A podium finish

July 7, 2017 Posted by 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

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