IBPete's 2015 Iron Butt Rally

I wrapped up the IBR and got home safely Sunday 7/12. I didn't have a great finish but I finished and that was my major goal. I was hoping for a good enough finish for a Medal but managed to make a few mistakes that cost me a Bronze status. Following is a short recap of my adventures.

Prelude

Everybody seemed concerned that I might be a DNS (did not start) but I got in late Saturday (amidst typical New Mexico storms). Check on Sunday went without a hitch. At some point during the day I noticed that somebody had placed an envelop in my top case. I opened it to find a letter and a business sized "Smurf Card". This had come from Troy Martin. It seems that Dancin' Dave has some Karma that is passed around from the original Smurf via these cards. I'm not at all superstitious so I smiled nicely, and thanked Troy for his consideration. I tucked the Smurf card into my papers and didn't give it much more thought. As Dancin' Dave's website says; "It Can't Hoyt!!!".

I broke a long standing rule about LD riding. I made a change before the rally with no time to test it. I'd had my seat adjusted by Russell at the end of the Cal24 rally on 6/15 thinking I'd have at least a week after the service on the bike was completed to fine tune things. The tech at Russell moved me forward a bit in the saddle and suggested that I move my backrest up to compensate. I moved my auxiliary tank forward an inch. I hadn't gotten to Albuquerque before my back was hurting. The backrest that had done so well for 10,000 miles was now in the wrong position. Sigh.

I planned to get lots of rest on the rally. During the Buttlite last year (2014) I was whooped about the time I had a short ride on a ferry with John Frick who is a few years older than me, I asked him how it did it. He said, "I make it a point to be off the bike at least 6 hours a day. Sleeping or planning I'm off the bike and in a motel."  John is a strong rider and fierce competitor so I took his advice and made my plans accordingly.

The theme this year was National Parks. We had to visit at least 50 sites in at least 25 states to qualify as a finisher. Each site had a point value. The total points acquired would be used to rank the finishers.

Visiting National Parks is always a pleasant experience. While the parks are nice, getting there wasn't always so pleasant.

Leg1

A pretty good pic of me leaving the starting line. Dale (Warchild) Wilson made sure I left last with a fond farewell. (my apologies for not being able to attribute this photo beyond Iron Butt Magazine)

I had planned 10 states and 20 or so sites for leg one. I briefly scanned the point values but didn't focus on them since my goal was to finish. For me, the points were serendipity. I should have paid more attention.

On my way to Boulder Dam, I endured 113+ degree temperatures from Kingman, AZ, through Las Vegas, NV to St. George, UT. (several hours). After the heat in the Las Vegas area, I opted to skip Death Valley, CA. I just didn't see that I could get in and out without having some major heat issues which were a factor in my '09 DNF. That left me with 9 states in the plan which I was okay with.

At some point, my route sheet (a 3x5 card I hand write my planned list of stops on) blew out of my map case. Just a PITA to stop at some point and recreate it. However, in the process of recreating this list at a motel stop, I managed to omit the two bonus's I had planned for Montana. By the time I caught this mistake I was at the point of no return. It was frustrating that I was now down to 8 states for the leg.

At the checkpoint I was relating this story to Eric Lipps and he said, "You missed Little Big Horn, that was 3300 points!". My heart sank, I scored 12000 or so points for the leg and the two MT parks I missed would have been almost 4000 points. This is precisely why I don't bust my chops to be a "big dog" finisher. I've learned that I do stupid crap like this.

I fought the position of the backrest for the whole leg and, FINALLY, found the sweet spot 100 miles from the checkpoint. Shortly thereafter I ran into one of those big New Mexico storms with tremendous crosswinds. I leaned forward to lower my profile and when the storm passed and I leaned back the backrest was gone. Sigh.

I met my goal of getting good rest. I claimed the full 8 hour rest bonus plus stopped 2 other times at a motel.

Leg2

Okay this is a short leg in time so I'm going to pick up states. Points are secondary, although I did scan to make sure there weren't any high value targets in my path.

I wanted to get an early start since all of the bonus locations were daylight or less. I only planned the first day. Once I reached Fort Smith, AR. I had no idea where my next stop would be other than south and/or east. I had been thinking all day about what to do for a backrest. It was looking like rain (again) and I had this great idea to get some hot water pipe foam tube to use as a backrest. I found a Home Depot, got the foam, rigged the backrest (which didn't work) and then sat under their overhang and planned the remainder of my leg.

By the time I got away it was getting dark and I headed south. My route took me across the Ozark mountains, It would have been a fun road, in the daylight, without fog, and without rain. With those factors it was slow going and, at times, downright scary.

I had run through some minor storms but never really got wet. The Trophy is very calm in the cockpit and as long as you can maintain some decent speed rain goes right over you. That all ended on my way to the group photo bonus at Andrew Johnson National Historic Site in Greeneville, Tennessee. (from the IBR Day8 Report)

I had to traverse the Appalachian mountains over more than one pass. The winding, twisty roads, with torrential downpours was almost as bad as the Ozarks. At least it was daylight and not cold. You can probably tell my jacket is pretty wet by the time I arrived.

I managed to finish this leg with none of my stupid mistakes. Lots of time for rest. I even had a great sit down meal at an Outback Steakhouse outside of Atlanta.

My back was killing me. It had actually improved by sitting upright with no backrest but I was still having spasms. I finally figured out that my nylon bike cover, stuffed into it's bag, and strapped on my luggage deck was perfect. By the time I got home my back was feeling much better.

Leg3

I was well rested coming into the checkpoint and got a good rest during the layover. My plan was to grab as many points as I could while finishing up the states and parks I needed to be a finisher. I was headed to Washington DC and then up towards Philadelphia, PA.

As I headed east the temperature wasn't bad but the humidity was horrible. The jacket got stowed and I rode with just my LD Comfort shirt.

My performance in DC was horrible. I wasn't efficient locating the bonus locations. We had been warned that reading comprehension was really important in DC. Half the locations were 10 points and I caught that before heading out. There were 3 locations that could be taken "anywhere within the limits of DC". I got to LBJ's Memorial Grove and sure enough you could see the Washington Monument, the Jefferson Memorial, and the Lincoln Memorial right from this island. I snapped my bonus photos of all three. Then I looked at the map and saw a border on the other side of the river. Shucks, I'm not in DC! So I proceeded to spend the next 90 minutes or so fighting the DC traffic to get these photos. What a putz! I should have called Lisa, or Googled, or something. Here's what the daily report said; "From this sliver of land within the District of Columbia, but on the Virginia side of the Potomac, an observant rider could see the Jefferson and Lincoln Memorials, the Washington Monument and the LBJ Memorial." Sigh.

After fighting the rough roads, the rough traffic, and the rough humidity I was just too tired and worn out to attempt Philadelphia. I decided to get off the east coast as fast as I could. I stopped at Hancock, MD for the night. If you're ever in the area I highly recommend the Americas Best Value Inn. It's dated but the owner is a sweetheart and for the $55 it was my best budget hotel of the trip.

A bonus that I shot at and missed was Abraham Lincoln Birthplace in KY (some 900 odd points).  I arrived 15 minutes after the gates were closed. Blame it on rush hour traffic, blame it on weather, blame it on road construction, blame it on staying too long at the nice motel in Hancock. Fact is, I screwed up and drove a long way for naught.

The Lost Flag

The Harry Truman site in Independence was a good bonus for me. That's about 15 miles from my Mom's house in Mission, KS and I'd be able to get my rest bonus and a good meal at her house. I managed to make it through the horrible St Louis storm cells (I was now well dressed for rain with my pant liners in place, and the Frogg Togg overcoat protecting my jacket) and headed west to KCMO. I hit the HST site and snapped the photo and headed west. I was tired and had get-home-i-tus.

The next AM I'm packing up and saying goodbye to my Mom and I don't see my flag. Yep, in my haste the previous night I'd drove off with my flag draped over my top case. Sigh my ass! I was downright SICK! I headed back to Independence in the hopes that my flag could be found. I'm about 1 mile from the site when I realize it could be anywhere along a 15 mile stretch of streets, roads, and freeways, My sickness deepens because, up to this point, I hadn't been watching the road. About that time, a 1/4 mile or so from the bonus site I spy my flag lying on the center line of the 4 lane Truman Road! It was worse for the wear but intact! Smurf? I'm still a skeptic but not so much as before. 

The Finish

This was the best finish I'd ever had at a rally. Not based on score, but because it was the first time my lifelong love was there to greet me.

Summary

This was the most rest I'd ever had on a multi-day rally. The shortest motel stop I had was 4 hours and it turns out it could have been longer.

I finished! That was what I wanted. My standing was: 53rd with 57,414 points, a mere 1000 points from a Bronze medal. If you've been adding things up, my dumb errors cost me about 5,000 points which would have moved me up 8 slots or so. Sigh.

My ride home, like most of the trip, was uneventful. I snapped this photo on I-8 somewhere east of El Centro, CA. I thought it was a fitting picture for the end of an era.

IBR T-2

It came together. I'm off to ABQ.

2015 IBR Rally Prep

Friday 6/23/15 0830.

I've worked for months to get the ergonomics of my bike fine tuned and get in lots of saddle time. Now, with slightly more than 72 hours to the start of the 2015 Iron Butt Rally, my planning has gone amok. Here is the current status of my bike.

Yes, those are parts lying all over the garage floor and no bike in the picture! I took it in last week for a major tune up so it would be ready. They found a bad switch which caused the starter motor to engage intermittently. Not starting when you want is pretty bad.

This is what I hate about Triumph, parts ALWAYS have to come from the UK. Parts are supposed to come in this AM and (supposedly) I'll have my bike back this afternoon. It will take me several hours to get it back together. Then I have a 12 hour trip to Albuquerque, NM. I'm okay as long as I get there in time to finish check in on Sunday.

Nothing like being well rested and unstressed for the start of the rally.

Triumph Trophy SE Fuel Economy

When I first got the TTSE in June of '13 I was extremely happy to find that it was quite miserly with gasoline. Even on Nevada two lane highways (read as high speed) it stayed at 40+ MPG.

That all seemed to go amok about a year ago. I have experienced wild fluctuations in fuel economy. From as high as 50MPG at leisurely paces to as low as 30MPG for no apparent reason. I have tried to analyze all possible causes of these anomalies.

Bad gas, ethanol, gas brand, headwinds, temperatures, speed, you name it I've considered it. All of these factors can and do impact fuel economy but I couldn't seem to isolate any one factor as the major contributor. If anything, it appeared to be temperature related where lower temperatures yielded worse MPG.

I finally found out why there was a change in MPG, about a year ago I got a new custom seat made! Now this may sound ridiculous but bear with me. I had them raise the seat so my knees would have less bend. A recent discussion on Facebook got me to to considering windshield height. The TTSE has an electrically adjustable windshield and I normally keep it just below my line of sight.

On a recent trip I discovered that the TTSE is EXTREMELY sensitive to windshield height (obviously if Triumph did any wind tunnel testing they either didn't test with varying windshield heights or they didn't optimize for that). With the windshield fully down I was able to average 46MPG over a 700 mile trip with a moving average of 70MPH.  By watching the instantaneous fuel consumption readout from the ECU, I was able to determine that raising the windshield by as little as 1" would drop 4 o 5MPG off of my reading!

Therein, was the root of my problem. I raised my seat about a year ago and the windshield height accordingly. That also explains why the cold weather was a high candidate for the problem. When it's cold I raise the windshield to stay warmer.

If you have an adjustable windshield take this into consideration if you are trying to maximize your range.

The Missing Gallon (Triumph Trophy SE)

Ever wonder how big the gas tank really is on a Triumph Trophy SE? I know I have. The manufacturer lists the Fuel capacity at 25 L (6.6 US gal). I've never come close to putting that much gas in the tank.

Since I do a lot of long distance riding fuel management is very important. I have an auxiliary fuel tank to extend my range and only buy gas when I need to. My theoretical capacity is just under the
Iron Butt Rally™ maximum of 11.5 gallons. My aux tank is 4.8 gallons so coupled with the stock tank I should have 11.4 gallons. I've never managed to put more than 10.5 gallons in it and I was worried about running out of fuel at those times.

Here is some background discussion about the Trophy's instrumentation. The on board computer shows some interesting information. You can display lots of information but the ones I want to focus on are distance to empty (DTE) and gallons consumed (GC). I've been displaying GC for the last 40,000 miles and have found it very useful and accurate enough that I trust it. Rarely has the displayed GC varied by more that 10% of what the fuel pump said I had put in. This error could possibly be explained by temperature variations in the fuel.

The low fuel light comes on at 1/4 tank at which time the DTE moves to the forefront of the display. The low fuel light and the DTE have no correlation. Depending on what kind of gas mileage you are getting the DTE can be anywhere from 40 to 80 miles when the low fuel light comes on. The DTE will count down and reaches zero (0) exactly as the last fuel indicator bar goes dark. 

After 60,000 miles I decided to conduct an experiment. I have developed enough confidence in the GC display to trust that it was accurate enough to test my tank capacity. I was returning from a 7000 mile journey and was trying to stretch my range so I could get home without a final fuel stop.

My low fuel light came on and the GC reported that 4.4 gallons were consumed. I watched the DTE count down to zero and logged the odometer and the GC. GC now reported that 5.4 gallons had been burnt. I motored on and ran out of gas 40 miles later! GC now said I had burnt 6.2 gallons. I had FINALLY found that missing gallon.

 

Well, it's nice to know there is a reserve but I can only see using it in an extreme situation. When your gas gauge says empty, the DTE says ZERO, and the low fuel light is screaming at you it's difficult to have faith and believe that there is more gas in the tank. [There's a song about have faith and believe "Desert Pete"]

It's a shame that Triumph couldn't have been more accurate with their instrumentation. I'd sure like to see it like my BMW K1200LT. The low fuel light came on when the DTE was at 40 miles based on current fuel economy. It was NOT tied to the fuel gauge. Once it went below 10 miles it turned to dashes. Not ideal but better than the Trophy. I have to stare at a bright yellow low fuel light for up to 100 miles which can translate to 1 1/2 to 3 hours.

Fitting a Garmin nuvi 2797 to a Motorcycle

I've been running Garmin GPS's on my motorcycles since 2001. The best one I ever had was the Garmin 2610. It had lots of configurable features. They've gone downhill since then. I completely understand a business catering more to the larger market but it is frustrating.

There has been a lot of discussion in my community about Garmin's nüvi® 2797LMT. Considering the size and features, Garmin's $270 is a bargain and street prices are $40 less. When you compare this to Garmin's Zumo line for motorcycles, with prices from $600 to $900, taking the chance of putting this on a motorcycle is highly tempting.

Based on Greg Rice's article on his experiences with I purchased one used from a friend. [Greg's write up of the unit's features and screenshots is excellent which I'll not reproduce] The unit I purchased came with the Ram mounting so I was quite pleased with my $185 price, I mounted it up and have been playing with it without having it wired to my audio system.

Since I'm tooling up for the 2015 Iron Butt Rally™ I needed to get the audio connected to my bike. With that done, I am mightily impressed with my short test run. I never thought having voice actuation would be an important feature but, based on my initial testing, it looks like it's going to be a winner. Of course, a giant display is nothing to scoff at.

Here you can see it mounted on the left side of my dash shelf.

Note the sunshade. I had a shade like this on my K1200LT with the Touratech locking mount and really missed having it. Not so much for the shade, but for having a place to stick my pens. I LOVE velcro.

Here is how I implemented the audio changes.

I followed Greg's procedure with only one problem with removing the back of the unit. After you remove the screws (one of these kits from Harbor Freight is essential for working on miniature electronics), the back didn't come off. Turns out there are little tabs around the periphery that need to be disengaged. This requires prying the edges up, always a concerning task since the the tabs break easily. Some type of spudger tool is preferable to a screwdriver or knife which can mar the case.

I'm posting my pictures, not because Greg's are deficient in any manner but because my job was a little cleaner. In all fairness I was trained as an aerospace electronics assembly technician in a previous life.

This is the before I messed it up shot.

Rather than cut the speaker wires I removed the rubber coating and unsoldered the wires.

The microphone wires needed to be cut. Ends are tinned ready for splice. Mic pigtail is taped down to inside of case. I drilled two holes for the audio wire and put rubber grommets in place.

Splices have been made, shrink wrapped, and taped to the case. Zip ties are to prevent wires from being easily pulled out.

I almost forgot to label which wire was which. [FWIW one of these printers is really nice to  have around.]

Some RTV sealant to resist water intrusion.

Taped over non-essential openings (speaker grill and SD card slot) to minimize the risk of water intrusion.

Rally Preparation (Pelican/Storm Case Lid Organizer)

I've finally caught up on my work and have started fixing my bike up for the rally season. There are several items I've done. This will be the first post of several more.

I got this idea from one of my customers and decided to implement it.

This is a lid organizer for a Pelican/Storm iM2500 case. Well, maybe not so much an organizer, as a laptop holder.

It is constructed of aluminum sheet, piano hinge, and some neat little latches I got from Pegasus Auto Racing Supplies.

The tacky weather stripping is to keep the laptop from bouncing. The laptop is held in place with velcro (I love this stuff).

The laptop can be used in place.

I plan on affixing some pen/pencil holders to the inside and a document holder to the outside. This is a trial and error design method.

I'll be testing it out with some road work and then the big test will be the 54 hour Heart of Texas Rally coming up in 3 weeks.

Russel Day Long on a Triumph Trophy SE

This is a late post but I finally gave up on the Laam Seat and purchased a Russell Day long last summer.

The plan was for it to be completed and drop shipped to the start of the seven day Butt Lite 7 rally. I wasn't too enthusiastic about riding a 7 day rally with the Laam seat. Well, the seat didn't arrive in time so I had to suffer through with the Laam.

The seat did arrive before the rally end and I immediately installed it for the ride home (2000 miles).

As I have reported with my blogs on the Laam seat, seating comfort is a function of time. A seat that feels good for a Sunday morning run with you buddies, may not feel good after a full day, and so on.

I am very pleased with the RDL. Since I only had the rider seat converted the price wasn't that much higher than the Laam. I've put quite a few miles on it but so far nothing more than about 2 days at a time. So far I quite happy with the RDL and wish I would have stayed with my original plan to get the RDL first thing.

I'll know more later this year. I'm in the 54 hour Heart of Texas Rally in April, the 30 hour Mason Dixon 2020 in May, and the Iron Butt Rally in June. I expect that my days in the saddle and miles traveled to be 30 and 30,000 respectively.

Here are the pictures.

BMW Pillion Mount Aux Tank

I recently had a client that wanted me to make an auxiliary tank to mount over the pillion seat on his K1600GT. He wanted to use his existing BMR shelf as the mounting.

The BMR shelf required a cutout for the shut off valve but otherwise it was a pretty straight forward job of building and mounting a tank. Stainless steel rivet nuts were installed in the BMR shelf and the tank bolted straight onto it.

Having access to the BMR shelf worked out perfectly for me. I was able to get the measurements I needed to make brackets and now have the solution to mounting a tank above the pillion seat using these stainless steel brackets I am now fabricating.

With these brackets I can fabricate and mount a tank that leaves the BMW top case intact. Alternatively, I can fabricate a longitudinal tank that extends from the rider's seat back over the tail rack. 

This means that there are now three options for the BMW models that use the lattice type luggage rack, these models include: the K1600GT and GTL, all flavors of the R1200, the R, RT, and ST, the K1200GT, the K1300GT, and all variants of the F800, the R, S and ST.