Back in April 2022 I was scrolling through the IBA list of rides and looking at the requirements for the Mile Eater Silver. What caught my eye, is we needed to do 2 Gold level or Insanity rides and 3 other certified rides. I started looking through the big list of completed rides and noticed that in the IBA history, there has never been a 2up BBG Trifecta completed. I asked Marissa what she thought, and the answer was let do it.
We had done one 2up BBG already one on May 21, 2022 to get a feel for what the pace was for a BBG because we were entered into the LDX rally in June. We needed to know if we had to do that pace that we could. We were able to complete it in about 22 hours. It identified a few areas that we needed to tighten up on our fuel stops. And it helped both of us understand how easy it was to lose time and how hard it was to make it up.
We set the date for Memorial Day weekend 2022 to attempt. I planned a route that went from Seattle, to Minnesota, to New Mexico and then back home. The weather forecasts were favorable, no rain, no storms. It was a go. The first day was great, got to Minnesota in 21.5 hours BBG #1 done. As we arrived in Minnesota, the weather was changing and a storm was moving south out of Canada. Heavy lightning and thunderstorm. We set up our sleep next to the bike with our tarps and went to sleep. Decided to give the storm and extra hour to clear out and get moving about 3AM local time. There was a little break, but the storm had set up a line of heavy rain down into Iowa along our route. It was clear after 5 hours of riding in this rain, we were not going to be able to achieve a BBG pace. We did a gas stop and decided to make it a SS1000 and continue on. We got down to Texhoma, the weather got really hot. As Texas area was experiencing a very warm Spring. Decided to spend an extra day in the heat and end up positioning ourselves in Gallup, NM for the run home the next day. I planned a route that ran through Monument Valley that was 1500 miles so we could get the 2nd BBG done. Once we got home, we successfully got 2 BBG and a SS1000. Well on our way to the Mile Eater Silver. But we had unfinished business for the Trifecta.
Fast forward to this year. And I ask Marissa if she was game to try to finish the 2up BBG Trifecta again. The answer was yes. Yeah! Marissa is one tough pillion
.We set the date for Memorial Day weekend again. This time the weather was in Montana, but if we reversed the route, we would miss most of it and ride around it. We left a little after 2AM on 5/26 and headed east and south towards Las Vegas, then I40 east to Sanders, AZ 1525 miles. Got into Sanders before midnight. Stop to get my receipt at a gas station and noticed that my aux fuel cell valve handle had fallen off. The same handle that I loc-tited the screw on. NO biggy, I have a complete spare valve with me I'll just take the handle and screw off that one and put it on. Well, the spare that I had, got used to plumb a friends bike, and the replacement that I bought was nowhere to be found. s**t. At least I could shut it off using a pair of pliers. We got our receipt, set up our IBR hotel in a vacant lot across the street from the gas station and got 2.5 hours of sleep.
When we woke up and were packing up the tarps, cots and sleeping blankets, I said, let's reverse course back to home and I'll put the other fuel cell on and its valve assembly then we can do an out and back on I-90 which was out first BBG ever. I had an easy route that we new where to fuel up and could keep a BBG pace to finish.
We left Sanders, AZ at 2:30AM. Weather was good, occasional rain but not too bad. Going over Flagstaff, AZ (7000 feet elevation) it was 32 degrees. Thank god for heated gear, seats, and grips. Once we dropped out of the mountains it warmed up fairly quickly. Got up to Jerome, ID on I-84 and there was a rain squall that was so intense to the east of us, that the rain was pitch black at 4:00 in the afternoon form the cloud to the ground. You could not see anything through it at all. I had never seen a squall like that. No lightning, just very heavy rain. Fortunately, it had passed over I-84 and all we got was the tail end of it, which was very heavy, but not as bad as it could have been. 10 minutes later we were in the sunshine and dry.
Got back to Auburn, WA at 11:30 PM. BBG #2 complete. Got our receipt headed to our house about 8 miles from the gas station and swapped the tank. Took me about 45 minutes. We decided to take an extra hour and leave at 3:30 so I could get more sleep.
3:30AM we are back at the gas station getting our start receipt for the 3rd 2up BBG and off we go out I-90. Temps were moderate 70's mostly, 50's at night. Rain showers here and there nothing too serious or that would slow us down. We saw 2 more rain storms just like the one in Jerome that were south of us, but we were far enough away not to get rained on by them. We got out to Reed Point, MT our turn around point,. got our receipt and headed home. 760 miles to go and we would be done. If everything went well, we would have about 45 minutes to spare to complete the third BBG within 72 hours of starting the first. Since this was now our 6th BBG, we knew exactly what we had to do to keep the pace moving and keep our stopped time to a minimum. The ride was good until we got to Ellensburg, WA. About 2 hours to home. Then I was hitting a wall. I asked Marissa to just talk to me. I needed help to stay alert and get us home safely.
Thankfully she was able to help. I did stop a couple of times to walk around, drank a little Mt. Dew. I don't drink coffee and rarely drink soda anymore. The caffeine kicks right in for me almost immediately. Between the conversation, short stops and Mt. Dew. We made it back safely to Auburn and got our end receipt with 42 minutes to spare.
Ride was certified this morning. We completed the first ever 2up BBG Trifecta in the IBA.
Some random pictures along the way
Basin Hwy, NV (US 93) dessert in bloom
