“Tick-Tock or not” Random thoughts as of October 2004

I had fun on my latest rally… the feeling leaving the start line at the start of any rally is what many of us live for… it is great feeling rolling away.  Finding each bonus is also an exciting and of course rolling into the finish under the time limit also leaves one satisfied.  But…. something may be missing….last year it was all about the 2003 IBR, a pretty significant challenge that is easy to focus on… now almost 1 year later I had had put less miles on my bike in a year then I did in 10 days during that rally.

My riding seems pt. A => B style of riding… I am thinking I need to find out what is between those two points other than yellow stripes and a green blur as described on the LDR mail list this last week.  A trip I did with Harry along the Blue Ridge was a lot of fun because we had bike to bike communications and could talk when we wanted to and not when we didn’t…it worked out perfectly and we had a GREAT time. It is nice to share the experience with someone and all of the two up riders in my latest rally looked like they had a blast.  Maybe a bigger bike (GW/LT) is in order and some touring with my Debbie is in order? Dunno… never liked having both of us on the same bike for safety reasons.

Many people ask me if I will ride the IBR again someday.  I won’t say never but lately I have been saying, no, I don’t think so…I think the IBR may be a once in a lifetime event like many of the mountains I have climbed.  I really wanted to climb them to summit, but I have no desire ever to go up certain ones again. Let other climb them. I summited and got off safely…someone else’s turn.  Maybe one option is to enter a 12 or 24 hour rally and ride the roads you want to ride in the area, not worrying about points at all.  Enjoy the day, get to see your LDR friends, and enjoy the food/fellowship. Just ask the rally master not to announce yr. name or points at the conclusion.  I know Bob and Art did that in the first FITE I rode in, as they had just completed the IBR in 1999.

The best event I never got a chance to ride was the Butt Lite in my opinion….the original one…the 5 day format, before they expanded it to a week…perfect.  No hopping off the bike or stopping every 30 mins for a bonus. But not huge two/three week commitments like the IBR – the Everest of LDRing.  Someone needs to bring that 5 day format back…they would fill up the dance card in short order. I think the roster would be filled even in the year of an IBR…as so many do not get the chance to get into the IBR.

Where am I headed…?

I do not know as of this writing, but maybe it is no longer to point “B” when under a ticking clock all the time. Things can change…let me see where the winter of 2004/5 takes me… the first rally is not until May.