Event: The 14th Annual Blue Butt Rally Date: August 18, 2007 Location: Reno, Nevada (Peppermill Hotel & Casino) Sponsor Blue Knights Nevada II

Comments:

The 2007 rally was another great ride sponsored by Nevada II Blue Knights. This was my second ride with the Nevada II Blue Knights and as with last year,it was a perfect weekend of riding, eating at some good road side stands and meeting other riders along the way.This was the first year (I believe) that the Blue Knights included a 1,000 mile ride along with the normal 250 and 500 mile ride. Speaking with some other riders the 500 mile had some great scenery and riding.Jim (ride master) let the eight riders completing the 1,000 mile ride leave anytime we wanted. A few of us (including me) left at 6:30am on Saturday to get a jump on the hot weather. I was going to leave at 6:00am, but Jim said that donuts and coffee would not be available until 6:15, so I waited. The 1000 mile run I completed satisfied the IBA requirement for an In-state Saddlesore. During the ride the eight of us past each other at different spots along the route and for the most part were all ~30 miles apart. Everyone finished within about 45 minutes of each other with the staggered start time taken into affect.The 1,000 mile course (1038 miles) was a simple ride with three checkpoints (Ely, Las Vegas and Fallon).

Hwy 318 was the best road on the route. Absolutely nothing out there for ~113 miles. Being on such a lonely road, makes one think if all the maintenance as been completed correctly because their is no one to call and we only passed a few cars during the entire leg. My rear tire with 7,200 miles on it made me think a few times that I should have replaced it prior. While this type of ride might not be for everyone, for me this was a great ride. No traffic and plenty of places to pass when needed was the perfect receipt for a great ride. I hope they offer another 1,000 mile (or maybe a 1,500 mile) ride next year, this time maybe out side the state and heading north for cooler weather.

I did hear about another ride sponsored by Ride for the Heart in the May time frame each year. The ride starts in Las Vegas, drops down to San Diego and then ends in Phoenix Arizona.

You can download my Garmin MapSource file that includes both my planned route and my actual tracking log along and all PICs in one large WinZip file. WinZip is required to unzip. My route was created using Garmin MapSource Database Version 3 (MapSource software version 8 or higher is required).

Choose a video from the following list Or, Choose One Click to download all three vidoes in Microsoft Windows media format. (~56MB)

Click to download all pictures in a single WinZip file.  (~1.8MB)