Second Annual Mississippi Mud Run

[Ves]

Well, it's in the history books now... read about it here.

[iowabeakster]

Ves,

What a crapper. Sounds like you had an even worse trip home than I did. Although mine was no picnic.

Every thing he says is true, except for my name, which is Kirk. It's ok Ves, half the people I've ever met call me Kurt. I've gotten used to it, and never really cared. I need to use my handy rhyme more often...

starts with a K
ends the same way

Ves is not exaggerating...if you ride with those boys from Milwaukee, expect to ride fast, extremely fast. We asked John, the guy from Texas, if he wanted to join us. He said, "No, you guys ride way to fast for me." Turns out, he was right, we ended blasting past him so fast he seemed to be stationary. My bike has never worked that hard as it did on Saturday. It probably won't again, unless there is a next year.

Yes it is true, I made the retarded decision to leave the rain-gear at the hotel. Doh! I also managed to drop the bike in front of new acquaintances. (I need an emoticon for kicking myself) Even with all of that...it was awesome.

My ride home, as mentioned, was no picnic. Starting off, the sun was shining and I had a blast. I rode some more great roads working my way south. Occassionally, I ran into roads covered with rocks and mud washed down the hills. There was a couple roads closed due to flash flooding. I was forced to turn around and try a different road several times to get across some rivers and creeks. Other than that, I was having a great time. I got too hot and took off the rain gear. This brought Murphy's Law into effect.

Quickly the clouds moved in and it started raining. I put the rain gear back on. I rode west and took highway 35 until the first bridge into Iowa. I braved rain, wind, thunder and lightning the rest of the way home. I tried a road that is supposed to be scenic...on this day, it was all water and mud. It was a bad day for scenery. There were flooded rivers, farms and towns the whole way home. I was only 30 miles away from home and had to stop because I was nearly blown off the road. I waited and rested underneath an elevated section of I-380 as tornado warning sirens were blowing in Cedar Rapids.

I made it home, and shortly after, Amy arrived home and made me a Margarita. Man did I need that.

Now I sit here waiting for the water to over-top the dam...and wondering how high the water is going to go.

[Ves]

Ves,

What a crapper. Sounds like you had an even worse trip home than I did. Although mine was no picnic.

Every thing he says is true, except for my name, which is Kirk. It's ok Ves, half the people I've ever met call me Kurt. I've gotten used to it, and never really cared. I need to use my handy rhyme more often...

starts with a K
ends the same way

Ves is not exaggerating...if you ride with those boys from Milwaukee, expect to ride fast, extremely fast. We asked John, the guy from Texas, if he wanted to join us. He said, "No, you guys ride way to fast for me." Turns out, he was right, we ended blasting past him so fast he seemed to be stationary. My bike has never worked that hard as it did on Saturday. It probably won't again, unless there is a next year.

Yes it is true, I made the retarded decision to leave the rain-gear at the hotel. Doh! I also managed to drop the bike in front of new acquaintances. (I need an emoticon for kicking myself) Even with all of that...it was awesome.

My ride home, as mentioned, was no picnic. Starting off, the sun was shining and I had a blast. I rode some more great roads working my way south. Occassionally, I ran into roads covered with rocks and mud washed down the hills. There was a couple roads closed due to flash flooding. I was forced to turn around and try a different road several times to get across some rivers and creeks. Other than that, I was having a great time. I got too hot and took off the rain gear. This brought Murphy's Law into effect.

Quickly the clouds moved in and it started raining. I put the rain gear back on. I rode east and took highway 35 until the first bridge into Iowa. I braved rain, wind, thunder and lightning the rest of the way home. I tried a road that is supposed to be scenic...on this day, it was all water and mud. It was a bad day for scenery. There were flooded rivers, farms and towns the whole way home. I was only 30 miles away from home and had to stop because I was nearly blown off the road. I waited and rested underneath an elevated section of I-380 as tornado warning sirens were blowing in Cedar Rapids.

I made it home, and shortly after, Amy arrived home and made me a Margarita. Man did I need that.

Now I sit here waiting for the water to over-top the dam...and wondering how high the water is going to go.

Wow, sounds like you had a worse time than me... or should I say better time... It's all how you look at it... Glad you made it home.

You know, when we introduced our selves in the bar I thought you said Kirk, and I said "Like the captain?".... but then Jiri started calling you Kurt, and I thought I misheard you... So, it's all Jiri's fault... (I should say I changed your name intentionally to protect your identity.... I'm sure the cops are looking for us...) .

[taosports]

Thanks for the ride report Ves! Enjoyed your photos. Looks like you had a great trip...except for the end. Why did the bike die?

Anyway, thank for sharing and I hope the 3rd Annual Run is just as much fun.

EDIT : Just saw your other post...hope you get the fuel/filter issues resolved!

[marousek]

So gents. We are all home safe and longing for more riding. At least I am for sure.

It was a great weekend .... Beautiful as always and roads even better than last year. There is nothing better that days like those.

and Kirk.....I called you Kirk.....no idea where the Kurt thing came from....

I would not change a thing guys......yeah.....we all got soaked through and through.....my boots are STILL wet.....but as I said on our way home....If someone would have offered to trailer us home where we were taking on fuel at a gas station 100 miles from home during a storm.....I would not take the offer. Loving every minute of it.....wet or dry. (Now I do prefer dry. The tires stick a bit better in that type of condition I suspect.) But there is a reason we ride those things. We love the ride, love to feel the elements, touch the air, taste the road, smell that unique smell of each town as you go through and yes, feeling the water running down your back as the river of cold rain water runs down your helmet into your most private of parts.

Kirk....hell yeah there will be a third annual. I hope to see you there and maybe Steve will stop breaking his bodyparts and join us. Hopefully we can get a few of us together yet this year for another run. From my little research, Door County might suck since it does get busy......but there are few other ideas that might work.

As to our return home. We pretty much loaded and headed home on the superslab. At one of the gas stations, in full downpour rain, we ran into a biker that had a great statement:

"poo like this separates the man from the boys. Boys have theirs parked in the garage, the man are out here having fun!"

On that note. I wish you all great riding, no gravel in curves, cold beer at the end and GOOD FUEL at every stop!

[1MPH]

Quite enjoyable. Thanks for posting.

[OU812]

I am SOOOOO bummed I missed this one.






Nice report Ves!