2011 IBR - The Inside View

[Bounce]

You can link up with I-35 and blast up to OKC in two hours to catch I-40 out west as well.

--warning local info that may be advantageous to riders. do not share with them--

mid-week traffic on I35 between Denton, TX and OKC should be relatively light. HOWEVER there's major construction with significant backups south of Ardmore, OK. this past weekend it was on the order of 3 hour delays.

the days of limited cell coverage is almost nil in most parts of the paved roadways of conus.

check out a lot of those western "outback" areas and you'll find limited voice coverage and almost nil data coverage. the NE corridor is nearly complete in coverage and mostly an issue of obscured reception than lack of coverage. that's balanced with the shoulder-to-shoulder population centers. for riding, i'll take the lack of coverage with the lack of congestion.

 

[user 213]

the days of limited cell coverage is almost nil in most parts of the paved roadways of conus.

BikerGeek beat me to it.Perhaps on your planet. I spent a good portion of my rally day on Sat/Sun in areas w/o coverage. AT&T or Verizon, (though Verizon is sooo much better coverage in the West). Just be aware of your useage and riding areas before you decide to rely solely on the Latitude based system.

 

[LowAndSilent]

Heat or rain?

I live in the convergence zone north of Seattle. What do you think my answer is? :blink:

Definitely rain. Sadly, it rarely rains in sheets like I remember back when I lived on the least coast. I kind of miss that type of rain. And thunderstorms. I have no issues with riding in the wet.

Dry heat...that's okay. Heat with high humidity? Fahgettaboutit. Right after buying my FJR back in August, I stopped in with one of my wife's aunts in Tennessee while on the way back to Washington. The morning I woke up to leave and head north, the morning weatherman said the heat index for the day was going to be 114. You better believe I got the bike loaded and underway ASAP. My only mission that day was to get as far away from there as possible and into cooler climates.

 

[LowAndSilent]

the days of limited cell coverage is almost nil in most parts of the paved roadways of conus.

BikerGeek beat me to it.Perhaps on your planet. I spent a good portion of my rally day on Sat/Sun in areas w/o coverage. AT&T or Verizon, (though Verizon is sooo much better coverage in the West). Just be aware of your useage and riding areas before you decide to rely solely on the Latitude based system.

I'll echo that. Can't get much coverage out in the far off places with AT&T out here. Thankfully, my wife can usually still get a GPS signal for tracking from my phone, but not in all circumstances. My friend with Verizon was able to get a strong 3G signal when we were down in BFE Oregon last summer. I got nothing with AT&T.

 

[tmc]

Looks like rider 496 just snagged Austin. With another not far behind.

I might have to go to Sac to cheer on the unfortunate souls who venture this far north. Good news is the weather should be nice for them. Had they come yesterday they would have been greeted by a ton of rain (which is very unusual for Sac in June).

 

[BikerGeek99]

mid-week traffic on I35 between Denton, TX and OKC should be relatively light. HOWEVER there's major construction with significant backups south of Ardmore, OK. this past weekend it was on the order of 3 hour delays.

Ardmore?

Isn't that where Petey lives?

Man that Petey is EVERYwhere.

Just imagine if Petey ever decided to conquer the IBR. It'd be epic. His score would be so high, he'd run out of base-10 digits and have to score himself in octal. Maybe hex. Hard to say for sure.

 

[ChrisW]

Rain, yes. But it's the lightning that comes with it in the western states that scares the shit out of me. You're often the tallest thing around for many miles while riding a lightning rod.

+1

 

[robeth]

Just checked the SPOT....what's 921 up to??? Any ideas?

 

[SkooterG]

Shit, you know we are in an information blackout when this once riveting IBR thread has become a 'heat vs. rain' and cell phone coverage discussion.

Where is Austin's freaking daily report for YESTERDAY for crying out loud? He OWES us! :lol:

 

[Mr Bill]

Just checked the SPOT....what's 921 up to??? Any ideas?

Looks to be heading for Topeka KS. Making pretty good time too.

 

[velvet fog]

Shit, you know we are in an information blackout when this once riveting IBR thread has become a 'heat vs. rain' and cell phone coverage discussion.

Where is Austin's freaking daily report for YESTERDAY for crying out loud? He OWES us! :lol:

He's probably sweating his balls off in the heat looking for cell phone coverage.

 

[docwells7]

From Tom's Day 7 report: "There were actually three separate paths to a podium finish that will become clear.... Several riders identified at least one ... Most didn’t read the material they received at the pre-rally banquet carefully enough and assumed that the most obvious path to a Gold Medal finish would also be the basis for a podium finish. They were wrong. This is a rally within a rally..."

Three paths; #1 Hyder, #2 Four Corners with KW on leg 2 (or something else), and #3 is ???? (As an edit, reading previous posts, maybe #3 is 48 capitals) Upcoming choices in leg 3??? From Tom, "Four corners is not an obvious path to the podium..." Wonder what that material is that he refers to in the leg 1 packet. (Edit: Again, what was in that packet that Tom refers to?) As any multi-day rally vet knows, one definitely needs to be rested before the start of leg 3. It is also stated that this rally allows for big long-distance miles. Leg 3 will give us the details and the paths.

Thanks Dale for keeping us posted, and allowing us to speculate with lots of missing details.

MikeS

#3: Hyder and the 4 corners w/o worrying about the capitals?

 

[Jeff Earls]

Just checked the SPOT....what's 921 up to??? Any ideas?

Looks to be heading for Topeka KS. Making pretty good time too.

Which makes zero sense unless that rider missed Nebraska on leg 1, or thinks that's a faster way to I-70 and Colorado.

 

[BwanaDik]

Or 929 down near Austin. (S)he's on 290 heading EAST??? WTF???

 

[robeth]

Just checked the SPOT....what's 921 up to??? Any ideas?

Looks to be heading for Topeka KS. Making pretty good time too.

Which makes zero sense unless that rider missed Nebraska on leg 1, or thinks that's a faster way to I-70 and Colorado.

Plus, he's not been in that little state called Tejas yet!

 

[Jeff Earls]

Or 929 down near Austin. (S)he's on 290 heading EAST??? WTF???

It's the end of day 9. The pink space bunnies are making their scheduled appearance.

 

[gixxerjasen]

It's a couple of blocks away from the Texas Capital building, but may explain some of the erratic movement in Austin. Obviously info to NOT pass along to riders.

https://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/blotter/entries/2011/06/29/lane_closures_around_w_hotel_s.html

https://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/falling-glass-closes-w-991885.html?cxtype=rss_news_128746

 

[robeth]

Or 929 down near Austin. (S)he's on 290 heading EAST??? WTF???

It's the end of day 9. The pink space bunnies are making their scheduled appearance.

 

[Ignacio]

It's the end of day 9. The pink space bunnies are making their scheduled appearance.

I was pleasantly surprised I didn't see any of those in a recent rally. I did see 3 pink elephants and lighthouse near Iowa though.

Having run 2 IBR's....the "fog" that starts around Day 8 or 9 is a weird thing. I found in '07 that Kansas had a stretch of highway that was a 6% downgrade for nearly 200 miles. I had no clue that state was so mountainous! When I stopped for fuel and tried to find a flat spot I started laughing to myself.

Now is the time SPOT movements will become a bit more erratic.

 

[SkooterG]

If info is NOT to be passed along to riders, why is it being posted?