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Bob & Slivie's Story

On Saturday mid-day, Bob and Silvie Torter's BMW R1150GS had a rear end failure (Gee, imagine that!) in Lucerne Valley. Bob called Brown BMW in Pomona who arranged a tow into the Leg #1 checkpoint. He also made Gerry an offer he couldn't refuse to bring a replacement rear-end to Joshua Tree.

Bob never stopped smiling, in spite of this. Nor did Silvie.

Bob and Silvie arrived in the tow truck and we helped them unload their broken R1150GS. The rear wheel looked pretty nasty, with oil covering everything.

For most of us, this would have been a show-stopper.

With his tools laid out on some shop rags in the parking lot, Gerry swapped the replacement rear-drive onto Bob's bike in about 45 minutes flat. Bob and Silvie didn't even miss the Leg #2 riders meeting. Kudos to Brown BMW!

Off with the old, on with the new(er).

The failed rear-end was one of the worst Gerry said he'd ever seen. The dust seal had failed completely, and a small bit of metal from it was wedged between some of the bearings. You aren't supposed to be able to see the bearings like that!

Since the bike is less than 3 years old, there's a good chance the rear-end can be rebuilt under warranty and thus Bob will have a spare for next time. If there is a next time.

Gerry also looked at a rear drive leak on Tom Sperry's R1150GS, but pronounced it a simple leaking pinion seal, which needs to be fixed but can wait until the rally is over.

Two very happy guys!

Leg 2 bonuses

On the second leg of the rally, riders can go for 69,000 points in one whack if they can meet the requirements of the "Four Corners Ride". Six or seven riders are know or suspected of attempting this bonus, including Doug Chapman, Eric Vaillancourt, Greg Marbach and maybe Joe Antolick. The bonus reads:

AZ-CO-NM-UT area Four Corners Ride	69,001 points	daylight only
Take a picture with your motorcycle in front of the following Post Offices in each town. San Luis, AZ   —   Julesburg, CO   —   Jal, NM   —   Park Valley, UT You must take a picture in each of the four locations to complete this bonus. No partial credit allowed. Feel free to obtain other bonuses along the way, and you may obtain these Post Offices in any order. Town names must be clearly shown on the Post Office buildings in your pictures.
Time: _____   Odometer: _____	Code: FCR	Approved: _____

That's a lot of riding, but done in the right sequence, and with enough attention paid to other nearby bonuses, could be worth 125,000 points or more.

The general theme of the bonuses seems to be National Monuments and ancient ruins and rock art. There's one "gimmie" bonus which I'll bet not everyone claims. I say that because on leg one there was a bonus of 250 points for buying a shot glass from anywhere along the rally route.

Count the shot glasses above. There should be 20 of them, but there aren't. Somebody left some points on the table, didn't they? Here's the easy one from the 2nd leg:

Funky Chicken no specific location	777 points	night time only
You're on your honor here, folks. At any point on any night, on some dark deserted lonely stretch of road, pull over, get off the bike, and do the Funky Chicken dance for your audience of stars. Dance for at least one minute.
Time: _____   Odometer: _____	Code: FCD	Approved: _____

Several of the bonuses have different point values depending upon the day they are claimed. Here's an example:

Dinosaur, CO area	14,073 points — Aug-13 7,001 points — Aug-14 8,699 points — Aug-15 13,626 points — Aug-16	0800 to 1630
Holy Smokes and G-Whiz folks, this road from the VC to its end is awesome. Be careful with the right wrist. Approx 2 miles east of Dinosaur, CO, turn north on Harpers Corner Road at the visitors center. Stop at the visitors center and purchase a smallish plastic dinosaur. Keep the receipt and your new friend. Proceed north on Harpers Corner Road to its end. Have fun ya'll. Find the Harpers Corner Overlook trail and hike to its end. Place your flag on the rail to the right of trail sign #15. Take a picture facing east. Allow approx 1 hour round-trip.
Time: _____ Odometer: _____	Code: DIN13 to DIN16	Approved: _____

There is even a "rally within a rally" called the "Six Hour Efficiency Bonus". The idea is to get a solid (machine printed) receipt between 2100 and 2115 GMT, then get as many points as possible while riding as few miles as possible. Exactly 6 hours later (within the same 15 minute window) get an solid ending receipt. Highest points-per-mile wins 30,000 bonus points, second gets 20,000, third gets 10,000, and so on down to 8th place, Everyone who correctly accomplishes this bonus will get at least 4,500 points, so it's an important one. Depending upon the math and logic skills of the riders, this could be THE BONUS that decides the winner.

Where are they now?

Sunday night, here's what Rally HQ knows: Jim Owen and Brian Roberts got the Death Valley bonus, a small gaggle of riders are going for the 69K points of the Four Corners Ride (you can use the Star-Traxx link to follow Bike 1 and see their route). Matt Watkins was the only rider to meet Ira Agins at the Museum of International Folk Art in Sante Fe, NM. A bonus worth 15,000 points.

Some of the riders are good at calling the rallymaster with updates (Brian Roberts, for instance), and some are not. Many have never called and we simply don't know where they are, or what bonuses they are going for.

Last night's scoring audit (which ended at 0030 this morning) did result in a few positional changes from the list posted yesterday. But it is the bonus collecting happening right now that will decide the winners.

Stay tuned...

And now, more photos from Tobie Stevens

At the IBA Memorial on the edge of the Black Rock Desert.

Lisa Stevens in Zion N.P.

This has to be Utah...

Do FJR pilots ever frown?

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