I rode the 60 hour 2021 North by Northwest Rally based out of Bend, Oregon on September 10-12, 2021. I've ridden many 24-44 hour rallies going all the way back to 1995, but this was still a big learning experience for me. Most of my rallying experience dates from the Polaroids-and-paper-maps era. This was only my second LD rally using flags for bonus photos (the previous being the 2016 Cal 24 Rally), and this was my first time using a GPS for rally routing. Yes, really.
Rallymaster Gary Huff handed out the rally packs Thursday night during an excellent pre-rally banquet. The theme of NNW this year was "Ring of Fire," as most bonuses related to volcanic sites. Bonus locations were scattered throughout the Pacific Northwest, down into California, and as far away as New Mexico. I put together a route plan in Basecamp that looked like this:
This route should have been very doable in the 60 hours allotted for the rally, and it gave me contingency options if something went wrong and I needed to take a more direct route back to Bend. We started at 5:30am Friday morning (Sep 10) amid a rare late summer downpour in the central Oregon high desert. My little FJ-09 looked out of place among the massive touring rigs favored by everyone else.
Rainy 5:30am start in Bend, Oregon
I started executing my plan, heading north to collect some volcano bonuses including Mt. Jefferson and Mt. Hood, then up into Washington for Mt. St. Helens and a few others. Most bonuses required a photo showing my rally flag (I was #29) and some other specific elements. As always, reading comprehension of the rally pack was key.
Warner Peak near Enumclaw, Washington
The rain stopped mid-morning, but I'd forgotten what a time suck western Washington could be. I was executing my plan flawlessly and on schedule, but didn't get out of the Sea-Tac metropolis until 4:00pm. I'd done 500 miles in 10.5 hours at this point. This was a good pace, but the congestion of NW Oregon and SW Washington made it feel like a slog. It felt good to finally stretch the FJ's legs on I-90 across Wasington and Idaho, despite the return of heavy rain. I collected a few more bonii on my way to Missoula, Montana, where I took a high value rest bonus.
Wallace, Idaho
I got a solid 7.5 hours of sleep in Missoula and awoke Saturday morning feeling great. Wind in Montana was strong (as usual) so I had to get creative when displaying my flag for some bonuses. In this photo I used a Roc Strap to secure the flag to my windshield. I need a better system for flag management.
Crown Butte, Montana
I continued south through Montana to West Yellowstone, then turned back west through Idaho.
Evel Knievel's gravesite in Butte, Montana
West Yellowstone, Montana
Near Craters of the Moon in Idaho
When I rolled into Vale, Oregon for a visit to the Bates Motel, I noticed some new clicking noise from my chain when off-throttle. I decided to skip a low value out-of-the-way bonus in Rome, and headed straight for Burns on US-20. Somewhere on this stretch I checked into the Iron Butt Motel (a rest stop picnic table) for about an hour.
Vale, Oregon
By the time I stopped for gas in Burns, the drive chain was getting louder, but it still hadn't registered in my brain that this might be a serious problem. I really should have stopped in Riley to inspect the chain carefully, but I was focused on my plan and turned south on US-395 towards Lakeview. Growing concern gnawed at me though, and when I got to the intersection of the Christmas Valley Road I decided to stop for a detailed inspection.
The intersection of US-395 and Christmas Valley Road is unimaginably dark and remote at 3:00am. When I removed my helmet and ear plugs I could hear a lot of movement out in the pitch black desert, mostly from a bunch of coyotes who yip-yip-yipped at me with what seemed a great vehemence. I shone my flashlight into the night, but swinging the beam back and forth revealed nothing but desert and darkness.
Reminding myself that coyotes hardly ever attack humans, I set to work inspecting the chain. I didn't see anything obviously wrong; all the o-rings and rollers looked okay, and the ScottOiler was keeping the chain well lubed. But there were now noticeable tight and loose spots in the chain.
As the coyotes persisted with their message of unwelcome, I decided the chain was safe enough to continue riding. But for how long? Continuing in a direction further away from home seemed unwise. So I made the difficult decision to skip the remaining bonuses in southern Oregon and head straight back to Bend. I wasn't exactly abandoning my plan though, since this change simply put me on one of the contingency routes I anticipated way back on Thursday night. I had even designed my route so that the later items - the ones I skipped - all had lower points values anyway.
Eastern Oregon has more wildlife than traffic late at night, so even with my massive PIAA LP550s blazing across the desert I set the cruise control to 54mph. I hit at least two kangaroo rats, and had to swerve around a couple of rabbits and coyotes. I didn't encounter any deer, thankfully. At this low speed it took me a while to get back to the barn, but I rolled into Bend without incident just after 6:00am.
I settled into a booth at the local Black Bear Diner, where I dove into some steak and eggs and my rally paperwork. Gary Huff saw my nearby Spot signal and came to check on me. I informed him of my chain worries, and he agreed that it was a good decision. After breakfast I checked into the hotel early for some rest and a shower. The next rally participant didn't roll into the parking lot until seven hours later, at which point I was already rested, showered, and sporting a classy aloha shirt.
During yet another scrumptious meal at the finishers banquet I learned that I'd placed 9th overall, which I'm pretty happy about considering all the time and points I left on the table. I rode 2210 miles in 48.5 hours, and executed a plan that worked exactly as I'd hoped. The rally itself was great fun and extremely well organized; kudos to Gary Huff for putting on a first class rally with delicious food, excellent swag, and fantastic route options. Gary said he wanted to make this rally a good learning experience for people who want to ride in the IBR and other big rallies, and I feel it was exactly that. Gary held us to a high standard while truly mentoring me and many other riders without IBR experience. The North By Northwest Rally will move to the Colorado Springs area next year, and I wholeheartedly recommend it.
As for the bike... I still firmly believe the FJ-09/Tracer 900 is a viable LD platform for someone who wants a lighter, more manageable bike that can still be comfortable over long miles. But as for me personally, I'm kind of pissed that a DID X-ring chain failed on me despite good maintenance. The chain only had ~14k miles on it at the beginning of the rally and I run a ScottOiler, so really it should have been fine. I'm at the point in my life where I want to get more serious about LD riding, and I'm shopping for something with shaft drive.
Rallymaster Gary Huff handed out the rally packs Thursday night during an excellent pre-rally banquet. The theme of NNW this year was "Ring of Fire," as most bonuses related to volcanic sites. Bonus locations were scattered throughout the Pacific Northwest, down into California, and as far away as New Mexico. I put together a route plan in Basecamp that looked like this:
This route should have been very doable in the 60 hours allotted for the rally, and it gave me contingency options if something went wrong and I needed to take a more direct route back to Bend. We started at 5:30am Friday morning (Sep 10) amid a rare late summer downpour in the central Oregon high desert. My little FJ-09 looked out of place among the massive touring rigs favored by everyone else.
Rainy 5:30am start in Bend, Oregon
I started executing my plan, heading north to collect some volcano bonuses including Mt. Jefferson and Mt. Hood, then up into Washington for Mt. St. Helens and a few others. Most bonuses required a photo showing my rally flag (I was #29) and some other specific elements. As always, reading comprehension of the rally pack was key.
Warner Peak near Enumclaw, Washington
The rain stopped mid-morning, but I'd forgotten what a time suck western Washington could be. I was executing my plan flawlessly and on schedule, but didn't get out of the Sea-Tac metropolis until 4:00pm. I'd done 500 miles in 10.5 hours at this point. This was a good pace, but the congestion of NW Oregon and SW Washington made it feel like a slog. It felt good to finally stretch the FJ's legs on I-90 across Wasington and Idaho, despite the return of heavy rain. I collected a few more bonii on my way to Missoula, Montana, where I took a high value rest bonus.
Wallace, Idaho
I got a solid 7.5 hours of sleep in Missoula and awoke Saturday morning feeling great. Wind in Montana was strong (as usual) so I had to get creative when displaying my flag for some bonuses. In this photo I used a Roc Strap to secure the flag to my windshield. I need a better system for flag management.
Crown Butte, Montana
I continued south through Montana to West Yellowstone, then turned back west through Idaho.
Evel Knievel's gravesite in Butte, Montana
West Yellowstone, Montana
Near Craters of the Moon in Idaho
When I rolled into Vale, Oregon for a visit to the Bates Motel, I noticed some new clicking noise from my chain when off-throttle. I decided to skip a low value out-of-the-way bonus in Rome, and headed straight for Burns on US-20. Somewhere on this stretch I checked into the Iron Butt Motel (a rest stop picnic table) for about an hour.
Vale, Oregon
By the time I stopped for gas in Burns, the drive chain was getting louder, but it still hadn't registered in my brain that this might be a serious problem. I really should have stopped in Riley to inspect the chain carefully, but I was focused on my plan and turned south on US-395 towards Lakeview. Growing concern gnawed at me though, and when I got to the intersection of the Christmas Valley Road I decided to stop for a detailed inspection.
The intersection of US-395 and Christmas Valley Road is unimaginably dark and remote at 3:00am. When I removed my helmet and ear plugs I could hear a lot of movement out in the pitch black desert, mostly from a bunch of coyotes who yip-yip-yipped at me with what seemed a great vehemence. I shone my flashlight into the night, but swinging the beam back and forth revealed nothing but desert and darkness.
Reminding myself that coyotes hardly ever attack humans, I set to work inspecting the chain. I didn't see anything obviously wrong; all the o-rings and rollers looked okay, and the ScottOiler was keeping the chain well lubed. But there were now noticeable tight and loose spots in the chain.
As the coyotes persisted with their message of unwelcome, I decided the chain was safe enough to continue riding. But for how long? Continuing in a direction further away from home seemed unwise. So I made the difficult decision to skip the remaining bonuses in southern Oregon and head straight back to Bend. I wasn't exactly abandoning my plan though, since this change simply put me on one of the contingency routes I anticipated way back on Thursday night. I had even designed my route so that the later items - the ones I skipped - all had lower points values anyway.
Eastern Oregon has more wildlife than traffic late at night, so even with my massive PIAA LP550s blazing across the desert I set the cruise control to 54mph. I hit at least two kangaroo rats, and had to swerve around a couple of rabbits and coyotes. I didn't encounter any deer, thankfully. At this low speed it took me a while to get back to the barn, but I rolled into Bend without incident just after 6:00am.
I settled into a booth at the local Black Bear Diner, where I dove into some steak and eggs and my rally paperwork. Gary Huff saw my nearby Spot signal and came to check on me. I informed him of my chain worries, and he agreed that it was a good decision. After breakfast I checked into the hotel early for some rest and a shower. The next rally participant didn't roll into the parking lot until seven hours later, at which point I was already rested, showered, and sporting a classy aloha shirt.
During yet another scrumptious meal at the finishers banquet I learned that I'd placed 9th overall, which I'm pretty happy about considering all the time and points I left on the table. I rode 2210 miles in 48.5 hours, and executed a plan that worked exactly as I'd hoped. The rally itself was great fun and extremely well organized; kudos to Gary Huff for putting on a first class rally with delicious food, excellent swag, and fantastic route options. Gary said he wanted to make this rally a good learning experience for people who want to ride in the IBR and other big rallies, and I feel it was exactly that. Gary held us to a high standard while truly mentoring me and many other riders without IBR experience. The North By Northwest Rally will move to the Colorado Springs area next year, and I wholeheartedly recommend it.
As for the bike... I still firmly believe the FJ-09/Tracer 900 is a viable LD platform for someone who wants a lighter, more manageable bike that can still be comfortable over long miles. But as for me personally, I'm kind of pissed that a DID X-ring chain failed on me despite good maintenance. The chain only had ~14k miles on it at the beginning of the rally and I run a ScottOiler, so really it should have been fine. I'm at the point in my life where I want to get more serious about LD riding, and I'm shopping for something with shaft drive.
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