Iron Butt Rally Started This Morning

Today was the start of the 2015 IBR. Riders (and a few pillions) headed out from the starting location in Albuquerque, NM at 10am local time to points unknown (at least to us). We can speculate all day, and probably make some educated guesses about destinations, but until we get a chance to see the bonus listing after leg 1 is complete we will not know the actual bonus locations. They are due back in Albuquerque on July 2nd for a mandatory checkpoint.

By the way, Albuquerque is probably one of the weirdest city names to spell repeatedly!

The theme of this year's IBR is national parks and monuments. I am an IBR newb, so don't ask me to explain in too much detail, but the gist is that in order to be considered a "finisher", the rider must visit at least 50 different national parks and monuments in a minimum of 25 different states in the next 11 days. A daunting task to be sure! Top riders will likely visit many more than the minimum - it will be crazy to watch. A guy like me, if I were ever so inclined and fortunate enough to get an invite, would be looking to finish and not worrying too much about my placing within the field. I believe the attrition rate is in the 30-40 percent range, so just finishing puts you in good company.

I'll leave the analysis to other more experienced observers and riders. I will say that a couple of cool outliers exist at the early stages of the rally. Two riders chose to ignore the herd's advance and instead headed south and east. Motivation is going to be locked away inside their heads until the finish.

The following three screen captures shows rider locations just prior to starting at 10am (MDT) and again at 1 and 4pm. The first shot is a bit misleading. All the riders were at one location at the start, but it looks more spread out in the screen capture - it is a trick of how the tracking device behaves when shut down. The second and third shots show the field as riders depart headed generally west or northwest. I am putting a video montage together to see the general progression of the rally each day. I am an amateur, so keep your expectations low, please.

Here is the link to the IBR main page where you can pull up the rider map nearly real-time and read through rally reports form the IBA scribe. Good reading, in my opinion.

Stay tuned - I know I will!

Just prior to the 10am (MDT) start.

At 1pm (MDT)

At 4pm (MDT)

2015 Iron Butt Rally (IBR) About to Start

There are probably quite a few IBR blogs out there, and many written by folks who have a lot more experience than I have. I have never competed in an Iron Butt Rally, and quite frankly I am not sure I ever will, but I am fascinated by the preparation and execution of this kind of event. As the IBR organizers are fond of pointing out, there are not many finishers of this ultimate street motorcycle endurance event - just slightly more than 500 - in its 30-ish year history.

Here is a link to the IBR site for this year if you are interested in following along on your own - 2015 IBR Website. The site includes a link to a consolidated Spotwalla page of all the the riders and a running commentary from one of the IBR staff members. Wordy but entertaining so far.

Most (not sure if it all) of the riders have a Spot tracker that the IBR has consolidated on one single page. It is active now and you can see it here - 2015 IBR Spotwalla Page.

I am experimenting with some scripts on my computer that should allow me to animate the progress of riders. Th page I linked above only provides the single most recent position of the riders. You really have to see time to appreciate the lengths some of these contestants endure. 

Rider Location as of 8:30am (PDT)

Each numbered marker represents a single rider. As you can see, most of the riders have already arrived at the starting location in Albuquerque, NM for Monday afternoon's start. A few are either making their way to the start or have already withdrawn due to some other issue.

As I understand it, Sunday will be comprised of official check-in and motorcycle tech inspections during the day, and a rider dinner that evening where the first leg bonus packet will be handed out. That's when it probably gets real for these crazy men and women.

I follow a couple of boards to get a feel for what is going on and what the riders are doing to prepare. I am partial to an FJR forum that is linked here. It is updated continuously by folks watching and getting ready and includes content from previous IBR participants and a few of this year's participants. I expect there will be no updates from current riders once the rally starts - who would have the time? But there is one experienced IBR veteran making updates through the rally since he isn't riding this year. I have found his posts very well written and quite insightful. His user name is Ignacio. Another poster (Warchild) is one of the people conducting the tech inspections on the bikes. From what I understand, this is not just a "kick the tires" kind of inspection. They really want to make sure the bike is ready to safely make it 11,000+ miles over the next 11 days!

Why am I so interested? I have caught the long-distance riding bug. Love it! Will I ride in an IBR? I don't think so, but won't rule it out. I am really trying to benefit from the experience of others.

I will try to update as often as I can. Going to be out camping over the 4th but I should have good internet. The posts may be shorter, but I still plan to post. Check out and bookmark those links I included above and that will be a good start. :)

BMRx Rally

I wrapped up my first rally last weekend with good results - finisher status. I learned a lot about my ability to plan and execute a ride. It was a great experience.

Total miles for the three-day rally was 2630 - about 875 miles/day! Total if you include the ride down to Bend and back home before and after the rally was about 3400 miles.

Here is my route as captured by my GPS tracker, including the ride to Bend and back home before and after the rally.

BMRx is a rally with real-time bonus submission scoring. Ride to the bonus, fill your picture with the bonus criteria, your bike and your placard and then submit the picture to the web site with an app on your smartphone. The submission was usually scored and results displayed within several minutes. For the less aggressive minded riders like me, staying at the location until the bonus is scored isn't a big deal. In many instances the rally master had the picture scored nearly instantly. Big kudos to Reno John and his crew of scorers!

Example of a picture match. Perspective and size are important.

Example of a word match. The actual words in the picture are the bonus. Sometimes you have to be creative to fill the picture with the bonus words and also include your bike.

Here's the twist - you don't know the bonus location and criteria until about an hour before the rally starts. We knew the basic corner locations but not the additional bonus locations. The bonus pack was available one hour before rally start - about 3:15 am on day 1!

My starting point for the rally was in Bend, OR. I rode down the day before the rally started with friend and fellow rally participant, Bill Lynes. We met up for breakfast and made it to Bend in the late afternoon. After getting checked in to our hotels we met up with several other riders for dinner. It was great to meet other participants, hear their stories and, in some cases, finally put a name to a face. After dinner it was off to bed for some needed rest.

A little pre-rally scouting of the first corner bonus.

Day 1

Rally start time was 4:15am with the rally pack available at 3:15am. I had decided I wasn't leaving until it began to get lighter outside but still woke up early in anticipation of seeing the bonus pack. I was holding my breath hoping it would be manageable and was relieved to see a collection of bonus locations that were easy to digest. I was underway after some route planning to get me to my first stop later that night.

After collecting the starting bonus in Bend I headed south through Oregon, into Nevada and on into California. I knew I wanted to stick to a riding plan made when rested, and so I resisted the urge to add miles and points and made it into Ridgecrest, CA around 9 that night after about 830 miles. I was tired but not exhausted after that long on the bike. Spent some time planning my ride for day 2 and then off to bed.

My third state of the day so far!

You find the coolest stuff out in the middle of nowhere. Makes you wonder how this became the final resting spot.

I was blessed with wonderful views of the east slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountains all afternoon.

Day 2

I slept poorly and was up early. My ride plan went through Death Valley and I knew I needed to be there early or suffer through the heat of the day. I was out the door by 3:30am and made it to Death Valley by 6am. There was no one else on the road and I made good time through the park and up into Nevada. Death Valley was at 84F at 6am and climbed to 94F by the time I left. I also performed my good deed of the day by helping out a stranded Frenchman who needed gas. He was at the Furnace Creek gas station but only had cash, and the station wasn't open so the pumps only accepted plastic. I swiped my card, pumped his gas and pocketed his cash! Bad place to be stranded.

Death Valley was the highlight of the day. The weather slowly deteriorated as I headed east towards Ely, NV and eventually Utah. By the time I made it to Ely I was riding in steady rain and about 42F. Never underestimate the value of good gear. I will never regret paying big bucks for the Klim jacket. I didn't have so much as a drop of water make it inside my gear even thought it rained non-stop and wind was blowing at about 25mph sideways.

Clearing Nevada into Utah improved the weather and a ride around Great Basin National Park was very nice. As I headed north for Salt Lake City a few thunderstorms cropped up and interfered with my plan. I ride in rain, cold, wind - not lightning. I don't do lightning! I backtracked and rode around. An already long day got a lot longer. Bed and sleep were welcome places this evening and I didn't even plan my next route until the next morning.

Another interesting collection at sunrise heading into Death Valley.

You have to visit Bad Water Basin if you got to Death Valley!

Obligatory sign.

First time I have ridden in Utah.

My welcome committee to Salt Lake City. LOTS of lightning flashing in the clouds.

Day 3

I slept a little longer this night and needed it. Had to spend some time planning the last day of riding. I resisted the urge to get more points and crossed a couple of stops off my list. The idea for me was to make it to Bend in time to finish the rally, and hopefully to sit down and eat a real dinner instead of a heart-attack sack at a fast food place. Mission accomplished! After blazing across Utah and Nevada on I-80 I headed up into Oregon and eventually to Bend. Pretty uneventful day of riding except for rising temperatures throughout the day.

Back in Oregon after a couple thousand miles!

Gas stations are like bathrooms in this neck of the woods - see one, use one.

I even had time to work in a visit to one of the Oregon airports on a different rally.

What I Learned

- Planning a basic route in advance was a good choice for this first time rally, but I don't think I will pre-book hotels the next time. If I had the flexibility to stay elsewhere that second night I could have avoided an extra 3 hours of riding and been in bed sooner. Or I could have altered my route, collected some extra bonus locations and visited the corner the next morning.
- Planning the routes each evening was a mistake for me - I should have planned the entire ride out a bit. I wound up going through the same area on the beginning of day 2, and could have avoided that if I had looked at both days together. I also found myself more tired each evening. I believe my route planning needs to happen with rest to make sure I make safe decisions.
- Don't change equipment the night before the ride. I swapped ear plugs and developed intense ear pain - so bad I rode without for a little while before finding a place to replace my original ones. Small stuff becomes big when it doesn't work!
- Good gear is critical! Comfort equals safety. Period.
- I can ride multiple long-distance days. I have ridden long distances before, but not back to back. 3 days of 800+ miles was challenging, and I am glad I know I can do it.

Dam Tour is gone but not forgotten! Pelton Dam in eastern Oregon.