ROUNDTABLE - New Riders, Big Miles - ADV Cannonball Rally

A coast-to-coast adventure rally sounds wild, but the real story is how regular riders turn a huge goal into a workable plan. We’re joined by three newcomers to the ADV Cannonball Rally who could not be more different on paper: Alex heading in on a Yamaha XMAX 300 scooter, Matt bringing long-distance experience on a Yamaha Tenere 700, and Jan travelling from Oslo, Norway to ride his BMW F800GS in the US. Their mix of nerves and excitement is exactly what first-timers feel before a long-distance motorcycle rally, and we get specific about what they’re doing to be ready. 

We dig into the things that keep riders up at night: the strange new sound that might mean a mechanical failure, what to carry for basic roadside repairs, and how light you can pack without setting yourself up to suffer. We also talk tires and strategy across long pavement days followed by rougher off-road sections, including the real challenge of trying to schedule a tire swap mid-route when you roll into town late and dealerships close early. If you have ever debated tools vs weight, or wondered what “minimum viable kit” actually looks like, you will hear a few hard-earned perspectives. 

Navigation is the other big pillar. Offline maps, backups, dead zones, and a key warning: default GPS routing can claim you’ve arrived while leaving you stuck on the wrong side of a river or ravine. For remote checkpoints, you may need to build your own track instead of trusting turn-by-turn directions. We round it out with safety planning like Garmin inReach satellite communication, layering for heat and potential high-altitude cold, and setting realistic goals whether you just want to finish or you want to chase awards. 

If you got value from this, subscribe, share the episode with a riding buddy, and leave a review so more riders can find it. What is your number one piece of prep you would not skip before an adventure motorcycle trip?

Transcript

Welcome And Rider Introductions

SPEAKER_00 0:23

Welcome to the special episode of the ADV Cannonball Podcast.

SPEAKER_02 0:35

Welcome back, everybody, to another episode of the ADV Cannonball Rallies Rider Roundtable. Today we are doing a segment on some of the newbies that are going to be joining this year's rally. With me today, I've got a pretty diverse group of folks. So I think we're going to have a fun one just kind of hearing about what people are up to, how they're thinking about it from the newbie perspective. Guys, why don't we go around the uh table here and chat? Alex, why don't we start with you?

SPEAKER_04 1:07

All right. What's up, everyone? Uh thanks for having me. My name's Alex. Um I'm from uh Long Island, New York, and be my first uh attempted or cross-country uh cannonball trip. And I'll be riding a uh probably 2019 Yamaha X Max 300. Nice.

SPEAKER_03 1:24

Matt? Hi, everyone. Uh my name is Matt Bush. I live in uh Pemberk Pines, Florida, that's right outside of Miami. Really excited about doing the cannonball. Uh it seems like it's gonna be uh a really, really fun trip. And I will be riding a Yamaha Towner A700, pretty much bone stock, lowered it a little bit because of my uh my height problem, um, but pretty much a bone stock motorcycle. Okay, and Jan.

SPEAKER_01 1:48

Yeah, hi guys. Um uh Jan. I'm from uh Oslo, just uh in Norway. Uh this is my first yeah kind of uh rally like this, and I'm really looking forward to trying to do that on my 2012 uh FN F800 GS. Oh, nice. Okay. You're gonna give Hunter a run with his F-900? I'll uh do my best, but I think my main my main objective is to finish and not be lost.

SPEAKER_02 2:17

We were actually scheduled to have Bo Ernest on with us today, but having some technical difficulties with getting him into the software to do the recording. So we'll probably do a separate segment with Bo at a later time. So uh guys, we picked you because there's a pretty diverse background here. Um, and I one of the points that I wanted to make in the podcast today was you don't have to be a hardcore hooligan um to actually ride in this in this rally. You know, we've we've got one guy on a scooter, um, Matt, we've got you on your tenaret, and we'll we'll go back into a little bit of your history and background in a bit. John, you're coming from the other side of the pond. So what I'd like to dive into is a little bit, let's start, let's start with this.

Why They Signed Up

SPEAKER_02 3:12

Why did you guys sign up? Who wants to go first?

SPEAKER_04 3:16

In my dream to uh ride on two wheels, unfortunately, you know, my uh my mom has a lot to say about that, you know. It's dangerous, you shouldn't be riding a bike. You know, the less she knows, you know, I said it's gonna be very safe. I have to tell her that I'm more comfortable driving on two wheels than an actual car, as funny as it sounds. But um it's uh something like uh and I saw it and when I see something I like, I say I'm going for it. And um I attempted to screw the cannonball last year, unfortunately I had a mechanical breakdown day one and was very upset about that, but I've gotten over it. It was a fuel injector problem, and I had no I my mechanical knowledge was I would say zero, but I know a little bit more about mechanics one-on-one this time.

SPEAKER_02 4:08

How did you find out about the ADV cannonball?

SPEAKER_04 4:11

Uh just through a Google search. I was searching uh motorcycle routes. Um that's cool.

SPEAKER_01 4:17

And uh popped up. Jan, what about you? Well, I uh I've been following uh Rob Baal for for a few years. Uh when I saw a Swedish guy was doing this, I thought, well, a Norwegian can do this as well. I mean we're we're frenemies, uh these two countries, and we can't have that. That only a Swedish has has has done such a thing. So that's one of the reasons. But I mean, basically it just looks really, really fun and challenging. Yeah, we'd all be watching cannonball race since we were kids, also here in Norway. Yeah, why not? Let's go for it. So is your background in adventure bikes? How long have you been riding? I got my license when I was 19, but I haven't been riding adventure more than about four years. Okay. Matt, what about you? Why'd you sign up?

SPEAKER_03 5:03

Well, I'm always up for a good challenge. Um I've done uh a lot of different uh, you know, long distance challenges, um, you know, a lot of IBA rides that uh Iron Bud Association for uh for those who don't know what IBA stands for, you know, uh saddle sores, you know, like a thousand miles in a day, um bun burners, 1,500 miles in a day. Um I've gone coast to coast in under 50 hours, did that on my T7. Um, and also run some uh some other long distance challenges, uh namely one called the Hokah, which is uh American made V-twin motorcycles, no navigation allowed, line by line directions, and you have to sleep next to the motorcycle. So the cannonball sounds like a blast. Um, some off-roading, actually getting to stay in a hotel room, that's pretty cool. But yeah, just love a good challenge and pretty excited about it.

When A Bike Sound Means Stop

SPEAKER_02 5:54

So one of the things that I hear people talking about where they get a little bit of paranoia is issues with the bike on such a long trip. So do you guys, and maybe this one will be a little bit triggering for Alex considering his fuel injector issues, but do you guys have a sound that you hear from your bike where you're like, yeah, I'm not pushing through this. I need to pull over and figure out what's going on.

SPEAKER_04 6:25

I I know that sounds uh very well. Like a second nature, whenever I hear that sound, that's what I think it is. And I'm getting it checked right away. I feel something wrong is wrong, I know it's gonna go wrong. And what I'm gonna do now is I'm gonna do my resources on how to clean the fuel injector from in the field.

SPEAKER_03 6:45

Matt, what about you? You know, riding riding distances, you know, like we're gonna be doing on the cannonball, you really become accustomed to the bike and its feel and its sounds. Anything out of the ordinary, I'm gonna at least pull over and uh and and check to see what's going on. Um we all know doing these kinds of things, it's gonna happen. That you're gonna have something along the way that you're just gonna have to deal with. You know, you can have the best plan that you uh that you can put together, but something's gonna sneak up and smack you. It's just the nature of uh doing this kind of distance writing. Um yeah, but any kind of sound at all, I'm gonna at least pull over and check it. You're gonna be pulling over a lot on a Harley. Nah.

SPEAKER_02 7:25

That thing just runs, man. That thing just runs. Jan, is there anything that's triggering for you that you're like, oh my god, I need to check that?

SPEAKER_01 7:34

I mean, I I think I hear noises all the time and uh you get scared. Is that my bike? Is that was there was that sound there 10 minutes ago? Did I hear that sound before? And then you pull over. And I mean, I'm not a mechanic, so I I just have to look and see if something is leaking or if it's too hot or whatever. So uh yeah, I'm a bit paranoid, so but I'm gonna try not to stop for every sound I don't recognize because it's probably nothing.

SPEAKER_02 7:59

Okay. All right.

Prep Priorities For Navigation And Fitness

SPEAKER_02 8:01

Um, how are you guys prepping for this thing, right? You guys have distinctly different backgrounds. Uh you're you're coming from all over the world, you're riding different things. Um what are you prioritizing as far as your prep work goes leading up until September?

SPEAKER_04 8:17

Navigation, uh, primary source, backup source, and uh my Garmin uh XT. Uh it's kind of not so much user-friendly. Google Maps. I'm also printing those checkpoint cards. I'm actually working on them. We basically can scan QR code and it hit you right to the uh uh right to the uh checkpoint via the backbone. We don't have any dead zones in terms of cell coverage.

SPEAKER_02 8:43

You will. You will have lots of dead zones. Okay. All right. I'm just warning you because I I think there were a couple times last year where three quarters of the day you'd be in a dead zone.

SPEAKER_03 8:55

It's by design. Matt, how are you prepping? Um, I'm prepping working with a lot of navigation, so definitely gonna use a navigation uh system that that is uh has offline maps. Um, because I know we're gonna be in areas where there's no cell phone. Uh that's you know, anytime you're gonna go any on any kind of fire road or any kind of dirt road, you're probably not gonna have cell coverage. So having that, and then other than that, it's just time in the saddle. Um just spending a lot a lot of time uh time riding. And you know, this this summer I've got you know a couple long trips already planned, practicing uh at least for the uh for the off-roading sections. Uh I've been you know taking my tenareth, running it out in the Everglades, which is about the only only non-surfaced road that you can find in uh in South Florida, you know, just riding through uh you know flat lands with uh big chunks of rock. Um just you know, just getting prepped that way.

SPEAKER_01 9:49

Yeah, and how about you? Yeah, I'm going down to to Denmark next month in May to meet Aaron uh for uh for a day or two, and hopefully he will show me a little bit about these uh these apps uh using. And um, you know, he's doing the uh doing the preparation for next year's European cannonball. And I'll I think I'm gonna go with him for the the last day stage up from middle of Denmark up to up to the end. And I I really hope I I get s get to learn something from him on how to use this uh use the app. Other than that, I'm just trying to get in a bit better shape because I don't think it's gonna be quite uh wary to to ride these mountains in uh or in Colorado. And and uh yeah, you might be might need to be in a bit better physical shape than I am at the moment.

SPEAKER_02 10:39

Yeah, I would I would I would definitely agree with that, Jan. I had lots of opportunities to pick up my bike. So I had I was running a 1200 Tiger last year, and that sucker was heavy and top heavy. Okay, so I have a couple specific questions that I'm just dying to ask each one of you

Flying In With Gear And Jet Lag

SPEAKER_02 10:59

guys. Um I would like to start maybe with Jan. So, Jan, you are coming from absolutely the furthest away. So there is the cannonball that we're doing this year in the US, and then there's a 2027 cannonball that's a little closer to home for you. So, what possessed you to come all the way to the US for this one this year?

SPEAKER_01 11:23

Well, I've been traveling to the US since uh October 23 when I bought my first bike over there. So I try to come over regularly to to ride in the US. Um so it's kind of easy uh as I already have the motorcycle in in uh in the states. And uh yeah, that respects uh it's just the logistics with the uh with all the panniers and stuff. That is a bit hard, but uh that's also doable.

SPEAKER_02 11:52

Well, that was actually gonna be one of my next questions is how are you packing for this? Because motorcycle gear is pretty bulky, and you know, you're gonna want to pack light anyway for the for this trip. But uh, how are you thinking about packing and all the logistics of getting everything here?

SPEAKER_01 12:10

Some of the heavy stuff like uh like tools I already got over there. Uh but I'm I'm a hard panier kind of guy, so I got this massive hockey bag that I'm putting my my empty panniers in. And then I'll just do the the other luggage in uh in a separate bag and send over. And the helmet I'll I'll bring in as cabin baggage. But it's uh it's an interesting show. It doesn't seem look like I'm going on them on a motorcycle trip and I'm and I'm standing there checking in the luggage.

SPEAKER_02 12:44

One of the other things that I uh I had a question around with was jet lag specifically. So, you know, at some point around day three, I think it was, Rob Rob Ball was really starting to to feel it. And if you watched his video, he actually ended up oversleeping at one point because he didn't realize that Aaron had moved the start time up because he hadn't been checking the the he hadn't been checking it to see what the start times were. So how are you thinking about the jet lag? Because by the time you get around that day three period, like it's gonna be great for you on day one. But by day three, how are you thinking about that?

SPEAKER_01 13:22

I I've been over six, seven times now since I started. And my I think my biggest uh problem with the jet lag might be that I'm gonna be too tired to have another beer with you guys in the evening, not getting up in the morning.

SPEAKER_02 13:36

So well, you you're gonna have to have at least one cheap beer with us in the hotel. That's kind of a requirement. But you know, there were definitely lots of guys that were crashing at you know eight, nine o'clock because they were wiped out from the the day of riding, because some of the days get much harder than others.

SPEAKER_01 13:53

Um I do a little travel in my work, so I'm pretty I'm pretty used to to handling the jet lag in the city of the city. That's true.

SPEAKER_02 14:00

What about the terrain changes, right? So you guys you guys have some pretty hardcore gnarly gnarly stuff where you're at as well. But you know, when you get to the west into Utah and stuff, you've got that bull dust and that uh kitty litter style gravel that that'll just swallow up a front wheel. Uh have you thought about how you're gonna deal with that or have you dealt with that stuff before?

SPEAKER_01 14:25

Well, uh I I I've been to I think it's 29 different states so far on my trips. Uh been in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado. And we didn't in U Town, we did a bit of that, but I'm not sure if uh we didn't we did the the really horrible cat litter kind of of gravel, so I'll just have to go slow or try to figure it out on the way, I think.

SPEAKER_04 14:49

Okay. Yeah.

Packing Light, Tools, And Dirt Plans

SPEAKER_02 14:51

Um Matt. Yes. Matt, my boy. All right. So, like we were talking about offline, you're a little bit of a bipolar personality when it comes to motorcycles. Um, so you've got you've got your Harley, you've got your T7. So how are you thinking about that as as far as riding the T7 for that kind of distance? I know you you mentioned your 50 hours coast to coast ride on the T7. Um, picking up that T7 when you drop it is a lot different because the center of gravity is is so much higher. Uh, how are you thinking about that? Are you are you concerned at all about the the west and the and the dirt and stuff once we get to around day five?

SPEAKER_03 15:36

Yeah, there is a little bit of concern for me because it's going to be in a lot of conditions that I really don't have a whole lot of experience in. But um, you know, that's part of the fun of a cannonball, or part of the fun of doing a trip like this is um, you know, new surfaces, new opportunities to to learn something. And if if I have to pick it up, I'll just, you know, muscle it up. You know, it that that ten array is a lot lighter than my Harley. So and and you know, we all ride motorcycles, we drop motorcycles. It's not, you know, it's it's not a matter of of if you're gonna drop it, it's when you're gonna drop it. And um, you know, I think that ten array is a little bit easier to manage from uh from a weight perspective. So I'm not too concerned about that. But the different changes, the different types of uh conditions and the different kind of surfaces, yeah. Um, and I just won't have the opportunity to really practice anything like that before um, you know, I actually do the cannonball. So it'll be a interesting uh experience, I think. You're just gonna go get her done. Just go for it. Okay. And what about your packing strategy? A packing strategy as light as I possibly can. Um you know, having done you know long distance challenges and um just the bare minimums, actually. You know, the bare minimum tool set, you know, changes of underwear, changes of socks, a couple shirts that you just constantly reuse, and that's it. What about tools? Uh just the bare minimums, you know, the socket set, torques, uh Allen wrenches, um, uh of course, you know, tire changing gear, and uh and just use that. Okay. So you're gonna bring basically a full kit then? A full tool kit. Yeah. If I'm gonna if I'm gonna have anything with me, it'll be that. And, you know, probably a couple spare inner tubes as well. One for the front, one for the back. Pro tip.

SPEAKER_02 17:26

Just bring one inner tube. You bring uh a front and in a pinch, it'll definitely get you out of any situation. You can run the you got that 21 in the front. Yeah. And so I'm actually only bringing one tube with me. That's a good that that's a good tip to use, yeah. Is you so we talked about packing, we we talked about approach. Are you tackling a bunch of the dirt as well?

SPEAKER_03 17:49

I plan to. Um I I plan to do as much dirt as I possibly can. Um just, you know, we'll see how it goes. If I go out on my first and and experience some conditions that I'm just you know, that just crunch me a bunch of times and I'm picking up that thing every every uh quarter mile, then maybe I I won't try some of the the sections. But my my plan initially is to try as much dirt as possible. I gotcha.

SPEAKER_02 18:12

Alice, talk to me about how you are setting up the scooter and what your plan is with this thing.

SPEAKER_04 18:19

Okay. Uh packing, bare minimum. Like two changes of clothes. I wear the same clothes every day if I have to. Packing very light. Um, the less weight the better. Uh, tools, uh whatever was whatever's recommended. Um, I'm gonna bring an extra belt. I'm gonna bring uh a couple floats of oil, definitely a entire patch kit. Yeah, the main thing uh main thing I'm setting up my uh my desk for my uh GPS. I'm gonna have my uh camera. I want I want to maybe live stream some or most of the ship. I got an ISTA 360. I'm packing very light. I learned from the last learned from last time stuff to the uh to the C that'll throw off my balance, especially on these scooters. So I'm packing very light.

SPEAKER_02 19:01

So what kind of tires are you running on that thing, Alex?

SPEAKER_04 19:04

Are you you gonna put a set of TKC 80s on there or what's I'm gonna go with the missile and uh all city, missile and grip all city uh tires? They come highly recommended, yep, for uh this kind of these kind of off-roading uh for scooters. Uh kind of do my homework on those terms of that.

SPEAKER_02 19:20

So, guys, I'll let anybody

Goals, Awards, And Riding Layers

SPEAKER_02 19:22

talk on this one. What what are your goals for this? Actually, maybe I'll just start with Alex. What what does a successful day eight look for you? You're you're finishing day eight and what what does it look like? What's success?

SPEAKER_04 19:34

Uh able to accomplish, you know, what it was want to do coast to coast on a motorcycle or a scooter. Just cross that finish line. Not not worried about how many points, not worried about, you know, if I can hit all the checkpoints, great, but I just want to have fun. Like you said, get her done. Get her done. And I'm gonna have um I wanna have a uh uh nice Bluetooth speaker too, because I like that E D B E D B uh Yeah playlist. It's pretty good what you guys made. Yeah, definitely want a nice extra uh speaker music to get to music on writing.

SPEAKER_02 20:10

Matt, Jan, what about you guys?

SPEAKER_03 20:11

What do you guys have for goals on day eight? For me, uh arriving safely, number one. Um that's that's always the the utmost priority is actually you know doing this and not getting hurt. Um but other than that, I I you know I got my eye set on that uh checkpoint crusher award. I I want to hit all the checkpoints. I'm gonna do my best to uh to to get them all. Um I just think that's a that's a really great thing to to to accomplish to to come out of the cannonball with. Um and and other than that, you know, just go as fast as I can and uh and do as well as I can. Um it's a new experience for me, so I really don't know what what to set my level of expectations is, but just do my best.

SPEAKER_01 20:52

Jan? You sort of get into it and uh maybe on day two I can set a more realistic goal than I can do from from my computer back home. Uh and just take it as a go. I could like to do a couple of these cool, you know, the the checkpoints that's hard to reach. And of course, I I really hope I'll get the longest distance travel to attend the rally award. It's not someone coming from Australia or something just from the on the backside here.

SPEAKER_02 21:23

Going back to a little bit of what Matt said, checkpoints. Matt, the checkpoint crusher award is the pavement checkpoints. So there's there's actually not any award for getting every single checkpoint. So that's there is the person that gets the most checkpoints, there's an off road award, and then there's the pavement awards. And and that's kind of how it's it's set up. Um to Yan, your point, day two for me last year is where I were is where I had to reset expectations about what my goals were and and what I was. Planning on doing. Um, how are you guys planning on gearing up for this? Uh the reason I asked that is that we are going through a lot of different weather and temperature extremes from the east coast to the west coast, from heat to cold. Who knows? In September we could even run into snow at altitudes. So how are you guys thinking about that?

SPEAKER_01 22:27

I always uh uh base it on layers. I start with uh with a t-shirt uh uh at the at the closest to my body, and then I I build up with uh with a mesh uh mesh jacket and wind jacket and wool depending on depending on the uh on the temperature. And uh yeah. So I I presume that some days I'll ride it just a t-shirt and uh and a mesh jacket, and uh other days I'll have a big wool uh jumper outside and and uh the rain gear on top. So yeah, I don't have this, you know, the adventure big uh suits. I have yep. I I go for layers. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 23:08

Matt, what about you? Um my climb latitude riding gear. That's that's what I'll uh that's what I'll I'll have on my outer shell. Um I'll bring a extra s you know pair of warm gloves since I don't have any hand warmers on my uh on my T7. Yeah, just layer it up if I if I have to.

SPEAKER_02 23:25

Alex, uh, how are you thinking about riding gear?

SPEAKER_04 23:27

Um basically just the basics layers, uh shorts, t-shirt, uh definitely gloves. And uh what what I also found useful is those little hand warmers that you buy at the uh 7 Eleven. Yeah, I just buy like eight of those and throw them in my pockets, you know. Um those work every time pretty much. And uh just pack a jacket and uh a pair of pants, go from there. Clothes can be washed. So yeah, just a jacket, uh gl gloves most important.

SPEAKER_02 23:59

And uh Is there anything in particular you guys are looking forward to? Uh beer.

SPEAKER_04 24:06

I don't really drink much beer, so um, yeah, it'll be uh meeting new people, hanging out with the guys, you know, uh just having fun and being safe.

SPEAKER_03 24:15

Um awesome. Uh the two things I'm looking forward to is uh is meeting some new riders and the camaraderie that always uh goes along with that. Um but from a writing point of view, I'm really looking forward to some really good mountain passes.

SPEAKER_01 24:29

Yeah, I agree with Matt. Uh meeting, you know, like-minded people. And I'm also looking forward to to whatever Aaron's put up from on nice roads. It looks like he really knows what he's doing on finding the routes. So I'm I'm really looking forward to that.

SPEAKER_02 24:46

Yeah. I I think Aaron's mentioned it before on previous podcasts, but he actually used to organize events like this for a previous employer of his. So he's got tons of experience on a lot of these routes and has ridden a lot of them himself personally. So he's pulling from years of previous experience to be able to put these routes together for us. And it it really shows. When if you go back and do like the Google Street view and you follow some of these roads, it's pretty amazing. So I'm actually looking forward to it because there's parts of the Utah route that I've never done before at all. So that's uh it's gonna be interesting to try and do

Tire Strategy And The Day Four Problem

SPEAKER_02 25:34

that. We talked a little bit about tires, and I want to go back to that for a second because this topic comes up a bunch on the Facebook page and in the writer group. How are you guys thinking about it, Alex? I know you talked about the tires that you got. Um, I don't know if you guys have heard one of the previous podcasts where I talked about just burning through my rear tire in like no time. Are you guys thinking about the fact that we've got four very long days of just solid pavement and then we've got pretty hardcore off-road, especially those extreme off-road checkpoints? Are you thinking about tire swaps? Are you gonna try and run the same set the entire time? How are you thinking about it?

SPEAKER_04 26:24

Um, I'm trying to idea buying an another set and having it shipped to one of the hotels like maybe like day four. So it's just in case. And uh if I don't need it on day four, I'll have it shipped to the hotel on maybe day six. That's also um when the costs it's a safety issue. And then if I don't need the tires at the end of the trip, I'll I guess figure out what to do with them then. But that's uh thought somehow.

SPEAKER_01 26:54

Jan and Matt, what about you guys? Uh I plan on changing my tires when I come over in June, July, just before I I leave the bike again and uh cross my fingers they're gonna hold the whole way. And and what were you running? I just gonna put on the dunlap trailmax missions, which I'm which I've been using all the time.

SPEAKER_02 27:12

Uh the missions is what I ran last year.

SPEAKER_03 27:15

Matt, how about you? What are you thinking about? Uh I'm thinking about a brand new set of uh tires right at the beginning and trying to go the entire uh route with just one set of tires. I'm currently running the trailmax missions, but I may start looking around for something that's a little bit more um off-road rather than uh than than just you know 50-50 tires.

SPEAKER_02 27:38

I've got a set of the Motas GPS um adventure tires on there right now um on my bike, and it still has the center strip down it for a lot of the road riding, but way more aggressive than the Trailmax missions were um as far as being able to do the dirt and the rocks. So you you might consider something like that. But I'm hearing is that all three of you guys are going to try and push the same set of tires across the whole thing. Um, there's some guys talking about switching tires on day four. Um, but I'm just waiting to hear how they are planning on doing that, if they're even willing to share. Because one of the things, if they start doing the math, it's gonna be very difficult to do unless you're doing it yourself and you're swapping them in the hotel. Because we have over 500 miles to do on day four, even if you're just gas doing a gas and go the entire day on that slab day. You're coming in at four or four fifteen in the afternoon. And the challenge is the vast majority of the dealerships in the area close between two and five. And a typical tire change is an hour appointment. So if you're gonna do tire changes in the Pueblo area, you'd have to be done and in the area by 4 p.m. pulling in for your service appointment, or they're not gonna be able to get you in. So it's gonna be real interesting to see how people do a tire change in Pueblo to get more knobby tires on.

Snow Fears And Satellite Safety Plans

SPEAKER_02 29:17

So moving on a little bit, is there anything that you guys are concerned about that's just kind of eating at you at the back of your head about like, well, what if this happens, or what if that happens, or are there any unknowns that that you guys are concerned about? Snow in the mountains. Oh, that's a good one.

SPEAKER_03 29:38

It it is September. Yeah. It's September. And in Colorado, uh in those, you know, in those high peaks, you can get snow. So it it could be a possibility. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:50

Alex, I'm just picturing you on your scooter buzzing along, tucked in. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_04 29:56

I should be right keeping up. Yep. And um, if heaven's enough to have a breakdown, I know I know what I'm gonna do. Um, find the nearest U-Haul place, find a bunch of people to help me load it up in the truck and carry along the route and hopefully get it fixed. That's my plan.

SPEAKER_02 30:11

Uh uh, you know what I'm you know what I'm picturing in my head is dumb and dumber. With the guys frozen to the side of your nose. That's me right now.

SPEAKER_03 30:23

I was thinking more of the Swedish bikini team, so.

SPEAKER_04 30:26

Oh, there you go. I don't know about that.

SPEAKER_02 30:33

Jan, do you have any v any concerns that uh are unknowns that you're like, oh, what if what if this happens?

SPEAKER_01 30:39

Yeah, I mean, basically at some point you're gonna be alone without cell coverage and something might happen there. I think that's the only that's what concerns me a little bit that you know you fall over or the engine breaks or or something like that. But uh I just yeah, just need to to find a way to at least to get get contact out to the world if something happens.

SPEAKER_02 31:02

Yeah. Jan, do you have uh like a Garmin inreach or other any other sort of satellite communication? Uh not now, but um I'm going to get one. Uh yes, Matt, I know you do. Are you planning on bringing it?

SPEAKER_03 31:15

Yeah, I'll absolutely uh carry my in-reach. I I like to carry it with me anytime I'm doing a long trip. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 31:20

Alex, how about you? Do you have a have an in-reach or anything like that?

SPEAKER_04 31:24

I will be equipped with one this year. Uh, I just need some information on on the best one to get. I guess I will be carried in one.

SPEAKER_02 31:31

Yeah. Um, I don't know, I don't know if you heard the conversation that we had with Chris and Hunter, but there was there was one section of that conversation where Chris was actually saying that he was getting enough of a heat stroke that he actually would have pressed the SOS button on his in reach if he had had it on him and not left it on the bike, which I totally understand because that Montezuma checkpoint last year was in the middle of the desert. It was hot as hell, and he was in full riding gear, still wearing his helmet. So that that was a rough one.

Why Your GPS Might Fail Off-Road

SPEAKER_02 32:05

One thing I don't hear you guys too nervous about is navigation. And yeah, you're gonna have backups and spares and things like that. But what I want to remind you guys of, and anybody else that's actually cares about navigation that's listening to this, is that the default routing apps or routing engines are not going to be enough for you to get a lot of the off-road checkpoints. And what I mean by that is that a Garmin or Google Maps or a lot of these things are not necessarily gonna take you all the way to the checkpoint. And I've been doing a lot of testing over the last couple of weeks. And I'm not gonna say which ones because I'm gonna let people figure it out for themselves. But there are at least four checkpoints that I am 100% confident a Garmin is not gonna get you to. You can plug in that checkpoint and it'll say it's routing you there. And next thing you know, you're gonna be on the wrong side of a river, wrong side of a ravine, whatever it is. And the Garmin's just gonna say, All right, you're here. This is as close as I can get you to it. And it's not gonna be enough for the rally app to be able to actually get you that checkpoint. So people are gonna have to be very, very careful um about what they do, because some of those checkpoints, you are going to have to manually create your own track to be able to get to them. Okay.

Route Tweaks, Extreme Points, And Expectations

SPEAKER_02 33:40

Um what other things do you guys want to talk about? I I would just like to open up the floor to see if you guys have maybe questions for me, questions for each other. You guys want to sort of tag team some of this stuff at all?

SPEAKER_03 33:54

Well, my I I have the question about uh um about you know the the navigation and uh and and uh you know how to actually lay out your navigation. So um you know, but the what I've seen is we've got a we've got a a track and it's got some checkpoints to it, but uh that track might not be the optimal route in order to get to some of these checkpoints. How much altering of the standard route do you that do you expect to do on uh on on the whole entire trip?

SPEAKER_02 34:27

It depends on your goals, right? So it it depends on what people are are trying to do. If if you're going for first to win, first place, first to finish, you're gonna have to modify a lot of things and make a lot of those real-time decisions. If your goal is to get an award, the best one to go for is the checkpoint crusher. That is the award where it's all the pavement. Then there is the Rough Rider Award, which is all the dirt. The area where you're gonna have to make the most changes is where you're going for first to finish or going for the rough rider. If you are going for the checkpoint crusher award, you're not gonna have to change anything. You can basically just follow the main tracks and you'll be fine. Does that make sense?

SPEAKER_03 35:19

Yeah, so the rough rider includes all of the uh the hard-to-reach checkpoints as well?

SPEAKER_02 35:25

Not really. The if it's marked as an extreme checkpoint, it is an optional checkpoint that is not required for the Rough Rider Award. None of the extreme checkpoints are required to get your award. It is that they are um there for the extra points for the people that are trying to get first place. Does that make sense?

SPEAKER_03 35:47

Yeah. Well, I I heard some stories uh from the last podcast about having to get off the motorcycle and climb fences and and uh you know hike to places in order to get the uh the the checkpoint. So I imagine that will be part of it as well.

SPEAKER_02 36:03

That was for the guys so Hunter and Chris were battling it out the entire week for that first to finish. Like they were the top two contenders that were going for that stuff, um, which is which is why I did that specific podcast for uh with those guys. So they were not willing to leave a single point on the table and and not at least go for it. So that's that's how that one happened. Jan or Alex, you guys got any questions or things you want to want to learn?

SPEAKER_04 36:35

Pretty much pretty much cover it uh cover it all. Look at it and uh get it get it on. Looking forward to a great trip. Well that's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 36:49

Yeah, same. I don't know. Hopefully I'll I'll uh get some new friends and uh some some really good time. That's that's that's my main main goal with this.

SPEAKER_02 37:01

What are you guys doing after the cannonball? Do you have to get your bike back to somewhere else, Alex, or are you shipping and flying home or are you riding home? Matt, what about you? What are you guys doing?

SPEAKER_04 37:15

I'm going to my ECDC concert in New Jersey on Friday, so I'm gonna get back home Thursday night so I can go to my ECDC concert.

SPEAKER_01 37:25

Yep. I got a flight back from uh from San Francisco and shipping the bike back to to Georgia.

SPEAKER_03 37:31

Well, that's great. Now my plan is to ride back. Um, I'm gonna drop down to uh LA to see my brother and then uh you know visit some friends along the way, take a nice leisurely ride home. Ah, the joys of retirement. Yep.

Post-Rally Travel Plans And Goodbyes

SPEAKER_02 37:47

All right, guys. Well, thanks so much for being on the podcast today. Um, it was great to hear why you decided to sign up, how you're planning on approaching it, and things like that. But uh hopefully some of the other newbies have learned a few things, and we'll see you again next time. Awesome. Thanks.

Patreon Thanks And Sign-Off

SPEAKER_00 41:00

And satisfies the algorithm gods. All the algorithm gods. A special thanks to our Patreon supporters. You're keeping this dig and chip afloat. Thanks for listening to the ABV Cannonball Podcast. Keep your right hand cranked and your feet on the peg.