FJRForum Official 2017 Iron Butt Rally Tracking/Analysis Thread

[101stpathfinder]

I am thinking some of the big dogs will be headed past me on the way down to the Florida Keys. (Fish and Lobster on their menu)

 

[cas42]

cas42 posted: I see that spot in Lufkin near a rehab facility (not a hospital), so hopefully no one is hurt. Maybe some sort of problem with their GPS tracker?

A rehab facility? Maybe he's seeing a shrink.

Off to bed. Will look for the leaderboard tomorrow; IBR site if not here. GO FJRs!

cas42 posted: I see that spot in Lufkin near a rehab facility (not a hospital), so hopefully no one is hurt. Maybe some sort of problem with their GPS tracker?

A rehab facility? Maybe he's seeing a shrink.

Off to bed. Will look for the leaderboard tomorrow; IBR site if not here. GO FJRs!

 

[Ndv21]

Probably the most famous story of this was Jim Owen in 2009 seeing something in Colorado and leaving immediately bypassing several boni on the way to make sure he got there. Once there he knew he had won the rally because he waited until the time restriction expired and no one else came... This was a little before my time and I'm sure someone here can recall the details better than I or post a link to the actual story.

The documentary of the 09 rally Hard miles 2 does a great job at telling this story. Owen rode hi as$ off to pull that one

 

[WWWobble]

A few totally spurious facts about this year's field... <snip>

Great stuff, thanks for sharing. Yamaha riders, on whole, ...the riders have newer bikes, Honda riders, on whole the older bikes and the majority to BMW which bike age falls in the middle (of the dominant Manufs.)

I guess my interpretation is that Honda's last a long time and stick with the proven bike.

Yamaha riders like slow, being that the bike (FJR) has gained weight and got slower every years since 2003 ...I'm surprised riders are not opting for the proven IBR success of the Gen I & Gen II FJRs.

Flame away, numbers are numbers.

Thanks MNFJR05

..RJ

while the bike has to perform, the IBR is much more about the rider than the bike. People with older bikes have more than likely maintained the crap out of them. And have them as comfortable for them as their couch at home. NOT trying to start anything and if your particular brand and model wins you feel great BUTT to me the top 10 finishers in each rally could have done about the same on any bike as long as it held up mechanically. Those peeps are heads ans shoulders above what most peeps can do.. both physically and mentally.. In other words THEY HAVE THE RIGHT STUFF

OK, since 2003 there have been qty18 riders riding GenI/Gen2 that have finished in the top 10. That includes qty 5 in 2013 and qty3 in 2015

So, winning riders choose gen1 gen2 bikes. Others don't. We agree, its the riders and the numbers show what winning riders choose to ride.

So far there has been qty1 Gen3 in the top 10. Granted it hasn't been out a long time, but percentage wise winning riders have opted for Gen2

Point being Yamaha makes the bike fatter and slower every year, it's too bad. For a long time the 04's were in high demand. Hence, why many of us bought a 2nd one when we could cuz we knew we wouldn't be able to get them forever. And those Gen2 have performed very well, course it's the riders, not the bike, and the winning riders chose gen2's.

don't know about fatter or slower, but as an actual OWNER of all 3 gens, I can tell you that they get BETTER each gen. Maybe you want a Busa so you can drag race ???

Yeah. I have an 06 FJR with 115k miles. And now a 16 FJR with about 2k.

Here's the deal. BIGGEST difference...... how easy the new bike goes up on the center stand. Is it slower than the Gen2? No, not that I can tell. Is the six speed trans better? Good question. Are there other minor differences? Yes. But, end of day, it is what it is... an FJR. A pretty decent motorcycle, just like all the FJRs before it.

 

[IronMaiden]

I remember graveyard hunting in the darkest hour of the night at GBU. We had 2 bright LED flashlights illuminating the bonus and the rally flags, while we took our pictures (pretty low-res as IBA standards dictated). Those point and shoots don't have the best low-light capability, but we managed, but perhaps the scorer's frustration mounts rider after rider.

You think point and shoots are bad you should try Polaroids at night

plus all the room those polaroid packs took up in the top case. Those were the days!

 

[Bounce]

IIRC John didn't take Jungo Rd he came in from the north which makes Jungo look like I-80. His fuel cell mounts needed to be re-welded after that little jaunt. Look at it in Google maps

I did it from Winnemucca and it looked black top for the first mile then went to well-groomed hard packed dirt for the remainder of the first half. After the mine it went to hell and got ever-increasingly worse. Especially at night... on a GL1500.

 

[discochris]

I remember graveyard hunting in the darkest hour of the night at GBU. We had 2 bright LED flashlights illuminating the bonus and the rally flags, while we took our pictures (pretty low-res as IBA standards dictated). Those point and shoots don't have the best low-light capability, but we managed, but perhaps the scorer's frustration mounts rider after rider.

You think point and shoots are bad you should try Polaroids at night

plus all the room those polaroid packs took up in the top case. Those were the days!

Or say you walk a long way to a bonus in 95 degree heat, take a Polaroid, realize instantly that it is the wrong thing you took a photo of, only to realize that you just ran out of film and have to walk all the way back to the bike, and all the way back out to the bonus location to take another photo. Not that I would know this or anything...

The one good thing about Polaroids though, is you knew right away if your photo was going to be okay, more or less. With digital, you always have to worry about your camera or card failing unexpectedly.

 

[RayW]

If you really want to "wire them up", take a cup of dirty oil, puddle liberally under a bike or three!

(p.s. works best with HDs)

I took a packet of maple pancake syrup I got from IHoP one time and put an "oil puddle" under a friends Harley at work. Unfortunately he used Royal Purple so KNEW it wasn't his oil. Even after I tasted it and said it TASTED like Harley oil....

 

[SQUEAL]

Does anyone know who were the 6 riders that went to the NY public library downtown Manhatten?

 

[FJR Flyer]

This question probably has an obvious answer, but being a non-Rally veteran of any kind, I was wondering, in this era of GPS, how reliant are the riders on the GPS generated routing? Assuming the bonus data is uploaded into the GPS(s), I can see initial routing being planned on the laptop at the hotel and uploaded, but when the planning takes a dump or a strategy light bulb goes off in the riders head and now the rider is free-styling, are they now dependent upon GPS for the routing? I know my GPS on numerous times wants to take me on a route different than what I planned or what I would consider the better way to go.

Thanks to the rally vets for all the great info.

EDIT: And it looks like they're off!

 

[Smunderdog]

From Sidebar 3:

"So what happens if a rider has three Land strings in a row? That would look like this: Land1-Land2- Land3-land4-Land5-Land6-Land7-Land8-Land9. You would expect to have Land3, Land6, and Land 9 each doubled in points. But if Land2, for example, gets denied at the scoring table for not having the flag visible, does that break all of the strings? No, it only breaks the first string. Land3 in string 1 would be assessed at the listed value, but if collected properly, Land6 and Land 9 would double."

If Land2 is denied, why wouldn't Land 3 become the first bonus in the new string of Land3-Land4-Land5?

 

[BkerChuck]

Because the riders will "claim" the bonus strings in groups of 3. Each group of 3 will start and end using the bonus ID claimed by the rider. Therefore only the string with the mistake is broken, the remaining strings are each still intact.

 

[Smunderdog]

Gotcha - that makes sense now that I think about how it would be presented by the rider on their score sheet.

 

[Gus96]

One rider appears to have stopped in Greenville... so close and yet so far.

he made it to the barn ok not sure why the track stopped.

 

[PapaUtah]

In a Land1-Land2-Land3-Land4-Land5-Land6-Land7-Land8-Land9 strategy, assuming you have no problems, wouldn't one be able to claim Land 3 thru Land 9 all as double bonus points??? I see 7 strings, albeit with overlap. Perhaps the official rules require a reset to zero when the string is completed.

 

[ChrisW]

One rider appears to have stopped in Greenville... so close and yet so far.

he made it to the barn ok not sure why the track stopped.

I have to re-start the tracking on my Gen I Spot every 24 hours. It's made my wife worry more than once.

 

[Uncle Hud]

MNFJR05 posted: In a Land1-Land2-Land3-Land4-Land5-Land6-Land7-Land8-Land9 strategy, assuming you have no problems, wouldn't one be able to claim Land 3 thru Land 9 all as double bonus points??? I see 7 strings, albeit with overlap. Perhaps the official rules require a reset to zero when the string is completed.

Didn't one of the IBR dispatches mention that a bonus could only be used in one string? If not, my friend, you have an interesting theory to double almost all the bonus values in a given category.

 

[TestPilot]

Thanks to Hud and the others for helping me get educated. Knowing this makes the cheering much more fun.
Now that I'm armed and dangerous with this new found knowledge, let me ask a couple more pointed questions:

1. What is the advantage of having more than 1 GPS? Do you leave GPS#1 always navigating on the next checkpoint to make sure you stay on overall schedule, and then perhaps GPS#2 is sending you to the next bonus?

2. The definition of Rest Bonus is not entirely clear to me. Is there a minimum amount of time per 24 hour period (or other) in which the motorcycle may not move? If so, what amount is that?

3. Are competitors required to submit photographs that prove bonuses or strings to the rallymaster as they take them, or at the checkpoint, or other? Are there safeguards in place to ensure nobody gets stupid with Photoshop?

4. If a competitor follows the rule whereby he renders aid to another rider or a member of the public in an emergency, and that causes him/her to miss the checkpoint time deadline, is he/her still disqualified?

5. Are rally teams competing for the same prize as individual riders? Do teams have to follow more strict rules?

6. Is the selection of the bonuses engineered such that it is impossible to grab them all? IOW - are there so many bonus point opportunities, that each rider has to develop/design their own ride/routes/stops/etc?

7. How to the riders determine where the bonus places are? For this years event, in which they are looking for roadside animal art, do they just pull out their phone, google it up, and hope for the best?

8. I can't see where there is a minimum amount of miles that need to be ridden, other than the shortest route from checkpoint to checkpoint. Why then is the odometer certification and other odometer related rules necessary? What am I missing? Is it to prove that the competitors actually rode the motorcycle to the various places (as opposed to throwing it on a trailer)?

In the time it took you to type this, and to read the replies, you could have read almost all of the 25 pages or so of rules and it would have answered most of your questions

 

[TestPilot]

MNFJR05 posted: In a Land1-Land2-Land3-Land4-Land5-Land6-Land7-Land8-Land9 strategy, assuming you have no problems, wouldn't one be able to claim Land 3 thru Land 9 all as double bonus points??? I see 7 strings, albeit with overlap. Perhaps the official rules require a reset to zero when the string is completed.

Didn't one of the IBR dispatches mention that a bonus could only be used in one string? If not, my friend, you have an interesting theory to double almost all the bonus values in a given category.

The rules specifically disallow this

 

[PapaUtah]

This could get real interesting if taken to the extreme as it might be for leg 3...I wonder if they will allow Strings of Strings...hmmmmmmmmmmmm.....