Thursday, March 5, 2009
Can I get a witness?
After a weekend visit to the In-Laws up in Big Bear Lake, I was reminded that I hadn't talked to my friend Doug (doug5551 on the FJR Forum, who lives part-time in Big Bear) in a while. I sent him an e-mail with a list of my planned rides (CFR, WFO, and the Dam Tour), and asked what he was up to. His reply was something like awesome.
Back in January, Doug rode the Up-Chuck ride put on by George Zelenz. Up-Chuck was a seriously challenging 1K ride through the mountains of Southern California, from Palm Springs to the Mexican border. During the ride, Doug met a Gold Wing rider named Jack who was having serious GPS problems. Jack is a South Dakota native, working in So Cal on a six-month project, and a very accomplished long-distance rider - but he didn't know the back roads of Riverside and San Diego county well enough to ride them in the cold and the dark without a working GPS. Doug offered to ride the rest of the rally with Jack, and working together they both completed the ride successfully.
In Doug's e-mail, he told me that Jack was going to attempt a 100CCC - riding from the Pacific to the Atlantic, then back to the Pacific, in less than 100 hours. He also told me that he was trying to convince Jack to let him tag along as a pillion. (Doug recently bought an '06 FJR from a rider in Arizona, and he rode as a passenger with Jack to pick it up.)
In my reply, I told Doug it sounded like a strange but awesome ride, and to let me know if he wanted me to be a witness. (Iron Butt rides need to be meticulously documented, with witnesses at both the start and the end of the ride, and receipts for all gas stops, motel stays, toll roads/bridges, etc.) I'm a California Notary Public and an IBA member, so my signature on the witness form carries a little extra weight.
Over a couple of days time, Doug and Jack finalized their plans, and asked me to witness their departure from San Diego. I left straight from work on my FJR, working through intermittent rain and afternoon rush hour traffic. It took me two hours and twenty minutes from the time I left my office until I pulled into the house they were staying at pre-ride — not bad all things considering. I got there around 8:40pm.
I met Jack - a great, unassuming guy who really knows his stuff. He has a GL1800 fitted with everything necessary for comfortable long-distance rides - both solo and two-up. We chatted for a while, and I signed and stamped their forms. I wished them the best of luck, told them I'd follow their SPOT track, and headed back home. I-5 at night can be quite fast, and even with a gas stop I got home just after midnight.
I followed their progress on their SPOT page, and Doug and I traded voice mails. They made it to Jacksonville in about 42 hours, giving them ample time to get some sleep before the second block of 50 hours started. (On a 100CCC ride, each leg of the trip must be completed within its own 50 hour period.)
They made great time on the way back, too — so much so that they decided to head back to Los Angeles instead of San Diego, even with the added 100 miles. They asked me to sign them back in, and I agreed, hoping they'd make it into El Segundo around 12:30am. That wasn't to be, but they did make it in right at 2:00am.
I invited Justin to ride down with me, and slept for a little bit. We left in time to meet them as they came in, but some road closures forced us to take a slower route, and we were late by five or ten minutes. They were still there, with their friend Peter who drove down to be a second witness. We all chatted for a while, finished up the paperwork, and they took off to collect their sand from the beach while Justin and I set out for home.
We got home around 3:15am, and I went to bed around 4:10am — it takes a while to wind down from a high-speed run in the cold. I wasn't pleasant getting up with Carole's alarm at 8:00am, so I slept for another hour, which helped a little.
All in all, a great experience for me. Doug and Peter are now talking about doing a 50CC together (but on separate bikes), so maybe I'll do some more IBA witness duty soon.
Posted by bnc at March 5, 2009 10:23 AM