Wrap-up
I was glad to be able to participate in this year's event. The start in the west (mostly west) part of the country meant the logistics were much easier for me compared to last time. I also really enjoyed the quality of the bonuses. National Parks are so often out in the most interesting places, on fun roads away from the hustle and bustle. I had more times where I was enjoying just the sheer pleasure of riding fun roads, as there was much more time spent on them than in what I remember of the 2013 event, where the bonus structure (and perhaps my personal routing choices) kept me on major interstates for longer periods. My bike performed well throughout, with some minor glitches in the middle that I think I can attribute to bad gas. The highway pegs I had installed to make my feet/legs more comfortable weren't that much of a help, so I barely used them during the event. My improved boots made a larger difference in keeping me comfortable.
On Saturday, I had initially planned to stick around ABQ and rest for a day before heading back Sunday, but I had gotten in early enough Friday morning that I already felt good to go. A friend had invited me to stay over their place in Las Vegas on the way home, so I packed up and aimed toward Sin City for Saturday night. The 500 mile trip (with no bonus locations!) was a simple affair at this point, and I pulled into his garage by dinnertime, and was in the pool with a beer in hand only moments afterwards. Sunday morning I had breakfast with his local motorcycle group, and then headed through Death Valley on the way to the Bay Area. I had missed our own motorcycle club's yearly trip to Death Valley, so I stopped to grab a replacement photo in front of Furnace Creek:
Once on 395, I headed north to choose a pass over the Sierras. I tend to always take Sonora, so this time I held out a little longer before turning west on Monitor Pass, which then let me go over Ebbetts as well on Highway 4. I took 4 most of the way to the bay area, cutting south only after reaching I-5. It was good to land at home before dark on Sunday, and to put the bike into its own garage for the first time in almost 3 weeks. I know I will be replaying parts of this adventure back in my head for years to come, and that's part of the joy of the IBR.
I'm happy with my experience, though I do have some regrets about routing a little conservatively. I ended up hitting the vast majority of the bonuses I tried for, making me think I could have pushed myself a bit more, to reach for targets that may not have been so easy to achieve. I was so worried about tire issues given my experience in 2013, that I was almost over-prepared this time, getting into checkpoint 1 and checkpoint 2 hours early in order to proactively replace them. I also didn't use the last 5 hours of time at the end of the rally for a few more bonus locations. Those last few hours were critical in our winner's outcome, scoring a few hundred points just before calling it quits, allowing him to outpoint #2 by the smallest of margins.
If I get the chance to do this again, I think I will try and stay closer to my intended plan this time, meaning it is OK to take some more routing risks. Now that I have 2 finishes under my belt, I should feel more comfortable about risking a DNF without the world falling apart if those choices give me a chance to place a bit higher in the standings. Whether this will happen in 2017 or at some point afterwards remains to be seen, but I do hope that this isn't the last chance I get to see so much of this country on a motorcycle.
All three legs plotted on same map:
(It looks like the total GPS mileage differs slightly from my calculated/calibrated mileage in the standings. I believe much of this is due to me keeping the broken GPS powered off for awhile on Day 10 and Day 11.)