My 8th Iron Butt ride and my 4th of the year.
Before I can explain the Monster 100, I will need to explain the Mile Monsters. Before I can explain the Mile Monsters, I have to explain how I learned about the Mile Monsters.
When COVID was going strong and cancelling events, the Tour of Honor Ride to Meet was cancelled. That was to be in Gettysburg in September of 2020. The organizers commented that it people wanted to meet in smaller groups, we could set up regional Ride to Meet gatherings. Jeff and I already had planned to go; he had the time already planned to be off from work. We talked and decided to set up a meeting in Cherokee, NC. This would give people on the East Coast a chance to meet.
I contacted some riders in the Cherokee area to get recommendations. Robert Saunooke was one of the Tour of Honor riders who lived in the area and helped us find a place to meet up.
After working to get a mini-meetup planned, Blaine from Nashville and Robert were the only people who met up with Jeff and me. The four of us had a great few days of riding the area. Robert led us on a ride through some of his favorite areas. We spent a few hours with Robert and his wife, Amy, after our ride. It was like we were all old friends that had never lost contact. We laughed, joked, and were finishing each other’s sentences.
I have stayed in contact with both Blaine and Robert since then. So, when Tim and I were in Maggie Valley with our wives last October, I contacted Robert to see if he and Amy would like to join us for supper. He jumped at the chance.
Much like my previous visit with Robert and Amy, the six of us talked for hours. During the conversation, we talked about Robert’s shirt “Do Epic Shit!” He told us about Mile Monsters. He also told us about the Hoka Hey Challenge (I had known about it for a few years, but was starting to give it some serious consideration this time).
So, the Mile Monsters is a charity that raises money to support families who have a son with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. We started doing things to help support the charity. Then they announced a major fund raiser, the Monster 100. The idea is that over 100 days, a rider each day (total of 100 riders) would ride 1,000 miles and raise $1,000. The $100,000 would be used to purchase an accessibility van for Drew. The idea was so exciting that within days, the 100 days were filled. So, Riot decided to have two riders each day. The extra funds raised would be used to bring the boys that we sponsor to Sturgis with their parents.
I signed up in the first 100 riders and picked May 17 as my day. I was rider #114 and was on Team Respect. Tim had been talking about doing his first Iron Butt. So, this was the perfect chance. He also helped me raising money. With two of us raising money, our goal was $2,000; as of today (middle of July) was are just short of that goal at $1920.
Tim came over the day before we were to take off on the ride. He spent the night with us so he and I could leave early on the 17th. We spent some time going over the process, logging our stops, and tracking the ride. Tim was ready. I was going to mentor him to help him earn his first Iron Butt Ride.
Since this ride was in May, the theme for the Mile Monsters was to honor Moms. I kept my emotions in check while riding with Tim; but when I was alone on the bike, my mind wandered back to thoughts of my Mom. She passed away shortly after my Tour of Honor Extreme of Tennessee. My way of honoring Mom was to carry her picture and her Bible with me on the ride.
We left early. At the Circle K, we went over the process for our gas stops. I checked everything on my bike for the tracking, then we gassed up.
It was dark until we got to Nashville. Once there, we had a few bits of excitement with trucks not having rear lights and people being surprised when they got to the truck.
I was on the Road Glide, Tim was on his Pan America. My tank holds one more gallon than Tim’s; and I get better gas mileage that him also. First stop was outside Bowling Green, KY. We got gassed up and everything recorded. We spent about another hour on the interstate, then the Bluegrass Parkway over to Lexington. We then spent a few hours on I-64 across Kentucky and into West Virginia.
Next gas stop was also lunch time. We had lunch at Fat Patty’s. The burger was very good. Though it is a small/local chain, I would definitely stop at either here or another of the Fat Patty’s that I may come across. We gassed up the bikes and were ready to roll again.
At lunch, I checked the route. If we were to stay on I-64/I-77 through West Virginia, it is a toll road. I decided that we could take the two/four-lane roads that went along part of the Appalachian Mountains and through areas that I used to love to ride through. Many of the roads brought back great memories.
Eventually, we were back to interstate. We gassed up in Weber City, VA and joined I-81. We travelled along I-81 to I-40, then sought on I-75 to Chattanooga. We gassed up just north of Chattanooga, this tank would get us home.
After Chattanooga, we turned onto US72. We were now on the home stretch. Tim and I have both ridden US72 along the stretch so much, we could have taken a nap and known the road from memory.
We rode 1089 miles in just over 20hours. This isn’t too bad. We didn’t rush, had a nice long lunch, and spent some time on mountain backroads. A little traffic once or twice, but not enough that it would have effected our time.
Next morning, we went through the processed to submit. I gave Tim the link and address to submit his application. He didn’t realize that he could use the Premier link and submitted through the regular link. Since I was mentoring him, he could use the Premier link. Once we got that resolved, we both had our certificates within a few days.