Motorcycle TransAm

Hello everyone! 

I imagine you have missed my typing errors and my sarcasm the last two years. But don't you worry... I am back!!!

An update for anyone who doesn't talk to us on a daily basis or follow me on facebook (because the guys don't update like I do), there is a new edurance race for antique motorcycles. The Motorcycle TransAm is essentially the same thing we have done on the Cannonball. You ride your antique motorcycles across the country, trying to get as many miles as you can with as little issues as possible (HA!). 

The organizer of the Motorcycle Cannonball had decided to push back the event a year. Now, others have taken on the challenge of coming up with a route and planning the TransAm for this September. 

Unknown to me, Mike decided that he had to do one more adventure like this. Although, he has said many times "this is my last one". 

Mike had some random dude reach out to him from the area, asking advice about the Motorcycle Cannonball. He had bought a bike and was interested in doing the event. Long story short, they became friends. Scott has now become all of our friends - lucky for him. And of course his wonderful wife Beth. Scott will be riding on the TransAm as well! Welcome to Team Butts!!

Larry will also be continuing on with his antique motorcycle adventures too! 

We had been at the AMCA Viking's Chapter meet and our friend Jerry (if you've read our other blog posts, you have heard about him) was doing a speech. Jerry had loaned some motorcycles to the filming of "Bike Riders". He had been the motorcycle mechanic on the set. He talked about his experience. At one point, he said something about once you become his age you take all the adventures you can. Naturally, we jumped on that and told him he has to come ride on the TransAm. By golly, it worked! He will also be on Team Butts! 

I had been disappointed that Mike didn't have a motorcycle for me. Not in a bratty way, buuuuuuut had to give him a little crap that I was "pushed" out. The TransAm had made a 100+ motorcycle expectation, so my 1929 Indian Scout wouldn't qualify. Mike has a 1913 Henderson that has been being worked on, he said if that got done I could ride the bike that he was originally going to ride, but we wouldn't know until August. However, I was reached out by one of the organizers and asked if I would be interested in riding. They would allow my 1929 Scout but I wouldn't be getting points or awards. I never expected or cared about the points/awards. I just want the experience. As of right now, I will also be riding on my 1929 101 Indian Scout. To say that I am excited is an understatement. This is going to be so much fun, especially with the added people on the team. 

The bikes that will be rode. 

Mike will ride either a 1913 Henderson or a 1920 J

Larry is riding a 1920 J

Scott is riding a 1922 J 

Jerry is riding a 1925 JD

I will either be riding my 1929 101 Indian Scout or the 1920 J that Mike may not ride. 

As the trip is quickly approaching, the guys are working hard on their motorcycles. I have learned a few things on the J and we ordered some parts for the Indian to get that ready to ride. Things will be coming down to the wire, which in Butts fashion is what we expect. 

I will continue to do the blog as much as possible, and then on the ride as well. 

There is so much that goes into planning a trip this long. We often do team t-shirts. This year I decided to make stickers so I designed those and worked with a coworker on adjusting the tshirt design. Oh and I personally have made some decals for the bikes and making some numbered shirts for the guys. There is also figuring out what vehicles will need to be taken to accommodate the motorcycles, extra parts, tools and luggage of all riders and support crew. Plus, people interested in being along and helping drive those support vehicles. On top of that, getting hotels and all the little things you need throughout the trip. Why do we do this trip? I have no idea because it causes me a lot of stress and I'm not even remotely "in charge". But man, I am grateful for these opportunities and the hard work of everyone involved. I get stressed just participating - I can't imagine for others. 

Check out the Motorcycle TransAm website for more information! TransAmerican Motorcycle Endurance Run – For Antique Motorcycle Riders by Antique Motorcycle Riders

So far, I don't have much for pictures of the bikes. This past Sunday we got most of the 1920 J of Mike's together. We had to fight with the handlebars for putting the throttle cable in. One piece, a stopper?, had gotten stuck in the handlebars. Scott, Mike and I fought that for a very long time. We eventually did get it out and were able to thread it the cable through it. We had to clean the handle bars as there was a lot of sand inside. Scott was using an air compressor to shoot through the handlebars and the rubber part shot out into them, that is now part of the motorcycle. We did the brake, put both the front and back fender on. The back brake is hooked up and the tanks are on. It's interesting that yuo think something is going to be easy peasy but it ends up taking 4x as long because you come into issues. It does appear that we often put something on just to remove it to put something else on then put the original thing back on. For example, we put the back fender on and the wheel. Then we were putting the battery box on and realized we needed to use two of the main bolts from the fender... We could have done this all at the same time but did not plan ahead. 

Mike's tanks painted! 

Scotts Bike 

<3 Breeze

Grand Finale

Doffo Winery

Doffo Winery

Right before take off 

Right before take off

Cindy and Jen

Larry and Cindy

                   Me leaving for the last day 

Larry leaving for the last day 

Mike leaving for the last day

Randy mom and Mary

Randy and mom

Me coming in to the finish line

Mom happy I didn’t hurt myself 

Mike at the finish line

Mom and Mike 

Larry and finish line 

Larry

Jack loves motorcycles 

Sammy and grandpa

Allie Sammy and Larry

The girls and Sammy with Jared

Alex and Larry

Joe and Larry

Cindy Larry Julie and Dean

Team Butts

The brothers 

Coming into the finish line 

Larry at the finish line 

Putting grants number on an Indian 🤣

Mike coming in to the finish line 

Sammy and Larry 

Larry Sammy and Cindy 

Sammy with the Team Butts trailer 

 We made it!!!

Sunday was a whirlwind of a day. We started off in Palm Desert CA. We headed up a mountain with the big group of people and due to different engines and people pulling off to take pictures we ended up just a few. Eventually we find others. 

For lunch we stopped at Doffo Winery which was a cool place. They had motorcycles everywhere as decorations. They also had wine labels with motorcycles. As we were parking I was putting my front break on because I was rolling backward. Well the ending of my cable broke and obviously there was no way to fix it. I was left to only have my back brake. 

We only had about 40 miles to go to the finish line, but boy did they challenge me in terms of braking. I ran a lot of stop signs (which isn’t unusual) I slowed down and there was definitely some close stop lines I didn’t think I’d stop in time for. One I didn’t and I ended up talking a right turn and luckily no one was there and I could then take another right turn to get on the road I was on. We got down to the beach and we were welcomed by a shit ton of people. I’m talking like there had to be something going on. And there was. There was a women’s surfing competition and I believe a concert. So the roads were flooded. People don’t understand how hard it is to stop these bikes, start them, keep them running and all of that. They just see a normal motorcycle. We got through it. 

When we got to the finish line we were welcomed by an even larger amount of people. We saw a big blob of maroon shirts for Team Butts! It was so wonderful passing that finish line and feeling the redemption I felt. This was no easy feat for me, it was draining and frustrating but it was also a great way I learned more about myself and pushing myself. I don’t doubt my ability to do pretty much anything anymore. 

I know I can say from all of  Team Butts how much we appreciate each and every one of the people who have reached out to us, followed along, cheered from home and from the sidelines as we made our venture. We were tested from every time of roads, weather, elevation, etc. Mountains, deserts, wind, rain, hot weather. 

We got welcome by our support team Mom (Linda), Cindy, Jen, Tony, Bryce, Britt, Nash, Jack, Mary, Steve, Brie, David, Michael, Morgen, Allie, Sammy, Dean and Julie.  It was so special being welcomed by all these people cheering us on 

Last long day

 We took a nice ride to Palm Desert California. We started off with having to pull off the road because Larry had to loosen his brake. 

We started by going over Park Dam. Then we went into Joshua Tree National Park. We really just drove in the desert today. It was long roads but honestly I didn’t get overly hot until we hit the interstate. 

During our ride Mike had part of his bike came undone. He was sounding really shitty. One of his cylinder pipes was disconnected. So we fixed that.  Larry had to fix something too but it was pretty minor and now I can’t remember. I also had my decompression rod lose a bolt so we just took that off. Zip tied it to my handlebar 🤣

We all made it in! It was hot. Like real hot. So we cooled off a bit and started working on our bikes. I noticed I had a gas leak. I probably could have made it the 109 miles by refilling but we figured why not just fix it. So we did. We called Steve Rinker and asked him what we needed to do. We found that it was leaking by the connection of the hollow hole put in for the decompression rod. So we filed it all up. And our good friend Alex Trepanier soldered it for us. Then we replaced the tank. 

Hopefully today goes off without any issues! For the Grand Finale! 

At the hotel we had a little party without trying. We were staying at a different hotel than everyone else- but it was just across the street. It was fun because people wandered over and hung out with us so we had a little party at Team Butts. 

Mom and Mary took the veno to go get beer. I think we have too much fun riding two up on it. 

Unruhly Butts is the new team names we are joining forces! Many things were said and talked about. I was asked if I have any nurse friends to set up Bryce with… and well I may have made magic.