FJR's In The 2005 Iron Butt Rally

[skyway]

From the SABMAG mailing list....a fellow Maggot caught up to Doug at a gas stop on his way to Robbinsville.

oooh- purty new 'stich. He must have put it on special for having the photo taken.

Bet it doesn't look (or smell) quite that nice a week from now. :dribble:

Message from the front:

Man what a strange trip that was. Here I am tooling along north on US 441 out of Gainesville, GA toward the Fontana Dam bonus when, with my lid flipped up for some mometary cooling, a large flying animal squashed itself into my right eye. Had to pull over to clear the vision and a gas station was handy to top off.

As I am filling my tanks a car pulls up abruptly and a guy hangs a "Go Doug" banner out the window. I was so stunned I overfilled the cell and forget to punch yes when the pump dinged for the receipt. I did not even know where I was until I got the gas receipt.

A Maggot of the sabmag variety had been following my progress. It was David Hill from the sabmag list and keeper of the sabmag.org website who had been following my star-traxx progress. (PS. On my dougc.com website, at the bottom, is a star-traxx login.) Good time to stop for a Subway bite as my reservations were confirmed in Robbinsville and the dam bonus didn't open until 9:00am.

I got a good nights sleep, did the tourist thing at the store buying some t-shirts and made the dam before it opened.

Flew back with couple IB motel stops and another sub. Got in this morning about 7:30, had a nap, a meal, got scored (25,166), a pit crew from this forum swapped my rear wheel while I changed oil. Thanks, guys!! Totally awesome. George was next up.

Back in the room now for another nap and dinner. New bonuses for Leg 2 in 3.5 hours.

My 'stich, which I got pryor to my 48+/10/10ths in May, stands by itself and you don't want to be downwind. Febreze is a wonderful thing.

My Hella HIDs quit in north Georgia after working in all weather for almost a year. What a bummer! Could have used them in the late night twisties in western NC. I think my control wiring got wet and shorted and the smoke escaped... The weather band on my CB is a wonderful thing.

dougc

From the first check-point

Anyone who has time during the Iron Butt Rally to stop, think, reflect to make progress posts on FjrForum deserves mucho respect.

Ride on Dougc!!!

 

[Yambone]

DougC, incredible ride and time to report as well! We are not worthy!!! :clap:

Meanwhile, with just a couple of minutes to go, there are still a few bikes on Star Traxx that might be slogging thru Denver, maybe in some rush hour nightmare, trying to make the deadline.

Thanks for posting and letting us "watch." Just amazing stuff, great for the sport and makes us all think of the possibilities to go long like that. :drinks:

 

[valetz]

While all the FJR's in the event are all very impressively prepped, few can match what Peter has done to his FJR for this event. His mil-spec, ruggedized touch-screen computer mounted on his tankbag for on-the-fly routing changes is simply beyond insane..... he swapped out the stock hard bags for a set of Givi E46's fo extra carrying capacity......

Check out those Givi Bags.... I'm goning to have to get a good look at those...

-bvw.

I'm seeing a lot of "user posted image" msgs instead of the image itself these days??

Fixed....

I had linked to the image... it showed up for me as I had it cached from the source, but didn't work for you....??? I re-hosted it, should show up now....

-bvw.

 

[valetz]

DougC... Best of luck always good not to burn out early... See yah at the finish...

-bvw.

 

[Warchild]

Thanks for posting and letting us "watch."  Just amazing stuff, great for the sport and makes us all think of the possibilities to go long like that. 

The reason I created this particular forum shortly after FJRForum.com got rolling in late June is that the FJR1300 has developed into a big-time player in the LDRiding world, and there are a substantial number of IBA members among forum readership, as it is for FJR owners in general.

Hell, yeah.... as it should be....

BTW, let's not forget that we got about 9 other "Doug Chapman's" out there riding a FJR1300 in this IBR Madness. Official Leg One ScoreCards for all riders will be posted shortly.....

 

[tel]

I'm really interested to see if anybody tried for New Brunswick and the Fontana Dam bonus. Looks like about 5,400 miles, an average of around 52mph or 1250 miles per day. That's my pick for the leader. About as tough a ride as you'd want knowing that you were less than half way to the end.

tel

 

[tel]

Wow! interesting to read Higdon's latest report. I love his style :good: Bunch of BMW's having problems, got to believe that BMW hate to see that in what is the premier LD event in the world. It'll be interesting to see the final stats as to which bike broke down the most, if I remember BMW didn't do too well two years ago. But they still are the most popular make in the rally.

tel

 

[dougc]

BTW, let's not forget that we got about 9 other "Doug Chapman's" out there riding a FJR1300 in this IBR Madness. Official Leg One ScoreCards for all riders will be posted shortly.....

As George says, Fo' Sho!

Scoring is posted and I am in 47th position, a little below middle of the pack. 5 riders posted scores above 30,000 with Jim Owens, Eric Jewell, and Jeff Earls, in that order as 1,2, and 3. Jim with over 40,000! Awesome! I am not worthy!

I am planning routes now as Linda copies the bonuses...

dougc

Gone 'til next week. Gotta wick it up a bit...

 

[Bounce]

Go, Doug! GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So what is the prize for winning the IBR? Other than the eternal awe of fellow riders.

if you win you get a trophy and bragging rights. some people might even remember your name a year or so later.

 

[Bounce]

Bunch of BMW's having problems, got to believe that BMW hate to see that in what is the premier LD event in the world.

That's pretty much been the standard report for the past several IBRs. BMWs dropping dead left and right. Last time it was a bunch of alternator belts. Time before it was a bunch of final drives.

 

[Rogue]

BTW, let's not forget that we got about 9 other "Doug Chapman's" out there riding a FJR1300 in this IBR Madness. Official Leg One ScoreCards for all riders will be posted shortly.....

Well being a Doug C myself I'll root for Doug, Even if he has to put up with the SLOWER blue FJR!

 

[Rogue]

Official Leg One ScoreCards for all riders will be posted shortly.....

Where can we see these?

 

[Groo]

Congrats Doug!

All the guys/gals on this ride are amazing.... we're following you and riding with you vicariously.... keep up the fantastic rides! :super1:

 

[Woodstock]

How's George Z doing?

 

[Warchild]

Official Leg One ScoreCards for all riders will be posted shortly.....

Where can we see these?

Link to them is found here:

https://www.ironbuttrally.com/ibr/2005.cfm

 

[Woodstock]

Link to them is found here:
https://www.ironbuttrally.com/ibr/2005.cfm

Very cool. There's got to be a lot of stories in there. B)

 

[Bounce]

FJRs sprinkled throughout the standings.

place..Name.................miles....points

15...Peter Hoogeveen...5,161...27,421

18...Andy Mills.............5,204...27,421

21...Dean Tanji............5,184...27,277

36...Rick Martin............5,017...25,900

39...Harry Kaplan.........4,999...25,840

42...Bob St George.......4,100...25,718

47...Doug Chapman......4,682...25,166

51...John Ferber............4,958...25,044

61...Tom Melchild..........4,053...24,124

65...George Zelenz.......3,799....22,953

79...Tobie Stevens........4,156....20,160

None of the bikes that have croaked are FJRs. And this is just the first leg. Things mix up a lot between now and the finish. Go EVERYONE! GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[tel]

Looks like being a bonus hound was the way to go. Those guys at the top completed an amazing leg. I bet there's a lot of regret for the guys that went east. Still we still have a long way to go but I'd be surprised if the winner doesn't come from the current top five. It will take a "Panama Canal" type ride to pull this one out of the bag for those around 27,000 points.

Gotta take your hat off to the top four, all going to Bad Water, Death Valley. My newspaper shows it's 115 degrees today. - Yuk!

Damn I love following this stuff - really should get out there and ride.

tel

 

[Bounce]

anything can happen. just with that list above, the difference between 15th and 79th is less (point-wise) than the placing list would seem to indicate.

 

[skyway]

It looks like 2 of the bikes with trackers are still at the checkpoint in Denver, is everything OK?