Two-Bits Two - by Matt Lasley

Yipee! The second Two-Bits rally. Love this thing.

I felt famous. Everybody knew who the guy in the Nighthawk was, since I had so much self-promotion from last year's write-up. Kinda weird. Lots of nice folks though. "Got gas! Read your report!". Yup. So did I. At least I successfully learned one thing, and maybe more. Maybe someone else learned from my mistakes.

Great talking with folks and ogling equipment and picking up t-shirts (actually forgot mine, silly of me) and then rider meeting (already?). Intros and basics and then routes! No midway checkpoint this time. And it was north of last year. Not likely my GPS points from last time will help. Planning and ride! (more detail on those boring parts later).

Rolling on C-470, I remembered what I was thinking here last year. "Just learn something." Hmm. Remind myself that is the point. Win or not, finish or not, learn something that will help in future events from Land of Enchantment 1000 (LOE) to ride-to-work. Gotta remember that. Don't think I did until now this year.

Quite a clump around C-470 to I-70 and then traffic and the Squaw Pass road choice split things up. Funny about riding with other bikes, you really see how bad cars treat us. Nearly saw two of us wiped out in front of me by unthinking car-drivers before reaching even the first stop. Based on last year, I wasn't going down Squaw Pass. But, it seems Randy upped the points for it this time. Tempting… Certainly a fun road though, so any takers were rewarded that way.

So Idaho Springs was first. Found the Steve Canyon statue and get the info and follow another bike out. He points and turns to the left, by the water wheel from last year. Hey, that was last year, that's not the way back to I-70. Up I go, and onto I-70W. Where is that guy, he should have caught up to me at the 4-way stop? Several bonuses later… waitaminute!! There's a progressive bonus at Idaho springs!! I missed it! Gaaaah!!!. Luckily the route would go back through there, and a potential 65-point mistake could be recovered. Just missed writing it on my little navigation card.

Some confusion going to Silver Plume. Georgetown was in my GPS route to figure the total route stuff, but it's not on this rally. Trying to kill that, get the Silver Plume point from last year, within 4 miles of the exit. Taught me a bit about certain limitations of GPS. Found last-year's site easily in Silver Plume, grabbed the firing sequence, street name, back on outta there.

Loveland Pass (first progressive). No traffic! How nice. Fun climb, grab it and return the same way. The same mountain-road-aversion I developed after last year's rally (the aforementioned Squaw Pass road for example) was still in mind, and I though returning the same way would save time over the rest of US-6 to Dillon/Silverthorne. I don't think I'm much faster on these kinds of turns, but I feel smoother, and less scared. Maybe I won't get faster, but I think my body is better off without the black-adrenalin of near-death experiences. The one thing I did do on the descent was my brain connected the near turn with the far turn. So my subconscious was arguing with itself about turning NOW and letting the turn go more gradually. Some sort of self-preservation kicked in to remind everyone that there was a severe drop off between the two options, and I got it turned with some braking. A very ugly turn. Simple turn, but I messed it up big. First huge mistake like that in a while, and it felt like the conscious was just watching it happen, hoping it all turned out alright. In nanoseconds.

On to CO-9 north, and looking for mile marker 106. I'm feeling good for the time made on I-70. I must have a lead on anyone that finished US-6 to this point. Hmm. What if mile marker 106 is behind me? On that road I just skipped?!? Panic! [mp 105]. >whew<. That was a scare. How evil it would have been to put something back there to trap the thinking I had just panicked over. Randy was being nice.

When I picked Ute Pass, I figured it would be dirt, and this might be my "move". Something like Shrine Pass last year, and I'd be in the dirt again. When the turn approached, and I rolled onto glorious, fresh, black, smooth, straight asphalt, I couldn't believe it. Wow! Of course, it meant everyone was going to get this bonus, but.. it was such a relief to know this couldn't possibly hurt my time.

Heeney was tricky in that the first appearance of Heeney road on the south side puts you on 11 miles of road damage with low speed limits. The northern access would have been much better, even from the south side. As I look at a map now, it's obvious, but I was kicking myself at about mile 5 on the southern approach. Oh well. That water looks fun.

In the Colorado Freewheeler's 1000/24 last year, I ran out of gas 7 miles short of Kremmling. Here I was, 15 miles from Kremmling, and out of gas… what is it about this town? Of course, this time, switching to reserve was an option, and I was okay.

At the Cobra bonus the guy on the ST tells me about his 50mpg and 7gal tank and not needing to fill up the whole rally…. Salt, sir… salt in my wounds… He also asks about Willow Creek Pass. With a short miscommunication, I finally admit that I'm not planning on it. Seems too far. Now I'm worried. Perhaps it can be done? No radical re-planning… if they bag it, then so be it.

Fuel and re-water. Man is it hot. I picked the wrong week to ruin my mesh jacket. I've drained 2 liters already to the halfway point. I felt really fast at the stop, making no wasted moves and getting more done at a gas stop than you should have to do. Brake, stop, off, stand, shove bag while grabbing card, insert key while swiping, key the lid while pushing start button, hold the handle hard and watch for three gallons, then ease the rest in. Put it all back, throw my CamelBak on the handlebar, hit bathroom, back and grab water for the CamelBak. Fill, don, hop on the bike and roll on out of there. I wish I'd noted the time.

On to Parshall! Snag the post office info and onward.

Heading into Hot Sulfur Springs, I'm behind a jeep behind a cruiser… and he's just cruising. Felt like 10 below the limit, and there weren't good passes. Hot Sulfur Springs. County seat of Grand County. I'm collecting pictures of my bike in every county seat in Colorado, and here's an opportunity. But I'm doing the Two-Bits! But this bike is so slow, you could stop and then catch him again. Just as I'm about to turn toward the post office, the other bike does too! So I press on. One thing at a time. Two-Bits right now. Temptation resisted.

Granby bonus and south. I'm officially bypassing the Lodge bonus. Possibly the simplest opportunity to nudge up the points. I might have even had time for it, but I really wanted to get back by 3 this time.

On to Fraser. GPS tells me one thing, but I turn earlier (the warning comes on and I flinch) but it's just one block off track, go on up to the Mercantile for progressive bonus two. While I'm writing the info down… DING DING DING DING! Huh? A train!? Yup, a train. Noo!. Okay, this is actually good. I have time to plan these next couple of stops. I do that, and then the nice man in the pickup is letting me in. I pull in and wait. Watch the train. Nice train. Off it goes, gates are up, I let the fellow in from the other street. As I cross the track behind the very slow horse trailer, my brain taps me on the shoulder to remind me… "US-40 is behind you!!" Yes, I waited for a train that did not cross my path. So I turn at the stop and then I can't turn at the next (1-way!) then I do at the next, and when I should turn back toward the way I came, it's 1-way too! Turn away from that path, again at the next and then again to be going back the way I came, then back across the tracks and onto US-40. I think I didn't wave at the guy getting the bonus. I don't think I wanted to be seen. (if you missed that, it's a R, R, L, L, L, L… got it? And yes, I missed a turn in there onto the street that was one way in my favor).

Moffat (hi Roger!) - somewhat tricky answer, certainly an opportunity to go wrong, which we averted. Berthoud Pass is nice (all these roads are nice, much nicer than the dark time I passed through last time on the aforementioned 1000/24 after the sun sat on me as I waited for fuel delivery). Traffic on the descent, but I-70 wasn't so bad. Traffic problem on westbound side, however. Back to Idaho Springs to get the last progressive at the train. Computer says I can make it back by 2:30. I can squeeze one more in. Decide on Alfred Packer bonus since it's more points than Waterton Discovery Pavilion, and seems more on the way. Wander around a little, but find it and find myself heading back to Grand Prix Motorsports (GPM) on time! Unbelievable. The first time ever that I've finished a rally on time. 17 minutes to spare! Someone said the Lodge was 32 miles round trip. I think I did okay on that decision.

Fun day. Very hot. Love my CamelBak. Went through 3.5 liters of water on that ride. Much more relaxed, but I felt I was quicker. Never wandered around cluelessly looking for a bonus like I did on a few last year. Seemed far fewer miles (260 for me, the longest was 355). The Gillespie's took top prize, and I ended up 3rd this time, with a family of 3 on Gold Wings taking first of those new to rallies. I think there were five people/teams with mine or higher scores. I like to think everyone's doing better, I hope I'm not doing worse!

Last year, I went after an ambitious plan, that I barely pulled off with time penalties, learned a lot and got top score through fortunate timing (not being stopped by that helicopter was HUGE I think). Then, at the LOE, I went after an aggressive plan, and could not execute it. Maybe this year's more conservative approach will bleed over on LOE and I'll actually finish!

Thanks so much everyone for the great time. Especially Randy, thanks a bunch. See y'all next year!

Post-Mortem

Okay, the post-mortem type stuff. What'd I learn? I tried a few little technique things.

I got a little hole-punch and punched the route sheets and clipped them with little rings. It was nice, but I don't think it was worth the time and energy. The fold in the paper with a staple wasn't THAT hard to deal with. So that was a bust.

I used sticky flags to mark the pages, right next to the bonus, with the bonus' number on the flag. That actually proved very handy when I wanted to find the bonus I was logging. I also marked the bonuses on the map with an item number and with a point value. This was very handy for thinking on the fly, and it made cross-referencing to the sheet easier when I was re-planning or when I needed detail at a stop quickly. When I bagged a bonus, I moved the sticky from the edge to the middle of the page, out of sight, out of distraction. Green was 'get it' blue was ' definitely get it! (Progressive)' and yellow was "doable, but think first". Make the flags disappear. I like it.

I also cut up my food bars and put them in a zip-lock. The idea was to make it easier to eat on the run, as I've had trouble with wrappers and bit-sizes before on long runs. I wasn't hungry anyway, but afterward I had a zip-lock full of goo! Not very heat-friendly. Don't think this 'trick' worked out.

Card clip worked by accident. This wasn't a planned "trick". My note cards were clipped together with on of those big paperclips. I'd write the info I needed on the card to get me to the next three bonuses or so. The key card was on top of the stack, and the stack was in the clip. The nifty thing was I clipped this to the map in my map case. It was accidental, but what it did was keep the map and cards in place, so the cards didn't cover the map and they didn't slip out of the case! I like it.

Now GPS is the tricky one. Great gadget, but I'm not sure if it was key or not. Certainly was entertaining on the road. Figured out how to glance at the screen, figure out what I was going to press, press it without looking, look to see if it worked, replan the next press. You can spend miles doing very little this way, but it worked pretty well. Anyway, the actual nav-aid goes both ways. For example, at Silver Plume, I knew about that site from last year. But my guess on the coordinates preloaded into the unit was off a bit. I came in and found the bonus while GPS was pointing the other way off the Interstate. So I ignored it. No help there. Loveland pass. I'd have had to point to it on the map to use GPS. I have to tell it where I know something is so it can help me find it? No use there.

Then the marginal cases. In Kremmling it helped me find gas. But if I'd gone the way the guy suggested when I asked him, I'd have found it too. I might have even wasted time keying a few keys to load it up. Many others that were keyed by city would give me useless directions when I got there both because the bonus was on the main street, and because it wasn't where the "city" was in the database.

BUT! When the instructions gave me enough info (intersection) to nail the location, it worked great. The confidence of having the help kept me from second guessing (most of the time). Having the time click down was cathartic, entertaining, and helped me hold a sense of urgency. And I really liked the ability to have a computer help figure when my arrival time should be given the bonus I was adding. It will be key to plan LOE without dragging the laptop to New Mexico.

Bottom line is, I like my toy, but I would never talk someone into getting one. It's marginal improvement over brains and a map (note brains, map and notes were still necessary, and very similar to what I've had used without GPS!). The positives mentioned are enough for me, but it may not be enough for everyone. Being able to use it even slightly effectively will still take a lot of practice. Just don't try to talk me out of mine!

What about the route? Well, I think I could have improved. I'd decided beforehand I wasn't going to do Squaw Pass, but with the bump in value (37 to 61) it may have been worth it. Still, MS S&T shows it as 18 miles longer. I probably had time after coming back through to Idaho Springs to use my cushion to go back up CO-103 to get this bonus instead of (or perhaps in addition to!) the Packer bonus. Squaw Pass would have put me only one point behind the Gillespie's. If I managed it and another like Packer would've put me on top. I didn't even consider it.

Another thing not considered was the National Parks Passport stamp progressive bonus. It was situated right below the La Junta bonus, and I thought it was part of the La Junta bonus, and so I didn't even read it (Bent's Fort turns out to be 350 miles!) The Gillespies were talking about this at the end too. Grabbing these would have been huge. For example, getting all the base route points up to Granby, and then Lodge on Trail Ridge Road and the RMNP passport stops (three of them on Trail Ridge Road, for 300 pts!). Then, get back in a jiffy from Estes Park. If you squeeze in Packer on the way back, that would be an almost 500 point route in under 250 miles, putting it under the shortest route run. That would be the rocking route! But, it seems nobody thought of it. Great bonus Randy. More points, less miles. If you notice.

-- Matt Lasley, Colorado Springs, Colorado, July 2005