Subject: WanderNorth 6 - Smithers, British Columbia
Date: Thu, 07 Jun 2001 16:55:47 -0700

    Gas in (Mr.) Burns Lake. Motel in Smithers.
    DOH! I've fallen into a Simpsons episode! Oh, Marrrrrrge!

    As I folded the map to pin it on my handlebars this morning, I couldn't get the words of an old Johnny Horton song out of my head: North to Alaska ... go north the rush is on ... waaaay up North. (And if you remember, it starts with "Big Sam left Seattle ...".) Ok, now for the test. What was on the flip side of the 45 (record, not Colt :) ?

    Every trip has its tweener. My tweener hit me today. A tweener is the day between starting out in high hopes and getting there full of experiences, when you question yourself or your motives. If it is a challenge trip, you might ask yourself was I crazy to try this? If it is a whimsy trip, you might ask yourself why I am doing this? If it is a trip without a clear destination you might ask yourself how will I know when to turn around? Tweeners are like attending a church service if you don't really have the faith. Even something as enjoyable as a ride on a sunny day can be interminable on a tweener. Nothing happens of interest. Life just goes on, and nothing seems to change. There is no latitude in the attitude. You just have to press on.
    BC97 and BC16 continue forever on the open plateau. There are just enough curves and scenery to make the ride not boring, but not enough to make it interesting. It is just a tweener. I wonder if Ron was thinking any of this when he pushed himself through all of BC in less than one day to finish his ride to Hyder? I've now been out for a little over 2200 miles, but it is not the distance that matters. It is more that I wonder how far is too far for too little? Perhaps it is best not to judge results with effort.

100 miles per hour.

    There was a recent article in a magazine where the author mentioned how he noticed over the years he has spent more and more time getting to a rally and less and less time at the rally. He now thinks nothing of riding for two days, staying overnight, and leaving in the morning to ride two days home. That got me to thinking about "100 miles per hour". Rebecca and I rode 4,300 miles round trip to Branson in April to spend (I counted them afterward) 43 hours with the IBMWR group. We rode "100 miles per hour" in result, not in effort. Is this the new "P/E" ratio by which to measure a ride? Works for me. About 2400 miles to Hyder ... a little more than 24 hours there. A minimum of 100 mph (results) seems to fit.
    But what about the record holders, how do they look at it? How far is too far for too little?

• How many tweeners did Phil Mann have when he rode 113,000 miles in 6 months for the BMW mileage contest?

• How much did Bill Newton think about where he was going when he rode 1,000 miles a day for 30 consecutive days (30,000 miles)?
  Just because he felt like it.

• Did George Barnes ever doubt himself when he rode 13,000+ miles in 11 days to win the Iron Butt?

• What did Ron Ayres think of riding over 8,000 miles in 7 days to visit 49 states?

• How did (un-named rider) keep focused while riding 2,250+ miles in under 24 hours? (Note, this was done on roads in a state where speeds were not limited.)

• Morris Kruemcke rode 1,200+ miles ***non-stop***.
  What were his thoughts of butt burn?

Randumb observation:
    On the approach to Vanderhoof, BC, there are several signs for local businesses. Someone didn't pay attention to what was on the next sign when they put theirs up: "A.V. Continuous Gutters" was right beside "Downtown Slaughterhouse".

376 miles
Williams Lake BC97 BC16 Smithers
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Sam Lepore, San Francisco