2004 MTF Trans Canadian

Stop by the Motorcycle Tourer's Forum

We had eight riders participate in this event Will Allender, Martin Cook, Jack Dodds, Kevin Healey, David Hinks, Dan Huber, Alan Leduc, and Dennis Powell.

We expected the interest to be much higher. Was it because it because the difficulty of the ride - 3679 miles in 75 or 90 hours? Was it because it was a Canadian ride and folks just feel more comfortable in the U.S.? It is really hard to say, but These eight riders had a great time. If you plan this ride, be sure to save some time at each end for exploring.

Two World Record was set on this ride.

The MTF determines group records in the most conservative fashion as described below. Riders must leave at approximately the same time (all rides have an established start time) and riders must follow the same route (in the case of this ride North Bay, Ontario was added to the IBA mandatory stops).

A New Record of
5 Riders was set for the Trans-Canadian Gold

Will Allender, David Hinks, Dan Huber, Alan Leduc, and Dennis Powell

A New Record of
3 Riders was set for the Trans-Canadian Gold

Martin Cook, Jack Dodds, and Kevin Healey

Choose from one of four rides:

Trans Canadian Quest East to West
Trans Canadian Gold East to West
- Starting Banquet for both East to West rides will be June 1, 2004
- Both East to West rides will start in Halifax on June 2, 2004

Trans Canadian Quest West to East
Trans Canadian Gold West to East

Trans Canadian Gold - Cross Canada in Less than 75 Hours
Trans Canadian Quest - Cross Canada in Under 90 Hours

The Trans Canadian Quest and Trans Canadian GOLD are trademarks of the Iron Butt Association. This ride is eligible for certification by the Iron Butt Association.

As of September 2002 only 4 riders had completed the Trans Canadian Quest and
as of May 2003 only 7 riders had completed the Trans Canadian Gold.

The rules for the Iron Butt Associations Trans Canadian Quest and Trans Canadian Gold are available on the the IBA web site at http://www.ironbutt.com/rides/tc90.htm .

The terminating cities for the ride will be Vancouver, British Columbia and Halifax, Nova Scotia. The ride must be exclusively in Canada, therefore in accordance with the IBA rules, riders must provide time/date/place stamped fuel receipts from: Calgary, Alberta; Thunder Bay, Ontario; and Edmondson, New Brunswick. Riders will also be required to maintain a fuel log and provide fuel time/date/place stamped fuel receipts indicating that they stopped at least once every 350 miles.

Ride Coordinators

The Ride Coordinators for the 2004 MTF Trans Canadian will be:

Ride Coordinator - Alan Leduc amleduc@insightbb.com
Vancouver Ride Coordinator - Bill Watt
Halifax Ride Coordinator - Bob Brown
Vancouver Assistant Ride Coordinator - Marc Prymack
Halifax Assistant Ride Coordinator - Allan Archibald

Participants

Alan Leduc, Host and Founder of the Motorcycle Tourer's Forum and the ride coordinators reserve the right to accept or reject a rider's request to participate in this ride. Riders must satisfy all prerequisites as established by the Iron Butt Association on their web site (follow the link above for the rules). The Iron Butt Association can be contacted to waive prerequisites based upon a riders experience. However, the Motorcycle Tourer's Forum will not waive the provide written documentation from the IBA.

Prerequisites

As of May 14, 2003, the IBA web site did not have any prerequisites for the Trans Canadian Quest.
- However, the MTF will require that all riders participating have an IBA Membership, this means that you must have done at least one previous Iron Butt Association ride.
It is difficult to find, but if you look at the rules for the BunBurner 3000 on the IBA website you will find:
- The rides covered by these rules include:
  - Bun Burner GOLD 3000: two Bun Burner Gold 1500s back to back;
  - CCC GOLD: two 50CCs back to back;
  - Trans Canadian GOLD: Vancouver, BC to Halifax, NS (or the reverse route) all on Canadian roads, in under 75 hours. Request details for this ride as certain place/time/dated receipts are required to validate the route. The Trans Canadian GOLD is NOT a back to back ride, but a uniquely Canadian coast to coast ride. The distance for this ride is about 3600 miles.
  - Before you can apply for any ride referenced by these rules, you must satisfy the following conditions: To qualify for a Bun-Burner GOLD 3000, CCC GOLD, or Trans Canadian GOLD you must have at least completed one of the following; a Bun-Burner GOLD, the Alberta 2000, Capitol 1000, Nevada 1100, Minnesota 1000, TimberButt, Tarbutt Rally, Utah 1088, any Cognoscente Group event, any Reno BMW Long Distance Event, any MERA event, or the Iron Butt Rally.
- Official registration began April 5 and will end May 15. You must have meet the above rally requirements or have completed a BunBurner Gold in order to attempt a Trans Canadian Gold (75 hours or less). If you do not meet the prerequisites, you will only receive certification for a Trans Canadian Quest even you you complete the ride at TC Gold pace.

Jason Jonas, the MTF's IBA Liaison, and resident computer guru has developed an online registration system. This is the first time that we have used this process so something goofy may happen although we think all is well. If you have a problem, just email amleduc@insightbb.com and we will try to work through the issues.

The last day to register for this ride is May 15, 2004.

Fees

The Motorcycle Tourer's Forum is non-profit. In the past we have not charged a fee for our rides and provided momentos free to all riders. In order to recover the cost involved with the ride, we collected donations from the riders. As we have grown, the risk of relying on donations is too great to proceed with that model. Note the plaque shown in the registration process is a 50CC/100CCC plaque. The Trans Canadian plaque will be similar in that it will have two vials and the shape of Canada at the top.

In the past we have also required riders to submit their documentation individually to the Iron Butt Association. Some riders did not submit their documentation so the "Group Record" as documented on the MTF web site was not supported by the certified riders list on the IBA web site. Additionally, the IBA's desire to list riders under a special header acknowledging that the riders did their ride as part of the MTF but, with individual submittals this became a paperwork nightmare.

Beginning with our 2004 rides:

The MTF will collect the IBA Certification Fees as part of the entry fee.
Riders will be requested at the end of the ride to provide their receipts to the ride coordinator for validation.
The MTF will submit the riders request for certification to the IBA in bulk.
The IBA will send all certificates to the MTF for distribution to the riders. Note: It will still take a couple of months, so be patient.
Momemtos will be available to riders for a fee. Momentos will be shipped after the ride.
Donations will still be accepted to cover miscellaneous expenses related to the ride, e.g. each ride coordinator and each witness will be provided hats. In some cases, site coordinators will need to be reimbursed for expenses related to the start. There will be postage expenses to mail documentation to the the IBA and then the certificates to each rider. There are also expenses for using PayPal. Any extra monies will go into the MTF general fund to support future the development of rides and events and to cover awards. The MTF is non-profit. We do not have a paid staff. All monies are returned to the forum.

A full accounting of all finances are posted on the MTF at the end of the fiscal year, July 2.

Safety

The Motorcycle Tourer's Forum like the Iron Butt Association is dedicated to safe motorcycle riding. It does not condone, nor will it tolerate, unsafe activities such as excessive speed, reckless motorcycle operation, riding while fatigued or otherwise impaired, the use of stimulants to maintain alertness, or any other activity that results in riders exceeding their personal limits. Any rider found to have engaged in these or other unsafe activities, as determined in the sole discretion of the MTF, while participating in this event, will not be considered a finisher and will not be listed as such on the MTF web site and will be reported to the Iron Butt Association, which could jeopardize participation in future events.

This may occur retroactively if the unsafe activity is revealed after the conclusion of the event. For these purposes, the MTF will consider as an admission of violating this policy any public statements made by the participant that describe participation in unsafe activities during the event, including but not limited to ride reports and postings on bulletin boards.

Trip Philosophy

The Motorcycle Tourer's Role in this ride is simply logistics. Riders will be responsible for their ride and are encouraged to ride as individuals. A quote from an LDRider will be used as the philosophy for the Motorcycle Tourer's Forum 50CC/100CCC Iron Butt Association Ride: "Everyone gets tired at different times, or gets hungry or even has to pee at different times. It's YOUR ride and it really isn't much fun when you are sitting on the side of the road waiting for your riding partner who is taking a quick nap."

Although the trip is being organized as a "group" ride, riders are encouraged to ride individually and join with other riders at the end to celebrate.
Riders will be staged so as to leave in a staggered start. Riders may request to be staged with a riding partner(s). Small groups of 3 or 4 are acceptable, but riding in a packs are not considered safe and are not recommended.
If you elect to start in a small group, whether you continue to ride as a group once you are on the road is up to you. If you find that your habits are not compatible with the group, simply wave off. It is nothing personal. In addition to the problems mentioned above, the group may have different attitudes about driving speeds. If you are tough enough to do a TC, you should be tough enough not to yield to the pressure of the group to conform.