As the New Year is rapidly approaching, it is time to announce some exciting new IBA insanity!
If you have visited the IBA eStore (www.ibaestore.com) recently, you might have noticed a new category hiding at the bottom of the list labelled US/Canada pins. In a new fit of insanity, we are offering new ride options in 2006 for those twisted enough to do their SaddleSore ride in one state or Canadian Providence. Now don't get me wrong, we have had IBA members do a SaddleSore all within Texas or California, but how about 20 laps of Rhode Island or our upcoming 5 lap ride around the Big Island of Hawaii?!
By the end of the year, we should have ride pins for all 50 states, the Canadian Provinces and surely someone will do 40 laps inside the confines of Washington DC (another sick Dave McQueeney idea), so we are working on that design also. Who will be the first to collect all 62 pins?!
NEW WORLD RIDES
Our latest addition to the IBA family targets the United Kingdom. By popular demand, we will be offering a certification to ride from the southwest corner England at Lands End to John O'Groats, Scotland in the extreme northeast corder of the country.
We are now also prepared for IBA members that have documented around the world rides in two categories:
Around the World Club - Multi-trip (return home between legs)
and the GOLD version:
Around the World Club GOLD - One continuous trip around the world!
There are other new rides on deck, Russia having some of the most exciting. In our last issue we talked about the new Black Sea to the White Sea ride. Russia is also home to our Trans Siberia Express for members crossing Russia in less then 30 days - no small feat when you consider that requires almost 2,000 miles of rugged dirt road, about the same as riding from Chicago to San Francisco and then still having to ride another 6,000 miles on mostly bad pavement! And if China is your cup of tea, a great route for our Euro-Asia Coast to Coast GOLD (Pacific to Atlantic less then 30 days) would be Shanghai (China) to the eastern tip of Europe in Portugal.
On this side of the world, there is an even more demanding ride, our upcoming Aloha 1000. The ride is filling up fast and due to the advance notice we have to give for shipping the bikes over to the Big Island and other deadlines, we need the final commitments from everyone attending no later then December 29, 2005.
We have so many really great things planned for this trip and I look forward to seeing you on The Big Island for what promises to be an incredible time together! If you can't make it, we are sure you are going to hear some really bizarre and crazy stories from our hearty group hoping to survive island fever while doing five very tough laps on small, crowded roads. We will no doubt be using every second of that 24 hour time clock for the ride.
More information is located on the IBA forum at
https://www.ironbutt.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=485&PN =1
Aloha and Happy Holidays!
Michael Kneebone
