Gang,
I don't think my write up will compare to others but here goes. This is what I posted to my friends on another site.
I did a great ride last Saturday/Sunday (October, 6/7) called “Land of Enchantment 1000” (LOE1000). It's a long distance rally; if you are not familiar it's a 24 hour rally. You have 24 hours to complete 1000 miles and collect enough bonus sites/points throughout the state to be considered a finisher. This is not a race but a well planned route. They give you a packet Friday night with bonus sites and you have to plan your route to collect enough sites/points and still travel 1000 miles. The longer you plan the less sleep you get. Well here is a little taste of the adventure.
I arrived Friday afternoon to do my odometer check and complete my pre-ride check in. The check in is to verify that the motorcycle is in good working order from a safety perspective and the odometer check is to make sure they can accurately document your miles traveled. After completing my check in, I wondered around meeting the other riders and looking at all the bikes and added farkles. After a while I checked in to the hotel and headed for dinner. That night we had an 8pm riders meeting for instructions and packet handouts (a lot of information in a few minutes). By 8:30 we were allowed to open our packets and start to plan our route. Some hung around to review the list of bonus sites and asking questions, I decided to head back to my room. When I opened the packet, I started to glance at the bonuses and smile. I was so full of myself all apprehension went away and I decided to plan an aggressive route doing about 1250 miles. (Hey I’m a New Mexican how tough could it be?) I plotted my site locations on a map then pulled out my laptop and punched in the locations on my mapping software then I downloaded it into my GPS all that was left was to hit the sack (it was about 1am).
Wow 5:15am came quick, it seemed like I just went to bed. I drug myself out of bed and got ready to get my bike in the 6am line up. I got the bike uncovered and put it in line. I brought all my gear down from the room and when I plugged in my GPS it blew the fuse for my auxiliary plug there went my route We had to have the bikes lined up for odometer check; they came by and checked our mileage for our start. While they were checking my mileage, I was trying to figure out why I didn’t have power for my plug. I finally figured out I blew the fuse under my Tupperware so I knew then I just lost the GPS. So I winged it for the ride using a map and the site directions given (thank goodness everything was in New Mexico). I decided to go to the locations that I knew and try to pick enough points/sites to be a finisher. I went from trying to win to survive in the span of 1 minute. You should have heard me talking to the rider next to me. I think I switched my first site five times while talking to him. Since I was making up my route on the fly, I was trying to decide should I go South or North first or should I go West or East. I finally decided to head North to Albuquerque to get a picture of the hot air balloons then head to the Trinity site to get a combo bonus. So when they started us, I naturally changed my mind and headed south to the VLA.
Then 7am we took off from the Western Skies Inn & Suites in Los Lunas, NM. I think there were 44 of us traveling in every which direction, I headed South for the VLA an easy stop that I‘ve been to several times. I stopped with another rider and we took turns taking each others pictures we chatted for a couple of minutes then jumped back on the bikes and we both headed for Pie Town for a quick picture. Once completed, I found out he was also heading for Reserve so we got back on the bikes and started in that direction. We made the turn at Datil, NM but he bailed for gas, so a quick wave and twist of the throttle and I was gone. I got to Reserve in about an hour, with the warning light on for my gas gauge flashing (should have stopped at Datil too). I stopped at the city sign and snapped my picture. I decided that gas was the next stop, so I stopped at the only gas station and filled up. Next stop Gila Monument but of course staying true to form, I once again changed my mind and backtracked all the way to the VLA and headed for the Trinity Site to pick up 1000 points. I got at the gate 30 minutes before they were closing, so I sped down ran up took my picture and got out of there. As I left the gate, I saw a fellow rider stuck at the gate trying to get in (he didn’t look like he was doing to well with the soldiers holding the M-16’s). Next stop the Salinas Pueblo Mission for my fifth bonus stop. After positioning my bike 3 times to get the gate sign, my flag and bike in the picture, I finally got the picture that you could tell where I was at. From there I jumped on the bike and headed in to Belen to snag another bonus at the Harvey House. This one I wasn’t going to miss, I met a lady that was part of the original Harvey girls and she used to talk about running up and down the rails and what an adventure for the young ladies. Six down on my way to my last stop before checking in, I grab a quick bonus in Los Lunas than picked up fuel and headed for the hotel for a 30 minute rest stop bonus. As I pulled into the Hotel parking lot there was Ira grinning, as I got off the bike he asked how I was doing and how long I was planning to stop. I told him 30 minutes then I was out of here. He asked where I was heading next, I thought to myself I was planning to head North up to Bandelier National Monument. So of course I told him I haven’t been east in a while so I thought I would head to Santa Rosa. So after 8 bonus stops, 570 miles and 13.5 hours to go I took off again for Santa Rosa. So naturally as I was starting down I-40 I decided to head for Sandia Crest instead. I flew up the mountain taking the turns 10-20 MPH above the speed limit as the sun was setting (what a beautiful site). This is a great ride winding up the mountain. I reached the crest ran up to take my picture and boom I’m out of film so back to the bike to reload the Polaroid then back to the crest for my picture. By this time, the wind had picked on the crest and the sun had set so I ask a couple if they could hold my flag as I took my picture. I thanked them and explained what I was doing as I walked back the parking lot with them. They were laughing and shaking their heads (honestly I don’t blame them). As I’m getting on my bike, I’m thinking now down to the Sandia Ski resort for a picture of the building with a lift in the background. So as quick as I went up the mountain I was at least 5 under the speed limit on the way down to the entrance to the ski resort. It was dark now and I cannot see 50 yards in front of me. I get there and the gate is locked so I grab my camera and hop the gate run up to the building snap my picture knowing full well that there is no way the lift will show up in the dark. Oh well I’ll plead my case at the scoring table and hope for the best. Feeling pretty good, I fly down to the bottom of the hill and pull in the exit for Tinker Town to grab the last site for a triple combo bonus (my first combo completed). I’m getting off my bike blazing my lights on their building so I can get enough light to get my picture with my flag on their sign. Got it an extra 367 points for nabbing all three now off I go for Santa Rosa with 11 sites attended and it’s just 8pm. One thing I have learned about riding at night the mind can wonder really ease, so I’m focusing on the next location a Antique Car place called Route 66 to snap a picture of a car on a stick. As I approached Santa Rosa doing 80 mph, I was thinking how am I going to find this place. Then out of nowhere on my left I see this old car sitting on a pole, a quick two lane move and I’m on the off ramp downshifting fast. I swing into the parking lot trying to figure how I am going to get my flag and the car in the picture. I finally decided to park my bike under the car, put my flag on my fuel tank and lay on the ground below my bike taking the picture upward. After that accomplishment I decided I deserved a snack, so I started munching on a power bar when a cop drives by going about 10 mph checking me out. About a minute later he comes back in the opposite direction, I wave but he keeps going. I’m thinking I better get out of here before he stops and I have to explain what I’m doing. Just as I start the bike another rider pulled in with a cop hot on his heals. As the bike slowed to turn the cop made a quick left to avoid him and sped off behind the buildings. I talked to the rider for a couple of minutes and decided to get out of there, as I left two more riders came swooping in the parking lot with cops coming from both directions (I think they were tired of seeing riders standing under the car taking pictures). I remember thinking how weird we all decide to hit this same spot at the same time. That was the last time I saw another rider till the hotel. I decided I would head back to Albuquerque, NM and grab the second of three automobile combo bonuses to get and additional points. So off I go to Unser Car showroom. I snapped my picture about midnight and decide to call a couple of buddies working and ask if they want to meet me for breakfast in Rio Rancho after I pick up the last Automobile bonus. They agree and off I go to L&R Antique Car showroom at the Stagecoach campground in Rio Rancho. A quick picture and boom another combo bonus worth 490 additional points and I’m only 10 miles from the I-Hop. I get to the restaurant at 01:00 and meet my buddies for what was supposed to be a quick stop. But of course the restaurant is busy and to add insult to injury the service is slow. But this was a good time to break and spend time with my friends to talk about how the ride has been going and to look at the bonus sites on the map. I’m to close to the end point and I only have about 900 mile well short of the 1000 miles I needed. So after what seemed like an eternity, I’m waving goodbye to my friends and heading back to Albuquerque to grab a couple of bonuses downtown (note to self if I do a food stop like that again get them to order ahead of time so food is their when I get there). Once I hit downtown, I swung by the Atomic Museum took a picture of the front door then off to what ended up being my last bonus stop Old Town. I pulled out my map and spent about 15 minutes to try and find at least one more stop close enough that I could get back to the hotel by 6am (the finish time), but there was nothing less than 200 miles round trip so I decided to head back to the hotel. As I left Albuquerque, I knew I was still about 60 miles short so I decide to drive right by the hotel, run down to Lemitar, NM for fuel. After getting fuel and talking to the attended for a few minutes while drinking coffee I decided to head for the hotel about 35 miles away. I arrived back at the hotel at 4am wasting 2 hours so I headed up to my room to grab a quick shower and a few minutes sleep. At 6am Sunday, I checked in and then went to the scorer's table 7:30 am to turn in my route info and proof of visiting the sites (pictures). I received great feedback on picture taking from the person reviewing my info; he showed me what was considered good and questionable as far as my pictures for future reference. After completing my check in, I headed to my room to get another quick nap before I met everyone at the Luna Mansion in Los Lunas for the lunch banquet. My wife came down from home to meet me at the banquet and we sat with several other riders swapping stories about our rides. We talked about all the weird things that happened too us. It was great to hear I wasn’t the only one that had problems and it was great meeting riders from all over. One of the couples was from Canada another from Minnesota, and the other person sitting at our table to my surprise was a neighbor of mine. He lives two blocks from us in Rio Rancho. After Lunch Ira communicated the results and people were taking pictures of everyone. This was my first time doing one of these organized rallies but it will not be the last. I ended up placing 24th with 1023 miles and 2747 points. Even though I didn’t finish too high I was very pleased with my performance especially after loosing my GPS at the start. Next years goal is a top 10 finish.
As I wrote above, I did complete the ride hitting 16 bonus sites and traveling 1023 miles to be considered a finisher. I returned back to the starting point around 4am, riding for 21 hours. I knew I wasn't close to the top riders in the rally when I finished. Our packets had several sites that were combos (2-3 sites) that you could go to for extra points and I only hit two combos so I knew I wasn't close but I was happy since I did finish. But note to self next time carry extra fuses for the auxiliary plug . Take care everyone and ride safe.
NMdcporter
06 ST1300
IBA #22390
SS1000, BB1500, B2B, SS2000, 50CC and LOE1000
