I started this rally similar to how I have in the past, they set the start of this years rally in Albuquerque, NM and I again grabbed a hotel room even though I live 15 miles from the start. I arrived at the hotel on Friday checking in with the rally staff. I flew through tech inspection and odometer check with no issues. Once done I settled into my room and prepped for our riders meeting at 8pm. I group of us went to the neighborhood Applebee's for a quick dinner. It was nice to hook up with Dennis who I ran the IBR with and Doug who was at the finish in Spokane, WA. We talked about all the things that happened and Dennis was picking on me about my bad decisions on Leg 2 and how he couldn't believe I missed a 4000 point bonus location that I rode right by. I didn't want to agree with Dennis but he was right, major screw-up on my part.
After dinner, we walked back to the hotel and attended the riders meeting. We received our rider placards, shirts and bonus packages. When allowed I opened my package reviewed the bonus location, made sure I didn't have any questions and retired to my room. Once back to my room, I fired up the netbook and pulled out both of my GPSs.
After my initial review of the bonus pack, I decided to head North first and run in the mountains during the daylight then I would turn South for my night riding. I always hate running in the North at night, the wildlife seems thicker in the Northern part of the state at night. We had five bonus locations that were time sensitive all worth 50 points. Trinity site, Lordsburg, Carlsbad, Shiprock and Raton. I was working different routes but could not come up with one that I thought I could get to two of the bonuses in the allotted time. So I decide to head for Raton because it seemed that there were more bonus locations clustered together in the North. After that I would head East towards Santa Rosa then turn South and swing back to I-25 and Albuquerque for the finish.
My goal in the first portion of the rides was collect the Alb Balloon bonus then Raton, NRA Whittington Center, St James Hotel, Philmont Boyscout Center, Chicosa Lake State Park, Lamy train station, four bonuses in Santa Fe, Mine Shaft Tavern in Madrid, and Sandia Peak before heading for the hotel and the rest bonus.
The second part of the ride I was going to head for Moriarty and Memorial of tears, Santa Rosa and the Hot Rod on a stick, then House, Ft Sumner, Vaughn, Roswell and Bottomless lakes, Smokey the bears grave site, Harvey House Museum, Rattle snake museum, Atomic museum and lastly the Unser Museum before heading back to the finish.
It was now approaching 11:00pm and I needed to quickly download my route into my GPS and get to bed. I finally hit the pillow about 00:30 am and I needed to have the FJR in the parking lot for final odometer check at 06:00 am. 05:30 came quickly, and I gathered up my things, loaded the bike and moved it into the starting position. I sat around kicking back waiting for the 07:00 start. We had our last meeting prior to the start and we were asked to be safe and to saddle up. 07:00 the flag went up and off we went in groups of two.
My first stop was a quick photo of four balloons at the Albuquerque balloon site,
then I was off to Raton for a gas receipt before the time lock out at 11:00. I ended up making it to Raton by 10:00 where I saw several other riders. When you are doing these rides it's nice to see several peers, it tells you that you might have selected the correct directions. After Raton, I went to the NRA Whittington Center to take a picture of the entrance sign. 
I then headed for Cimmeron and the St. James hotel to get the info off the corner stone, next the Philmont Boyscout training center for a photo of the entrance sign. I actually stopped at the administrations office but decided after reading the bonus location info I was at the wrong location. I continued down the road another quarter of a mile to the correct entrance sign. 
I ran into Karl and Mark at the hotel and Philmont stops. Karl and I left Philmont at the same time with Mark heading for the Veitnam War Memorial and Karl and I heading South. Karl and I pulled off at the Springer exit but Karl turned right and I was going left. At the time he confused me, because he was heading back to the interstate. I was heading for the Chicosa Lake State Park and I found out Karl was heading for the Raspberry farm, he missed his turn and was back tracking. I could not find the State Park my GPS, it kept routing me down dirt roads that dead ended into locked gates. When I arrived at Wagonwheel, I decided to give up on the Chicosa State Park. I later found out the lake dried up and the state park closed. That's why the dirt roads had gates closed off and there was only one way in. I should have asked a local where the park was, I later found out I was only 5 miles from it when I decided to skip it. So after missing that bonus I headed straight for the Lamy train station for a quick picture of the station.
I then headed for Santa Fe to grab four bonus stops. The first was San Miguel Mission. I actually found a guy willing to hold my placard while I took the photo from the street.
My next stop was the Cathedral at the square that was never completed. Again I found a person to hold my placard 
and off I went to grab the third bonus location. I was going to grab the hotel photo bonus but could not find it, I circled the square twice. This was very discouraging because it was the second bonus that I missed and I decide to give up on the fourth bonus in Santa Fe it was geting tough to navigate with the tourist. I had to keep going so off to Madrid and the tavern. I had to stop for fuel since I had about 70-80 miles to go before I would see another gas station. I arrived at Madrid and a quick stop were I took a photo of the Mine Shaft Tavern sign. 
Then off to Sandia Peak and a photo of the city of Albuquerque. The road to the crest is a fun twisting road but not great for rallying. I made it to the top as fast as I could took my picture 
and headed for my next bonus the rest stop at the start. I arrived at the hotel just after the bonus opened at 17:00 right behind Karl. I was planning to go for the one hour stop then start my second leg.I kicked back in my room, rechecked my next destination and went to check out with the rally staff. After that I headed for the Memorial of tear in Moriarty to take a photo of the tombstones,
I've ridden past this memorial several times but this was the first time I stopped. It is a nice memorial for the DWI victims. I then headed further East on I-40 and Santa Rosa for the Route 66 Museum and a photo of the Hot Rod on a stick. This is the first time I have stopped for a picture and the car was lite up. 
They were having some sort of meeting at the museum. I snapped a quick picture then off for Fort Sumner and a gas fuel receipt. As I started down Hwy 84 I came up on truck running about 60mph in a 65. I decide to pass and as I was coming up on the cab of the truck, he hit something. I'm not 100% sure what it was but I think it was an antelope based on the part it threw at me. After the truck hit the animal it split in half and threw a chunk straight at me, it hit the front tire and slid up the fairing and over the windscreen. I pulled over to the shoulder and started checking out the bike, all I could see was a lot of blood on the front and my left running light bracket was bent shinning my light 20 feet into the sky. I decide to keep going but did notice a slight vibration in the front end as started to exceed 40 mph and it increased as my speed went up. I ran 60-65 mph to Fort Sumner and when I arrived I gave the bike a better looking at. The gas station attendant let me use his water hose, so I washed off the front of the bike looking for damage but I really didn't see anything wrong outside of the light bracket. I called the rally staff told them what happened and that I was going to alter my route. I decided to make a run back to the hotel making sure I hit enough miles to be a finisher but I was essentially done. I took House, Roswell, Bottomless Lake and Capitan from my bonus lists giving up on those four bonuses.
I sat around Fort Sumner for about 30 minutes after talking to the rally staff drinking a cup of coffee talking to the attendant that had seen a couple of other riders earlier in the day. He was asking about the rally and where was I going next. I told him Vaughn then back to Albuquerque due to the antelope strike I was cutting the rally short. So I thanked him for the use of the hose, the cup of coffee and off I went.
I was able to reach Vaughn about 23:00 where I had to take a photo of the city limit sign.
Normally this is easy you attach your placard to the sign snap a picture at an angle so you don't get a reflection but of course the wind was blowwing about 20-25 mph making it almost impossible to keep the placard from moving. After about 9 attenpts, I finally was able to get the picture. I decided that since I was heading back, I would stop at the truck stop in Vaughn and get another cup of coffee. I wasn't in any hurry. After the coffee, I headed back North on Hwy 285 to I-40, this is only about 45 miles but I continued to keep the speed around 60 mph due to the vibration. I made it to I-40 no problems and started back for Albuquerque. I decided to go for the Harvey House photo bonus in Belen, it was only 30 miles and I needed about 75 more miles to make sure I exceeded 1000. The ride to Belen was straight down I-25 but the speed limit is 75 and I tried to run as fast as I could about 65, this made me a little nervous due to the cars passing me like I was standing still. I found the Harvey House no problem took my photo 
and off to downtown Albuquerque for three more bonuses.I stopped and took photos of the Rattlesnake,
Atomic 
and Unser Museums 
then headed for the finish at the hotel. I was a little concerned about the photo I took of the Atomic museum, the direction took me to the old location so I took a photo of the sign stating it moved. I arrived around 02:30 called my wife to let her know I was in then sat around waiting for the check-in to open at 06:00. It was kind of discouraging knowing that I gave up on four bonuses that I had plenty of time to get but I didn't want to chance it with the bike not running 100%. After 06:00 I checked in and went to scoring where I didn't miss anything and received 270 points. So all toll I missed 7 bonuses worth 70 points, three on the first half and four on the second half. The best I would have done was 340 points and that would have put me either in 2-4 place. I ended up 12th out of 54 starters which I was happy with considering, I expected to end up somewhere in the middle. After the banquet, I hung around talking to the Rally Masters and accepted a position on the staff to help coordindate the LOE for 2010. So this is my last LOE to ride in for a while. Switching from rider to rally support will be different but I'm hoping fun. One of the guys is stepping down and I'm taking his place.
The NM LOE is a great rally and going forward I hope to continue that tradition.
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