Steve Menneto, who oversees Victory and Indian operations as VP-Motorcycles, made a long commute home from work following the annual Polaris/Victory/Indian National Sales Meeting held in Nashville, Tennessee, in late July.
Steve left Nashville on a Cory Ness Signature Series Cross Country and arrived home in upstate New York 17 hours later after completing a 1,041-mile Iron Butt ride.
“I lost two hours off the plan due to construction in Virginia and Pennsylvania, and then hit a hell of a thunderstorm with downpours and high winds in northern Pennsylvania,” he said. “It was amazing to feel a 30-degree temperature change. It was 107 degrees on the blacktop by the time I got to Pennsylvania, and when the storm hit, it went to 78 degrees within 10 miles.”
After surviving the bad weather, he faced one final challenge after darkness fell.
“I finished the ride at night on a highway New Yorkers call ‘Deer Alley’ because deer crush so many cars on this 130-mile stretch on I-88,” Steve said, but he completed the ride safely.
The bike’s performance? “Awesome!”
He chronicled the ride and submitted paperwork to the
Iron Butt Association, which will review the ride data and certify it as a Saddle Sore 1000, which is a ride of at least 1,000 miles in less than 24 hours.
Congrats, Steve.
The ride extended a tradition of Victory employees completing Iron Butt rides. When production of the Victory Vision was beginning, a Victory Vision was ridden on the Four Corners Iron Butt Ride route. A relay team of Victory engineers took turns riding the bike around the U.S. on a route that took them to the most remote cities at the four corners of the country. Several of the engineers logged data about their 1,000-mile-plus legs of the trip, which resulted in several Iron Butt certifications.
Steve Menneto (left) is shown with Polaris CEO Scott Wine at Daytona Bike Week 2011.
Here is the Iron Butt patch Steve Menneto will receive once his Saddle Sore 1000 Iron Butt ride is certified by the IBA.
