FJRForum Official 2021 Iron Butt Rally Tracking/Analysis Thread

[Mike Aldea]

Has anyone been able to identify this year's scribe?

 

[Frontpointer1000]

Has anyone been able to identify this year's scribe?

Hi guys.

It’s been fun to read through the discussion about this year’s IBR. Although I am no longer on an FJR, I rode two FJRs in the 2017 IBR: a 2013, and when that failed me, I rode a 2003.

In 2019 I rode a GL1800 and this year I rode the same 2018 GL1800. I will admit there is a piece of my heart that will forever be lost with that FJR. It was an incredible platform.

For reasons that I can surmise but cannot completely fathom, this year’s scribe has requested to remain anonymous. I spoke with John Harrison, who many of you will know has been a scribe in times past and has done a great job, and he adamantly underlined the fact that the scribe requests to remain anonymous.

 

[Frontpointer1000]

As they prepare for the rally do rookie riders have sufficient resources available to them to understand it takes to develop a finishing strategy?  I ask because of a discussion on another board suggesting riders may be given inadequate leg 1 and 2 points targets at rider meetings to allow for a manageable leg 3.

I’ve seen this discussion on another forum as well. Number one I’ll state that, as Ignacio noted, the rally masters really want everyone to finish. There is no trickery, there is no changing of rules or funny play.There is sometimes additional information added at one leg or another that changes the gameplay. But that’s adding complexity to the strategy.

There is sometimes additional information added at one leg or another that changes the gameplay. But that’s adding complexity to the strategy, not changing rules or playing games, per se.

I felt that at each of the legs and that each rider meeting Jeff was extremely clear about the expectations. And noted number of points needed to be ON TRACK for finisher status. I was impressed and surprised by how clear Jeff was about given strategies of like 12 and three. At the initial meeting, he literally told us which areas of the country we should plan on riding in each leg. And stated he designed the rally to push us in certain directions at certain legs. Any rookie looking to finish would have done well to listen to that strategy. The support and the communication, I felt, were very clear.

Michael Boge (KTM 300 guy) Knew where he was every single day in terms of finisher status. I know this because I spoke with him at least twice a day every day of the rally. We both hoped that the finisher bar would be dropped a little based on the play of the riders. However, this particular rally was impressive in many ways, not the least of which was the rookie Field rode hard, with high miles, and with lots of points.

 Therefore, and unfortunately, the finisher status held firm at 80,000 points. If any of you know Michael, you will know he is already strategizing about 2023 and how to get more daily mileage out of that little two-stroker. 
 

 

[Frontpointer1000]

I believe that is Gary Huff. He hit a deer 450 miles out and made it in about 45 minutes into the penalty window. 

That is Gary.

 Hit a deer outside of Helena, MT.

Impressively, he rode it out and did not drop the bike, then brought it in to the barn despite having no coolant in his cooling system.  I don’t know they 2020 R1250 RT platform at all but he started to me that it does cool well with airflow and he was able to maintain appropriate temperatures without any complications. I rode the bike after the rally and it feels great. It’s actually parked in my garage, waiting for Gary to come pick it up.

 

[Frontpointer1000]

What’s with so many riders not wearing gloves ??

I have seen several pictures.

Canadian FJR 

Good question.

Other posters’ comments have been right on. I would say there is a majority of riders who carry a screen sensitive stylus either attached to the jacket or a tank bag. I have one on my jacket and one on my tank bag. Attached to a retractable wire. I carry an additional three or four in my top case. 
 

This rally was strange for a couple of reasons. I’m not sure if it was the rain or something in the air, but at some point my styluses stopped working. I swapped out for new ones, and they also stopped working. There was a film in the air or on the screens. I would clean them periodically and then the stylus would work again for a while. Then totally fail. I’ve tried screen sensitive gloves without a high degree of success. If you have suggestions let me know!

I think the failures actually occurred after the rain storm in Indiana after checkpoint one.

to that point, every rider I’ve spoken to was completely soaked in that storm. My gloves were totally wet. I could have changed into other gloves, but when your hands are soaked, putting on another set of gloves becomes extremely difficult. And it was still raining. I found riding in the rain without gloves made my hands dry out quicker and didn’t get water-logged.

I logged more Gloveless hours on this ride than ever before. Certainly a trade-off. I did feel pretty naked and exposed.

 

[FJR Flyer]

That is Gary.

 Hit a deer outside of Helena, MT.

Impressively, he rode it out and did not drop the bike, then brought it in to the barn despite having no coolant in his cooling system.  I don’t know they 2020 R1250 RT platform at all but he started to me that it does cool well with airflow and he was able to maintain appropriate temperatures without any complications. I rode the bike after the rally and it feels great. It’s actually parked in my garage, waiting for Gary to come pick it up.

Lucky the RT has the hybrid air/liquid cooling.

 

[Ignacio]

View attachment 235

A follow-up note to this chart I made:  There were 28 new finishers for 2021.  These finishers have been assigned coveted "three digit" IBA numbers that are the mid 600's now. (I believe they reserved the first 2000 numbers for this purpose).

By way of example, I first finished in 2007 and was assigned #332. The two other current admins have lower numbers than myself and I regularly see #5 at motorcycle events and Alan Greenwood has a two digit number.

 

[Bounce]

You can see the finishers trending upward, then the redesign in '05, and they dropped but are on the rise again as Riders bring bigger spoons to gobble up more bonuses.