Well it looks as though Canada was succesful.  Robert managed to ride 980 miles today and reports that he is on track.

And it’s finally stopped raining on him.

More importantly, he’s had his first mechanical set back when he thought the alternator had stopped working.  Fortunately, it was nothing more than a loose battery connection.  The main thing is that he’s had his first issue and overcome it.  Although there will be more (no matter how reliable a bike is, the Iron Butt Rally will “find you out”), the fact that he was able to fix it will be a huge physchological (is that how you spell it – where is a spell checker when you need it ?) boost to him.

Each set-back I had in 2011, just made me more confident that I could fix anything that occurred and I’m sure it will be the same with Robert.  I do have a concern though – it seems that he took advice to leave a lot of “stuff” back at the hotel.  That’s good advice for riders of modern machines which rarely go wrong.  Hopelessclass bikes require a different approach.  Spare clothes, yes, you can do without.  Spare parts for your bike, you cannot do without.  Let’s hope he has no more problems before he can recover his “stuff” again.

Apologies for this blog entry being late – I couldn’t find a computer anywhere last night at Nordcapp and my HTC phone refused to log onto the blog.  Now we are back some 400 miles south again, computers are more plentiful so as soon as I hear from Robert tonight/tomorrow moring, I’ll bring you up to speed.