Iron Butt Rally - 2015

[Alex]

Day 5:



Start: Albuquerque, NM at 8:09 AM
End: Yates Center, KS at 10:49 PM
Length: 893 miles / 61 mph average

Heading east of the gate this time, my first bonus target for Leg 2 was in the state of Texas: Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument (ALFL)
This was a bit of a hike from ABQ, so I didn't arrive until 2:11 PM local time (12:11 pacific). It was a hot morning all the way out, and I was grateful for the new rear tire on the back, no longer worried at all about wear, especially as I had yet another new rear waiting for me in Kingsport if I needed.



Once in Texas, the next bonus was very close by, and I reached it only 20 minutes later. This was just a quick picture of a sign near the side of the road: (Lake Meredith National Recreation Area, LARO)



It took me a little longer (about 2 hours) to reach my first bonus in Oklahoma, the Washita Battlefield National Historic Site (WABA). Like many of the parks so far, this was also on a fun peaceful road out in the middle of nowhere:



Now I was on my way to Kansas for the first of two big point bonuses. It was quite a long way, but I still expected to reach the first bonus in daylight hours. In fact, I did reach it during daylight, but was sadly disappointed by hitting a locked gate. I hadn't noticed that the Fort Larned National Historic Site (FOLS) was a timed bonus, with the gate closing at 4:30 PM. I had shown up well after that, and it appeared for nought.

But then a pickup truck pulled up next to me at the locked gate:



After a short discussion with the driver, who turned out to work there, he shared that he was going back in to get some work done. I can't go through a locked gate, but if a worker does allow me in without said locked gate, I believed I was within the rules Tom Austin laid out. Bob took me right to the visitor center, and happily pointed out where to take the picture from. The stock picture in our rally book is no longer current, as there is a new wooden bridge for visitors rather than that old path.





Rather than leave it in suspense, I'll share here that my scorer thought the process I took was completely above board, and I did receive credit for this bonus during scoring. After Bob let me back out of the gate, I was having a short break with some food and drink, and another rider showed up outside the gate (David Walls). Bob was no longer around, and the rider was not able to claim the bonus. Two other motorcyclists (not connected to the rally) also showed up to chat, and had some ideas about open roads back into the fort, but none proved to be open for David.

That was my last daylight bonus available, so the plan was to head due east for the large Fort Scott bonus in the morning. I rode until 12:49 AM local time, before crying uncle in a tiny little town (Yates Center) roughly 60 miles from Fort Scott. The motel was particularly scary in appearance, but the room was fine and I only needed it for a few hours. I did use this time period for my rest bonus, grabbing a gas receipt before I checked in, and then again when I woke up on the way out the next morning.

[Alex]

Day 6:



Start: Yates Center, KS at 5:01 AM
End: Huntsville, AL at 9:42 PM
Length: 884 miles / 53 mph average

If you take a look at the track above, you'll see something interesting. i checked out of the hotel, headed due east to Fort Scott, and promptly ran into a bridge out / road closed sign no more than a mile from the motel. Damn. I circled back to try and find a way around, and a local walked me through the best detour. I wasn't close to Fort Scott at this point, still 60 miles away, but the detour would still cost me 20 - 30 extra miles to loop around. Perhaps I wouldn't have done much different, but it might have been good to be aware of the issue the night before rather than it being the first thing that greets me in the morning.

I snapped a picture of the Fort Scott bonus (FOSC) at 8:30 AM local time:



This was going to be a busy day, with 9 bonuses on the schedule including that first one. My next one was in the state of Missouri, the George Washington Carver National Monument (GWCA):



I then set off for Pea Ridge National Military Park in Arkansas (PERI). This was off of a road with quite a bit of construction, so the directions from my GPS were somewhat convoluted.



Next on deck was a trip to Fort Smith, Arkansas, (FOSM) where the entire area is generally a park. We needed a picture of the courthouse.



I then aimed for Little Rock, Arkansas (LIRO), at the Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site. One of the park workers immediately pointed me in the right direction, and showed where I could park close to the memorial.



It was about quarter to 4 local time at this point, but I had 3 large bonuses to get to before daylight expired. These were all 900+ points, and they were within a few miles of eachother in Mississippi. It was a bit of a trek, and it took me almost 4 hours to get to Tupelo, MS (TUPE). Arriving at 7:30 PM local time, I was just in time to grab what I needed:



Just a few minutes away, I scored the Natchez Trace Parkway Visitor Center (NATP):



And I then rushed to the Brices Cross Roads National Battlefield Site in Baldwyn, MS, (BRCR) for my last bonus of the night as darkness fell:



Chris Purney and two other riders were in the area, and we were all happy to grab this last bonus to close out the night. I had put in the Shiloh National Military Park (SHIL) as a potential last bonus if there was time, but I clearly wasn't going to be able to make it. I programmed in my first bonus for the next morning (Russell Cave, RUCA), and went for a ride. Along the way it did start to rain a bit, but it wasn't particularly cold or heavy, so visibility was fine. I found myself riding with Chris for awhile through the hills of Mississippi, and it was an enjoyable trip. At some point though, the rain did start to come down to the point that visibility was poor, and I pulled in at Huntsville, AL at 11:42 PM local time to rest for the night. This was only about 60 miles from Russell Cave, so I knew I could grab it early the next morning.

[Alex]

Day 7:



Start: Huntsville, AL at 5:26 AM
End: Kingsport, TN at 12:17 PM
Length: 386 miles / 56 mph average

The rain had stopped overnight, so it was peaceful pulling out of the Motel 6 lot and heading for Russell Cave in the morning. There were only three bonuses on the plan for today, before heading into the checkpoint for tire service once again. When I arrived at the cave, another rider was already packing up to leave. And while I was taking my picture and then packing up, Tim Masterson also pulled up.



I was then off to Georgia, to find the Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park (CHCH). Tim and I rode together from RUCA, having some fun navigating stopped traffic in Chattanooga.



My last bonus to chase was at Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee, picking up my last new state for the leg. The ride into this park was a blast. The fun twisty bits reminded me a bit of the Santa Cruz mountains here in California.



The ride out of this area heading north wasn't quite as enjoyable. It was light after light after light, in a huge amount of stopped traffic, in the middle of an obvious tourist trap area. It was 20 or 30 minutes of heat and annoyance before reaching a freely moving highway. I wasn't aimed directly at the checkpoint yet, but instead at somebody's house in Kingsport. I had met a gentleman online through the BMW MOA, and had a set of tires sitting in his garage. After reaching his house a little after 3 PM local time that day, he quickly had my bike up on his lift and we went to work on the tires. I was sensing a bit of an unwelcome vibration in the bike, and wasn't completely sure if it was an out of balance tire or something else. We first swapped the front, which now had Leg 1 + Leg 2 miles on it. It had reasonable wear left, but it had begun to flatten out the profile quite a bit. We decided to swap the rear as well, even though the wear was relatively minor. I had 4+ days left to get back across the country in Leg 3, and I also wanted to rule out a bad tire or balance job. Ken very carefully balanced both tires with the Marc Parnes bearings, so I was now confident that whatever the issue turned out to be, it wasn't due to the tires. (I eventually traced it to bad gas, being able to duplicate the issue by putting in bad/cheap gas once again). Here was Ken's work area:



While there, I was able to throw a load of laundry in his washer, and his wife even fed me! Once the bike was buttoned back up, I followed Ken all the way to Checkpoint 2 at the Meadowview. He was eager to see all of the other riders come in as well, and experience an IBR checkpoint. I was at the checkpoint early enough that I chose not to stop the clock right away, instead heading up to clean up and get organized before going to see Ira with my rally ID.

[Alex]

Leg 2: 2163 miles



Here is what my scoring sheet looked like for Leg 2:



I received credit for everything on the sheet, with no penalties. It was a pretty conservative leg, landing me early in Kingsport with plenty of time to spare, so I did expect to fall a bit down the order, and that turned out to be the case. I received 11,629 points, for a 2 leg total of 27,733. The next morning I found out that this put me in 54th place, and I had now been given credit for 34 parks in 19 different states. To be a finisher in the rally, I only had to collect 16 parks in 6 states throughout Leg 3, which seemed very doable.

[Alex]

At 6 AM the next morning, we all gathered once again for breakfast to kick off the third leg. The leaders were announced, and we were given some additional guidance about taking it easy within the National Parks themselves. People were apparently behaving themselves a bit more on the open road in terms of speed, but I guess there were some sightings of park rangers complaining about fast bikes. We received the final points packet for Leg 3, and I headed back up to plan. After similar data entry to the other legs, here's what my options looked like:

Leg 3 Bonus locations



All of the big points in the northeast pulled me in that direction, and I also thought it would be fun to ride around near where I grew up (NJ), so I was excited about this route. I saw that I was going right near Baltimore, so I also wondered if I could stop in and see my sister for a few moments while on the rally. Based on 40 mph over the available rally time, I had about 3800 miles to play with, so the route was becoming more and more complicated. Just about everywhere I stopped was a red bonus, which I believe I had tagged from 750 points on up each. I counted and recounted the planned states, and saw that I would be 2 or 3 over the minimum. I also saw that I should have more than enough parks.

At this point, I then started to work on timings, adding layover time in each bonus, and figuring out where I'd sleep each night. While doing this, I realized that some of the bonuses I'd reach well after dark. In retrospect, I should have just left them on the route and not worried about them. But to have a clean route, what I did instead was delete these non-doable bonuses. This caused an unexpected problem, in that once I hit "Optimize" on the new route without those interim points, BaseCamp rerouted me in a strange way, and my 3800 mile route suddenly became a 4500 mile route! I couldn't get things to reoptimize back, so after much trial and error I had to manually reorder each of the remaining bonuses to what I thought was the most efficient. This had cost me quite a bit of planning time, and I think in the end I had removed a few more bonuses than necessary, in order to stay close to that 3800 mile limit. Prior to removing the interim points, I was still at 3800 miles with a handful more possibilities.

I loaded up the GPS units, packed everything I needed, and when I went out to the bike, I was one of the very last to leave at 9 AM local time.

[Alex]

Day 8:



Start: Kingsport, TN at 6:57 AM
End: Catonsville, MD at 8:30 PM
Length: 746 miles / 55 mph average

Heading out of the Meadowview parking lot, I aimed south for my first bonus at the Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site in North Carolina (CARL). This was a fun trip down to the bonus, but when I arrived the GPS instructions were a little wonky. It was directing me on private driveways, and I needed to loop around a few times to find a suitable place to park. Once parked, i realized that it was going to be a non-trivial hike to get up to the house, but I probably needed the exercise anyway. Once the house was suitably in view, I snapped a picture before heading back to the bike:



I then headed to a 1600 point purple bonus, at Cowpens National Battlefield (COWP). This happens to be in Gaffney, SC, which was interesting to me as Kevin Spacey's character on House of Cards is always talking about growing up in Gaffney.



The next target was still in South Carolina, at Kings Mountain National Military Park (KIMO). I arrived there around 1:15 PM local time, and found another volunteer to snap my picture:



My next one was going to be back in North Carolina as I started to loop around back north, at Guilford Courthouse National Military Park (GUCO). While riding near that bonus, I caught up with Pat Ford and his daughter on their Gold Wing. The looked much more comfortable than I did in the heat, insulating their bodies with a ton of ice! They in fact ended up snapping this picture for me:



And now became what I refer to as a dark time in the rally. My next bonus location was up in Virginia, at the Booker T. Washington National Monument (BOWA). This was a bit of a hike, but I still expected to be there well within daytime. And I was, but sadly this was a park that closed at 5 PM. Locked gate, nobody there, no points. It was a worthless trip. I soldiered on to the next target, also in Virginia, at the Appomattox Court House National Historical Park (APCO). Believe it or not, I hadn't checked this one closely either, and it was also closed/locked after 5 PM, so I had nothing to show for my efforts here either. I was now done for the night, having failed entirely in Virginia. My wife had gotten in touch with my sister to let her know I'd be close, and we arranged for me to stay with her near Baltimore that night rather than a hotel. My ETA at my sister's before going through VA was around 9 PM local. But the detours into VA were not helping the situation. Both of my GPS units were taking me deeper and deeper into the back roads of VA after these bonus locations, and eventually I found myself at a small road with a bridge out. I looped back around, and then found myself starting out on a tiny dirt road. Realizing all I wanted was to get back to a major highway, I didn't think this was moving in the right direction. I found a pedestrian way out in the middle of nowhere, who was shaking her head at me at how far out of the way I was already, and the weird way I was trying to get back to civilization. She pointed me to a few major towns nearby, and I was able to route myself back around eventually toward the Richmond area once again. The traffic on I-95 was not pleasant, and it was a bit of a stressful ride up north to the Baltimore area. I pulled into my sister's neighborhood at 11:30 that night, when by all rights I could have been there by 9 PM having given up nothing from where I was already. It's only 2 or 3 hours of time, but losing that much of it, and taking that much more energy, really saps your spirit this far into the rally.

She and my nephew were intrigued by the adventure, and I walked her through some of the nearby bonuses I was planning for the morning; she was familiar with all of them. I kicked my poor nephew to the couch, and stole his bed for that night, grateful that I had a place to be, even if it didn't have room service.

[Alex]

Day 9:



Start: Catonsville, MD at 3:23 AM
End: Altoona, PA at 7:50 PM
Length: 687 miles / 42 mph average

I'm not sure why I didn't want to go into downtown DC, but I think the traffic just didn't appeal to me. Even so, Day 9 was planned to be my most lucrative of the rally, with 14 bonuses planned, all near the 1000 point range. The first stop was only 20 minutes east of her house, in Towson at the Hampton National Historic Site (HAMP):



There was a park ranger there just starting for the day when I took that picture at 6:47 AM local. He snapped that shot of me, and I also asked him about the next nearby bonus, Fort McHenry (FOMC). He confirmed for me that there was a solid gate there, and it would definitely not be open or available prior to the 9 AM opening. This helped me quite a bit, as I didn't have several hours to sit and wait for that opportunity. I scratched FOMC from my list and then continued north east to New Castle, Delaware for the First State National Monument (FSNM):



My wife lived in New Castle for a short while during a college coop, and I remember visiting there years ago. My next stop was in Pennsylvania, at the Valley Forge National Historical Park in King of Prussia (VAFO).



Next I was off to the Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site in Elverson, PA (HOFU). I managed to find myself yet another bridge out, and again was not able to loop far enough around with enough time to keep me unstressed, so I scratched that one from my list and continued north east into New Jersey for the first time. The next bonus was only a few miles from where I grew up, but to be honest I don't remember ever visiting this particular park, the Morristown National Historical Park in Morristown, NJ. When I pulled into the lot I saw fellow IBR entrant Al Holtzberry (79 years old!!!) join me a few minutes after I parked. Here is a picture of the Ford Mansion:



I continued east for my next NJ bonus, this one in West Orange, NJ at the Thomas Edison National Historical Park (EDIS). The weather was quite hot and muggy, making the slow going in traffic not particularly pleasant.



I had to wait a few minutes for the traffic to clear when turning left there, and I wasn't sure if I had the stamina! My last bonus in NJ was at the Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park (PAGR):



Al had joined me there as well, and we both took eachother's picture. New Jersey was fun, but I had exhausted my bonuses there, and continued to head north east to Connecticut. The only bonus I was chasing in that state was the Weir Farm National Historic Site in Wilton, CT. (WEIR). This took me on a bunch of tiny and twisty little roads, but I eventually landed exactly where I wanted to be, right in front of this house:



At this point I turned back west, and headed to upstate New York. There were 3 large bonuses, very close to eachother, but a few hours from where I was in CT. All 3 were daylight available with no other restrictions, so I didn't expect any issues in collecting all three. On the ride up through NY, I came upon some terribly gnarled traffic, with the highway completed stopped for miles. The bike was quite hot, as was I, so I did my best to slowly split traffic all the way through. Drivers in NY aren't quite as accommodating to this practice as they are here in CA (or anywhere else in the world outside of the US), and some were openly hostile by trying to block my path. Once I reached the front of the pileup, I realized that it was a serious accident, rather than just normal commute traffic. I was probably caught in this for 30 - 45 minutes, but it felt much longer in the heat.

Once through the traffic fun, the first bonus I was aiming for was the Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site in Hyde Park (ELRO). As I was parking the bike, a park ranger drove up in a golf cart, and told me to get in so she could take me right where I needed to grab the picture. Evidently I wasn't the first IBR motorcyclist to land at the park, and she was excited to help. She drove me right to Eleanor's house, and happily took this picture for me:



She also knew where I was headed next, and confirmed it was only a few miles down the road. I soon reached the Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site (ROVA), and took this picture of the sculpture in the courtyard:




The last bonus in the area was the Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site (VAMA), and it was an impressive complex. The picture frankly doesn't share what it feels like to be there in person; it is an incredibly imposing structure.



I still had 2 more targets on my list, but while reviewing them at the Vanderbilt site, I realized they weren't going to be possible. Both were time-limited, and I was already well past the time to grab them. Now it was just a matter of finding a place to sleep near the next morning's target. I was aiming for Gallitzin, PA, and made it as far as Altoona by 10:50 PM local time, before heavy rain and fatigue convinced me to bunk for the night. I found a brand new Days Inn in Altoona, and the room was fantastic.

[Alex]

Day 10:



Start: Altoona, PA at 4:26 AM
End: Poplar Bluff, MO at 10:34 PM
Length: 940 miles / 52 mph average

The prior night I was in a little early, so I used it for some fine-tuning of my route. I realized that by working toward the high point Lincoln bonuses in Indiana to start Day 11, I would be requiring a ride of 1200+ miles in the final 24 hours in order to make the finish. That amount is doable, but can become a challenge in case of weather, bike issues, or any other unexpected delay. I wanted to keep the last day closer to 1000 miles to give myself a little cushion, so I chose a stopping point for Day 10 in Poplar Bluff, MO. If I made it there tonight, the last day would then be more manageable.

I left the hotel a smidge later than planned, at 7:26 AM local. The first bonus at the Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site (ALPO) was only 20 minutes away, but when I arrived the gate was closed. This bonus was listed as a daylight only, so the gate was unexpected. I took a picture of the flag on the gate, and did receive credit for this bonus at scoring.



I had the Johnstown Flood National Memorial (JOFL) on my tracking list, but realized I'd be there way too early, so I skipped it and pointed instead to the Flight 93 memorial in Stoystown, PA (FL93). This bonus was available whether or not the gate was open, and we were able to take a picture of the sign outside:



My next bonus was at Fort Necessity National Battlefield, where we needed to take a picture of the Mt. Washington Tavern. The structure is right up against the highway, so it is hard to get a good picture of the entire building.



Next I was heading to Point Marion, PA, for the Friendship Hill National Historic Site (FRHI). This one pointed out my glaring navigational weaknesses. Both GPS's kept taking me to a tiny gravel road, only a mile or two from the bonus. I kept going past, and then was routed down a different gravel road with a gate. None of them looked right, but I couldn't find a route around on the GPS units. If I had taken the time to look at a PC or a map, it would have become obvious, but after a few minutes I needed to get moving. Here is what the overhead view looks like in hindsight:



I was going back and forth on S Eighty-Eight Road, and it kept wanting to take me down this "Chess Mine Rd" on the wrong side of the river, i'm imagining over some non-navigable railroad crossing or something. I ended up taking a picture of the gate, but was denied the bonus, rightfully so:



I then cut bait and headed for the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Park in Hodgenville, KY (ABLI). Riding through Kentucky was wonderful. I was on peaceful farm roads, which looped this way and that across the countryside. Some elevation changes but nothing dramatic, and the weather was perfect. I really enjoyed this whole period, and even thought I may have recognized a road or two from some of the riding videos I've seen posted from this area of the country. I rolled up to ABLI just a few minutes after 6:45 PM local, and ran into a locked gate:



But in the bonus listing, it was labelled like this:



It sure appeared to me like I should be able to grab that bonus during daylight hours, so I took the pic of the closed gate. I chatted with a Park Ranger who was closing up for the night, who kindly reminded me that trespassing on a federal park after it was closed could be a felony. Probably not worth it for a few bonus points on the rally.



At the scoring table, John Harrison agreed with my interpretation of the rally book, and I received credit for the bonus. My last bonus for Day 10 was at the Mammoth Cave National Park, in Mammoth Cave, Kentucky (MACA). This turned out to be a pretty large piece of land, with quite a significant road system to get into the cave area. Here is the last picture for the night:



After making sure I copied the info down into my scoring sheet, the only thing left to do on Day 10 was put myself within 1000 miles of the finish. It turned out to be one of the hardest nights of the rally. While heading back west, I became aware of a pretty significant storm front heading east, directly in my (and most other riders') path. We were going to intersect sometime this evening, likely all through Missouri, and it wasn't going to be a fun time.

From the time I left Mammoth Cave, I had Poplar Bluff in as my target, and no matter what I didn't want to stop early, as it would just make my life harder the next day. I was speaking with my wife while riding, and she could also see when and where I was about to get hit. I was transiting from I-24 West to I-57 West, on a smaller road called I-60, when all hell broke loose. It was around 10:40 PM local time, dark as could be, when a wind and rain storm that went right to red & orange on the weather map landed on my head. The winds were so strong from the side, along with huge streams of water, that I was truly worried about keeping the bike upright. I had to go fast enough for stability, but couldn't see more than 10 or 15 feet in front of the bike through the driving rain. I came up upon a car moving at 10 mph through the storm with their hazards on, and I had to pass them to maintain enough speed for me to stay comfortable. The road was too narrow to just stop and wait, with a worry of any vehicle coming from behind not able to avoid me before it would be too late. It was truly frightening for 10 to 15 minutes of excitement, before the front passed, and the rain/wind moderated slightly. It was still terrible weather, but visibility improved slightly. I also felt more comfortable once I reached I-57, which was a larger two-lane road, aiding in navigation, visibility, and hopefully safety.

I let Ann know I had made it through no worse for wear, and was still on schedule to hit Poplar Bluff a little after midnight. Once again, we both saw that the weather was once again going to clobber me within 10 or 15 miles of Poplar Bluff, and the forecasts were correct this time as well. Within sight of the city, the driving wind and rain once again threatened the bike's stability pretty significantly. I couldn't see very well, but couldn't stop either. I was navigating as much by the GPS units to stay on the road than by looking through the windscreen itself. Once in town, I was able to find a hotel, and make the front desk staff laugh as a completely soaked motorcyclist dripped all over their front lobby from head to toe. I was now roughly 1000 miles from the finish, and was still on schedule to compete things as planned.

[Alex]

Day 11:



Start: Poplar Bluff, MO at 6:24 AM
End: Albuquerque, NM at 1:59 AM
Length: 1007 miles / 51 mph average

Thursday morning, Day 11, now had a pretty simple goal. Hit a few last bonuses just to make sure I had some wiggle room in case of scoring issues, and make it back to Albuquerque safely. When I installed my GPS units on the bike that morning, I realized that the rain had damaged one of them, breaking the screen input. This one is the device I use for phone communication, so it not only affected navigation, but killed the ability to use a phone while on the bike. I was very fortunate that this had occurred so late in the rally, and I only had one day left to go. The first bonus was only a short trip from the hotel, to the Ozark National Scenic River, in Van Buren, MO (OZAR).



Wilson's Creek National Battlefield in Republic, MO was my next bonus (WICR), and this was reasonably easy to find:



For my last bonus of the 2015 IBR, I aimed toward the George Washington Carver National Monument, in Diamond, MO (GWCA). It was pouring! But during the daytime, the visibility was generally fine, and with the heated gear I wasn't cold or uncomfortable. I had a nice conversation with some park rangers at the info desk inside, explaining about the rally, and them helping route me most efficiently back to a major highway.



And now I just needed to get home. The ride was uneventful for the most part on I-40. All the way through Amarillo the weather was fine, and I was making good time. But heading west from there, a storm was obvious on the horizon. I steeled myself for one last blast of fun, and I was not disappointed. I could see the light show for 30 or 40 minutes ahead of time, so it was only a matter of time. Most of it appeared to be off the centerline of my travel path, so I hoped I wouldn't have a direct hit of the nasty stuff. I pulled off the road to refuel just as it started to rain lightly, and then headed only a short distance back to the highway. At that exact moment, the storm hit so hard that I could no longer see the road. I pulled onto what I thought was the highway entrance, but turned out to be an entrance to the frontage road next to the highway. I realized this a few hundred yards in, but it would not have been possible to make a low-speed u-turn at that point, given the wind/rain/vision. I kept moving slowly but steadily, for the 2.5 miles that my one working GPS was telling me before the next highway entrance. When i reached that distance, I looked to the left and really wasn't sure if it was a road or not, only able to see a few feet in front of the bike again, but turned onto it with a bunch of hope. It did take me up to the main highway again, and with a little more speed and momentum, the storm was somewhat easier to handle. After 15 - 20 minutes of weather fun, I passed through the worst of the event, and I was getting even closer to the end of the adventure.

When I was within an hour of ABQ, my brain started shutting down, knowing it was so close. I was only able to ride 5 or 10 miles at a time, before pulling over to rest for a few minutes. It was tough not being able to talk to anyone while on the bike, but I did call home for a pep talk when I was off the bike at rest stops. At 2:59 AM local time, I pulled into the parking lot of the Sheraton Albuquerque, and I had successfully completed 11 days of fun on the bike.

[Alex]

Leg 3: 3387 miles



Here is what my score sheet looked like for the final leg:



I unpacked the bike and went up to my room early that Friday morning. I set several alarms for 7 AM or so, and fell asleep almost immediately. Surprisingly, I still woke up before my alarms, and then Ann was also calling me to make sure that I didn't sleep through scoring. I pulled together my score sheet and other doodads, and was scored by Bill Watt. There were some computer issues, so it took a little longer than expected, but I was happy with the results. I was credited everything other than the FRHI bonus, and I only had 20 penalty points for recording my rest bonus out of order on the sheet. I scored 28,486 points for the leg, more than I had for the first two legs combined, for a total of 56,219. This included 56 parks in 28 different states, over 8,911 miles of riding. (22 parks and 9 states during the final leg). That score put me in 55th place, exactly 1 place closer to the front than I finished in the 2013 event. I'm moving in the right direction, but perhaps not as quickly as I would hope.

[Alex]

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.)

[csmith12]

Originally Posted by Alex

Wrap-up

All three legs plotted on same map:

[NevadaWolf]

Yay! Cletha (amazing woman and fantastic long distance rider) posted a pic taken on Sunday before the Riders meeting. I have a pic of me and Alex now!!

[tfkrocks]

Looks like Alex couldn't stop staring at your awesome hair

[NevadaWolf]

I asked both Alex and Gregg why they didn't have their hair styled. Both just gave me a look. ROFL

Looked like too much fun, already had a mohawk going, and both Cletha and Eric said sure, so why not?

[Alex]

First draft complete! If the past is any guide, I tend to edit/tweak these over the next week or two as I remember things, but hopefully I captured the gist.

[Alex]

And.... done! Just caught up on 3000+ posts that you all added to the site while I was out running around. Feels good to finally see this again:

[Gregg_VA]

I was happy this time to finally meet @Alex after completely missing him for the entirety of the 2013 IBR. @Alex, I enjoyed your ride report. I wish I could remember that much detail on a day to day basis. I do remember coming very close to hitting a deer in the panhandle in Texas (while going for the Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument for the second time) and the severe rain and lightening in Amarillo that caused me to sit and wait for a while inside a McDonalds for it to pass. There is a lot that I don't remember. Maybe it will come back in time.

[Gregg_VA]

Checking in with Warchild for Tech Inspection

[Gregg_VA]

Tech Inspection done and passed, now enjoying a cigar while waiting for odo checked. The pic was a bit staged since Steve Hobart was holding the shot until I exhaled.

[Gregg_VA]

This pic wasn't staged. I didn't realize Steve took this until someone told me a few days later that they saw it. Enjoying one last cigar with less than 20 minutes before the start of the IBR.

[Gregg_VA]

My wife welcoming me back to ABQ at the finish.

[NevadaWolf]

I love that shot of you and your wife.

[Gregg_VA]

Steve Hobart was ready with his camera. He saw her running over towards me and he snapped a bunch of pics. It was nice.

[Alex]

Originally Posted by Gregg_VA

@Alex, I enjoyed your ride report. I wish I could remember that much detail on a day to day basis.

Couple things help me put it together. I take the full GPX data from the Zumo, and do a whole bunch of copying/pasting/correlating until I have a single file with the full tracking data. I break it by each day, looking at the start/stop times. With that one glommed together GPX file, I use gpicsync to insert the gps coordinates into the picture files I took throughout the event, as the time on the camera is/was set to the same time as my GPS.

So my pictures map to a location, and I can walk through each day to see where I was and where I got to. With that + my bonus listings, it's pretty easy for me to remember back to what was going on, and my memory isn't anything to write home about (ask my wife) .