And now for something totally different!
Kathy and I took a break from our humdrum existence to go on an adventure! My work buddies Steve and Mary Butts are part of the support crew for Steve's brother Mike as he competes in the 2018 Cannonball Motorcycle Run. We decided to drive down to Spirit Lake, Iowa for the overnight stop on the 14th of Sept.
The Cannonball Run is a competition based on points earned per mile during a run from Portland, ME to Portland, OR. The 107 bikes in the race must be at least 90 years old. Each leg of the race covers roughly 300 miles (give or take.) Points are assigned each rider based on the miles competed during each leg (for example the leg we witnessed covered 271 miles in Iowa, so the max each rider earned was 271 points.) If the bike breaks down during the leg and can't be fixed by the rider, a sweeper truck picks them up and brings them to the end point of the leg. The rider then scores points for each mile covered up to the point the bike broke down.
The support crew helps the rider each night with repairs and any needed maintenance. That's where Steve comes in, he is great with machines and in particular, the 1927 Harley his brother Mike drives in the race. The riders get their route directions each morning as they start the new leg. Mike had a scrolling mechanism which he advanced as each direction point was completed. The support crew drives a separate route to the end point of the leg and cannot help the runner during the run. Mike and the support crew have varying degrees of work each night.
The endpoint for this leg was the Indian Motorcycle factory in Spirit Lake, Iowa. We watched as each bike made the finish line. They then lined up the bikes in rows and you could talk to the riders and take photos of the bikes and riders. Needless to say, the bikes were very cool and the people watching was great!
I did the images for this blog in black and white to mirror the spirit of the race and the old bikes. Black and white photography has an old-time feel to me that I really like.
The Butts family has a blog they are posting to each day, you can see it on The "Follow our Butts" blog
More information about the Cannonball Run is found at 2018 Cannonball Run
I have posted my favorite images from our adventure in a Google photo album Cannonball Run - Spirit Lake, IA.
If you ever get a chance to witness one of the legs of this race, do so. It is a lot of fun and well worth the time.
