Number 72!

I know I've been remiss about posting updates about my rides. It's been so busy here with life, work and just starting my summer off, I just haven't had enough time in one block to get this done. Anyway, now I'm here.
The day is Friday, the 4th day of June in the great year of 2010. I finished my day of work, finished loading my bike and off I went to Northampton Mass to the start of the Minuteman 1000 Rally headquarters. It was warm, yet beautiful and the GPS brought me down some amazing roads through western NH and Mass before I finally got on I91 to make my final approach to the Clarion Conference Center.
When I got there, many bikes already lined the back parking lot. My buddy, who was chaperoning the event, was already there too. Bikes ranged from antiques, to Moto Guzzi's, to BMW's to Goldwing's. Either way you looked at it, these bikes were amazing to look at. All had GPS's mounted, radios, radar detectors, SPOT's, auxiliary fuel cells and much more. I was in heaven.
After parking the Wing, I made my way down to the Hampshire Room of the hotel. It was quite warm and muggy, but when I got in there, I saw a couple of familiar faces. I plunked my butt down and started to check in. I handed over my insurance papers, waiver form and a photo was taken of me with the waiver. The memory stick used in the camera as proof of my trip was also logged.
I got up and made my way to the room to change my clothes. After that, it was time for happy hour in the ball room. When I walked in there were about 15 tables and each were partially full. A screen hosted pictures of past rally's. The energy was intense. I had a beer, dinner was served and we were handed our 'rally books'. The rally books have all the bonus locations listed. I'm number 72! My first rally... this is real!
It's about 8pm and I am off to my room with my honey to finalize my route.
Well, it's about 10:30pm and now my GPS is acting up. I've managed to get all my waypoints loaded up. At this point, I'm thinking it is an issue with a low battery. Everything is there though, so I'm heading to bed.
It's now 4:00 am and the alarm didn't go off like it was supposed too! Well, at least I didn't sleep much. I pull my sleepy self out of bed and I jump in the shower. I'm enjoying it now because it will be quite a while before I see a shower again!!!
I finish getting ready and make my way outside. Right behind me is my buddy so we start chatting. It is dark,muggy and wet. I get the cover off my bike and start prepping it. I put the GPS in the mount and it is working fine. I get in line and the rally staff start going through the final odometer reading. Unfortunately, I lined up in the wrong line!!! I move my bike to the new/correct line!!! Oh no... my GPS is acting up again. Now it wont turn on at all.
It's starting time, 6am, bikes start to leave. My time is 6:06, but I have to pull off to figure out something. I check the GPS that is built into the bike to see if I can put in the coordinates for all my locations. Although it would take forever to enter everything, it is an option. No go. A rally staffer comes up to me, along with the rally master.
Luckily someone had an extra GPS that I could use. I load my waypoints onto the unit and rig it in place of my Zumo. I wont have any voice prompts so I will have to come up with a system to follow as I make my way around New England.
My route went as follows:
1. Tanglewood in western Mass. 7:30 am.
2. Madison Square Garden. 12:45
3. NY Islanders arena. 14:02.
4. Playland,. 15:31.
5. Gallaher Estate. 16:06.
6. Wilton PLayhouse. 16:31.
7. Palace Theater, CT. 17:22.
8. Hartford Civic Center, CT. 18:32.
9. Freeman Center, CT. 19:11.
10. Rest stop in Waterford CT. 2 hours of down time.
11. Dunkin Center, Providence RI. 23:07
12. Boston University, Boston Ma. 00:17.
13. Boston Garden, Boston Ma. 00:29.
14. Adam's Playhouse, Wilton NH. 02:05.
15. Peterborough Players, Peterborough NH. 02:33.
16. No GPS Sign, Acworth NH. 03:26.
17. Landmark College, Putnam VT. 05:02.
18. Arrive back at Clarion Conference Center, Northampton Mass! 05:53!!

What a long ride, but I made it. I checked back in, got my odometer check done. 960+ miles!! I had a few bumps in my route, definitely will make adjustments for my next rally! Scoring concluded that I was in 16th place!! Not bad for my first time out. Final results here!

What a ride!!!
Prep and Finish Rally Photo's!

Rally Photo's!

Well, enjoy the photos! I will write more as I ride more. I will also commit to documenting my saddle sore ride. All the paperwork is in, just waiting for all my results to come in!

Ciao!