August 18, 2000: Mythic Warriors Need Not Apply
As our hapless
early arrival found out earlier today, we are one week out from the early
stirrings of ButtLite II. (Much though I'd like to identify this poor soul,
I cannot; Eddie promised he'd keep that secret. At least I can comfort you
with the knowledge that our Consider yourself
warned: another tradition bites the dust. Eddie and I have
had our "three to four times per day, like it or not" telephone
conversations for the past fourteen days or so.
Not once in any of these conversations have we compared the coming
event to a gathering of warriors or the convening of the lunatic asylum reunion
committee. The turgid miasma of these metaphors is definitely
out at TeamStrange. When we think about
this event, we don't do so in mythic, mystical I have in my posession
a micro casette tape I made on the 1997 IBR, which contains a recording of
Eddie and me at at some some gas station somewhere in Louisiana.
We are cracking each other up with stupid jokes, outsmarting Kneebone,
and figuring out the best route to the next bonus, all at the same time. I still laugh out loud today when I play this
precious oxide scroll. I count Eddie
as one of my closest friends, in no small account due to events transpiring
during about 45 combined minutes over eleven days in the fall of 1997. Moments later I
recall another IBR moment while riding alone in Idaho, tears streaming down
my face as I wrestled with some personal demons too private to disclose.
This is a painful, embarrasing memory, but also one I treasure. Sometimes, Endurance riding
requires hard work. Sadly, I am finding out this is as much true
for those organizing events as it is for those riding them. We began working on BL2 about 30 days after
the end of BL1. We won't stop working
on the event until hours after the last trophy is awarded. But this, too, is as it should be. Does anything really worth having come easy?
From the major
to the mundane, we sweat the details of this rally. This isn't a complaint,
it's a point of pride. I personally believe that attention to detail is a quality shared
by all successful endurance riders. It
would be embarrasing and unfair to expect this Here, too, another
lesson emerges. According to the coptic Gospel
of Thomas, "If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth
will save you. If you do not bring
forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you."
Too pompous and profound? Try
this: Any endevour worth pursuing takes work, sweat and worry.
Sometimes the task
seems too great, the journey too long. Some give up, others perservere.
Don't believe me? Ask Eric Jewell.
On BL5K, he worked his way to first place with steady, intelligent
riding. When others felt the ride from Summit, Illinois
PAST the finish line to Fargo and back was "impossible," Eric just
got on his bike and went. To paraphrase Danny Liska, its only far if you don't
go. Sometimes even
the hardest effort fails to yield the expected result.
Don't believe me? Ask Mark Kiecker, who on BL5K was circling
the Great Lakes on his way to the winner's circle when he lost his paperwork
somewhere in Toronto. Even so, Mark
finished with over 5000 miles. On
a Seca II. On his first rally. This year, he won his class in the Minnesota
2000. I hope you will
forgive me for admitting I've had it up to here with descriptions of mythic
warriors and millions of dollars of endurance machines. That all seems so beside the point. What makes rallies like BLII compelling is
the triumph of ordinary people over ButtLite II promises
to be an event worthy of its riders. Opportunities
for cursing, sweating, worrying and laughing will abound. We'll do our best
to tell all--except for the story of our unfortunate early arrival. We'll let that warrior on his million Print version, or back to Intelligence Reports
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