Long Distance

The Early Years

I started out my LD career in 2007 with an invite to the GLMC Bonzai Rally, a 12 hour event, from a good friend of mine.  Back then I had a Yamaha R1 and a whole lot of the wrong gear but I was told this would be a blast!  It was and by following my friend around for 12 hours on the rally doing what I was told… I got 1st place in rookie – forever banished into the expert class in the GLMC according to the rules.

 

In 2008 I got talked into riding my R1 on my 1st 24 hour rally, the 2008 Minnesota 1000 (MN1K) and had a similar experience in my 1st TeamStrange event taking 1st in the sport class doing nothing more than following my friends BrianJ and Darryl around for 24 hours.  I will forever remember Bethany, Missouri as it was my 1st introduction to the iron butt motel where the three of us joined three others for a nap on the sidewalk in front of a gas station.  During that rally I realized that if I were going to continue doing these events I needed to get a bike better suited to the task.  Several others have done it on sport bikes but it is definitely more difficult than other types of bikes.

 

Enter the FJR

In the spring of 2009 after years of research on the perfect bike for me I pulled the trigger on a carryover 2008 Yamaha FJR1300A.  I then begun laborious process of setting it up for me.  I’ll have page dedicated to what I’ve done to my FJR here when time permits.

My Long Distance Resume

• 2007 Bonzai (12hr) – 1st Place Rookie
• 2007 Buffalo (12hr) – 5th Place Expert
• 2008 Bonzai (12hr) – 14th Place Expert
• 2008 MN1K (24hr) – 1st Place Sport
• 2008 Buffalo (12hr) – 3rd Place Expert
• 2008 Harvest (12hr) – DNF
• 2009 MN1K (24hr) – 4th Place Sport/Touring
• 2009 Buffalo (12hr) – 2nd Place Expert
• 2009 Harvest (12hr) – 3rd Place Expert
• 2010 FJRForum CFO Rally Rallye (8hr) – 1st Place Overall – No time for mistakes!
• 2010 MN2010 (48hr) – 16th Place Overall and 2495 miles
• 2010 IB5000 (5 Day) – 21st Place Overall
• 2011 IBR (11 Day) – 25th Place Overall and 11,341 miles
• 2011 MN1K (24hr) – 4th Place Overall and 1208 miles
• 2012 MN1K (36hr) – 10 Place Expert and 1839 miles
• 2013 MN1K (25hr) – 7th Place Expert and 1022 miles (hit a deer, cut ride short)
• 2014 MN1K(24hr) – 2nd Place Overall and 1169 miles
• 2014 Butt Lite 7 (6 day) – 4th Place and 6571 miles
• 2015 IBR (11 Day) – 3rd Place and 10,365 miles