FJRForum Official 2015 Iron Butt Rally Tracking/Analysis thread

[puppychow]

Didn't know Brant = DaJuice here on the forum! Congrats Brant, great build up to #3 finish!!

 

[grommet]

Thanks from a FNG for everything posted up here about the rally. It has been great to follow along.

I had a great ride out to the finish. Nice riding, nice roads, pretty good weather, met some new folks, generally had a great time.

One of the real highlights of the trip was what happened with Eric Lipps and his son at the finish. I managed to get a few pics just as he was rolling up. His son was so excited:

Truly incredible.

I'm seriously jonesing for an FJR now. I did 1800 miles in 3 days on this ride (yes I know - nothing compared to LD riders) on my FZ1. It was a great ride, with lots of time in the mountains and about 900 of those miles on good twisty roads. I really have the bike set up for track duty - R1 forks and clip-ons, aftermarket rearsets, etc. Due to my personal ergos, it works well for me but if I want to be more serious about LD riding, I'll need something a little more comfy.

Carry on, folks. I'll be around.

 

[airboss]

Didn't know Brant = DaJuice here on the forum! Congrats Brant, great build up to #3 finish!!

Even worse than being a member of this forum, he's one of them Team Strange people.

Great finish Brant!

 

[wheatonFJR]

^^^^^^^One of the unseen trials for IBR participants that play on their psyche must be....how long can you keep away from precious family members like this little guy...when yer already tired, discouraged, have hit a low point and want to quit.

 

[Bugnatr]

Or maybe that's what keeps you going. Show the family you are not a quitter. IBR riders are made of some strong stuff inside.

 

[Hello Kitty]

Either than, or as in my case, really really stubborn.

 

[Twigg]

Or maybe that's what keeps you going. Show the family you are not a quitter. IBR riders are made of some strong stuff inside.

This ^^^

My wife hates me going on long trips. She is also my biggest supporter and cheerleader.

One day three of my 48/10 I was holed up in a motel in Conneticut. My back was in spasm and I couldn't put enough weight on my ankles to reach the bathroom without severe pain. I was ready to quit when I finally managed to get my worthless piece of crap cellphone to make a call.

She told me that if I came home now she would be happy, but the 3000 miles I had covered would have to be done again next time I tried.

It was enough. The next four days, wearing a pair of shoes I bought in Walmart, I ran 1100, 1100, 850, and 900 miles, to get back on track.

 

[2bikebart]

IBR community et al -
Once you have recovered enough to face a kybrd, I would be interested (& hopefully others) in your comments about the gear you wore.

What worked well, what was an epic fail? Did anyones 'waterproof' gloves prove that claim?

Thank you and much respect for your efforts. All back safe - no better outcome than that.

-Steve

From looking at the pics it seems like the KLIM jackets are very popular. Are they worth the big $$$? I saw a lot of long sleeve shirts and jackets in the start and stage 1 Albuquerque pics and would be curious if they rode in the heat with all of that on. Short of the on board AC unit what worked well in the high heat. I can hardly make the 20 mile commute home in the 98 degree heat and 95% humidity with a Joe Rocket Mesh jacket and full face helmet!

 

[Tyler]

I'm seriously jonesing for an FJR now. I did 1800 miles in 3 days on this ride (yes I know - nothing compared to LD riders) on my FZ1. It was a great ride, with lots of time in the mountains and about 900 of those miles on good twisty roads. I really have the bike set up for track duty - R1 forks and clip-ons, aftermarket rearsets, etc. Due to my personal ergos, it works well for me but if I want to be more serious about LD riding, I'll need something a little more comfy.

Nice deal not too far from you here.

 

[Tyler]

IBR community et al -
Once you have recovered enough to face a kybrd, I would be interested (& hopefully others) in your comments about the gear you wore.

What worked well, what was an epic fail? Did anyones 'waterproof' gloves prove that claim?

Thank you and much respect for your efforts. All back safe - no better outcome than that.

-Steve

From looking at the pics it seems like the KLIM jackets are very popular. Are they worth the big $$$? I saw a lot of long sleeve shirts and jackets in the start and stage 1 Albuquerque pics and would be curious if they rode in the heat with all of that on. Short of the on board AC unit what worked well in the high heat. I can hardly make the 20 mile commute home in the 98 degree heat and 95% humidity with a Joe Rocket Mesh jacket and full face helmet!

I know lots of folks who swear by LD Comfort garments for under their gear in all kinds of weather.

 

[Twigg]

IBR community et al -
Once you have recovered enough to face a kybrd, I would be interested (& hopefully others) in your comments about the gear you wore.

What worked well, what was an epic fail? Did anyones 'waterproof' gloves prove that claim?

Thank you and much respect for your efforts. All back safe - no better outcome than that.

-Steve

From looking at the pics it seems like the KLIM jackets are very popular. Are they worth the big $$$? I saw a lot of long sleeve shirts and jackets in the start and stage 1 Albuquerque pics and would be curious if they rode in the heat with all of that on. Short of the on board AC unit what worked well in the high heat. I can hardly make the 20 mile commute home in the 98 degree heat and 95% humidity with a Joe Rocket Mesh jacket and full face helmet!

There is currently a feedack thread on gear going on on the LD Rider email list.

KLIM gear has become very popular, but it is extremely expensive. It hasn't really let anyone down so far, but some have experienced some water ingress in the worst weather. Hard to tell if it is user error or design.

Aerostitch ... Roadcrafter leaks at the crotch. It always has, they have never been able to fix it. The zips get the blame and that sounds reasonable. The Darien Jacket does not leak. Some query its comfort, but it keeps out the weather. Aerostitch do not use CE rated armor, and that $587 jacket does not have a back-protector as standard.

Some feedback coming in about Motoport gear ... it may end up being better than either of the two brands above.

Down the price scale, Olympia Motorsports AST, and presumably its Ranger replacement gets good reviews ... it is different from the others. It is a full jacket system, including liners whereas the others are three layer Gore-Tex shells.

As for undergarments .... Overwhelmingly favorite is LD Comfort, shirts and pants. Normally nothing else is needed. If it gets cold use a heated jacket under the shell, and if it is warm open the vents and wet-down the shirt. If it is over 95F, close the vents, wet the shirt and open the cuffs and maybe the collar or rear vent. You can add ice too.

 

[HelzBelz]

All those statistics, btw, add up to the same thing from my point of view:

When I run my first IBR, either 2 or 4 years from now, depending on how my preparations go. (and if I survive preparing), In my case:

1. 100% of the points I obtain will be on an FJR; and

2. All of the other bikes I ride will have mechanical failures. (being that I mechanically failed to purchase them because the FJR is bulletproof).

The FJR makes mere mortals IronButt riders, and it makes the better riders IBR finishers and winners. Period.

 

[grommet]

I'm seriously jonesing for an FJR now. I did 1800 miles in 3 days on this ride (yes I know - nothing compared to LD riders) on my FZ1. It was a great ride, with lots of time in the mountains and about 900 of those miles on good twisty roads. I really have the bike set up for track duty - R1 forks and clip-ons, aftermarket rearsets, etc. Due to my personal ergos, it works well for me but if I want to be more serious about LD riding, I'll need something a little more comfy.

Nice deal not too far from you here.

Thanks. I will be looking.

I have a couple of friends with them, so I'll probably see if I can borrow one for a day or two and really ride it.

I'm certain I'll never be in the BMW crowd. Too many situations I've seen (firsthand and places like here) to ever want to go down that road. And I like to lean so the cruiser bikes are totally out. I know an FJR can be ridden to the edges of the tires, so that puts it right at the top of my list.

But I digress.

Long live the FJR and the IBR.

 

[wfooshee]

I gotta say, I'm an ass!

On any other thread I would have said, "Coulda just stopped there," but for the efforts you put in early on, and for the dignity of the thread overall, I refrain. Except for the part about leaving just that part quoted.....

 

[RFlagg42]

From looking at the pics it seems like the KLIM jackets are very popular. Are they worth the big $$$? I saw a lot of long sleeve shirts and jackets in the start and stage 1 Albuquerque pics and would be curious if they rode in the heat with all of that on. Short of the on board AC unit what worked well in the high heat. I can hardly make the 20 mile commute home in the 98 degree heat and 95% humidity with a Joe Rocket Mesh jacket and full face helmet!

First, I am unwilling to wear gear that has zip in waterproof liners, so that quickly narrows down the available brands.

Is Klim worth the money? It is to me. I have close to 50k miles of riding in Klim jacket and pants (Latitude and Badlands Pro jackets, only Latitude pants), in all weather conditions, on and off road. In torrential downpours, I haven't even had a drop of water enter the coat at any point, as long as all the zipper vents are closed. The one place I do tend to feel cold and wetness, is at the pants cuff, especially due to truck tire spray on really wet days. Due to that I wear Gore Tex gators over the pants and boots on really cold and/or wet days.

Throughout this IBR, hottest temps I saw was 105 degrees down by Big Bend. I also saw some of the scariest rain I've ever ridden in. Throughout the entire rally, I wore LD Comfort long underwear (top and bottom), LD Comfort helmet liner, and Drymax socks. I changed them halfway through the rally, and yes, I did start to stink

In drier climates, when it gets above 93 degrees, I wet down the LD Comforts with cold water, zip up all the vents except the lower arm vents and a small crack on the back vents, The air going up the sleeves and hitting the wet LD Comforts acts like a swamp cooler and almost feels like air conditioning. It works so well that at one point on this IBR, the temp dropped from 95 to the low 80's on me, and I started to feel almost uncomfortably chilly. Some riders wet down their LD Comforts on the fly using a pressurized hydration system. I end up stopping every couple of hours, buying a large bottle of cold water, and proceed to dump it down my sleeves and down my back. Also wetting the helmet liner with cold water instantly makes it feel about 10 degrees cooler.

In really humid climates, I tend to leave more vents open than I do in drier climates.

 

[irish phil]

From looking at the pics it seems like the KLIM jackets are very popular. Are they worth the big $$$? I saw a lot of long sleeve shirts and jackets in the start and stage 1 Albuquerque pics and would be curious if they rode in the heat with all of that on. Short of the on board AC unit what worked well in the high heat. I can hardly make the 20 mile commute home in the 98 degree heat and 95% humidity with a Joe Rocket Mesh jacket and full face helmet!

First, I am unwilling to wear gear that has zip in waterproof liners, so that quickly narrows down the available brands.

Is Klim worth the money? It is to me. I have close to 50k miles of riding in Klim jacket and pants (Latitude and Badlands Pro jackets, only Latitude pants), in all weather conditions, on and off road. In torrential downpours, I haven't even had a drop of water enter the coat at any point, as long as all the zipper vents are closed. The one place I do tend to feel cold and wetness, is at the pants cuff, especially due to truck tire spray on really wet days. Due to that I wear Gore Tex gators over the pants and boots on really cold and/or wet days.

Throughout this IBR, hottest temps I saw was 105 degrees down by Big Bend. I also saw some of the scariest rain I've ever ridden in. Throughout the entire rally, I wore LD Comfort long underwear (top and bottom), LD Comfort helmet liner, and Drymax socks. I changed them halfway through the rally, and yes, I did start to stink

In drier climates, when it gets above 93 degrees, I wet down the LD Comforts with cold water, zip up all the vents except the lower arm vents and a small crack on the back vents, The air going up the sleeves and hitting the wet LD Comforts acts like a swamp cooler and almost feels like air conditioning. It works so well that at one point on this IBR, the temp dropped from 95 to the low 80's on me, and I started to feel almost uncomfortably chilly. Some riders wet down their LD Comforts on the fly using a pressurized hydration system. I end up stopping every couple of hours, buying a large bottle of cold water, and proceed to dump it down my sleeves and down my back. Also wetting the helmet liner with cold water instantly makes it feel about 10 degrees cooler.

In really humid climates, I tend to leave more vents open than I do in drier climates.

My experience is similar to Eric except I use aerostich gear. It was manageable up to the 107 degree temps using LD comfort. The

torrential rains were enough to leak a little moisture in the pants. I actually am surprised it wasn't worse. Oh and I can confirm that

Eric did stink. Well at least until he changed his LD comforts.

 

[Tyler]

My experience is similar to Eric except I use aerostich gear. It was manageable up to the 107 degree temps using LD comfort. The torrential rains were enough to leak a little moisture in the pants. I actually am surprised it wasn't worse. Oh and I can confirm that

Eric did stink. Well at least until he changed his LD comforts.

Hi Phil!!

 

[dcarver]

..and now returning to normal, boring, working life.

 

[DaJuice]

I'm trying to catch up on this thread now that I'm home but had to jump to the end to see the latest. I'm still in shock. I showed up at the start hoping for a top 10 but quickly realized I was outmatched noting several riders in attendance I was unaware of. I quickly changed my goal to a gold medal. On leg three when Chris wrote that I was on a go big or go home route it scared the crap out of me because I didn't think I was being very aggressive so immediately thought I must have miscalculated the number of hours to the finish for the leg! There were so many options on leg 3 that I'm very fortunate to just pick the one I did that yielded enough points to move up. I've never left a checkpoint with that little of a plan. I had been antagonizing so long that I eventually got to the point I had to leave to get the bonuses I knew I had to get in DC before the sun went down. From there I knew I wanted to be in Manhattan when the sun came up to get through there before traffic came in. The report had a typo, it said I was "cutting a swath" through there at 5PM, I was actually there at 5AM!

I'm extremely happy with my finish and am very happy how the FJRs turned out, 3 of the top 5! Congratulations again to Mr. Jewel on the win and for getting the monkey off your back after so many previous podium finishs. Josh... you are an animal. You were my pick for the win from day 1. I just kept shaking my head when I'd hear about where you had gone as the rally progressed. Both of you are in another league!

Lipps and I were talking about our finish. Only 200 or so points separated us. When I learned that I asked him if he had gone to the petroglyphs just a few miles west of ABQ. It was in my plan for the last day but it was just too hard to drive right past the finish to snag that last bonus after starting the previous day in Indiana. Turns out he had the same attitude. He turned to me and said, well we both just learned a valuable lesson! Don't stop until the clock strikes zero!

TWD!

I want to give a shout out to our forum member Brant... aka DaJuice. He pulled out a very respectable 3rd in this years IBR.
I had the pleasure of meeting and riding with Brant and a few other LD FJR types at CFO 09 in La Crosse, Wi. He was a gps fool then and I could see his interest in finding the proper route.

Way to go Brant, nice finish!!!!

Thanks bug, I remember that day well, half way through my only GPS screen took a crap and we ended up missing 1/4 of the good roads on the route! That is why I now run with 3 mounted and a 4th in the saddle bag for these rallys! One of these days I still plan on making it out your way for a guided tour!

I gotta say, I'm an ass!

I didn't congratulate Brant or Tony. Brant rocked this IBR. He ran a very steady pace and moved up each leg, all the way to third. On top of that, he's a super cool guy.

Tony ran a good rally also. He had a couple of problems, one of which almost finished him. I was very happy to hear he did finish and placed respectably. I don't know many that can simply ride the sheer miles Tony can. He just has to get better at rally stuff.

Congratulations to both of you!!

AND, Brant, cough up the picture already!!

Thanks Zilla! You are the MVP of this rally! It was so nice to have someone like you taking care of things for us at the start/checkpoint. What is this picture you speak of??

 

[Twigg]

I'm trying to catch up on this thread now that I'm home but had to jump to the end to see the latest. I'm still in shock. I showed up at the start hoping for a top 10 but quickly realized I was outmatched noting several riders in attendance I was unaware of. I quickly changed my goal to a gold medal. On leg three when Chris wrote that I was on a go big or go home route it scared the crap out of me because I didn't think I was being very aggressive so immediately thought I must have miscalculated the number of hours to the finish for the leg! There were so many options on leg 3 that I'm very fortunate to just pick the one I did that yielded enough points to move up. I've never left a checkpoint with that little of a plan. I had been antagonizing so long that I eventually got to the point I had to leave to get the bonuses I knew I had to get in DC before the sun went down. From there I knew I wanted to be in Manhattan when the sun came up to get through there before traffic came in. The report had a typo, it said I was "cutting a swath" through there at 5PM, I was actually there at 5AM!
I'm extremely happy with my finish and am very happy how the FJRs turned out, 3 of the top 5! Congratulations again to Mr. Jewel on the win and for getting the monkey off your back after so many previous podium finishs. Josh... you are an animal. You were my pick for the win from day 1. I just kept shaking my head when I'd hear about where you had gone as the rally progressed. Both of you are in another league!

Lipps and I were talking about our finish. Only 200 or so points separated us. When I learned that I asked him if he had gone to the petroglyphs just a few miles west of ABQ. It was in my plan for the last day but it was just too hard to drive right past the finish to snag that last bonus after starting the previous day in Indiana. Turns out he had the same attitude. He turned to me and said, well we both just learned a valuable lesson! Don't stop until the clock strikes zero!

TWD!

Very nicely done. It was also a pleasure to meet you at the starting banquet, even if you had more important things on your mind.

Good Job!