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.