Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 84 IRON BUTT MAGAZINE | Winter 2014 R R R R R R R R R on began his riding career at age  in  in Plano, Texas, where he lived and worked in Information Tech- nology (IT). While he always wanted a motor- cycle, family and pro- fessional commitments precluded getting one. When it came time to selecting his first bike, though, it had to be a Harley- Davidson. To Ron, Harleys and motor- cycling were synonymous.In typical Ron Ayres style, he purchased a  Harley- Davidson FXRS as his first bike. But there was one minor complication: he had never been on a motorcycle before, so he had to ask the salesman where the controls were. “You must be kidding,” replied the salesman. “You’re not going to just ride this home are you?” “Of course not,” Ron said, “I’ll prac- tice in the parking lot first. How hard can it be?” The salesman shook his head,but pro- ceeded to explain the controls. The ride home was uneventful and a week later, Ron embarked on a two-week, - mile trip through the Colorado Rock- ies with a close friend. He was so new that he didn’t know much about wear- ing the proper equipment for a long- distance ride. Ron wore a leather jacket, an open-face helmet, cowboy boots, and gloves with no fingers. This inau- gural trip took place in early June and he was amazed when they encountered snow and sleet while making their way to Cripple Creek. Ron’s hands quickly became numb and he had to stop several times to warm them next to the cylinders of the engine. He and his friend tried to RON AYRES RON AYRES RON AYRES RON AYRES RON AYRES RON AYRES buy sturdier gloves, but the only ones they found were made of rubber, like a plumber might wear.  It was a stopgap measure that worked until they found some suitable gloves. It was during this trip that Ron real- ized he didn’t like to stop and get off the bike. He had read an article about the Iron Butt Rally and Fran Crane and began dreaming about competing in the IBR. When he told his traveling com- panion about his desire to one day com- pete in an IBR, his friend told Ron he was nuts — something most of us have been accused of as well. “Don’t you see how fried we are after spending all day on the bike?” his friend asked. “Can you imagine doing , miles and then get- ting up in the morning and having to throw your leg over the saddle  more times?” When he returned from Colo- rado, Ron enrolled in an MSF training course and discovered how much he didn’t know about riding. “I’m amazed that I didn’t kill myself.” Afterwards, he set his sights on the ultimate long-dis- tance challenge: the Iron Butt Rally. RIDER TURNS WRITER Only eight years after first learning to ride a motorcycle, Ron entered and successfully finished the  Iron Butt Rally. He then wrote the first of his three books, Against The Wind, saying “The ’ IBR was such an incredible and life changing event for me, I felt it deserved to have a book written about it.” Dan Kennedy, the founder and publisher at