679 miles and at Gold pace needed to be done under 75 hours. This would have been a difficult ride on the KLR, so I was pleased that I was going to be able to ride the Gold Wing on that ride.
A few weeks before the start of the MTF Trans-Canadian, I started planning MY ride. Huh!!!!!!!!!!! This can't be done!!!!!!! The MTF Trans-Canadian started June 2 at 7:00 a.m. EDST and at 75 hours would end at June 5 at 10:00 a.m. in Vancouver, British Columbia. I then would have to be in Key West, Florida by June 9 by 6:00 p.m. EDST for the MTF Ultimate Coast to Coast banquet. Hmmm, June 6, June 7, June 8 and a half day June 9th. Three and one half days to travel 2456 miles from Vancouver to home, change over equipment from one bike to the other and another 1410 miles to Florida. That's 3856 miles in 3-1/2 days and a bike change after a pretty difficult ride. Dang, it may be possible but it is not going to be easy. A few more calculations and I figured if I could get in to Vancouver and get a few hours of sleep, I could head out on the 4th and get in a pretty good days ride. Well, I guess if Dave is going to do it, I can do it too. LOL. Sure as heck is not going to be easy. Heck with it. I'm committed. On with the adventure.
(1) New Castle, Indiana; (2) Zanesville, Ohio; (3) Tyrone, Pennsylvania; (4) Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania; (5) North Hampton, Massachusetts; (6) Gorham, New Hampshire; (7) Hulls Cove, Maine; (8) Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
1449 Miles
May 30: New Castle to Wilkes-Barre - 590 Miles
May 31: Wilkes-Barre to Hulls Cove - 664 Miles
June 1: Hulls Cove to Dartmouth - 195 Miles and a 3 Hour Ride on the Cat Ferry
I left home late morning of May 30th. Dave Hinks lives in Illinois and I had planned on meeting him in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Dave had made reservations and we had planned on sharing a room. This was roughly a 600 mile ride, fairly short day compared to what I am accustomed on most of these rides. I got there early evening, unpacked, covered the bike and Dave had still not arrived. He had a bit further to travel so I figured I should go ahead and eat dinner. Dave arrive soon after dinner and I had the opportunity to get to know him a bit better. Dave was not stranger to me as he had participated in all of the MTF Endurance Rides and many of the Flower Sniffing rides, but I really didn't know him as a person. It is always interesting to learn what folks do for a living and hear their story. I'm a pretty private person. A few years ago, I couldn't imagine spending the night with someone that was not a close friend. Well the folks on the MTF have become my closest of friends and Dave like many of the others I have met was somebody that I was glad I could call friend.
We had the basic continental breakfast the next morning and headed out toward Bar Harbor, Maine where we would be spending the night. We were up to some riding so we booked up the interstate to US 2 which looked like and was a good ride across Maine. We stopped for gas in Gorham, New Hampshire and got the "you need to get off this highway before dark because the deer are thick" story. I think Dave took this to heart. I had drank too much Gatorade and had to whiz. I blue the horn, flashed the lights, tried to catch up to him. Nope, it ain't going to happen. I finally pulled off and ran to the restroom in just the nick of time. I headed on down the road figuring we both knew where we were staying that night and I would see him there. Dave had turned around. I waited while he made a U'ey and we were off again.
We arrived at our hotel in Bar Harbor and another one of our riders was there, Kevin Healey. Kevin was new to the forum but I had posted that Dave and I were going to take the Cat Ferry from Bar Harbor to Yartsmouth, Nova Scotia and he ask if he could join. Of course, the more the merrier. Kevin had not eaten dinner and Dave and I had not eaten since breakfast. That was good with me as I normally don't like to eat lunch when I'm riding. We are in Bar Harbor,. Maine. My idea of the perfect lunch is one of those little shacks that serves Maine Lobster. How the heck did they talk me into going into town? We get to the restaurant suggested by the restaurant and it was closing. We go to a restaurant across the street and they have NO LOBSTER. We all settle for fish and chips. Now I'm going to have to go back for fresh lobster. Kevin suggests we stop by and get our boarding passes on the way to the restaurant. Sounded good to me, as I had gotten stupid and did not make a reservation. For others that might be anticipating the ferry, follow Kevin's suggestion as it made the next day a snap.
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Dave on the Left |
The Cat Ferry |
The ferry had tie down straps. We were instructed that we could do what we wanted but all that was necessary was to run a strap across the seat and tighten it down. That's what we did and all turned out well. The ferry trip from Bar Harbor to Yartmouth was about 3 hours. That gave me some time to get to know Kevin. No surprise. Another one of those folks that you would like regardless of the circumstances in which you met him. I had been eyeing a Honda CB750 for a few weeks. As it turns out Kevin has several. I don't remember the number but it is in the teens. He is even renovating a room in his house to display them. I enjoyed the discussions very much and hope one day soon to get down to Florida and see his collection first hand.
As we were waiting to board the ferry we met a lady on a recumbent bicycle. I struck up a discussion with her and discovered that she was meeting her husband in Yartmouth and they were planning on riding the Maritimes for the purpose of writing a book. She said that this would be their second book. The first was Bicycling Cuba. Her name was Barb Smith and she and her husband had spent several months riding Cuba on their bicycles and wrote the book.
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That's Barb. You can see the Cuban Flag. You can also see Dave Hinks in the background. |
Our plan was to ride the southern part of Nova Scotia and stop at some of the fishing villages along the Lighthouse Tour. We soon realized that we did not have time to do that and get to the banquet on time. We stopped for a gourmet lunch at Tim Horton's and decided that we would just book on and make the loop to Peggy's Cove. As we got close to the turn off, I realized that the ride coordinator, me, was going to be late to the banquet if he went to Peggy's Cove. I also knew that I had a problem to solve, so since I had been to Peggy's Cove the year before, I waved Dave and Kevin on and continued to Dartmouth, the sister city of Halifax and our starting location.
About that problem. I do a lot of cold weather riding and always have the controllers for my heated clothing hanging from the belt on my jacket. I get a lot of razzing about this. Did I say ALWAYS? I bought a new jacket for this trip and forgot to move my controllers. I have heated clothes but no controllers. How could I be so stupid. I decided that I would stop by Pro Cycle who had agreed to allow us to stage at their location and check on a controller. We had decided that since we had such few riders that we would just stage at the hotel instead of Pro Cycle, but I still wanted to give them a couple of hats for their willingness to help us. I asked if they had any Gerbing clothing or controls. Nope. Do you have any Battery Tender plugs (same SAE plug as the Gerbing plugs). Nope. I know it is going to be cold at night going across Canada and things are looking bleak. I spot some off brand electric vest and noticed that they had SAE battery connectors in the pockets. I asked if they have extra connectors. Nope, but we can order them for you. Ding, Ding, Ding. Ok, I'll take three of these and you can order replacements. Nope we can't do that. After some negotiation and a lot of whining, I walked out with three plugs. A trip to the hardware store and some electrical work in my room, I had a switched control. Not my variable control, but at least I would have heat.
I arrived a few minutes late and the rest of the gang was waiting. Some had gotten tired of waiting and had already eaten, but they still joined us for dinner and some sharing of time.
From left to right:
Jack Dodds, Bob Brown, Dennis Powell, Martin Cook, Dave Hinks (hiding), Dan Huber, Kevin Healey, Will Allender, Alan Leduc, Doralyn Rossman, Brian Rossman, and Allan Archibald
Bob Brown was our Site Coordinator. Allan Archibald was our Assistant Site Coordinator and Witness. Doryann and Brian are from Bozeman, Montana and were in the area doing some flower sniffing and were kind enough to put up with us at dinner.
I was one of the fortunate few to have the opportunity to participate in the 2003 Iron Butt Rally. Unfortunately I also experienced every long distance riders worst dream. I crashed at the end of the first day of the rally. Continuing to ride was never in question, but I just did not seem to have the confidence in myself that I had prior to the crash. I was notified that I had been selected in the 2005 Iron Butt Rally lottery, but had not decided until the last minute to send in my down payment in order to hold my spot. This action definitely reflected the conflict that I was dealing with in relationship to my future as a long distance rider. I had done a significant amount of riding since the accident, but this would be my first Iron Butt Ride since the accident. In addition to the confidence issues, I did not seem to have my normal stamina. I didn't share this even with my closest friends but I had decided that while I was going to start the Trans-Canadian, I was not confident that I would finish it. My plan was to abandon the ride if it didn't feel right and head back home and change bikes and then head to Key West to start the Ultimate Coast to Coast. While the UCC was a longer ride, it would only require 600-800 mile days and I felt more comfortable about it.
Time would tell. I was committed to tomorrows ride but also was comfortable with the idea of abandoning if concerns developed.
