Dec 24th, 2013 my company's VP called to tell me the great news that we had been sold, and they are moving the office to Atlanta!! For some reason he was shocked that I was not jumping up and down cheering on this wonderful news. Merry F'in Christmas! No I am not moving to ATL! No my wife is not giving up 20 yrs w the State. No I am not going to sell my house we just bought a year ago. No No No. So as I am looking for a job, Cape Fear signups come and go. A few interviews. Ed's Last Resort registration opens... Still looking. Cape Fear Rally comes and goes... No new job. My replacement has been hired and already moved to ATL to start the transition up there... One good prospect comes along with a consulting co, but I would be an independent contractor with no guarantee on billable hours. May be 20 hrs a week, may be 100. But its a job. A few more interviews and calls, but nothing good. I had made up my mind on a Fri that I was going to work for the consulting firm and would call them on Monday to 'accept' the position. Something came up at work on Monday, and I never got around to calling. Mon night I got an email about a job opening for a State funded non profit, sent in my resume as normal but this time with a cover letter which I usually don't do. I got a call from them on Tues, an interview on Wed, 2nd interview the following Wed, and a job offer on Fri. I put in my 2 weeks w the current company on Monday. Only issue now... Eds Rally was the weekend after my first week on the new job. I did not want to ask for a day off my first week so I decided not to run Ed's rally either. Instead, I brought my 8 yr old son and our dirt bikes, and help out as a volunteer and scorer for the rally. I figured not riding in the rally would save a bit of cash too. But one broken chain on my bike, and a sheared off valve stem on my son's and I probably would've come out ahead running the rally! But it was good boys weekend. Bent a few hooks and broke a few lines trying to reel in some of the catfish in Ed's pond, but no one was able to get a fish on land. I will be bringing some saltwater tackle next time.
Matt Hube took home the win, and Nike Nolan was a bridesmaid again... and Jesse Lucas came in as top rookie.
Finally settled into the new job, and some leave accrued, I signed up for the Long Riders Digital Scavenger Hunt in Nov. This rally has always been a weird one for me. I finish good, but the gremlins come out in full force to challenge me on the ride. 2011, somehow I got an hour behind schedule and had to drop a bunch of stops, finished 8th. 2012, I got stuck in the mud in Cocoa, then dumped the bike in Orlando, finished 2nd. 2013, I drop my camera on the hwy and got my first DNF instead of a podium. So being this is my only rally of 2014, I need to at least finish, and hopefully without incident.
Dad took the year off of rallies, so I was on my own. We got the rally books a week early, and this years theme was General Delivery. Generals being Army Generals, and Delivery being Post Offices. And like the 2012 rally, most of the locations were 'choose your own adventure' with the last 3 digits in the zip code of the PO being the amount of points you get. The rest of the way points given were historical post offices, and the Generals. Catcher was, we had to get a minimum of 3 each off of their list. I was able to locate the highest point value POs and hand pick a route around the 6 required stops fairly easily. Problem was, there were way more possibilities than time. I had narrowed it down to one route into the Tampa/St Pete area, and then down to Lakeland/Ft Mead, Or I could make the run to Melbourne again like in 2012. Both were the areas w the highest zip codes. I have always avoided urban areas in rallies mainly due to traffic concerns. But I figured that is exactly what everyone else would do, so I opted for the big city to be different. I dropped the avg speed way down in S&T, and started whittling down the stops around Tampa. I gave myself 5 mins per bonus and optimized the route. Still too many stops. It had to be a lot of points if it was off the main drag or required any turn arounds, or it got the boot. I played with a few different variances, but finally came up with a plan. I had a hand full of stops that could get dropped if I was behind, and none to add since I assumed I get behind in the traffic, not ahead. Looks doable on paper. We'll see tomorrow.
We gathered for the Sat morn breakfast/riders meeting and were given two last minute WC bonus options. We could get photos of up to 4 Dollar General stores, and up to 4 photos of leftover Halloween displays with a numbered pumpkin to be carried with us. I opted out of the pumpkin challenge, and would consider the Dollar General pics if time allowed. As soon as they said go, I was out the door. I think I was #2 or 3 out of the gate, at about 6:50. Always good to have to extra time. I purposely left the closest bonus for last since it was dark and could be hard to photograph, although it was still dark an hour later when I did get to the first stop. Long story, short... I hit a handful of stops in Clearwater/St Pete, and double dipped a required stop, and a zipcode since the old Clearwater Post Office was still in operation. I circled back north and crossed over the bay in to Ybor City. This was the scariest bridge crossing I've ever made. The wind was gusting to 30 mph that day, and going over the bridge, I was getting blasted from lane to lane. I slowed down enough to get beside a Suburban to help block the gusts and keep me in my lane. I was just hoping the Suburban wasnt going to get blasted into me! I was in the far right lane, and there was nowhere else to go but into the water if that happened. I was also getting hit by spray from the breaking waves, 10 lanes over. It was NOT fun. But I made the crossing and got my photo of Ybor City PO. I got a few more on the way out of Tampa and then started to Lakeland, to make the turn South to Ft Mead for a required stop and post offices. There were some big points south, but with all the traffic, I was about 25 mins behind schedule, not including the 10 min head start, so I opted to drop the farthest bonus down there. That put me about 20 mins to the good again. Piece of cake now. No more big city traffic, and a good cushion on time... lets start looking for Dollar Generals. Its about 1pm. As per Murphy's Law... traffic in the Lakeland area was 10 times worse than all around Tampa. That pretty much ate up most of my time buffer, so I had to pick up the pace a bit when I could on the way south to Ft Mead. There was a monument and a historical marker in Ft Mead. I didn't write down which one I needed, so I got a photo of both just in case. I make the turn north and headed to the house. A couple of close in, required stops near Dade City and I was done. I follow the GPS to my last required stop south west of Dade City. As I get close, Ma Garmin says "Turn right cautiously off road." Nothing but a cow pasture. Crap. I pull out the rally pack and my phone to Google Map the coordinates. No signal. I ride 10 miles back into town to get a signal. The acutal coordinates are north of Rally HQ, and I was way south. I have to get there or be considered a non finisher. I skip all the rest of my stops and make the run. I wave as I pass HQ on my way up. I knoew I was going to be late, but not time barred late if I could keep a spirited pace. I was able to to get there since luckily a trooper pulled over the car in front of me I was chasing. Got my last photo and high tailed it back to HQ. I think I was 7 mins late. But late was better than DNF. I took my time to be sure all my paperwork and photos were in order and turned in my pack. I had expected a tough ride, and since I dropped so many locations, I was not expecting a top 5 finish. So to my surprise, I eeked out a 4th overall, 3 place single rider finsh.! Sweet. Jesse Lucas claimed the win. He pulled out his bonus list/rally plan and I have no idea how much time and effort goes into it. It looks (to me) very complicated but detailed. I have a 5x8 sheet of paper with time of arrival, name, and what to do written in pencil. Bubba style... I finally finshed a DSH with no incidents, other than my own mistyped coordinate. It was a successful rally. Somewhere around 40 stops...
