Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/763593
28 nJanuary 2017n www.thunderpress.net THUNDER PRESS untouched all this time. He and his father got the machine competition worthy and Lonnie was among the 90 riders who lined up to roll past the green fl ag on September 10. By the end of the day he had ridden 71 miles, and that was enough. He spent the rest of the next few days helping other riders then returned home to Sturgis, South Dakota, to watch the journey unfold from the comfort of his home as he tended to his health. As is typical, the fi rst three days of the run were grueling as the machines adjusted to being fl ogged hundreds of miles each day. Between the oppres- sive triple-digit temps and miserable heat index, riders and their machines struggled to fi nd the sweet spot and keep pace. For some, that spot would never be realized, including rider #98, Marcin Grela from Poland, who never even left the boardwalk on his 1916 H-D and would fi nish the race in Carlsbad, California with exactly 1 mile. Rider #36, John Pfeifer from Texas, barely managed to leap off his 1916 Harley-Davidson before it was engulfed in fl ames along the roadside just 91 miles from the starting line, which ended Pfeifer's riding experi- ence but not his Cannonball journey. The charred corpse of his beloved H-D was simply loaded up and the adventure continued, though on four wheels. Only 63 of the 90 entrants completed Stage 1's 154 miles into York, Pennsylvania, and the number of broken bikes was catastrophic. By day's end, Cannonball support trailers were loaded to the gills and indi- vidual support crews, not normally allowed on course, were called in to rescue their riders. Repairs allowed bikes to start anew on day two, but the carnage continued. Rider #93, world-famous Harley- Davidson painter Scott Jacobs, crashed his 1915 Harley after hitting loose gravel on the second day and the group would leave him and his wife Sharon, rider #81, in a Maryland hos- pital awaiting a shoulder replacement. Sharon was one of three women reg- istered for the ride but withdrew in order to stay at her husband's bedside. Breakdowns continued to plague the group, though the oppressive heat had diminished somewhat as they rode further from the coast into West Virginia. Mechanical issues were no better by day three and riders swapped cool breakdown stories, including rider #67 Bill Rodencal's tale about the farmer with a TIG welder who had him back on the road within minutes. By the time the pack checked in for the evening in Chillicothe, Ohio, only 27 riders had made the entire run's 598 miles intact. The three-day curse cleared up by Stage 4 and there was a collective sigh of relief as both man and machine seemed to fi nd a comfortable rhythm that kept riders on the road and off the sweep trailers. A whopping 70 riders had managed to enjoy at least most of the miles and spirits were lighter as they pulled into Bloomington, Indiana, for the night, but by the time they completed the 247 miles into Cape Girardeau, Missouri, for Stage 5, skies turned gloomy and riders were soaked to the bone as the weather deterio- rated, a pattern that would continue for exactly half of the entire event. At Stage 7 riders had spent a blustery and soggy morning on the road and by lunch the group sat huddled inside the local Elks Lodge in Parsons, Kansas, to wait out the deluge when organizers made the decision to call the race. Out of concerns for riders' safety, several trailers were loaded up and bikes were transported but many just chose to tough it out and continued their ride to the hosted dinner at the Twisted Oz Motorcycle Museum in Augusta, Kansas. As the group arrived for the day of rest in Dodge City, Kansas, there was a sigh of relief that could be heard across the plains, but there was another 1,567 miles of rough terrain and Wild West to traverse, including the dreaded 10,857-foot Wolf Creek Pass in Colorado for Stage 10. The effects of weather and worry were wearing on riders and the altitude of the Pass seemed to exacerbate the issue. The MC medic was waist deep in woozy warriors. Vicki Sanfelipo Cannonball Continued from page 27 See "Cannonball," page 30, column1 Jeff Lauritsen, #22, (r) was hit by a vehicle that ran a stop sign in Lake Havasu, Arizona. Riders and friends pushed his broken bike out to sit proudly next to the other machines at the fi nish line in Carlsbad, California. Riders were drenched by the time they rolled in for the lunch stop in Parsons, Kansas. This was not the fi rst, nor the last day of soggy seats for the Cannonballers. Texas rider Victor Hugas wasted no time when he broke down. By the time sweep crews picked him up, he had already diag- nosed the problem and had his engine out and ready for repairs. Jon Szalay, rider #45 from New Jersey, and Christine Grove take a break after reaching the top of Wolf Creek Pass outside Durango, Colorado Bill Rodencal from Wisconsin shares a celebratory champagne with New Mexico rider Ryan Allen as they arrive on the shores of the Pacifi c Ocean in California