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 A few are either making their way to the start or have already withdrawn due to some other issue.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. :)