Auburn
Well-known member
Gonna be fun following the IBR again on here and hearing all the insight from previous participants. Hopefully the forum won't get too slow this time
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FJRForum Official 2015 Iron Butt Rally Tracking/Analysis thread
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Bungie
FrostBack #2 - IBA # 44620
Are any of the other Ontario riders in this year? I think Peter has hung up his spurs, how about Colin?
tcfjr
Well-known member
I think Colin is in. Be great to see everyone!
I have no game face to put on, so this should save me some time.
I am in Louisianna at a friends house about 920 miles out. Probably head out tonight for Albuquerque.
I have no game face to put on, so this should save me some time.
I am in Louisianna at a friends house about 920 miles out. Probably head out tonight for Albuquerque.
Thanks for the note. I will update the source post to reflect the change! :thumbs up:
RFlagg42
Well-known member
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BikerGeek99
Yeah, it's a concrete corn cob. So?
Great. So much for getting much work done.
Has the theme for this year been announced yet? Curious minds and all that...
Has the theme for this year been announced yet? Curious minds and all that...
Good luck, Tony!
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Themes Abide
2007 "Americana" St. Louis - St. Louis - St. Louis
While the Iron Butt Rally has always been massive in scale and ambition wandering big chunks of the North American continent over the course of 11 days--it's also evolved into an increasingly sophisticated, competitive, and interesting adventure for riders. And I've gotten to personally witness some big changes since the 2007 running.
Where the IBR had for many runnings been more-or-less a perimeter ride around the corners of the United Stated with the circus stopping in places like Maine, Washington, California, and Florida--the 2007 IBR was very different in that it started and stopped in the same location AND only had one checkpoint. The staff got to stay in one place while riders fanned out first east of the arch in St. Louis, Missouri in a 4 day excursion from points as far south as Key West, Florida to another rock arch on the Atlantic Ocean in French-speaking Quebec. And they'd do it without the benefit of widespread adoption of GPS tracking units.
Returning back to the "Gateway to the West" they then wandered the West with many visiting another arched architectural wonder a few days later, the Golden Gate Bridge on the Pacific Ocean, before crawling back to St. Louis once again. The poster featured prominent bonuses we'd encounter through the rally and many of us described it as a ride through Americana.
Additionally, the second leg of this rally included a 139 bonus packet that had to be hand entered by all riders from a paper packet into various computer programs and GPS units. It would be the final year of this manual entry, but further signal the coming trend to make riders solve increasingly complex puzzles in a bid to make them "ride smarter, not harder".
I wrote my most extensive ride report ever of this rally and even includes a picture of some of the fledgling FJR contingent that would eventually do so well in later rallies.
2009 "Crime Scenes" Spartanburg – Chicago – LA – Spokane
2009 was a concoction of bonuses in that was as twisted as it was ingenious in development. Retired and recovering attorney, and regular scribe Bob Higdon, developed a set of bonuses that included sites of bank robberies, places where planes were flipped to impress girlfriends, churches where girls were blown up by dynamite, and other heinous sites that the RM had to assign negative points to riders in a last-ditch attempt (the O.J. Simpson site) to have riders NOT go to them. When I got done with the rally I wasn't sure if I should laugh, cry, or pray, but did a little of all.....and saw the widest swath of the U.S. and Canada thus far....while also experiencing a valuable history lesson.
Another common theme to rallies for many riders is the concept of "woulda, coulda, shoulda" where you may do very well in a rally, but get back home and examine the myriad mistakes you made during the 11 days of insantity. I went through a very detailed version of that in late 2009 when forum admin Skooterg made some post on this forum or exchanged a PM and I figured out an epic mistake with the first year of provided memory sticks and coordinates.
Not the sexiest caper, not the most heinous of crimes, but certainly the one that made my cry, shake my head, and laugh all in the same hour. Higdon wrote many bonuses like this--a little made-for-TV-movie-in-a-rally-packet-bonus:
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** * *
Middlefield Village Apartments 111points Anytime
16129 East High Street Middlefield, Ohio
N41 27.692 –W081 03.979
Take a photo of the sign at the entrance to the complex reading ―Middlefield Village Apartments.‖
Category:Elder abuse, reckless homicide.
In 1993 Jim Mason, age 57, was a friend of the Vallandingham family, with a special fondness for their son, John, then 26. Mason,somewhat mentally challenged, married John in 1993 when she had a sex-change operation and began to call herself Christine Newton - John. Alas, the marriage was not blessed. Christinehad long been suspected of abusing her aging husband. Thus, when Mason was found dead in a swimming pool on 6/2/2008, authorities investigated. A surveillance camera’s film proved Christine had exercised her frail husband to death. On 43 separate occasions Mason had struggled to leave the pool that day. And 43 straight times Christine pushed him away from the pool's edge, forcing him to do even more laps and dragging him around by the head and feet until he stroked out, so to speak.Newton-John pleaded guilty to reckless homicide. She is serving a five year prison sentence but is not in charge of the pool.
Date: ________ Time: _________Odometer: ________ Code:ONJ Approved: _________
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
There's
Eric and I would pull off the legs by the skin of our teeth and be pretty danged proud of our mini-achievements. He'd leave Sacramento the leader and me in a close second. And he'd even have a run of bad luck with a low-speed low side and I'd technically be in the apparent lead.
But, as if by prophecy Jeff Earls comments about being conservative on the second and a reality that would demonstrate I'd peaked too early blowing my reserves for the final leg. As I pondered the final Leg 3 in an air-conditioned room I was still very "crispy" from the days before and would ultimately choose the safer, cooler, and less-point Pacific Northwest route over the humidity-laden inferno of the south. While I thought I saw another opportunity to outsmart the route master--I'd figure out late that evening it wasn't there and hemorrhage positions to an eventual 5th place finish. I wrote a report here.
Decisions, by the way, I would still probably do the same again.
The 2013 rally also demonstrated another immutable fact of the IBR: it's becoming more competitive every single time. Rookies enter the ride every time and demonstrate a rising tide of smarter and technologically more sophisticated riders. Veterans occasionally challenge the rally architects to then come up with even more elaborate puzzles. Motorcycles are becoming more reliable with the FJR exemplifying a brand and model that seems designed for the task. Even with my sketchy maintenance of a 160,000 mile bike that yielded another blown shock--riders other than the occasional gremlin-infected BMW final drives are dragging their bikes across the finish line after going 14,000 miles without an oil change and sometimes on the same set of tires.
2015 promises to be an even more competitive rally than all the previous years. Keep an eye on both the ones we know that are capable of winning the rally, but also the ones you haven't heard of before.
And I suggest we not assume FJRs or their riders are shoe-ins to dominate or win. The IBR has a habit of surprising everybody. When you ride across this country of ours for 11 days straight--you are surprised every single day with what you see, hear, taste, and smell.
2007 "Americana" St. Louis - St. Louis - St. Louis
While the Iron Butt Rally has always been massive in scale and ambition wandering big chunks of the North American continent over the course of 11 days--it's also evolved into an increasingly sophisticated, competitive, and interesting adventure for riders. And I've gotten to personally witness some big changes since the 2007 running.
Where the IBR had for many runnings been more-or-less a perimeter ride around the corners of the United Stated with the circus stopping in places like Maine, Washington, California, and Florida--the 2007 IBR was very different in that it started and stopped in the same location AND only had one checkpoint. The staff got to stay in one place while riders fanned out first east of the arch in St. Louis, Missouri in a 4 day excursion from points as far south as Key West, Florida to another rock arch on the Atlantic Ocean in French-speaking Quebec. And they'd do it without the benefit of widespread adoption of GPS tracking units.
Returning back to the "Gateway to the West" they then wandered the West with many visiting another arched architectural wonder a few days later, the Golden Gate Bridge on the Pacific Ocean, before crawling back to St. Louis once again. The poster featured prominent bonuses we'd encounter through the rally and many of us described it as a ride through Americana.
Additionally, the second leg of this rally included a 139 bonus packet that had to be hand entered by all riders from a paper packet into various computer programs and GPS units. It would be the final year of this manual entry, but further signal the coming trend to make riders solve increasingly complex puzzles in a bid to make them "ride smarter, not harder".
I wrote my most extensive ride report ever of this rally and even includes a picture of some of the fledgling FJR contingent that would eventually do so well in later rallies.
2009 "Crime Scenes" Spartanburg – Chicago – LA – Spokane
2009 was a concoction of bonuses in that was as twisted as it was ingenious in development. Retired and recovering attorney, and regular scribe Bob Higdon, developed a set of bonuses that included sites of bank robberies, places where planes were flipped to impress girlfriends, churches where girls were blown up by dynamite, and other heinous sites that the RM had to assign negative points to riders in a last-ditch attempt (the O.J. Simpson site) to have riders NOT go to them. When I got done with the rally I wasn't sure if I should laugh, cry, or pray, but did a little of all.....and saw the widest swath of the U.S. and Canada thus far....while also experiencing a valuable history lesson.
Another common theme to rallies for many riders is the concept of "woulda, coulda, shoulda" where you may do very well in a rally, but get back home and examine the myriad mistakes you made during the 11 days of insantity. I went through a very detailed version of that in late 2009 when forum admin Skooterg made some post on this forum or exchanged a PM and I figured out an epic mistake with the first year of provided memory sticks and coordinates.
Not the sexiest caper, not the most heinous of crimes, but certainly the one that made my cry, shake my head, and laugh all in the same hour. Higdon wrote many bonuses like this--a little made-for-TV-movie-in-a-rally-packet-bonus:
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** * *
Middlefield Village Apartments 111points Anytime
16129 East High Street Middlefield, Ohio
N41 27.692 –W081 03.979
Take a photo of the sign at the entrance to the complex reading ―Middlefield Village Apartments.‖
Category:Elder abuse, reckless homicide.
In 1993 Jim Mason, age 57, was a friend of the Vallandingham family, with a special fondness for their son, John, then 26. Mason,somewhat mentally challenged, married John in 1993 when she had a sex-change operation and began to call herself Christine Newton - John. Alas, the marriage was not blessed. Christinehad long been suspected of abusing her aging husband. Thus, when Mason was found dead in a swimming pool on 6/2/2008, authorities investigated. A surveillance camera’s film proved Christine had exercised her frail husband to death. On 43 separate occasions Mason had struggled to leave the pool that day. And 43 straight times Christine pushed him away from the pool's edge, forcing him to do even more laps and dragging him around by the head and feet until he stroked out, so to speak.Newton-John pleaded guilty to reckless homicide. She is serving a five year prison sentence but is not in charge of the pool.
Date: ________ Time: _________Odometer: ________ Code:ONJ Approved: _________
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
There's
Eric and I would pull off the legs by the skin of our teeth and be pretty danged proud of our mini-achievements. He'd leave Sacramento the leader and me in a close second. And he'd even have a run of bad luck with a low-speed low side and I'd technically be in the apparent lead.
But, as if by prophecy Jeff Earls comments about being conservative on the second and a reality that would demonstrate I'd peaked too early blowing my reserves for the final leg. As I pondered the final Leg 3 in an air-conditioned room I was still very "crispy" from the days before and would ultimately choose the safer, cooler, and less-point Pacific Northwest route over the humidity-laden inferno of the south. While I thought I saw another opportunity to outsmart the route master--I'd figure out late that evening it wasn't there and hemorrhage positions to an eventual 5th place finish. I wrote a report here.
Decisions, by the way, I would still probably do the same again.
The 2013 rally also demonstrated another immutable fact of the IBR: it's becoming more competitive every single time. Rookies enter the ride every time and demonstrate a rising tide of smarter and technologically more sophisticated riders. Veterans occasionally challenge the rally architects to then come up with even more elaborate puzzles. Motorcycles are becoming more reliable with the FJR exemplifying a brand and model that seems designed for the task. Even with my sketchy maintenance of a 160,000 mile bike that yielded another blown shock--riders other than the occasional gremlin-infected BMW final drives are dragging their bikes across the finish line after going 14,000 miles without an oil change and sometimes on the same set of tires.
2015 promises to be an even more competitive rally than all the previous years. Keep an eye on both the ones we know that are capable of winning the rally, but also the ones you haven't heard of before.
And I suggest we not assume FJRs or their riders are shoe-ins to dominate or win. The IBR has a habit of surprising everybody. When you ride across this country of ours for 11 days straight--you are surprised every single day with what you see, hear, taste, and smell.
I'm sure about Saturday or Sunday you'll probably first see a picture of the poster on this thread....and speculation of the theme commence shortly after.
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Maura
Well-known member
Start and finish. See y'all there
jwhite518
Well-known member
Well, that was just brilliant. I know who I'm nominating for scribe next time there's an opening.
Shemp
Well-known member
Iggy,
Smooth as silk!
And, as intuitive as one cane be. You, have got us all in the palm of your hand! Is there any need to wonder why Warchild asked you to be our guide for these next two weeks. Thanks and KUDOS!!
Smooth as silk!
And, as intuitive as one cane be. You, have got us all in the palm of your hand! Is there any need to wonder why Warchild asked you to be our guide for these next two weeks. Thanks and KUDOS!!
HotRodZilla
GOD BLESS AMERICA
Hey Matt...Your glasses are crooked. Thought you should know.
Tony and DaJuice are going to be here tomorrow doing last minute maintenance, and I'll be hanging around with Sam. Maybe I'll go to the start.
Tony and DaJuice are going to be here tomorrow doing last minute maintenance, and I'll be hanging around with Sam. Maybe I'll go to the start.
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TomInPA
Well-known member
Warchild
Benevolent Dictator
Annie and I rolled up to the Albuquerque Sheraton about an hour ago. First folks I see are FJR-folks....Kerry and DaJuice!
My girl is really digging being an Endurance Riding pillion. Another 500 miles of southwest desert heat today, on top of yesterday's monster 780-mile ride. She is also experimenting with 'underway photography'... here's a shot of me giving thumbs up as we pass the stunning red cliffs near Canyonlands Nation Park.
When I rolled up to the Albuquerque Sheraton. Under the awning is Lisa Landry and Dave McQueeney, chatting away about the rally. Tom Austin says hello as he walks by carrying a crap-ton of gear. It's like coming home again.. hell, it's like I never left.
My girl is really digging being an Endurance Riding pillion. Another 500 miles of southwest desert heat today, on top of yesterday's monster 780-mile ride. She is also experimenting with 'underway photography'... here's a shot of me giving thumbs up as we pass the stunning red cliffs near Canyonlands Nation Park.
When I rolled up to the Albuquerque Sheraton. Under the awning is Lisa Landry and Dave McQueeney, chatting away about the rally. Tom Austin says hello as he walks by carrying a crap-ton of gear. It's like coming home again.. hell, it's like I never left.
Last edited by a moderator:
Timmer
Well-known member
Matt,
Thanks for the continued excellent commentary. Due to other commitments (wife's h/s reunion and another ride in Montana that I'm heavily vested in), I can't make the start or finish this year, but will definitely follow it armchair style.
Dale,
Your pillion is amazing! <But you knew that!!>
Best wishes to all the riders and staff. L & T are staying with us tonight and will be winging it to Albuquerque tomorrow morning.
Tim
Thanks for the continued excellent commentary. Due to other commitments (wife's h/s reunion and another ride in Montana that I'm heavily vested in), I can't make the start or finish this year, but will definitely follow it armchair style.
Dale,
Your pillion is amazing! <But you knew that!!>
Best wishes to all the riders and staff. L & T are staying with us tonight and will be winging it to Albuquerque tomorrow morning.
Tim
You should, my wife and son will be there. They're watching the release of the hounds because I won't be able to.
BTW Iggy, thanks for the incredible write-up. Gave some in depth perspective to those of us who haven't experienced it. Yet
Warchild
Benevolent Dictator
She most definitely is.... I have done struck GOLD with this woman!
Here she is today at Monticello, Utah at an awesome Veteran's Memorial that was one the 2011 Tour of Honor:
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Warchild
Benevolent Dictator
Breaking news!
Ready to bookmark the 2015 IBR public Spotwalla page?
https://spotwalla.com/locationViewer.php?id=283
Rider snapshot, 8pm MDT, 25 June 2015:
Ready to bookmark the 2015 IBR public Spotwalla page?
https://spotwalla.com/locationViewer.php?id=283
Rider snapshot, 8pm MDT, 25 June 2015:
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