GearHeadGrrrl
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There may be more than one winning "plan"... That's what makes it interesting!
FJRForum Official 2017 Iron Butt Rally Tracking/Analysis Thread
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Some additional color about one fo the riders I know....one mentioned this morning in the official report for dropping his bike....Mark Crane.
A few other personal notes about Mark include riding and seeing him along the Pony Express route in Leg 2 of 2013 and him asking, "You thinking about Pike's Peak thing?". To that point it had been this tiny corner of a fragment in my mind straddling my sub-conscious and conscious....otherwise I wouldn't have thought about it again and just motored through my plan to Sacramento. But when he uttered those words I instantly REALLY started thinking about it...and did it! In fact, I and Eric Jewell (Mark's partner in crime) ended up getting special mention in the daily reports for busting a serious move on Leg 2 and launching to #1 and #2. (I ended up being too "crispy" to think right for the 3rd leg and slipped to 5th, but I'd have done the same move all over again. Thanks Mark!
And Mark is also a seasoned puzzle master himself. I rode Cal 24 one year and he had this very elegant "scavenger hunt" style puzzle that you didn't get precise coordinates, but were expected to figure out which cemeteries he was referring to in a rally-winning progressive thread. He started you off easy in small cemeteries where it was easy to wade through them and find the headstone, but about the 4th or 5th he noted, "See the trend yet? If you don't, you need to work on your rally skills." and then presented a cemetery with many hundreds of headstones. After 45 minutes I finally found the one I needed and suddenly realized, "The headstone has a raised cross above ground" greatly reducing the number one has to look at. I got a 2nd in that rally, one less cemetery than Ken Meese.
And also in that rally was the cemetery at Manzanar. His father (or grandfather) was confined to a similar internment camp on the other side of the mountains in the war. Whoa!
Mark Crane is a gentleman, goofball, and formidable ralliy rider...when he keeps his shit in one sock.
Go Mark!
Some additional color about the one-barely-mentioned-in-the-official-report:
Besides tipping his bike over his BMW in the parking today and taking out an FJR (bad Mark!) he is also the guy many will remember as one of the most spectacular DNFs...he forgot to get a receipt in Mississippi in 2011. To finish the rally he simply had to get receipts from 48 states...literally nothing else. A relatively easy ride for pretty much anyone in the IBR.....but he missed one. Epic.
A few other personal notes about Mark include riding and seeing him along the Pony Express route in Leg 2 of 2013 and him asking, "You thinking about Pike's Peak thing?". To that point it had been this tiny corner of a fragment in my mind straddling my sub-conscious and conscious....otherwise I wouldn't have thought about it again and just motored through my plan to Sacramento. But when he uttered those words I instantly REALLY started thinking about it...and did it! In fact, I and Eric Jewell (Mark's partner in crime) ended up getting special mention in the daily reports for busting a serious move on Leg 2 and launching to #1 and #2. (I ended up being too "crispy" to think right for the 3rd leg and slipped to 5th, but I'd have done the same move all over again. Thanks Mark!
And Mark is also a seasoned puzzle master himself. I rode Cal 24 one year and he had this very elegant "scavenger hunt" style puzzle that you didn't get precise coordinates, but were expected to figure out which cemeteries he was referring to in a rally-winning progressive thread. He started you off easy in small cemeteries where it was easy to wade through them and find the headstone, but about the 4th or 5th he noted, "See the trend yet? If you don't, you need to work on your rally skills." and then presented a cemetery with many hundreds of headstones. After 45 minutes I finally found the one I needed and suddenly realized, "The headstone has a raised cross above ground" greatly reducing the number one has to look at. I got a 2nd in that rally, one less cemetery than Ken Meese.
And also in that rally was the cemetery at Manzanar. His father (or grandfather) was confined to a similar internment camp on the other side of the mountains in the war. Whoa!
Mark Crane is a gentleman, goofball, and formidable ralliy rider...when he keeps his shit in one sock.
Go Mark!
Some additional color about the one-barely-mentioned-in-the-official-report:
Uncle Hud
Just another blob of protoplasm using up your oxyg
Chit!
Hope Mr. Bracken's ancient (2005) FJR is OK.
Hope Mr. Bracken's ancient (2005) FJR is OK.
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Two riders dropping into Moab...I wonder if the stuffed donkey at Hole in the Rock is in play...would require a "tour" to get that shot and I am not sure photography is allowed...hmmmmm.
The Rock Shop in Moab is full of fossils...or the new dinosaur dig north of town...Moab Giants.
The Rock Shop in Moab is full of fossils...or the new dinosaur dig north of town...Moab Giants.
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Teehaml
.....
eddiememphis
Well-known member
There is a big bull made out of scrap out front of Hole in the Rock. And a petting zoo with live animals but that doesn't seem to fit the theme.
eddiememphis
Well-known member
On CO 115, south of Colorado Springs is Herkimer, the world's largest beetle.
BwanaDik
Well-known member
So is the guy out in Nevada going for the mountain goat in Ash Meadows?
eflyguy
Well-known member
Thank you for sharing this - I'll never be a competitor, but I love hearing the stories (and, of course, reading the updates)..
"crispy" - as in baked?
Thanks for asking. That quote is from another IBR that has specific relevance this year since it came from this year's puzzlemaster.
2007 was my first IBR and shortly after I arrived at Lick Observatory as an excite rookie, Jeff Earls rolled in and had a certain look to him. Enough I said, "Whoa! You look fried."
He replied with a stare and said calmly, "I'm crispy..........." He added, "I just rode to Washington State before coming here. It was hot."
I did the mental math how I took more-or-less a mostly direct route from St. Louis with some meandering in Arizona and California, but this man had added an insane amount of miles. And I think he took a little break shortly after that. And I think he was close to the lead because of that little move. "Crispy" always stuck with me..and it's exactly how I felt after my Leg 2 of 2013.
Ndv21
Well-known member
Correct me if I am wrong, but I understood that the riders were given all the bonus locations for legs 2 and 3 but not their point values. I am assuming that the point values for each of the leg 1 boni are known to the riders.
Max Wedge
Active member
Just passed a rider on my commute home on US23. If I had known he was taking this route south I would have got out a coconut bra for the overpass.
Rider in Nevada is taking the gravel route to the Big Bovine of The Desert. Hard core.
Just crazy for a rider to go off of pavement… what the heck is the reasoning behind their actions ?
BwanaDik
Well-known member
He seems to stop a lot too. Roadside boni?
<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote'data-author="101stpathfinder" data-cid="1370223" data-time="1498597831"><p>
<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote'data-author="str8" data-cid="1370219" data-time="1498596810"><p>Rider in Nevada is taking the gravel route to the Big Bovine of The Desert. Hard core.</p></blockquote>
<br />
Just crazy for a rider to go off of pavement what the heck is the reasoning behind their actions ? <img src='https://www.fjrforum.com/forum//public/style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif' alt='Posted Image' class='bbc_emoticon' /></p></blockquote>
<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote'data-author="101stpathfinder" data-cid="1370223" data-time="1498597831"><p>
<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote'data-author="str8" data-cid="1370219" data-time="1498596810"><p>Rider in Nevada is taking the gravel route to the Big Bovine of The Desert. Hard core.</p></blockquote>
<br />
Just crazy for a rider to go off of pavement what the heck is the reasoning behind their actions ? <img src='https://www.fjrforum.com/forum//public/style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif' alt='Posted Image' class='bbc_emoticon' /></p></blockquote>
Lol. Too funny.
<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote'data-author="str8" data-cid="1370219" data-time="1498596810"><p>Rider in Nevada is taking the gravel route to the Big Bovine of The Desert. Hard core.</p></blockquote>
<br />
Just crazy for a rider to go off of pavement what the heck is the reasoning behind their actions ? <img src='https://www.fjrforum.com/forum//public/style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif' alt='Posted Image' class='bbc_emoticon' /></p></blockquote>
<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote'data-author="101stpathfinder" data-cid="1370223" data-time="1498597831"><p>
<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote'data-author="str8" data-cid="1370219" data-time="1498596810"><p>Rider in Nevada is taking the gravel route to the Big Bovine of The Desert. Hard core.</p></blockquote>
<br />
Just crazy for a rider to go off of pavement what the heck is the reasoning behind their actions ? <img src='https://www.fjrforum.com/forum//public/style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif' alt='Posted Image' class='bbc_emoticon' /></p></blockquote>
Lol. Too funny.
Ndv21
Well-known member
El Toro Joe
FYYFF
Went to Manzanar after riding through Death Valley on our way to YFO.
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