Folks out and about between Bloomington, Indiana and Cape Girardeau, Missouri may have been treated to some classic hardware out on the
roadways Wednesday. Only about a hundred selected riders making their way from New Jersey to California came through Carmi as part of the Race of the Century. And all of them were putting their ride to the test. The Cannonball (as it’s called) is run on bikes that are at least 100 years old.
Riders set out on Saturday, September 10th from Atlantic City and will travel the 3400 miles across America. They expect to arrive in San Diego, California 16 days later on September 26th. Most of the route is all two lane back roads with less than 100 miles on any actual interstate. The group averages about 300 miles per day or stage as they call it and sometimes they have trouble on century old bikes.
According to the Tuesday Ride Report, Bill Woods who acts as “the sweep guy” spends his days trailing and picking up disabled bikes, delivering them to their frustrated riders at the hotels ahead. Bill and the report author, Felicia Morgan joke, but say that it’s an endurance race in every sense of the word. It’s understandably a challenge sometimes to keep a bike that’s more than 100 years old running all the way through a stage, let alone across the country.
You can keep up with the individual rider’s blogs, see the route and learn much more about the endurance run at the group’s website https://www.motorcyclecannonball.com as well as their facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/groups/332714961899/.
