Team Strange, MN 2022

The ride to the Team Strange Minnesota 2022 started Thursday, June 9, 2022. Everyone that has done a long distance ride knows the journey began much earlier. Following last years Team Strange ride, I got the strong desire to do the two day rally on a bike that would not be the conventional choice. The GL1200A that I rode in 2021 would be the backup bike. This year I chose to ride the 1975 CB550F SuperSport.

Durning the winter I had grand plans for upgrading the 550, taking the original rusted out tank and rebuilding it to hold 11.4 gallons of fuel, acquiring tubeless rims and tires, repairing the collector on the original exhaust, repairing Honda brand muffler, and changing the front sprocket from a 17 tooth to a 18 tooth.

When I left for the cities, the 18 tooth sprocket was installed and a new tire and tube on the rear. The auxiliary tank still sat on the luggage rack with the luggage on the passenger seat, making my space behind the bars a little cramped when I wanted to stretch. A late spring and work seemed to plan against my ambitions.

My nephew, Daryl, picked the Saturday before the rally to get married. Wedding location, southern Michigan. The rally would be at the end of two weeks of vacation time. Go to the Cities for my son’s birthday, take a ferry across Lake Michigan, stop in Michigan to visit my parents, go to Ontario to visit my wife’s parents, back to Michigan for the wedding, drive the Great River Road from Davenport IA to Redwing MN, have a barbeque with both sons in the Cities and get home Wednesday.

Wednesday afternoon and evening was push time to get the bike ready. Got the new rear tire mounted prior to leaving for the trip but not fully installed. Chain only had a thousand miles on it so I did not change it but took along a spare. Once that was done it was time to change the oil. While doing the TCLOCK, I saw I needed to pin a dowel that I inserted last fall to repair the luggage rack.

Black files were getting annoying, it was time to sort out my kit. The bike has a pair of 50 caliber ammo boxes as paniers but I wanted a little more storage so ordered some canvas saddle bags. They would hold my water and tire spoons. Tried using a backpack instead of the sissy bar bag but needed the space of the bag. Along with the saddle bags I ordered a large tank bag. It needed to be large enough to hold the service clip board that would contain the rally book, score sheet and other necessities.

Late Thursday morning headed back down to the Cities. Along the way the GPS kept loosing power. Didn’t need it for this part of the trip. Made to the hotel without a major incident but had some items that had become loose. The windscreen, USB power connector, and speedometer cable all needed tightening. Setup the laptop and connected the TV to be a extended display. Pulled out the problematic GPS and determined its power connection is loose. Backup GPS become the primary and the phone the backup.

When it came time to go the rider check-in and barbeque, I was feeling relaxed. Chatted with some of riders from last year and a rookie. When we opened the packets we were greeted with a 120 bonuses, including two rest bonuses, intact coffee mug bonus and three combos.

Once back in the hotel room around 8:00, read the entire rally book, taking time to highlight each locations requirement for points, and daylight only locations. This took me until 9:30, while reading I had the computer import the GPX data into the spread sheet created by Greg Rice. To make it easier to find the bonused in the rally book and GPS unit, keyed in the number of the bonus, along with points, combos, and time considerations. This process took me until midnight and I finally got to look at all the locations in basecamp. After looking at the highest point bonuses, determined they would require about 40 hour of road time leaving no margin for error if I wanted to collect the two 10,000 point rest bonuses. After looking at the combos, decided the Buddy Holly combo would only require 32 hours of road time, 8 hours for rest bonuses would leave 8 hours for gas and other stops. I had a plan.

Bonuses	Points
Buddy Holly Memorial, Masson City IA	1144
Buddy Holly Center, Lubbock TX	3777
Buddy Holly Combo	10000
Riding distance 2231 Miles
Ride time 32 hours
Rest Bonus 1, 4 hours minimum	10000
Rest Bonus 2, 4 hours minimum	10000
Intact Coffee Mug at finish	5000
8 hours for gas, food and surprises.
Total Potential Points	39921

Did not set an alarm and woke up at 5:00 and tried to rest some more. After not being too successful got some breakfast, loaded the bike headed for the odometer check and last minute rider instructions. Stopped to fill up the gas tanks and collect a receipt, time 6:48 AM. Last year I parked in the front row. This year I parked in the second row because I knew by now I wouldn’t be able to keep pace with the first ones out.

I was chatting with a fellow and was surprised by the start siren. Left in the middle of the pack and headed south with some other riders. I chose a pace between 70-75 and soon lost sight of the other riders. Upon reaching Buddy Holly Crash Site Memorial, Clear Lake IA, 1,144 points, found a couple other riders at the memorial. To reach the memorial of the crash site you have to walk a quarter mile down a fence row. Requirement for this bonus was a picture of the memorial, rally flag, and rally mug.

After filling in the scoring sheet, I realized that there was another bonus nearby, the Iowa Iron Butt Sign, Webster City IA, 1,111 points. The sign was erected by Dennis Powell, a farmer, who is an Ironbutt Rally Finisher. When I pulled up he was there and offered to hold my flag for the picture. Requirement for this bonus was a picture of the sign, bike, and rally flag.

Dennis mentioned, one of the silo bonuses was just 20 miles away as the crow flies. GPS indicated it was 45 minutes away. Rather than add a bonus on the return leg, I made a quick decision to go get the Guido van Helten Mural 1, Fort Dodge, IA, 1,132 points.

Next bonus was the Buddy Holy Glasses in Lubbock TX. Selected the bonus in the GPS and headed for Texas. When planning the run to Lubbock, my goal was to get there around 1:00 am. Get the required picture and stop for the rest bonus. As I headed south, the arrival time indicated by the GPS was after 2:00 am.

The auxiliary tank on the bike is rated as five gallon tank but in reality you only get 4 ½ gallons of fuel. The stock tank holds about the same amount. After each fill, the bike would use the auxiliary tank first. When the bike ran low on fuel, I would turn on the main tank. 70-80 mph the bike traveled 126-140 miles on the auxiliary tank. After riding 200 miles since the last full up, I would start looking for gas stations. My goal was to run 220-250 miles between fill ups and each required between 6.5-7.2 gallons.

As I traveled south the number of states that I had ridden the bike in grew. Missouri, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas joined the list. When I left Minnesota, I failed to consider that some of these states have toll roads. Gloves, wallets and cash make for slow toll both stops.

As evening came, the decision to run the larger front sprocket was impacting the ETA. Not being able to maintain posted speeds on the longer hills pushed down the rolling average speed. By time I reached Wichata Falls, TX. ETA to Lubbock was 3:30 am. Since I really wanted the rest bonus points, I collected my rest start receipt at 1:08 am. Talked a bit the overnight clerk at the convenience store and checked into the Iron Butt hotel between the ice box and dumpster fence.

First order of business was checking the oil, adjusting and lubing the chain. Started the trip with a quart of oil, had to buy more in Iowa. As I lay on the concrete, I wondered if the chain would last. I had already adjusted it three times since leaving home. The oil leak also had me concerned. Decided to check the oil at each gas stop.

Grabbed a breakfast sandwich and milk for breakfast. Alas the receipt was 1 minute early, so bought two containers of power aid with the time of 5:10 on the receipt, 10,000 points. Fed and watered headed to Lubbock.

Some bonuses can be hard to spot, that was not the case at he Buddy Holly Center. The glasses were eight feet wide. Take a photo of the glasses, bike and rally flag, 3,777 points, time 8:55 am.

Told the GPS to head to Lakeville MN, but first I wanted to get some 40w oil before leaving Lubbock. The closest I could find was 10w40 bought 2 quarts, after topping off the bike headed north, time 9:16. Running low on cash, I told the GPS to avoid toll roads. The Garmin said it would add 28 minutes to the trip. Paying tolls could easily occupy 14 minutes so I figured it would be a good trade off. The route headed up the middle of the Texas Pan Handle, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, east on I-80 to Iowa, then north on two lane roads heading to I-35.

At gas stops I drank the power aide. While riding I could tell it was warm but had now idea of how warm. Had all the vents closed on the Darian Jacket with just the wrist slightly open. I was not too hot while riding down the highway. At gas stops, I unzipped, but did not take the jacket or helmet off. In the afternoon I had a headache so stopped at a rest area drank water and poured a bottle of toasty water on my head and back, and another just for my back. This helped keep me going. Talked with a lady on a Harley in Kansas and she said it was above 100 degrees. (When I left home it was 58 degrees.)

The sun washed out the display on the GPS. Was able to knockoff just enough glare to see the ETA of arrival in Lakeville climb after each stop. The second rest bonus was fading away. At McPherson Kansas, the ETA was 3:30 am. I accepted that I would not get the bonus but should be able to finish. I stopped for some air conditioning, a coke, malt, and jalapeno poppers. Feeling a bit better, headed out with a new ETA of 4:05 am.

After turning north off I-80 started running into some fog. Sensing that I would require a nap soon, started looking for an appropriate place. At a little after 3:00 am my headlight failed. The bike and I were in the middle of farmland. Saw a intersection light up ahead and pulled the bike onto the shoulder. Hoping that I had blown a fuse, tried swapping fuses. Next hope was that a ground had come loose in the headlight bucket. After removing the light, I could hear the filament rattling in the sealed beam. I was stuck until daylight. Moved the bike off the paved shoulder, laid the Darien Jacket on the grass, used the bike cover for a pillow and the jacket liner for a blanket.

Woke around 5:00 am to light sprinkles. Sent the rally master a text saying I would be a DNF. The rain was not heavy nor long and was only the second patch of rain experienced during the ride. Pulled into the finish at 9:20 am an 1:20 late. Scoring for the other riders was just finishing up. Was able to get some breakfast and talk with other riders.

When the results were announced, Mike Heitkamp had ridden 2611 miles, scoring 77460 points to take first and Scott Madson had ridden 2484 miles, scoring 75471 points. Mike and Scott did a good job of organizing which bonuses to collect.

Evaluation:

Personally, I had ridden 2,413 miles. Completed the requirements for 27,164 points. If I had succeeded in getting the second rest bonus and the coffee mug bonus, my final score would have been 42,164. The points per mile would have been 17.5. Mike’s points per mile is 29.7 and Scott’s is 30.4. These numbers indicate a need for more careful route and bonus selection. You don’t win the rally by riding the most miles, you win by maximizing points.

Early in the rally I failed to follow the mantra “plan the ride, ride the plan.” Stopping at the Iron Butt Iowa sign and the Guido silo impacted the arrival time in Lubbock and cascaded into not getting the second rest bonus.

Ergonomics of the bike and my lack of conditioning combined to create riding discomfort. Though I have highway pegs mounted on the bike, I could not fully stretch out due to the luggage on the passenger seat. My knees were a constant pain. I knew that would be the case when I left home. I was pretty sure I could muster through it and did. Until I get the knee pain resolved, I am not going to push myself beyond the 48 hour rally.

The ’75 CB550F completed the ride. It was not drama free though.

Using the 18 tooth drive sprocket was a mistake. The 2 mpg increase in mileage was not worth the drop in average rolling speed.

The throttle lock helps but is no substitute for a true cruise control on long highway miles. The cruise control would have also helped to increase average rolling speed.

The oil weeping from the jugs caused longer gas stops due to checking the oil more frequently. The oil also found its way onto the left foot peg. The foot peg became so slippery by Saturday afternoon that I could not stand on the pegs. The oil on the bottom of the left boot made the highway peg slippery as well. At the end of the ride the foot was slipping on asphalt as well. I did not realize that the jug was leaking oil before I left home. I was well into the rally before I knew the source of the oil leak.

The headlight has been on the bike for five years. It did not even occur to me that I should carry a spare one. Lesson learned.

Would I do another rally on the CB550F? Yes, but I would want several mods installed and the oil leak fixed.

Mods desired

Large capacity gas tank, 11.5 gallons

Cruise Control

17 tooth drive sprocket

Better mount location for GPS

Tubeless tires

Larger, flatter foot pegs.

Conclusion:

After three days my body had recovered and I began to think, yes, I will do a 48 hour rally again.