OT so far OT, it might as well be about marsupial mating techniques

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But it's not. This is a web site of reports on the 2003 Iron Butt Motorcycle rally; an 11 day, 11,000 plus mile motorcycle endurance event.

The writing is done by Bob Higdon, a sardonic, sarcastic, mean-spirited, evil man. Very entertaining to me. Bob's actually not a bad guy. (No, I wouldn't even consider riding in something like this...but there is a fascination with the truly insane, yes?)

Enjoy.


http://www.ironbutt.com/ibr/2003/index.html?Main_menu=Return#florida
 
Haha! This is fun reading :D

Speaking of fire, Dennis ("Sparky") Kesseler saw enough of it this morning to last him a lifetime. He and Paul Taylor had just bagged the large bonus in the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest, the home of some of the oldest living things on Earth. Kesseler suddenly noticed that both he and his Aprilia Capo Nord were on fire. He jumped away from the flaming machine and rolled in the dirt to extinguish himself. The bike's tank then exploded. A moment later his four-gallon fuel cell also erupted. A ball of blistering, stinking, black smoke shot high into the air. Could Kesseler's day possibly get any worse?

Yes.


Thanks for the link!
 
That's pretty cool, I always like the weird marathon events.

Someday I will get my paddling up to snuff again and participate in the Texas Water Safari, a 260-mile canoe race from San Marcos to the Gulf of Mexico (i.e. you can trace it on a globe). Did I mention there are no breaks or stages, you just have to finish in 100 hours. The record is 29 hours, 46 minutes. Oh yeah, it's in June in Texas. And you can't take anything from the shore except water and ice. :D :D
http://ops.tamu.edu/x075bb/safari/
http://www.tisd.net/~txws/
 
Always thought the Worrell 1000 was a wacky race.

Here's a description of the first one:

t began as a bar room bet over a couple of beers in Worrell Bros., the Virginia Beach resort restaurant that was owned by Michael and his brother Chris. The bet; that one could not sail a 16-foot catamaran from Virginia Beach to Florida.

On October 1, 1974, Michael and crew Steve McGarrett shoved off from the beach in front of the restaurant bound for Florida. After 20 days, two hurricanes, and numerous boat repairs, they made it as far as Fort Lauderdale before their catamaran succumbed to the rigors of the bet.

Intrigued by the challenge of the rugged trip, Worrell, who as a surfer, lifeguard, and later in business, had always been around the ocean, decided to raise the ante and create a radical, new type of sailboat race.

In May 1976, four other teams were also inspired by the challenge and entered the inaugural *Worrell Bros. Coastwise Race. For that first race, limited to 16-foot Hobie Cats, the rules were almost fewer than the sailors. Sail day and night, come ashore and phone the restaurant once every 24 hours. The first boat to the finish wins. To take advantage of the prevailing winds the course was reversed with the start in Fort Lauderdale and the finish in Virginia Beach.

At 3:10am of the 11th day, Worrell and crew Guerry Beatson, the only team to finish, came ashore on the beach across from the brothers' restaurant, where with a little imagination one could almost hear the original bet being placed.


It's not quite as insane now, they do 13 legs over 14 days in 18 or 20 footers. No more round-the-clock sailing. Start and finish on the beach.

Still pretty nuts. Imagine being in the ocean on one of these everyday for about two weeks.

big_03.jpg


Yes, capsizes are frequent, and if you lose it in the surf starting or finshing a leg, the boat can be trashed. If it's at the finish, maybe the shore crew can stay up all night and patch things together for the next day. Capsize in deep water, right the thing and keep going. If things go well you get to hang-out all day, maybe 15 hours worth, though 6-7 hours is more frequent:

big_08.jpg


Heres the part of the site that describes the history and evolution of the event:

http://www.worrell1000.com/ri_lookingback.html
 
Kis
I've never tried an iron butt ride myself but have a friend (70+ years old) who has done a 1,000 miler on his Harley and is getting ready to do a 1,500 miler within 24 hours. :eek:

I did two back to back days of 650 miles each on my wide glide on two lane highways coming back from Sturgis, SD one year and that was all I wanted of long distance riding. :( If you do an iron butt ride on a Harley, you've done something!
 
Not too far the first time. San Francisco, to Seattle. Then south and east to Phillipsburg Kansas. My next kind of long ride was from here at Smithville to San Diego then north to Redding CA and back to Texas. Then there was a trip to Blomfield, NM The last trip was straight north up 183 to Phillipsburg KS and back to TX. I would like to take one more trip but I don't know whether my body will allow me to go where I want to go. Enjoyed all the trips. It seems that a 200 mile trip isn't much after close to 4.000 miles.:)
 
it's odd...but unless one TAKES a trip like these, one can not explain that it is the ride...not the destination that brings one back.:)

Bill Martino is biker trash too, I'm told.
 
Never rode the long lonesome highway. I was a trail rider -- 250cc stuff. Left one in the Panamint Mountains and brought back another from Baja on a Mexican junk trunk. Both nice rides in.
 
a Buell (Harley factory mod) and a 250cc Ninja!!! 11,000 miles in 11 days.



(Keep in mind, these people are out there among you, and you may not know exactly who they are! Scarey, huh?):)
 
Hunter S Thompson fer my sport commentary:

"The NFL season is creeping along to a violent official start now, and I am starting to feel cranked up again. The summer has been strange and quick, as it usually is when you are 8,000 feet up in the mountains. Between getting married and having half my spine replaced, there has not been a lot of leisure time for healing other people's puncture wounds. The world of sports has many of them."

"Trying out is like a huge casting call for a major Johnny Depp or Benecio del Toro movie about sex, death and violence in a typical all-American family that gets caught up in a kidnapping plot to move terrorists from Korea to New Orleans during the summer monsoon season. The movie will be a hot one, requiring thousands of mob-scene extras.
There will inevitably be many psychotics among them, many flaming unregistered Perverts and super-groupies depending entirely on Steroids and Downers to make it through the first few dozen practices."

"I am no stranger to organ replacement, and I always find it refreshing, always a happy improvement over Pain."

"Sports gambling is huge in the Army, and most people will tell you (in private) that it's a good and even healthy distraction for thousands of otherwise stress-crazed soldiers forever teetering on the brink of some hideous outburst of preternatural violence that could leave them all dying painfully.
That is an adult dose of stress, folks, and I salute the poor bastards who are out there right now. I wish you people the very best of good luck, because you are going to need it."

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/archive?columnist=hunter_s._thompson&root=page2

Keith
 
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