2003 MN1K

This was my first endurance rally and I’ve just got one thing to say. What a hoot!!

It all started in Monticello MN, on Friday the 13th, how appropriate, with the Liars Banquet where the rally packs were handed out. We all opened them with the intention of dashing off to our motel rooms and spending some quality time with maps and highlighters. But nooooo, no regular bonuses, just some big mile rides for no points for several folks that are vying for some special awards. It does say that we might want to bowl a lane or three and save our score sheets for a possible big points bonus the next day. Coincidentally we’re at a bowling alley! So we dutifully line up and get funny shoes and start chucking bowling balls. Team Strange started out as a bowling team, hence the bowling theme tonight. Some folks even dress up in their riding gear and toss a few balls. Personally I think this is just a twisted plan to debilitate our throttle hands so tomorrow night about 10pm we’ll all be in agony, I’m not far from wrong.

In the morning we all gather back at the bowling alley for the start. We get our second rally pack and all wait for the signal to open them. In unison they’re all ripped open and we start paging through the 40 bonuses. First I’m looking for that big meaty bonus, the one that might be too far away. Ah, there it is, 7,000 points for the “Great Lakes of Minnesota” a far flung trip to connect 7 of the states biggest lakes, about 1400 miles I guess. Too much for this rookie, not this time, the finish is 24 hours a way and NO grace period, period. Show up in 24 hrs. and 1 second and your a DNF. That would violate my second goal for the rally, to finish. My first goal is to have fun, so what else is in here? Hmmm, Angle Inlet, that’s in an area known as the Northwest Angle. If you look at a map of Minnesota you’ll see at the very top a little pointy piece, that’s the NW Angle, the farthest north in the lower 48 states, only accessible through Canada, worth almost 3,500 points. I like that one. Next is a bonus in Grand Maris on the north shore of Lake Superior worth 2,000, I like that too. A personal bonus is that these two spots are connected by Hwy 1, Minnesota’s answer to Deals Gap, not as “oh my gawd” twisty as DG but 3 or 4 time as long through the pine forests of northern Minnesota. There are a couple of bonuses to pick up on the way to Grand Marais, 3 or 4 heading west to the Angle and 5 or 6 on the way back to St. Cloud for the finish. That’s it, that’s my route and I’m off.
I’m beginning to scents something fishy about these bonuses, they all have a fishing theme, which for Minnesota is very appropriate. Big fiberglass fish of one variety or another, water towers painted like big bobbers, Willie the Worm, Mories Fish House, Paul Bunyon’s anchor and many more.

I crest the hill just south of Duluth and can see Lake Superior and it’s unusually blue, almost cobalt. The air is cool as I wind my way down into the city, out the other side and northeast along the North Shore. The farther I go up the shore the higher the Sawbill Mountains rise to my left and the farther Lake Superior stretches out to my right. Great sh*t! I arrive in Grand Marais, find the Beaver House, a bait and tackle shop and now need to describe the “unique architectural feature of this building”. Could it be the huge fiberglass fish on the roof?? That’s my answer. I also need a purchase from the shop and at the advise of the man behind the counter I choose the Loraina Bobbit Worm Whacker, fifty eight cents, including tax. As I’m heading back southwest out of town the day is so beautiful I’m tempted to just quit right here. I could get one of the $25 a night, bathroom down the hall, rooms at the East Bay Hotel. Have dinner at the Angry Trout over looking Lake Superior and top it off with a Black and Tan from the Gunflint Tavern. But instead I grab 3rd gear and twist the throttle hard to escape the temptation.

I know there’s a short cut from Grand Marais to Isabella on the forest roads of the Superior Nat. Forest and if I were a good dirt rider and was riding a GS/KTM/KLR I’d be tempted, but I’m not so I stick to the hard black stuff. Hwy 1 from Isabella to Ely is a wonderfull road, it’s one of those old roads that conforms to the land rather than cuts through it. It ducks and dodges throught he pine forests, lakes and bogs of northern Minnesota for 35 or 40 miles, sweet. That is until the moose. A big gray hulking critter off on my left down in a bog. I practice my panic braking and he ambles off into the woods, thank you God. Once in Ely I’m too late for a bonus there and just continue through town and on to Orr and Kabetogama for photo bonuses of more big fish. I brush the south edge of International Fall and stop for Willie the Worm in Pelland. While I’m getting my photo of Willie another rider, Victor Wanchena, arrives and a couple of kids come out to greet/bother us. They’ve seen other riders stop here and are begining to get the drift of what’s going on. Victor shows them some of his Polaroids (of the fish, of the fish!!) and we suggest to these young fellas that they should ask many, many questions of all the riders that follow us. Apparently it worked, even got to the point where these boys were asking for autographs, good kids. There’s another big fish statue in Baudette where I run into John Coons and Pat ??? They’re on the Great Lakes Of MN bonus and want to go to the Angle If there’s time. Once we get to Warroad they decide there’s not time and head for Ortonville. It’s about 10:30pm.
That leaves me alone to head up to the Angle. When I hooked up with John and Pat in Baudette and thought they would go to the Angle too I was looking forward to the company because I wasn’t too sure I wanted to tackle this one alone. The Angle is one of those “it’s not the end of the world but you can see it from here” kinda places. There’s supposed to be 20 or 30 miles of gravel on the way, none of my maps showed any of the roads up there, the bonus sheet gave directions, they looked like good directions but all directions, even bad ones look good before you try to follow them and what if I crash my bike and get eaten by a bear or get lost and end up in Saskatoon...... I was trying to talk myself out of going there but John’s words haunted me “it’d be a shame to come all this way and not get the points”. So, even if I do get eaten by a bear or lost and wind up in Moose Jaw at least it’ll be in the pursuit of big bonus points and what could be more noble than that.

I head north out of Warroad and the sign says Angle Inlet 53. After the border crossing the road is straight and flat with fog about 3 feet high stretching out into the fields on both sides of the road. I turn on 308 per the bonus sheet, another good road and when I look off to my right the full moon has just risen. It’s this fat orangey orb off to the east just above the horizon. I return my attention to the road in front of me and then I see it! The night sky from the horizon to what seems like 45 degrees above and my full field of view left to right is awash with dancing lights from the Northern Lights, phenomenal! So here I am cruising along at a good clip in the middle of the night in the middle of no where simultaneously trying to watch the full moon rise, the Northern Lights and the ditches for critters. We’re havn’ some fun now!

Just like the directions say near Moose Lake the road turns to gravel, good gravel, hard packed not too many marbles, long straight stretches I’m able to maintain a good 55 mph on it. I then arrive at the U.S. border. No staffed outpost up here just a plywood booth with a video phone. I answer a lot of questions that I get the feeling he all ready knows the answers to. A few more miles and I’m at the end of the road, Jerry’s Bar and Restaurant and across the parking lot is a pay phone, I need the number and I’ve bagged my points. It’s midnight, now I just need to get outa here.

Back down the gravel to the video phone, more questions, more gravel then finally back to the good old hard and black stuff. On to the border crossing and back into Warroad. I set the GPS to find the finish, 300 and some odd miles, ETA 6:45 am. I want to arrive before 7:00am so I can get my 3 hour sleep bonus (3 hours in the same place no other bonuses collected) worth 2000 points. If you add stops for gas it’ll be close, if you add stops for bonuses I’ll be late. I check and see how much the bonuses are worth hmmmm 1100 for sure easy to get to points on the way. A couple of others maybe 1850 if I wander. That’s it, no more bonuses just head for St. Cloud and the finish and collect the easy 2000.

Just north of Akley on Hwy 64 there’s a point where the road goes between two lakes. I hit this spot just before dawn, the sun isn’t up yet but the sky is getting brighter. As I pass between these twin lakes I look off to the west and see the full moon setting, shimmering off the lake. Then I gaze off to the east and see the blue and pink pre-dawn sky reflecting on the lake with the silhouetted pine forests along the shore line, oh to have time to stop and enjoy this view!! A little farther south I pick up Hwy 10 and slide into St. Cloud I gas up and use that as the start of my sleep bonus 6:38 am, cool. I ride down the road to the finish at Donahue HD, park my bike and find a comfy spot on the sidewalk for a nap.

Riders are arriving and my so called sleep is fitful so I’m up and chatting with the others there. I get my last receipt after 9:38 to finish my sleep bonus and organize my receipts, photos and bonus sheet making sure I’ve got everything and approach the scoring table. This is where everything I’ve done in the last 24 hours will be scrutinized and possibility thrown out. I sit down with John the Bike Borrower, fuel log OK, mandatory checkpoints OK, this bonus that bonus, this receipt that receipt, photos all OK. Total 10,sumthin points. Holy sh!t, that’s almost 11,000 points, WOW I did good.

We hang around some more while everyone gets scored and then there’s a great pig roast. Next is the awards, I’m thinking I don’t even know what class I’m in!! They’re handing out plaques for the top 5 places in each class. When they get to third place in the Touring class they call my name!! I’m shocked and amazed, I’ve got hardware!

My goals were to: 1) Have fun, check. 2) Finish, check. 3) Make as few mistakes as possible. I’m pretty proud of my first effort in this endurance rally thing. I put in a solid ride, about 1,100 miles, I got nearly 11,000 points, I went places and saw things I likely would have never been to or seen and may never see again. But the thing I’m most proud of is the fact that I didn’t loose any points at the scorers table. In other words, I didn’t beat myself. Goal #3, check.

“To a man of imagination, a map is a window to adventure.”
Sir Francis Chichester