2011 IBR - The Inside View

[Bounce]

it was me who asked the question in the Spring IBA Magazine about starting a Coast to Coast to Coast from the middle of the country (for obvious reasons).

I'm glad I wasn't there. They could very well have made me stand up and explain (in painful detail) the reasons based on the pounding I got for asking that same question back in '98 or '99.

 

[sennister]

The problem with Key West is that not only does it take a long time to get to the start of the keys but once you start down the chain the speed limit is something like 30-35MPH for miles upon miles. Depending on what time of day it is the traffic can be bad. To try and do that would take as long if not longer than what it would take to hit AK.

 

[mdisher]

Going to corner 2 in Maine after checkpoint 2, and then especially going to corner 3 (Key West) after checkpoint 3 will be HUGE time suckers. Time that can be spent going for high value capitals. In the end, which is a better srtategy we won't know until the finish. But knowing capital point values for leg 1, and then for leg 2, will give riders at least a decent idea of the trade-off between the two.

Corner 4 in California might not be too hard to get, but what if the capitals of Sacremento, CA, Carson City, NV, and Salt Lake City, UT are worth HUGE points? Most likely, you can't get those capitals AND the fourth corner.

Yeah but... You're making the assumption that the capitols over here on the east will be worth something. What was explained/described was that the values where higher they further away from the base route that they were. Over here, these smaller states, well, at least up in that north east corner. I think all of those capitol values would be quite small in comparison, and if so, spending the time to get that corner might be prudent.

Then again maybe not.

That 4th corner is only 125 miles away from the finish, which in the grand scheme of things is *nothing*, unless you're running behind.

 

[Warchild]

Looks like the Harley ridden by Darrin Hicks just **** the bed....

He is in Cedar Rapids, Iowa with some kind of electrical problem, waiting for the local dealer to pick him up....

Apparently, the electrical problem had to due with an aftermarket voltage regulator that Darrin had installed earlier this year. They will bolt up a stock R/R, and Darrin should be back on the road shortly.

 

[Bob Lilley]

Going to corner 2 in Maine after checkpoint 2, and then especially going to corner 3 (Key West) after checkpoint 3 will be HUGE time suckers. Time that can be spent going for high value capitals. In the end, which is a better srtategy we won't know until the finish. But knowing capital point values for leg 1, and then for leg 2, will give riders at least a decent idea of the trade-off between the two.

Corner 4 in California might not be too hard to get, but what if the capitals of Sacremento, CA, Carson City, NV, and Salt Lake City, UT are worth HUGE points? Most likely, you can't get those capitals AND the fourth corner.

Yeah but... You're making the assumption that the capitols over here on the east will be worth something. What was explained/described was that the values where higher they further away from the base route that they were. Over here, these smaller states, well, at least up in that north east corner. I think all of those capitol values would be quite small in comparison, and if so, spending the time to get that corner might be prudent.

Then again maybe not.

Having to ride far enough north to bag Oregon on leg three is going to be a real bear. The 3 Hyder seekers obviously took that into consideration, however, knowing how spent they may well be on the last night of the rally, that is one big-*** gamble. On the other hand, if Meese and Sinclair have an enormous point cushion because of their phenomenal leg one ride, perhaps they can forego big cap boni and take a more direct shot to OR.

For the 4-Corners, I'm see Key West as the non-Hyder seeker's "Hyder". What I mean by that is that if you hit Key West in the day time, it could be close to as long a ride as a traffic-free run to Hyder was. I'll say this, I rode 12K + miles in the '09. A snafu at the Canadien border and a snafu with a rest bonus impacted my overall point/mileage total, but, did I have another 2K miles in the tank? Hell no! So if the guestimates are close - that a top finisher would be in the 14K mile range with Hyder or the 4-Corners and capital boni, the top 5 will be running on the proverbial fumes when they roll into Ontario. Gotta say, though, this arm chair **** is a major BLAST!!!!!!

BTW, does anyone know what happened to Peek at the crossing?

That 4th corner is only 125 miles away from the finish, which in the grand scheme of things is *nothing*, unless you're running behind.

 

[TriggerT]

Warchild,

For the newbies here (self included), if you where wanting to prepare to meet qualifications for 2012 5K or 2013 11k rallies, what recommendations would you make that would increase your chances of your application being selected ( if understand correctly, the IBA selects the applications). IE multiple IBA certs, placement in other IBA events ..

Thanks for any info ...

There won't be a IBR 5K in 2012. Becoming a premier member in the IBA increases your chances, as does volunteering to help out with IBA events.

 

[rickcorwn]

Warchild,

For the newbies here (self included), if you where wanting to prepare to meet qualifications for 2012 5K or 2013 11k rallies, what recommendations would you make that would increase your chances of your application being selected ( if understand correctly, the IBA selects the applications). IE multiple IBA certs, placement in other IBA events ..

Thanks for any info ...

There won't be a IBR 5K in 2012. Becoming a premier member in the IBA increases your chances, as does volunteering to help out with IBA events.

A top ten finish at the Butt-Lite Six will do the trick. There are other rallies that a top finish will earn you a pass to the IBR also.

 

[Bounce]

I'm also still not *sold* on the belief that values will increase, though they might, and if they do will only further complicate the 4 corners.

historically, each leg has bonuses of increasing value over previous legs. this isn't an historical IBR though. that said, anything's possible and that's what makes it so tough. not only do you have to make a plan based on a realistic assessment of your ability to ride the plan, you also make assumptions about upcoming legs that may or may not pan out. those who finish really well put together the magic mix of planning and doing while putting it together at a level higher than the rest of the field.

 

[Auburn]

Looks like the Harley ridden by Darrin Hicks just **** the bed....

He is in Cedar Rapids, Iowa with some kind of electrical problem, waiting for the local dealer to pick him up....

Apparently, the electrical problem had to due with an aftermarket voltage regulator that Darrin had installed earlier this year. They will bolt up a stock R/R, and Darrin should be back on the road shortly.

Good to hear that he can get it fixed. Hope he can still make the check point in time.

 

[BwanaDik]

Anyone else here expecting there to be an all 48 capitals super bonus worth 4800 or 9600 or something crazy on leg 3 making the 4 corners and Hyder wasted time?

That is my long shot bet at the mind screw we all know is coming.

Ouch! Just had to check this, I ran a definitely "non-optimised" of exactly that, based on the "base route" on page #1 here and came up with about 14,000 miles. What becomes immediately apparent is, as mentioned above, the capitols that are off-route take a huge amout of time to get to in The West. Denver and Salt Lake City appear to be the wild cards as to wether to get them on the northern or southern legs.

Is 14,000 achievable?

 

[Dan S]

Going to corner 2 in Maine after checkpoint 2, and then especially going to corner 3 (Key West) after checkpoint 3 will be HUGE time suckers. Time that can be spent going for high value capitals. In the end, which is a better srtategy we won't know until the finish. But knowing capital point values for leg 1, and then for leg 2, will give riders at least a decent idea of the trade-off between the two.

Corner 4 in California might not be too hard to get, but what if the capitals of Sacremento, CA, Carson City, NV, and Salt Lake City, UT are worth HUGE points? Most likely, you can't get those capitals AND the fourth corner.

If a podium contender can get corner 3 and most of the Capitols on leg 2 and 3 then they have the edge on a Hyder rider. But if points get so big for Capitols that a 4 corners rider scraps that in favor of getting Capitols then the Hyder rider has it.

This keyboard rally is sooo easy. lol!!! and fun.

 

[Twigg]

Going to corner 2 in Maine after checkpoint 2, and then especially going to corner 3 (Key West) after checkpoint 3 will be HUGE time suckers. Time that can be spent going for high value capitals. In the end, which is a better srtategy we won't know until the finish. But knowing capital point values for leg 1, and then for leg 2, will give riders at least a decent idea of the trade-off between the two.

Corner 4 in California might not be too hard to get, but what if the capitals of Sacremento, CA, Carson City, NV, and Salt Lake City, UT are worth HUGE points? Most likely, you can't get those capitals AND the fourth corner.

If a podium contender can get corner 3 and most of the Capitols on leg 2 and 3 then they have the edge on a Hyder rider. But if points get so big for Capitols that a 4 corners rider scraps that in favor of getting Capitols then the Hyder rider has it.

This keyboard rally is sooo easy. lol!!! and fun.

The Capitols on leg three are the big Southern and Western States ... They are going to be the hardest to get, plus Key West? And leg three is the shortest, timewise.

 

[ChrisW]

historically, each leg has bonuses of increasing value over previous legs. this isn't an historical IBR though. that said, anything's possible and that's what makes it so tough.

I would have thought that there would have been some indication that this was not the case in the riders meeting. That would be a dramatic departure from previous rallies, even the rallies they talked about "getting back to".

I think my approach would have been to skip Blaine and hoover up the capitals.

Madawaska on leg one does not look like a smaller effort than AK to me, but I haven't fired up the software to figure it out. Also, I could not have convinced myself to ride by a bunch of NE capitals I might need to come back for once the value's are known.

I highly doubt Key West is going to be worth the effort.

...

 

[DNA]

Anyone else here expecting there to be an all 48 capitals super bonus worth 4800 or 9600 or something crazy on leg 3 making the 4 corners and Hyder wasted time?

That is my long shot bet at the mind screw we all know is coming.

Ouch! Just had to check this, I ran a definitely "non-optimised" of exactly that, based on the "base route" on page #1 here and came up with about 14,000 miles. What becomes immediately apparent is, as mentioned above, the capitols that are off-route take a huge amout of time to get to in The West. Denver and Salt Lake City appear to be the wild cards as to wether to get them on the northern or southern legs.

Is 14,000 achievable?

My recollection was a 48 capitals route ran right around 12,000 miles

Add another ~500 for reaching checkpoints and you are right in line with a typical top ten route mileage.

 

[Dan S]

Going to corner 2 in Maine after checkpoint 2, and then especially going to corner 3 (Key West) after checkpoint 3 will be HUGE time suckers. Time that can be spent going for high value capitals. In the end, which is a better srtategy we won't know until the finish. But knowing capital point values for leg 1, and then for leg 2, will give riders at least a decent idea of the trade-off between the two.

Corner 4 in California might not be too hard to get, but what if the capitals of Sacremento, CA, Carson City, NV, and Salt Lake City, UT are worth HUGE points? Most likely, you can't get those capitals AND the fourth corner.

If a podium contender can get corner 3 and most of the Capitols on leg 2 and 3 then they have the edge on a Hyder rider. But if points get so big for Capitols that a 4 corners rider scraps that in favor of getting Capitols then the Hyder rider has it.

This keyboard rally is sooo easy. lol!!! and fun.

The Capitols on leg three are the big Southern and Western States ... They are going to be the hardest to get, plus Key West? And leg three is the shortest, timewise.

So IF points for capitols on leg 3 get really big a 4 corners rider abandons Key West then that puts a Hyder riders way ahead. Unless a podium contender already got corner 2 on leg 1 and corner 3 on leg 2. OOOO, I can't wait.

 

[fljab]

Looks like the Harley ridden by Darrin Hicks just **** the bed....

He is in Cedar Rapids, Iowa with some kind of electrical problem, waiting for the local dealer to pick him up....

Apparently, the electrical problem had to due with an aftermarket voltage regulator that Darrin had installed earlier this year. They will bolt up a stock R/R, and Darrin should be back on the road shortly.

I saw that on LDR; great news!

 

[magnum1b]

Everything changes, and everything stays the same, especially the Metric Buttload of speculation by all the keyboard jockeys on this and other lists. I find it very entertaining, and enormously time consuming. Oh, and that guy on the 125 is carving his way through the pack north of Bloomington, IL headed for Key West. I'm betting he beats any 4-corners riders to the Southernmost point.

 

[Twigg]

Going to corner 2 in Maine after checkpoint 2, and then especially going to corner 3 (Key West) after checkpoint 3 will be HUGE time suckers. Time that can be spent going for high value capitals. In the end, which is a better srtategy we won't know until the finish. But knowing capital point values for leg 1, and then for leg 2, will give riders at least a decent idea of the trade-off between the two.

Corner 4 in California might not be too hard to get, but what if the capitals of Sacremento, CA, Carson City, NV, and Salt Lake City, UT are worth HUGE points? Most likely, you can't get those capitals AND the fourth corner.

If a podium contender can get corner 3 and most of the Capitols on leg 2 and 3 then they have the edge on a Hyder rider. But if points get so big for Capitols that a 4 corners rider scraps that in favor of getting Capitols then the Hyder rider has it.

This keyboard rally is sooo easy. lol!!! and fun.

The Capitols on leg three are the big Southern and Western States ... They are going to be the hardest to get, plus Key West? And leg three is the shortest, timewise.

So IF points for capitols on leg 3 get really big a 4 corners rider abandons Key West then that puts a Hyder riders way ahead. Unless a podium contender already got corner 2 on leg 1 and corner 3 on leg 2. OOOO, I can't wait.

They might not even need to get very big ....

If the idea is that a "big" Capitol might be worth up to 1000 points ... There is Austin, Salt Lake City, Carson City, Sacramento, Denver and Tucson ... all well off the beaten track. A northern track through those States would pick up most of them, then drop down to Tucson and the only one you might miss would be Austin.

On the other hand ... If you can make Key West, then bag Austin and Tucson, you might come out on top.

 

[jocko87]

Anyone else here expecting there to be an all 48 capitals super bonus worth 4800 or 9600 or something crazy on leg 3 making the 4 corners and Hyder wasted time?

That is my long shot bet at the mind screw we all know is coming.

Ouch! Just had to check this, I ran a definitely "non-optimised" of exactly that, based on the "base route" on page #1 here and came up with about 14,000 miles. What becomes immediately apparent is, as mentioned above, the capitols that are off-route take a huge amout of time to get to in The West. Denver and Salt Lake City appear to be the wild cards as to wether to get them on the northern or southern legs.

Is 14,000 achievable?

My recollection was a 48 capitals route ran right around 12,000 miles

Add another ~500 for reaching checkpoints and you are right in line with a typical top ten route mileage.

The more I've been thinking about this the more I think this would be a great way to go. If you plan on 12-13,000 miles to hit all the capitals you can plan the entire 11 days with rest stops and everything, hit the high traffic areas at good times. A bonus for all 48 capitals seems like a good possibility. Then look for any other medium hanging fruit along the route and adjust accordingly.

It would have to be a great advantage knowing how far you need to go on each leg to help weigh the risk of other bonii along the way.

 

[Gene-ST1300]

And the tough part is figuring it all out while riding, talk about multi-tasking !