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
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