Ken Meese

(Warning: more than one glass of Chardonnay has been consumed.)

First, the information you’ve all been waiting on pins and needles for. Drum roll… Ken had a podium finish: third place!

Photo by Janice Hanson Holmberg

Congratulations to Jim Owen, the first rider to win the IBR twice; to Bob Lilley, the second place finisher; and to every single person who finished the rally. More people have gone into space than have successfully completed an IBR. Kudos!

Now…about this morning. I got off the phone with Ken at about 1 am. I expected him around 6 am, so I set my alarm for 5:30 am and eventually slept. Unbeknownst to me, just after he hung up with me and got back on the phone with Ernie, Ken had an encounter with a young deer.

Per Ken’s description, he was already riding cautiously on a two-lane road through the darkness of what he suspected to be deer territory in Wisconsin. Up ahead, he saw a deer in his lane, and slowed appropriately, knowing that when there’s one deer, there will be more. A second deer leapt in front of him and he hit it dead on, but the bike barely wobbled. The deer spun and slammed into the right side of the bike, stripping off paint as it went, but Ken was able to stay upright. The deer, sadly, was not so lucky.

His headlight cover is gone, other bits are gone, and there are dents along the right side of the bike. It’s obviously rideable and will get him home, although he’s considering the best options for covering the headlight area.

Busted headlight cover, stripped paint, and a bit of deer fur.

When he pulled in a little while after 6 am, I thought, That can’t be Ken—that bike’s gone down, and in fact nearly the first words out of my mouth were “You promised the bike wouldn’t fall over!” So I kinda wish I’d been prepped for that!

But hey, third place. Whoo!

Thank you to everyone who’s been following along on this wild ride. Ken will hopefully update this with stories of his own soon!

xo Dayle

The problem with the long final leg is that there isn’t much I can say! I can’t talk about where he’s been, where he’s going…except now, when I can say that he’s well rested and on his way to the finish tomorrow morning.

And I’m about to get on a plane to meet him. See you on the flip side!

xo Dayle

Ken started Leg 2 on a sleep deficit, and after collecting two bonuses in three hours, had to stop and sleep again. Because of how he was feeling, he chose to “stay close to home,” picking up bonuses in Texas and Oklahoma rather than pushing farther afield to pick up the really big points. He said, in pretty much every phone call, that it was a “solid, middle of the pack ride,” and he was fine with that.

Yeah, his “middle of the pack ride” bumped him up to 5th place.

I keep laughing and explaining to him that he is the only person who is surprised by this…

He’s in good spirits today, and sounds like he has a solid plan for Leg 3, the final and longest leg of the rally. (The rally ends Friday morning in Minneapolis.)

This time around, the goal is a full house: three of one bonus type and two of another, in any order. In some ways, a little easier; in some ways, a little more challenging. In all ways, fun!

I’ll report more as I can! Thank you all for your comments; I know he’s looking forward to reading them when he gets home.

xo Dayle

Ken made it safely to the second checkpoint (again in Dallas) this afternoon, after braving high heat, humidity, a rainstorm that he said felt like hail, and a group photo in a giant blue whale. (See the latest IBR update for visual proof!)

The amazing David Stoler stripped parts off his bike and shipped them to Ken’s brother Dennis to bring to Ken. This evening’s plan involved checking over his paperwork and getting scored (scoring opened at 5 pm local time), fixing the front brake control, changing tires, and sleep. They’ll get new bonus information in the morning. Again, the same locations as before, but with new points and new combinations of animal types to string together for greater points.

I’m awarding negative points to Ernie Azevedo, who scared me to death yesterday by texting me with “Again! Darn it!”, which of course I took to mean Ken being out of the rally (although I assumed “darn it” meant that didn’t involve injury). In reality, Ernie has been camping out of cell range, and when he would get somewhere with cell service, Ken was often on a sleep break so Ernie couldn’t talk to him—hence the text. Eventually my heart stopped beating out of my chest… (I’ve forgiven Ernie, though.)

I assume the standings after Leg 2 will be posted sometime tomorrow. Keep an eye on the IBR site or here!

xo Dayle