The Not So Superman Ride

Once upon a time I saw a notice about a ride called The Not So Superman Rally. This ride was a coast to coast the Hard Way, starting in Coney Island, NY and ending in San Francisco, CA in no more than 50 hours. I was intrigued and I signed up. Most people will ride the coast to coast between Jacksonville, FL and San Diego, CA as it is the shortest distance (2,341 miles) but this ride is longer in mileage (2,950) and that is why it is called the Hard Way. 

Fast forward and September 9 arrived. I had prepared my route, the gas stops, prepared the bike and prepared myself for this ride, or at least prepared myself as much I could. Having dealt with some auto immune type issues for the past 10 months it had become very important for me to do this ride and it was my personal challenge to ride and finish.  I met up with my friend Ken Aman off the New York Thruway and Roy Kjendal and Marc Bialt joined us well. We rode down to Coney Island the get the

Water/sand sample - Atlantic

Insanely large cakes

customary water and sand sample from the Atlantic Ocean. Of course we could not be in Coney Island and not have a Nathan’s hot dog. It was hot and humid and a storm was looming in the distance. The walk from where we parked the bikes to the ocean, across the beach, felt like it was a mile and not the quarter mile it was. After the sample we rode to the hotel in Edison, NJ to meet the other riders and Jim Puckett, the organizer for the ride and the the mandatory riders meeting. Originally I think there were some 50 riders signed up for this but the end result was 21 riders participating. I was the only female. Jim went over the rules, checked everyone’s odometers and then we had dinner at Harold’s New York Deli. Oh my goodness – the size of the portions! I have never been to a Jewish family style deli before but this was borderline insane (how fitting, insanely large portions for some insane people doing an insane ride). I ended up just having a cup of chicken soup which was delish!. I went to bed at 8 pm as the alarm was set for 2 am and sleep is always important prior to a long ride and you are lucky if you do get some sleep. I did, thankfully!

Greeted by Joanna at 2.30 am

When I came down to the lobby around 2.30 am on Saturday September 10 I was surprised and happy to see a rider friend, Joanna, there. She had come to see us off and take some photos. Shortly after 3 am there were a few of us that rode together to the gas station on Coney Island where we were starting. Jim lead the way in his Honda Pilot. Holy moly, he drove that thing like he stole it! I had a hart time keeping up. At the gas station I topped off my gas, did some last minute adjustments, zeroed my odometer and got ready for 4 am to arrive. It was one minute to 4 am when Jim rolled out as he was going to lead us for about 27 miles. We all followed at what I can only call a "spirited pace". While this was an organized group ride by IBA (Iron Butt Association)standards it didn’t mean we were all riding together as a group once we hit I-80. About 25 minutes in to the ride most of theguys were out of my sight and the rain arrived. I settled in for the ride and turned on the music. There was very little traffic through New Jersey and

Avenue of Flags

Pennsylvania. Because I can never do things the easy way I had routed myselfwith a stop at one of the Tour  Of Honor sites in Pennsylvania. It was only 20 minutes out of the way so why not. I have been wanting to get this site for some time as it is very unique with all the flags. 

The weather turned sunny and nice. Tigger hummed along I-80 through Ohio, Indiana, Illinois. Somewhere in Illinois the GPS decided to recalculate and I missed my turn. It took me 20 miles out of the way to get back on track. Things happen. You refocus and continue. We rode in to Iowa and the wind picked up quite a bit and the stayed with us through Nebraska. It was a heavy headwind and it did impact my gas mileage and planned gas stops. Luckily my friend Marco got online and sent me a couple of 24 hour gas stations along my route as I was a little worried with the timing and the distance of the gas stops due to the wind. I passed south of Chicago and while the traffic was steady there was nothing to be concerned about. The corn fields in

 Iowa were so beautiful in the evening sun with the blue sky and white clouds. The sun set and darkness arrived. I was challenged with an angry stomach for about 12 hours of the ride and it is not fun to have to vomit at every stop but I found that sipping Gatorade seemed to calm it down and eventually I felt better. This is all part of the dang auto immune issues I have been dealing with. Some days I can't eat properly and everything upsets my stomach. Back to the ride. I picked up another Tour Of Honor site in Nebraska. That stop was around 1.30 am on Sunday September 11. When I pulled up to the site, which is at the Woods River

Volunteer Fire Department there was a pick up truck in the parking lot and I was about to take the picture when this truck pulled up next to me. It was the fire chief and just moments before I arrived he had lowered the flags in memory of 9/11. He was curious as to what I was doing and I told him about the Tour of Honor and that I was on my way to San Francisco. He thank me for stopping by. I stopped for about half an hour at a rest area somewhere in Nebraska. I needed to refocus and put on my heated liner. It wasn't cold but after being on the bike for so many hours and not feeling great for a while I was feeling cold to the core. That stop was just what I needed. The sun came up behind me in Wyoming and that is always a wonderful feeling and it energizes me. It was cool and breezy. I have never been through the southern part of Wyoming on I-80 and it is a very different landscape compared to further north. Traffic was very light. It got a lot warmer once I entered Utah. I was humming along when I suddenly saw these two bikes come zooming up. They passed me, slowed down and pointed to their side panniers. And suddenly I saw these notes that said “Go Minna Go” and “Go Tigger Go”. I was puzzled. Who were these people? At the next exit I pulled off. I turns out they were friends of my friend Victoria in Connecticut and she had asked them to “escort” me for a while through Utah. Jude is the founder of WAR - Women Adventure Riders on Facebook so I knew who she was and had chatted with her online. Her and her husband Andreas rode with me through Salt Lake and all the way to the Nevada border. That was a very nice surprise and put a huge smile on my face... so did the nice sweeping turns coming in to Salt Lake. I just love those! At one point Andreas slowed down asking if I needed gas and I said no. What I didn't realize at that point was that it was 66 miles to the next gas stop. As we traveled at a pretty good pace I

At Bonneville. Photo by Jude.

suddenly noticed that my gas had dropped significantly and I figured I would probably run out of gas before the next gas station so I passed Andreas and pointed at the upcoming rest area. Thankfully I had my spare gas bottles with me and that took care if it. I made it to the next gas stop without a problem. It just happened to be right by the Bonneville Speedway. Jude took a nice photo of me by one of the signs. I was tempted to see if I could break Valarie Thompson’s recent speed record that she had just set the weekend before. She is the fastest woman on two wheels! Jude, Andreas and I parted ways at Bonneville. 

Riding through Nevada was windy and hot and I can honestly say I would not be sad if I never ride that stretch of I-80 again!!! The day light faded right before Reno and then it was time to climb up, over and down Donner Pass. That was fun and I welcomed the cooler temperature! Sacramento came and went and before I knew it I only had 40 miles left to the end. I was feeling a little sluggish so at

the last gas stop, a few sour patch kids did the trick. Traffic was light but then it was Sunday night so that was helpful. I pulled in to the Golden Gate Vista Point at 11.46 pm PST. This put me at 46 hours and 46 minutes from the time I started the ride in Coney Island. I was greeted by Jerry White, who was the end of the ride witness, Kaarin Brooke who was the official photographer and Erik Lipps. Unfortunately the fog had settled low on the bridge so I’m pretty sure the photo didn’t turn out as good as I had hoped. But it really didn't matter. After chatting for a while I got back on the bike and rode over the Golden Gate Bridge to the hotel where some of the riders where staying. My friend Ken was the first one to finish the ride at an astonishing 38.5 hours! He was followed by Eric Edelman at 39 hours and then a slew of riders. I did find out that I wasn't the last one to arrive.

In the morning a bunch of us met at Baker Beach and Kaarin took a nice group photo with the Golden Gate Bridge in the back ground. I got my sand and water sample from the Pacific and took some

Pacific water & sand sample - and TT

photos. We went and had a nice breakfast at the Seal Rock Inn before parting ways. I rode Tigger to Jerry White's house who had offered to store him while I flew home for work. The long distance rider community is such a caring and helpful group of folks. In a few weeks I will be flying to California to ride home and as of right now – I will not try to do it

Breakfast of Supermen & Woman

in 46 hours and 46 minutes... Just take a little more time to get back home. All throughout the ride I had my "support team" of a few fellow riders who kept me motivated, encouraged and sent positive notes and followed my SPOT tracker. While I never felt that the ride was too much or too hard for me it was so nice to have the support along the way. I knew I would not be a fast rider but steady and there is a reason for why my nickname is "Turtle"...

On the flight from Oakland I met two lovely ladies. Terri and Heidi, who had just been to Napa and Sonoma. We had the greatest conversation and time flew by. I was almost sad when we parted ways in Chicago.  It is not every day you meet people that you feel you want to get to know more and continue great conversations. We exchanged contact information and continued my travels home. Cheers ladies! It was a true pleasure to share the flight with you! It was weird to get in to the car and drive after 3,000 miles on the bike in such short period of time. This ride was my personal challenge and I get asked all the time, mostly by people who don't ride, why I did it. Well, I did it because I wanted to see if I got what it takes and also because of all the health issues I have been dealing with. I wanted to make sure that I can put mind over matter. And I did! I truly enjoyed the ride and never once did I feel bored or wondered what I was doing. As I always say "Four wheels move the body but two wheels move the soul". I would like to thank Jim Puckett for organizing this ride and handling the logistics and for being the starting witness. Without you coordinating this and putting the idea in my head I don't think I would have done the ride, so thank you! And of course this ride would never been possible without friends who help out with Bailey and other logistics, and nothing would be possible without my boy - TIGGER!

Some facts:  # of gas stops: 19 (I don't ride with a fuel cell) # of gallons of fuel used: 76.96.   total amount for fuel: $202.52    total amount for tolls paid with EZpass: $57.28  total amount of tolls paid in California: $9.50.

Total joy, pride and satisfaction: PRICELESS   but for everything else there is MasterCard...