We got a chance to do our first rally in June of 1999, the Capitol Area 1000. We didn't know if we really wanted to do it or not at first butt I signed us up anyway. For those of you who don't know a distance rally is where you are given a set of checkpoints that you have to make in a certain time and along the way pick up bonus points along the way. If you do not make the checkpoints then you are out. For the '99 Cap you had to make three checkpoints in West Virginia and Virginia in one day and pick up gas receipts with the town's name on it. The bonus points where scattered all over Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. The start and end point was just north of Hagerstown, MD and you had 24 hours to collect all three checkpoints and as many bonus locations as possible.
When we got to the starting line the night before for the Tech inspection we saw all sorts of bikes with tons of modifications that I had only read about before such as fuel cells and extra running lights. After the Tech inspections there was a riding meeting and we received out bonus locations. We stopped at the restaurant to have a beer and look over the bonus points to see which ones we would pick up so that we wouldn't end up dead last. We had planned on only going checkpoint to checkpoint and pick up our Saddle Sore 1000, 1000 miles in 24 hours, butt we saw that there where a couple of bonuses in Frederick where we live so we COULDN'T pass those up. So we decided to go to Frederick and pick up the couple of bonus locations and then just ride the rest and get the Saddle Sore. Back in the hotel room I picked a route that was almost all highway and we got some sleep.
The next morning at 5:30 we got ready to do this crazy thing. Outside most everyone was getting their bike ready and we had a meeting just before we left and then everyone lined up and got ready to leave. It looks really impressive to see 50 bikers all lined up ready to roll. We where given our starting time and told to be back in 24 hours and off we went to Frederick to pick up our first bonus. On the way to Frederick, we where passed by a number of people who where going the same way that we where. The only person I recognized was a guy by the name of Manny who I had read about before. He and a couple other people where traveling together and passed us and got off on I-270 S to get the first bonus location. We however, knew a much faster way of getting there. Before the first bonus though we had to stop and buy a watch as mine had died the night before of course and so we stopped off at the Wal-Mart which is the only thing open at 7:30 in the morning and bought one. After a struggle trying to figure out how to set the time, of which the directions where wrong, we left to get the address of the Monocacy Battlefield as our first bonus. We thought that because we had wasted so much time we where not going to see the people who had passed us earlier, butt when we got ready to leave the Battlefield Manny and his group showed up. We figured that there is no way that it took that long for them to get here even going the long way so we figured that they had picked up another bonus location.
The next location we headed for was only a couple of miles away so we headed there. When we where going back to the highway we passed Manny going towards the bonus location we had just left. It's an interesting feeling to be ahead of someone that you had only read about before, that however, wouldn't last for long. We had a two hour trip until the next bonus location and so we got on the highway and went to Front Royal, VA. Here we decided to have brunch so that we wouldn't starve and we still had plenty of time left to ride the highways and still get our 1000 miles. However, the plans changed while we where waiting for our food and I was looking at the map. There where three bonus locations along some back roads and because we had plenty of time we decided to go ahead and pick them up. I don't think that we lost much time because the back roads took us in a direct line to the first checkpoint that we needed to go to and actually cut some miles off. We got all of the bonuses pretty easy because they where right on the road so we didn't even have to leave the bike to get them. We then made our way to Charlottesville, VA for the first checkpoint.
After there we decided to go to Bristol, VA to make sure that we got the 1000 miles and Bristol was a big bonus to boot. Bristol is a straight shot down I-81 and we got there only to discover that when we got the gas receipt it did not say Bristol on it so I had to have the woman in the store write her name on it and say that it came from Bristol. We also meet up with another two-up team at the gas station and told them that the receipt didn't say Bristol so they left and went to another gas station.
By this time it was getting late, around 7 or so and we had done just over 500 miles so we where only half way there. There was one more bonus to collect off of I-81which was on top of a nearby mountain and to find out how high the elevation was. Before this though we stopped and had a bite to eat for dinner so we wouldn’t starve through the night. We then started off on the way to Charleston, WA which was a few hours away. Just around the boarder of VA and WV we ran out of gas on the main tank just as we passed an exit that had gas. I thought that we would find gas at the next exit as it was a big town, however, the next two or three exits had nothing. The Shadow's tank is small to begin with, and the reserve is not very big either, but after about 20 miles or so and some back tracking three or four miles off of the exit we found gas. I really didn't want to have to stop now because we ran out of gas.
Between Charleston and the next checkpoint where a few bonuses, but we skipped them because they where along small roads and in the middle of nowhere so we kept to the main highway. When we got to Wheeling, WV, the last checkpoint, we had problems finding an open gas station. We took every exit in Wheeling, butt still couldn't find an open gas station. Finally after nearly running out of gas yet again we found an open Exxon and got our gas and receipt. By now though I was worried that we would not make it back in time because we where still 200 or so miles out and we only had about 3.5 hours. Along the way we meet up with another person from the rally and it was then that I knew that we had enough time to make it back. We rolled along I-70 through Pennsylvania and saw the sun rise just before we got back to Maryland. Since I used to go to school up in Frostburg, I knew that we had enough time to make it back with a couple of minutes to spare. I decided to make sure that I didn't get caught speeding or anything like that so we wouldn't lose the 500 points for getting a ticket. We made it back to the finish with a couple of minutes to spare. We where so tired that we got a room and slept through most of the banquet because we never got our wakeup call.
We came in 40th out of almost 50 riders or so. Not bad for our first rally of which we only wanted to get our Saddle Sore. Plus we where only a few points from the next seven or so riders. We covered a total of 1132 miles in 24 hours. Next year we plan on doing better.