The Road to IRONBEARD: Part 6

One year. That’s how long it has been since I last wrote a blog entry. The 1000-mile IRONBEARD run has been temporarily put on the backburner due to other priorities.

A lot can happen in a year and a lot has. Aside from evacuating for the Line Fire back in September and removing all things META from my life, most of my time and effort have been spent preparing for the Scooter Cannonball. Very little (none) of that has involved riding.

What is the Scooter Cannonball? Essentially, a bunch of people with too much free time ride across the country every other year while hitting checkpoints along the way. This year’s route starts in Seaside, Oregon and ends in South Padre Island, Texas covering roughly 4000 miles in 8 days.

Simplify, then add lightness – Colin Chapman

Riding a 9hp motorcycle like Booger 4000 miles in 8 days is already a challenge. There’s no reason to make it more difficult by being heavy. Back in July, I weighed 237lbs (107kg, 16.9 stone or 7.37 slugs). Loaded down with fuel and water, the total weight was approaching or exceeding the stated limit of the bike. I set off to change that.

I started by getting up at 0430 and walking 5 miles before work every morning. That was taking too long and opted to start running. A Garmin smartwatch tracked my calorie expenditure but the weight wasn’t coming off as quickly as I’d like. If being healthy was the goal, I was knocking it out of the park. The goal was to lose weight, not be healthy.

Running stalled after being evacuated in September. Then holidays came. By December 5th, the scale was reading 245. Unacceptable. Coming into February and having only 5 months to go, drastic measures needed to be taken. Extreme calorie restrictions have resulted in my weight sitting at 190lbs right now with the hope that it will be down under 185 at the start of the cannonball on June 22nd.

A van named Pearl

My wife has volunteered to drive as a support vehicle. I don’t know why she chose to volunteer to do something so time-consuming but she did and I’m not letting her out of it.

The original idea was for her to drive our Subaru Outback. I would trailer Booger up to Seaside, Oregon and she would drive it across the country to South Padre Island, Texas. She didn’t want to pull a trailer. I don’t blame her. Pulling a trailer sucks. The plan evolved to me renting a trailer to get to Seaside, turning it in and her driving without a trailer to Texas. I would then rent another trailer to bring the bike home.

But what happens if I break down?

It became clear that the Subaru plan wasn’t going to work out and the search was on for a suitable alternative. We looked at a couple vans but I needed a high-roof model which limited options. The only van with a high roof that remotely fit in the ever growing budget was a Nissan NV2500. So, I bought one.

Pearl (the name we decided on) was acquired in September. Between then and now it has gotten new tires, a new windshield, backup camera, some paint and E-tracks on a new plywood floor to carry bikes. Three weeks ago, we were given a nice surprise when the A/C compressor decided to seize. Into the shop she went and now we’re back in business. Let’s hope that’s the end of the van drama. She goes up for sale when we get back in July.

Booger

 I will admit that I have wasted a lot of time, time better spent preparing than concentrating on weight loss only. We can’t go back. Therefore, we can only move forward.

New Care Bear for the cannonball. Hopefully, it brings good luck

On my misadventure, I glazed the clutch weight pads. It was still usable but slipped occasionally. I had originally planned on riding the cannonball as they were but thought better of it. With all the time and money invested, it didn’t make sense to go into it with a known issue. Also knowing that any project I take on can take weeks (or months) to complete while I figure out what I’m doing, I took the easier and more expensive option and had a dealership replace the clutch parts.

I also bent the rear wheel which I discovered later while filming a YouTube video. Luckily, I had already ordered a spare set of used wheels from WeBike and they arrived the same day. Still, that wheel needed to be unbent. Where do you go when spokes are involved? Buchanan’s. Lucky for me, they are located less than 20 minutes from where I work.

There really hasn’t been a lot else necessary to get Booger ready. The prep for IRONBEARD is essentially the same. Different tires (Michelin City Extras), some heavier oil (RedLine 10w50) and playing around with sprockets is about it. Oh, and another shot at highway pegs.

I’m not the only crazy one

 As of my last count, there are 6 Trail125s participating in the Scooter Cannonball. There are also 10 Monkeys, one Grom and two SuperCubs. Only masochists would choose to ride such underpowered bikes at this event which gave me an idea. Team “Masochists in Motion” was born.

The team only has two members but that’s enough. You don’t need much of an excuse to make another logo.

Three weeks to Cannonball

I’m leaving my home in Southern California in less than three weeks to prepare on location in Seaside before the event. Day one is Sunday, June 22nd. There’s a lot of little things left to do but the main thing is showing up to the start. I’ll be there in one way or another.

I’m already shopping for a more appropriate scooter for 2027.