The Motorcycle TransAm Endurance Run

What an exhilarating experience this has been.

This isn't my first rodeo, I finished the 2023 Motorcycle Cannonball, started the 2021 where I broke my leg and became "crew" and I was part of the crew for the 2018 Cannonball. They are essentially the same thing, just run by different people. 

This time it was a small group as this was the first time for the Motorcycle TransAm. The motorcycles had to be 100+ years old. If they weren't they were part of the exhibition group - they got to ride along, but didn't qualify for points. Putting a cap of 100 years didn't allow for some of the "normal" people to ride. For some reason, that 100 years is a little more challenging, or just missed the mark of the 100 years. Rumor has it that the next time they do this event, in 2027, the motorcycles will have to be made in 1929 or earlier. 

I wanted to give a closer explanation on what our day to day looked like throughout this trip. 

We would get up early. Personally around 530, get ready for the day, if the hotel had breakfast I'd go down there quick grab a bowl of cereal and some orange juice. Then I would head out to the trailer. Lucky for me, the bikes typically would be out when I got there. Usually Tony and Joe would have them out or one of the guys riding would be out there taking them out. Sometimes I would do my directions - no GPS allowed. We had a scroll for directions, sometimes Joe would put them in our holders. Then it was getting prepared for the ride. Deciding what to wear - how cold is it going to be? Is it going to get warm throughout the day? Being mindful of the fact that any cloths you take off, you need a place for. Get some snacks, water. Make sure you have the tools you need.  Pump your oil. For a little while - I had to drain my oil to see where it was leaking from. I believe I talked about that in an earlier post. Hope your bike starts. Then we wait until it's our turn to go. We also have to remember to reset our odometers.

Then we are off! We follow the step by step instructions. Throughout the day we stop at gas stations, we fill up - put a splash of mystery oil into the tanks. Use the bathroom - grab a snack or drink. At this time things might come up that we need to look at. The last day being Larry's brake not working and needing to fix it. Sometimes it's adjusting something small - maybe the shifting if you are having a hard time getting into a new gear. I mean - I think I am a professional at this now that I had to adjust my primary almost every day which then made me have to adjust the shifting rod. 

People come up to us and are amazed by the bikes. They ask questions; What year are the bikes, where are you coming from, where are you going? A lot of the time thinking how cool it is. Asking if they can take pictures. Telling them that we are apart of a group going across the country, coast to coast on 100+ year old bikes. Sharing the blog information and letting them know the website for the Motorcycle TransAm and the facebook page. It's quite a unique experience. 

At times, we might have to pull over to figure out where we are headed and make sure we are on the right path, or because something isn't working on the bike. Or you notice one of your team members has fallen behind, or is stopping. Maybe something is loose and not letting the bike get enough power. Something might not be feeling or sounding right and you need to pull over and have a look. Things become loose, Jerry had to pull over once because his carburetor became loose. At times people forget that these are old bikes, they were not made for long distances. Even when we tried our best to make sure it was all put together for the long haul - things will come up or get loose. EVEN when you tighten them the night before. Most of us had to adjust our carburetor while driving. Or something you might not think about is that yes, these tanks are small, but also there aren't always gas stations readily available on the roads we are driving. We have to switch to our reserve tank. Often you do that as you are driving. You start to feel your bike sputtering (is that a word) and you know you've gone close to the mileage your tank can do, and you switch the petcocks. 

Driving down the road, you see the bikers adjusting positions often. Doing some arm stretches, putting their legs down. On a straight and boring road to keep myself entertained I swerved in-between the yellow lines. I also put my leg on the tank of my bike to stretch (sorry mom I was safe). Sometimes I would get tired and my eyes were heavy - I'd have to go to the bag I have on the handlebars to get some chewing gum to help keep me awake. 

The things that go through my mind - is a lot. I could think about a friend I haven't thought about for awhile. I will think of everything I need to do to "service" the bike. I will make a list in my head about the things I need to do before the end of the year, I'd love to make note of all these things, but obviously I am driving and that is unsafe :) That's when I do my best thinking - while driving. I'll sing in my head, I'll see cows and wonder if they run? -Joe confirmed they are fast, granted he has little legs. How tall does a mountain have to be to be considered a mountain, I'll wonder what it's like to live in the middle of nowhere. I often wondered how people live in Utah - it has NOOOOOOO color. Yes the rocks are kind of cool - but the blah color is dumb. I'll keep my blue/green lakes and trees. I often think about how 10 years ago - I would have thought you are crazy to think I would drive across the country on an old ass bike. Not just an "antique" motorcycle - but like reeeeeaaaaaal old bike.  

We start to get excited when we get close to the end. Or at least I do - sometimes we were riding for 10.5 hours (that was one of the longer days). You get tired. On top of that, you know that you have to do work on your bike. You "check in" and have dinner. We typically are expected to stay for a certain amount of time to show off our bikes. That's usually why people give us dinner :). I know sometimes we get a little antsy and want to get working on our bikes, I definitely try to think about how the purpose of this ride is also to get people to see our bikes - thats how we get to continue to have people's support throughout the country. Making our stops more fun, and getting a bigger crowd to see them. I can imagine that it's a hard line to want the riders to get back to their pits to work on their bikes, but also wanting to give the places we visit what we promised. 

Once we got back to the pits to work on our bikes, thats what we did. Sometimes it would just be maintenance and other times it would be bigger things. 

One thing that I find hard to explain is the camaraderie between everyone. Yes, there is a champion at the end of it, but people are genuinely just wanting others to finish, or ride another day. People want to help others. When I had my wobble people would ask how my ride was and I would tell them about the wobble, Joe Gimpel, asked questions to narrow down what might be the cause, and told me what to do to check. He also offered to help if I needed it. We helped people with welding or soldering - or to at least use our machine. People are willing to give their extra parts to help get another rider's bike up and running. Being on a trip like this - you are comfortable going trailer to trailer to ask if they have this or that, knowing people will help you if they are able. 

Having a smaller group really allowed for us to get to know each other more. I met people that I had met, but didn't get to spend time together or really run into each other on the roads. I was able to root for people and know which people had had a rough ride. You learned more about what each person had to "offer", or what their talents were. A lot of the time, you can't find parts for these bikes, many people have to fabricate things to make whatever they are working on, work. It is so fascinating what goes into making an antique bike run and run well. I think in today's time we are very used to being able to buy anything to fix whatever problem we might have. With these bikes, you just make it up as you go. At the end I was with a group of people who told me a story. Bart was having a lot of oil coming out of his bike and it was getting on his foot board. Apparently Joe had given him the idea to put a maxi pad on the foot board to absorb the oil. At times, if we are stopped at a gas station, people will offer to help as well. Whether they have tools or washers in their truck - whatever. It's so interesting and encouraging to see that strangers are willing to help. 

Often I think about how we all must look gruff riding these bikes. We've got oil all over our clothes and have been through the elements. On top of that, most are older men with facial hair. They look like bikers. Maybe it's just me but bikers have always intimidated me. However, being "apart" of this group I have found that these are some of the most wonderful people I have met. I know that every single one of the riders had my back, whatever I would have needed they would have helped me. 

The last thing, is how hard it is to ride in a group of people. There was often times that half of the group would make a light, and the other half wouldn't. If we were close enough together with riding - typically we'd be able to get through the light, or run the red light--safely. However, sometimes people get behind or have to pull over and you don't realize it. These mirrors on these bikes...well you see blobs. I saw two bikes many times that was actually just Jerry. Also, I know I had the problem of speeding up, then slowing down. Not really noticing that I was doing it for awhile. You have a whole lot of time to get distracted and not be paying total attention. Also - when we were in our BIG groups - like when we got escorted out of Trinadad by the cops, everyone's bike is so different and everyone is a different type of rider. You really just don't know what the other person is doing. Or they could just be having problems on their bike that are preventing them from speeding up or slowing down. I know sometimes I'd have a hard time getting my bike into second gear which would cause me to have to "retry" but because of that, I'd slow down. Or Mike's bike could go fast than I expected, but from a stopped position it took awhile to get going - where as my bike was able to speed up a lot - often I'd just go around until his speed picked up.

There is so much more that goes into this ride then just getting up and riding your motorcycle to the next destination. Even if you think your bike is running great at home, you just never know what might happen. It is tiring, you are either in the sun or in the cold, you are driving old bikes that you are constantly listening to, not to mention they don't go fast. Then you add on anything else, like mountains. When they say that this isn't just about the motorcycles and pushing these old bikes to get across the country - they aren't lying. It's pushing yourself too, mind and body. 

 All of us at Legends Museum

These are the charts we use for our directions each day

Joe and I working on my rockers

All of us at the finale

FINISH LINE

The beautiful view at the ending

Champagne for Mike

                                                 

                    The cute way Kat signed Mike's flag. Drew a cat and said "thank you meow"

We are chopped liver compared to the trophy. 

I am hoping that some more things will come to mind as I talk with others and see more pictures that people post. We will also get access to pictures that were done by the photographers. 

If you are interested, Danger Dan, one of the riders has a podcast that he talks about the TransAm. "Danger Dan's Talk Shop". Episode #497 Motorcycle Trans American Endurance Run.  You can find it on Spotify and/or apples podcasts. 

Also, check out the blogs from TransAm folks! Motorcycle TransAm Blog

Otherwise follow Motorcycle TransAm on Facebook and Instagram. They have posted a lot of videos and pictures!

xoxo breezy

Florence, OR

 WE MADE IT!!!!!!!!!! We all made the last 130 miles! The first issue was at the gas station at about 30 miles Larry’s back tire brake broke. They were able to fix it and had no issues after that. It started at about 51 degrees. There were times we’d go from 67 and it’d drop 10 degrees real quick; it was like jumping into an ice bath. 

We hit a lot of fog once we started driving down the 101. Unfortunately that made it so we couldn’t really see the ocean. We did get some glimpses of it- and we also went over some beautiful bridges

We stopped about a mile or two away from our destination and gathered everyone. We then got escorted by Sean to the area for the finale they had first place, 2nd and 3rd go in front of the rest of us. Mike won 1st place!!! I think we were all kind of shocked as that was never the intent. He was just riding for the experience and to do cool shit with his friends. 

Once we got to the beach it was the coolest scenery. Do you remember those jars we took full of Atlantic Ocean water? Yea- I still had mine in my saddlebag. I was getting it out and wuicjly set it down to grape something and I dropped it on the ground - breaking it. I mean that doesn’t get any more TV perfect scenario. Luca (one of the Italians) helped me scoop a few drops into the part of the container I still had so I could still accomplish it. After I dumped it - I was doing something and I think Joe hit my arm or something (I’m blaming it on him) but I dropped the rest and it broke some more. At least it wasn’t the motorcycle I kept having bad luck with. 

As for right now- I’ll leave it at that. We had a banquet and I will write about that tomorrow 😄 

Proof I made it with my jar. 

Fixing the brake 

Sleeping with a smile on his face cuddles with things from the transam

Team Butts 

Waiting to be escorted 

Xoxo breezy 

McMinnville, OR

Today we started in Burns, OR. It was another cold day. The lowest I saw was 46 degrees. It did start to warm up faster than the other days. Praise the lord because I don't know if I would have been able to handle it. How have I survived? Layers and layers and layers. I also have starting putting hand warms inbetween my sleeves of my long sleeve shirt and my sweatshirt. Of course this was after I "burned" myself by putting them in my gloves and my pants pocket. Ya live and ya learn...

We stopped at the first gas station and Scott had forgotten to put his ear plugs in; he said his bike sounds much better when his ear plugs are in. I have often thought this to myself. 

Unfortunately, Larry did not make it in today. About 70 miles from the finish line he had his back valve seat drop. This was the one they did not fix. I imagine he was debating if he should change out the second cylinder or not the whole ride in.

The rest of us arrived to the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum with all our miles. We made 294 of them. We even got to take a ferry. Today was a beautiful ride through Oregon. Some mountains and by far my favorite views of water/lakes along the roadway and with mountains - it's breathtaking. 

One thing I don't talk about on here often, or maybe haven't touched base on, is the reaction from other drivers. They either love our bikes or are completely annoyed by them. I find that people typically are more tolerant of them and actually enjoy them. Especially when we all go through a stop sign together or when we run a red light to stay with our group. We do always wave at them in appreciation.

But of course - there are people who are overly irritated and have no patience. We ran into one of those people today - they were riding the fender of the rider in front of me. I turned my camera on to make sure that if something happened - I would have it on video. I wanted to kick her truck and yell at her - but refrained. Road rage? maybe. Deserved? Absolutely. But I didn't do anything I just bit my tongue - and kept my camera on. People do tend to like to ride our asses and stick real close to us. As a friendly reminder -  please don't do this to any motorcyclist. Whether on an old bike or on a new bike - we can swerve faster, we can have to pull off and do it quickly, maybe you aren't paying full attention and being right on their asses can cost them their life where as for a car it probably wouldn't do much harm. Not that I have to tell YOU all this - because you guys are rockstars and smart people. End Rant.

The museum was pretty sweet. A whole bunch of aircrafts. We got to put our motorcycles into the museum and they took what I assume is an awesome picture. We got to do a tour of the Spruce Goose - which is a boat plane. I had personally never heard of it - but I edumacated myself. 

Cool picture of Mike

Sitting on the side of the road waiting for Jerry to catch up

The Ferry!!!

There was a random wheelchair at the museum and it happened to have my name on it? How freaking cool. Mom put it by my bike and took a picture. 

And Tony took a picture of me in it. 

The last night of wrenching

Larry's bare bike - it has no guts

Apparently the guy who's airplane this is - also owned at 1919 Excelsior - so they took a picture together. How precious.

It's me! Coming into the finish line

Mike waiting on the ferry. Surprisingy we didn't have to wait TOO long. As you can see the river was not that wide. It was across the Williamette River.

At one of the gas stations we spent some time at; they would pump your gas, wash your windshield and they had these dog treats. Now that is full service. 

Right away in the morning we had to pull off the road to tighten something on Mike''s bike. I don't know why but I thought the signs looked cool. Nerd Alert.

Two video's of the ride. 

It may seem like they are only waiting to pass him, but they were this close the whole time. - Not cool brah.

Tomorrow is our last day. Jerry, Mike, Scott and myself have made all our miles and are hoping and crossing our fingers that we get to finish with that. We have 129 miles to go! We are hoping that they get Larry's bike going so that he can join us on the way to the ocean and end with all our team mates! 

Burns, OR

 Within 20 miles Larry’s bike started running on one cylinder and clicking. It was the same noise as it had made before so he pulled over. 

Joe went to pick him up and when he got there he was there with his bike and an extra motor alone in the parking lot. Apparently it was pretty funny. I have pictures - but it is not letting me upload them for some reason. 

It was a long day today. 360 miles. It was a lot of straight roads and empty space. Not a lot of civilization. We had 105 miles between gas stops. That is long for these old bikes. We typically stop every 60-70 miles. The starting temperature was 46 degrees and it was so cold!! By the time we ended it was 85 degrees. Talk about how the heck do you dress? My bags were so full of extra clothing.

The rest of the riders made it in. We are grateful we haven't had too many issues. 

When I went in for the night, Larry had just started up his bike. The founders of the transamerican motorcycle endurance run had an extra motor along. They let him use it. So him and Joe spent the day getting it place. When they tried starting it, there was no compression - but they got it figured out and it fired up. Fingers crossed that he can join us on our mileage tomorrow. 

As for the rest we just did minor maintenance. Like me having to adjust my primary chain again. 

I know this is short so I apologize. My pictures won't load. We head to McMinnville, OR. It will take 291 miles. Hopefully we can all get our miles tomorrow as it is the second to the last day! 

I will try to add pictures when I can. We are exhausted. It's go go go all the time. We wake up early, get ready, have breakfast and get to our bikes to get ready to ride. Then ride. get gas, ride. Sometimes pull over to work  on something. Sometimes missing our turns. Then we get to our location - hang out and eat, then we go wrench on our bikes until 8-11 pm. Then we do it all again. 

We can't believe we are nearing the end!

xoxo breezy

Twin Falls, ID

The day started off early. We drove our bikes trailered out of Salt Lake City to a smaller town to get on our bikes and ride. This allowed us to have less traffic and less chaos - mostly for our safety - people arent always patience 

When we got to the start I started my bike and it was smoky! Like a lot. We decided to drain my oil and start again. It had a good 11 oz - we want like 5. So either it’s leaking or I accidentally pumped it twice. Anyway- we got going 

We didn’t seem to have any issues. I did notice my brake pedal was loose, we had pulled over to look at instructions so I worked on it quick. 

Mikes bunghole was leaking. It’s not what you think… or is it?

His gas tank bung was leaking. 

We all made it in and got our miles, 215. 

Our stop was right by where Evel Knievel's attempted to jump the Snake River Canyon. We watched people jump off a bridge and parachute down. One of the people was a 71 year old female. What a badass. 

We then went back to the hotel and started wrenching. 

Jerry changed his oil, checked the valve clearance, tightened a bolt that was loose on his fender.

I changed my oil. Tightened my primary chain…. Again. Making me tighten my back one. Then needed to adjust my shifter. Filled my tires and fixed my kicking pedal. 

Mike adjusted intake valves, changed oil, checked all the hardware, and they welder his tank. 

Larry is fixing a dropped valve seat and hoping that it works in the morning

Scott adjusted valves, lubed his seat, dumped oil- and put more in. 

                

My Randy outfit

Olivier in his leisure outfit. I've never seen him without his riding gear!

We have a big day tomorrow 360 miles. With 105 miles in between gas stops. Hopefully we make it.

TransAm blog 

xoxo breezy

Springville, UT

Today was our day off. We left Moab, UT and trailered our bikes to the Legends Museum in Springville, UT. Rick and his group of workers helped us work on bikes, gave us a great spot to park all of our trailers and even let us use their lifts, tools etc. It allowed for easy tire changing. Both Scott and Larry needed to change their back tires. 

Remember in the beginning when Larry marked where he drilled a hole and possibly hit his tire? Apparently, that is NOT related. Don't worry, just about every one of us asked him. 

Scott's tire was just balding - I said he could probably make it, but I guuuuess he decided that he'd change it while having a machine. 

Considering it was a rest day and those were the worst of the problems - that is pretty freaking awesome. I did most of my maintence last evening (along with the others as well). I drained my oil, had quite a bit coming out, but better too much than not enough. Then I went around and tightened nuts and bolts to make sure that things were still tight after the awful road we used. I cleaned her up as it was very dirty and covered in oil and sand. Today I checked the transmission oil, added to it, and again went around and checked some more nuts and bolts. 

I'm not sure what Jerry did, Mike didn't need to do anything on his, but he will change out his spark plugs.  

After working on our bikes, he displayed them. We took a group picture. Then we took another group picture without our bikes. 

Rick and the people at legends had an amazing meal for us. Steak, corn on the cob, salad, watermelon. And then of course on the property there was an icecream booth. Needless to say - Team Butts had two icecreams today. But Scott didn't kill his bike today (maybe largely because we didn't ride?) 

When I wrote my blog yesterday - I knew I forgot some people!! Scott's friend Mike. Then our friends Dana and Mary. Of course I should probably mention the Unruhs; Odie, Grant, George, Kim, Shannon, Amy plus the kids! 

Even with a rest day I still think we are all pretty tired. We got back to the hotel around 8pm tonight. I'm already ready for bed. We have an early day tomorrow as we are trailering our bikes about an hour and a half away. The reasoning being that getting out of this town in the morning is challenging - then especially on these old bikes. Also keeping us off of the interstate. I know I personally appreciate that. (This is also why we didn't drive to Springville on the bikes - interstate being pretty much the only way to get here. 

This is the picture that Scott sent Joe shortly after we left the starting line because I couldn't get to my next instructions and Joe had done all of our maps that morning. 

They were having us take pictures with out bikes

Joe was using my phone or changing a setting for me and I ended up with this as my background

The group of us!

And again. 

I want to personally apologize for spelling errors. I am not good with words and often spell things wrong or use the wrong word. For example I said "we shower people" instead of "we show people". Team Butts takes it upon themselves to make fun of me. I typically don't re-read it as I am too tired - but that's not good enough excuse haha. 

xoxo breezy

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Moab, UT

The temperature starting our ride this morning was 35 degrees. THIRTY FIVE DEGREES!! I know I am from Minnesota - but I don't go ride motorcycles when it's that cold. We all bundled up. Although we were all wearing multiple layers - we were still chilled. 

Joe did our maps today - funny how mine was the only one that didn't work. 

The ride was a nice ride regardless of the cold. We saw some great scenery. In the beginning I was surprised by how far each town is, and how there is literally nothing. I am used to seeing green and grass - not here. Southwest Colorado and Southeast Utah have no grass or trees. 

We came up on a rough road. They had started construction on it. I have never in my life seen or felt such a terrible road. It was like they removed the pavement, there was gravel all over, and big potholes and small ones. It was a disaster- it probably lasted a mile. After we got done we stopped for gas and we all were checking over our bolts, nuts and frame. Even dirt biking I don't know that i've experienced that bad - although maybe it's the different bikes. 

We stopped at Monument Valley. We stopped at the same spot that Forrest Gump had in the movie after he decided he was done running. It was the same road and spot that they filmed the movie. 

At one point - Scott went into the gas station to use the bathroom. Apparently he looked down and his sunglasses fell into the toilet. I bursted out laughing as I had done something similar the day before. He did wash them and used them. You would too

I keep forgetting to thank some friends that have stopped by to see us on our journey. 

Evy and Al, Scott and Julie, Gary and Linda, Vicki and Kevi, Pam and Lori, Tanya, Bryce, Adam, Sandy and Buzz

It has been fun to show people how crazy this adventure is. 

 

Joe look so pretty - especially those boots

The group 

We went to the arcehes before the sun went down

Our milage was  291. 

Tomorrow we have an off day. We drive to Legends because there isn't a good place or round about way to weigh to get there.

xoxo breezy