There’s a reason they call it the Iron Butt. Riding 11,000 miles in 11 days on a motorcycle requires exceptionally firm buttocks, and that’s exactly what the Iron Butt Rally entails. Held every two years, the rally sends motorcyclists on a marathon mission across the United States and Canada, challenging participants to obtain bonus points with various detours along the way.

One of those detours took bikers to downtown Portsmouth on Tuesday, Aug. 21, where they received extra credit for picking up a copy of the New Hampshire Gazette at Federal Cigar on Ladd Street. Just fewer than 100 participants had departed from the 2007 headquarters in St. Louis the previous morning. Not all of them stopped in Portsmouth, but those who did reported a rough first day.

“Rain. Lots and lots of rain,” said Jeff Earls, of Oregon. “It rained all the way from pretty much Indianapolis to about Hartford. There was a stationary front that just sat over the interstate.”

Earls, who pulled up to the tobacco shop on a heavily packed BMW motorcycle just before 4 p.m., was one of 14 riders to pick up credit in Portsmouth. He traveled from St. Louis to New York City on Monday, and then rode up the coast to New Hampshire on Tuesday, stopping for no more than three minutes before continuing north.

Iron Butt is a rather complicated rally, and its rules change from year to year. The 2007 rally began in St. Louis on Aug. 20 and will end there on Aug. 31. In between, participants must arrive at various checkpoints around North America within certain windows of time. They can also decide between a number of bonus locations with varying point values. The objective is to accumulate as much mileage and as many bonus points as possible in 11 days, while reaching all of the designated checkpoints. Riders must carefully plan their routes, calculating the optimal destinations to maximize distance and points in feasible timeframes.

According to Leonard Seagren, co-owner of Federal Cigar, motorcyclists trickled into the shop throughout the day, the first arriving at 8:45 a.m. and the last arriving at 5:30 p.m. Most of the riders were in a hurry to reach their next destination, but some stuck around long enough for a brief chat with employees. “They don’t rush in and run, but they don’t dillydally,” Seagren said. “They’re very wonderful to get along with. They’ve got big, fancy, comfortable rigs.” Seagren also commented on the riders’ thick outfits and protective gear. “If they ever crashed, they would roll for a mile, they’ve got so much protection,” he said.

Mike Hutsal, of Winnipeg, pulled up in front of Federal Cigar around 2 p.m. on a BMW motorcycle bearing Manitoba license plates. He wore a large helmet with a plastic face shield and a heavily padded jacket and pants, with a Canadian flag patch stitched to his left shoulder. By the time he reached Portsmouth, Hutsal had already ridden 450 miles that day, and he planned to reach Prince Edward Island by midnight—a solid 550 miles or so to the north.

Like Earls, Hutsal had complaints about the weather. “It’s more rain than I’ve ever seen in one day,” he said. “Eleven hundred miles of rain. I’m still drying out.”

Nevertheless, Hutsal, who also competed in the rally in 2003, looked forward to continuing his trek. He does not expect to participate in future rallies, but he provided some keys to success for those who do. “I think it’s discipline. Discipline and time management,” he said. “Just don’t waste time and don’t get too excited about traffic and so on. Just keep plugging in and make sure you sleep when you need to sleep.”

After offering his insights, Hutsal asked for directions to I-95 north and quickly roared away on his bike. For stopping in Portsmouth, he picked up 878 points, which might seem like a big payoff, but not when compared to some of the other bonus detours. Most of the riders who swung through Portsmouth were on their way to see Percé Rock, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence off the coast of Quebec, a destination worth 33,000 points.

A picture of your motorcycle in front of the Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor will get you 52,000 points. Of course, that bonus is impossible, since there is no bridge across the Pacific to Hawaii. A somewhat more practical option is acquiring a picture of your bike in front of the sign at the Goose Bay ferry terminal in Labrador, Canada, which, oddly, is worth even more than the Pearl Harbor bonus (75,527 points).

Federal Cigar has been a bonus location in the rally every year since 1999. The 14 riders who came through this year were greeted with a free cigar and pastry, as well as a complimentary copy of the New Hampshire Gazette, complete with a special stamp so that it could not be duplicated. Seagren offered his tobacco shop as a destination after Gazette editor Steve Fowle told him about the rally eight years ago. “He brought it to our attention and we thought it was a wonderful idea,” Seagren said.

Earls repacked his motorcycle quickly after marking off a score sheet outside the cigar shop. A Victory motorcycle with Minnesota plates pulled up behind him as he prepared to speed off. He could not remember how many hours he had been riding. “You get rest here and there, but I’m just trying to keep moving at this point,” he said. Riding 11,000 miles in 11 days is a great way to see the country, but the rally does not afford long or relaxing visits. “You don’t get to see much of it in any detail,” Earls said with a laugh as he revved his bike’s engine back to life.