Iron Butt Rally - 2015

[Alex]

The daily writeups have started, the first one was just posted up:

http://www.ironbuttrally.com/ibr/2015.cfm

[fishdip]

Originally Posted by Alex

The daily writeups have started, the first one was just posted up:

http://www.ironbuttrally.com/ibr/2015.cfm

you better say hi tomorrow.

[Alex]

You're not tricking me into your basement as well!

Was feeling paranoid in this crazy windstorm that is going on outside, and wanted to check the bike. Was considering removing the half cover to make it a little less of a sail. When I got there though, I saw that 50+ other bikes all had very similar covers on them, all sitting in the same windblasts, including those that seemed much more susceptible to being blown over. I also felt that the wind seemed to be coming head-on into my bike due to the direction I parked, which is probably the safest place. If I do find it tipped over tomorrow, I'd imagine that at least I wouldn't be the only one, if that's any consolation. Off to bed...

[algs26]

Godspeed.

[Alex]

Holy sh*tballs it is going to be hot. The registration/tech inspection process opened up at 8 AM this morning. You have 5 or 6 stations to get through, and some of them take quite awhile. The camera cards need to be checked and marked, you need to sign your life away, you need to have a video taken of you signing your life away, and a few more. On the bike side, there is a reasonably detailed tech inspection where they check the paperwork (insurance, reg, license, etc.,), as well as the bike itself (brake pads, aux fuel safety, muffler loudness (if not stock). When all of that is done, the next step is an odometer check run.

For the odo check, they give you a route that you must follow exactly. You pull up to a start line, reset a trip meter, and take off on the proscribed route. It is crucially important to follow every step perfectly, or you need to loop back and start over. I heard stories already of many people who needed to do so by missing one of the u-turns due to a somewhat complicated offramp. I was not one of them, primarily because I had gone back to the room at this point to plug the route into the GPS. I had downloaded the MotoGP Assen race (awesome event!), so watched that quickly before suiting up to go down to the bike. My odo read 20.1 miles at the end of the odo check, which seemed in line with what most other people were seeing. It's good to get this as close as you can, as they use that ratio for all of your other mileage for the rest of the rally, so .2 or .3 miles out of 20 means 150 miles off at 10,000 miles, even before accounting for tire wear and other variables.

After completing that ride, I needed to stand in line for the last station, where all of the paperwork is reconfirmed, they check SPOT functionality, look at the MedJet card, and then they shake your hand as a registered rider. I then suited up again, and went back to the bike for a short trip for fuel. I had the aux tank empty for the tech inspection, but wanted to have everything full before tonight (and going through another windstorm, I'm sure).

Walking all the gear back from the bike afterwards to the hotel, and I was already drenched. Back in the room now, pounding some gatorade and enjoying the AC at max blast. The rally poster has been shown now, and it is also the same picture that is on the back of the shirts:



We have received no details about the rally itself yet, but it sure looks like there will be a national parks theme. (National Parks in a heat wave over the July 4th weekend, sounds fabulous! ) I have never been to the vast majority of them, so I am somewhat intrigued about potentially seeing Mt. Rushmore, Yellowstone, and the rest on that list.

[NevadaWolf]

That is a cool image! I really do like the artwork they have.

Grats on officially being a registered rider!

[Alex]

Originally Posted by fishdip

you better say hi tomorrow.

Have been looking for you and the Wolf all night, now back in the room. Did you two ever make it to ABQ?

EDIT: Oh, no. Looking at Wolf's spot track now, and I see where she is. A huge wave of thunderstorms just went through over us in albuquerque, and appears to be heading exactly where she is going to be riding through. Nighttime thunderstorms with 50+ mph winds and hail on a 250 with stock lighting sounds like quite an adventure. Hopefully she can find a place for some shelter if she chooses to wait it out for awhile. (Will take an hour or two to pass over her before clearing up on the back side).

http://www.weather.com/weather/map/i...MapLayer=radar

Capture.PNG

[Alex]

@wardie -

Bob Hall sat next to me at the IBR Saturday night dinner this evening, I said hi for you.

Originally Posted by wardie

Alex my friend Bob Hall won it several years ago and you'll have your work cut out just doing successive 1,000 mile bacak to back to back days.

I'd look for the hardest compund rear tire I could find something like the Metzler Me 880.

Stay hydrated and have a crew waiting to change your tires.

Good luck livin' the dream...we all envy you best of luck Wardie!

[wardie]

Holy God Almighty Bob Hall now theres one long distance riding dude and winner of the 2008 IBR I think that was the year.

I'm glad you told Bob I said hello haven't seen him in years. Good luck to both of you!

[Alex]

Hi Wardie -

Bob won the 2001 event, competed in the 2003, and has volunteered a couple times since then. Was good to chat with him. When I was in a local shop to get tires put on this Thursday, the owner there asked if I knew Bob, as he's a pretty well-known regular there (and known for his long-distance riding).

[Alex]

Was great fun meeting up with @NevadaWolf and @fishdip, who rode up together late this evening. She was fortunate to miss most of the worst of the storm, but still got rained on and hailed on during the ride in. Here's a pic of many of the bikes parked in the back lot:

2015-06-27 23.47.03.jpg

[NevadaWolf]

Uh oh, @fishdip found @Alex's bike....

[fishdip]

"IT" puts the lotion on the bike.

[wardie]

Originally Posted by Alex

Hi Wardie -

Bob won the 2001 event, competed in the 2003, and has volunteered a couple times since then. Was good to chat with him. When I was in a local shop to get tires put on this Thursday, the owner there asked if I knew Bob, as he's a pretty well-known regular there (and known for his long-distance riding).

Well if you're gonna say Hi to Bob you might as well tell Kneebone the same

Best of luck in the rally Alex!

[NevadaWolf]

The Rally packs have been issued and the riders are now dark from the online world.

The theme this year is National Parks, as guessed based on the artwork. Really curious to see how the bonuses are spread across the continent.

The Day -1 report is out and shows the starting order of the riders. As a C, looks like Alex will be towards the end, with Gregg towards the middle, and Kurt being the first one after the first out of the gate are released.

Really really super excited and will now be eagerly awaiting the daily reports to show the highs and lows of all 92 entrants (87 riders, 5 passengers).

[Alex]

Done planning for the night, and about to sign off for 11 days or so, if all goes as hoped. This is a very complicated routing problem, and I'm curious to see how it will all work out. I haven't read today's report yet, but that rider order was just how we were announced at the dinner. The only order tomorrow is the FROTG folks are in front, but everyone else just shuffles out depending on wherever they were parked. Need to sort that out early tomorrow, and make sure bikes are pointed in the right direction.

[NevadaWolf]

Oops, my bad.

[NevadaWolf]

And they are off! 10 am saw an exciting start as Warchild began motioning people out and onto the road. Police escort and all!

Both Kurt and Gregg are in this shot, Kurt in the center row and Gregg third from me getting ready to mount the bike.



Alex focused intently on Warchild just a second before the motion to go is given.



And I had to get a single shot of the one and only ninjette.

[fishdip]

Originally Posted by Alex

Done planning for the night, and about to sign off for 11 days or so, if all goes as hoped. This is a very complicated routing problem, and I'm curious to see how it will all work out. I haven't read today's report yet, but that rider order was just how we were announced at the dinner. The only order tomorrow is the FROTG folks are in front, but everyone else just shuffles out depending on wherever they were parked. Need to sort that out early tomorrow, and make sure bikes are pointed in the right direction.

Good news I am free

[fishdip]

Originally Posted by NevadaWolf

And they are off! 10 am saw an exciting start as Warchild began motioning people out and onto the road. Police escort and all!

Both Kurt and Gregg are in this shot, Kurt in the center row and Gregg third from me getting ready to mount the bike.



Alex focused intently on Warchild just a second before the motion to go is given.



And I had to get a single shot of the one and only ninjette.

[NevadaWolf]

Day 5 report has the standings after leg 1: http://www.ironbuttrally.com/IBR/2015/Day5.pdf

Gregg is in 35th
Alex is in 46th
Kurt is in 66th

[Alex]

All going well here. About to head to sleep after an easy day coming into checkpoint 2 here in Kingsport, TN. Have another set of fresh tires on the bike, and looking forward to a fun rest of the rally in leg 3. For 250 content, wanted to post this pic of the only 250 in the event, taken today near the group photo bonus...

kurt ninjette.jpg

[NevadaWolf]

Glad you made it to checkpoint 2. Really looking forward to tomorrow's details of the standings.

The daily report talks about your call in with vibration issues. Was it bad gas or something else?

(Totally not expecting an answer till after the rally.)

[AwDang]

this is really cool alex!

[NevadaWolf]

New report after the second ceckpoint and the updated stats...

Gregg is in 32nd, with 40 parks and 17 states visited.
Alex is in 54th, with 34 parks and 19 states.
Kurt is in 59th, with 42 parks and 17 states.

One last leg! Go guys go!!!

http://www.ironbuttrally.com/IBR/2015/Day8.pdf

[NevadaWolf]

...scrolling through the Facebook pictures looking for Alex. I know he's in ABQ, so he's either getting scored or sleeping.

Congratulations Alex!!

[LittleRedNinjette]

What an adventure!

[NevadaWolf]

I'm bummed I didn't get any pics of Alex or Gregg while they were hanging out before hand, only while on their bikes.

[Alex]

That was fun! Yesterday I had hoped to get back to ABQ by midnight or so, but the weather was not cooperative. Several storm areas on I-44 and then I-40 made for some fun times. Dumping buckets, with very strong crosswinds makes for an elevated heartrate. West of Amarillo, it was particularly terrible. I had gotten off the highway to refuel, but while getting back on the storm hit full force. I entered onto a frontage road rather than the highway itself as I couldn't see more than 15 feet in front of the bike, and was navigating primarily by GPS. I was on that road for 2 or 3 miles, trying to keep it out of the ditch while the wind and rain kept trying to knock me over (while I still couldn't see). Fun times. I made it to what looks like an entrance, and was able to get back on the highway. In those conditions, 40+ mph is easier than 20 mph, as the visibility actually gets a little better with the wind and rain clearing the shield quicker. I did run through the same lightning storms there that Greg mentioned, but didn't see any strikes that close to the road, so I kept moving.

While coming into town, I was completely drained, and pulled off a number of times at exits and rest stops to reset for another few miles. Looking the SPOT data, it appears I got in a little bit after 2 AM mountain time to the hotel. I was able to get some sleep, and got back up at 7 to check in and register for scoring (deadline to check in was 8 AM, but nobody is there to check you in at 2 AM). Scoring went well from my perspective, and only one of my bonuses was denied. 3 or 4 of them on this leg were questionable for one reason or another (time was off, gate was closed when should be open, not sure if I was in the right place, etc.), so getting credit for all but one is fine by me. Looking at the location of the bonus I missed on google maps now, I see that I was in the wrong place. The particular bonus was:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friend..._Historic_Site

Here's the map overview: https://www.google.com/maps/@39.7733129,-79.929436,15z

I was on South Eighty Eight road, and both of my GPS's kept telling me to go down these gravel roads with gates on the other side of the river, Chess Mine Road. I went back and forth to try and circle around, but going north and south on that road still didn't route me around other than those roads. I took a picture of the gate, but was appropriately denied. Looking at the overhead view, I can clearly see routes around now, but wasn't able to while on the bike.

Drinks and dinner starts in an hour or so, and looking forward to hearing more stories from other folks. It sounds like all folks are safe at the moment, but there was some heartbreak with bike issues causing some people to drop out late in the game.

[NevadaWolf]

http://www.ironbuttrally.com/IBR/201...ndings.pdf.pdf

Final report is in!
Gregg came in 32nd
Kurt in 37th
Alex in 55th

Congratulations to all Riders on an epic Rally and a great ride. It's great to see all the pictures on FB as everyone rolled in. Amazing and epic 11 days!

[Annie]

Alex is home!!!!

[LittleRedNinjette]

Bet you're relieved.

[Alex]

OK - I've been able to upload all of the data and pics from the trip, and I want to take some time to craft a writeup of the 2015 IBR experience. I really enjoyed the trip, and am glad I had a chance to take part. The bonuses were fantastic, the roads were incredible, and the people are always fun. Some of the scary parts seem like worthwhile challenges now that I'm on the other side of them (unexpected miles of gravel, torrential wind and rain, etc.).

Iron Butt Rally Event Main Page
Iron Butt History

2015 Iron Butt Rally Daily Reports, Bonus Listings, and other miscellaneous docs
Downloadable Bonus Book
IBR 2015 waypoints.zip

Leg 1 Animation
Leg 2 Animation
Leg 3 Animation

Video of the start (I'm at 1:41)

Pre-rally

Prep this time went much more smoothly than two years ago for the 2013 event. For one thing, I didn't total my rally bike within a few months of the start. In fact, the bike was in the exact same condition as when it successfully completed the last event, so there wasn't much to do. I added some highway pegs and ordered some new boots and other gear, but it was particularly low stress this time. I packed up the weekend prior to heading out, and left for Albuquerque on Tuesday, June 23rd.

The plan was to make the 1000 mile trip in two days, so I aimed to make it to Kingman by evening. The ride down was quite hot, and I was getting myself prepared for having to deal with the same for the next week or two. A short thunderstorm reminded me of the fun weather that I might be dealing with as well. This one was only for a short while, and was in the middle of the day so visibility was not an issue. By Wednesday evening, I happily pulled into the Sheraton lot in Albuquerque, and saw a handful of other bikes already there as well.

After unpacking the bike, I grabbed something to eat with some other riders downstairs, all of us planning excitedly for the upcoming event. Both of them were doing this particular event for the first time, though they were both experienced long-distance riders.

On Thursday, I rode the bike a few blocks away to a local shop to have new tires mounted. While there, another traveler was having the same done to their LD bike, though they were just passing through and not entered in the IBR. Just like in every other bike shop, it was fun to window shop and talk bikes/rides with the locals. They had a used Ninja 300 on the floor with only 200 miles on it! Once I had the tires installed, I realized that I had given myself more than enough slack time. I planned based on the experience in 2013, having to get to Pittsburgh for the start. Now I realized that I could probably have left on Wednesday, or even Thursday, and still gotten what I needed accomplished prior to the rally registration.

Tech inspection and all of the rally checkin procedures started in earnest Saturday morning. Riders shuffle between stations to get their cameras checked, paperwork reviewed/signed, video taken, and finally the odometer check. The odo check has the rider go for a roughly 20 mile loop around the area (but we don't know the exact distance ahead of time), so the organizers can calibrate the miles that show up on the bike to actual distance traveled. I was done shortly after noon, and was now officially entered in the event.

Tom Austin convened the first rider meeting on Sunday afternoon. This session is used to go over the rules, and answer any rider questions. Prior to the meeting, there were rumors online and between the riders that the organizers were going to limit computer use in some way. A message went out that we all had to bring our computers to the rider meeting, and it was insinuated that they might be collecting them right at the meeting. Some riders were excited about the challenge, but I was dreading it if it were to come to pass. When we did get to the meeting, riders were not allowed into the room without showing that they had brought their devices.

But - the fear was unfounded. In retrospect, the number of bonuses and the required amount of planning pretty much mandated some level of computing power. I wonder if the intent of this was to identify if any of the rookies had shown up without a PC, so the organizers could figure out what help might be needed. At the end of the rider meeting, we all received a USB stick with the digital coordinates of every bonus location. I went up to the room to confirm I could load the data, and then came back downstairs for the evening banquet.

The Sunday banquet is always a fun event. The room is packed with riders + friends and family, and this is one of the last times for the next 11 days where we are not yet on the clock. After introductions to the event and a few other speakers, Tom Austin started to lay out the challenge in front of us. The 2015 Iron Butt Rally was going to be a National Parks tour on steroids. Instead of collecting park stamps, we would be collecting photos of the Parks, along with our rally flag. Finisher status for this rally was curiously not tied to any points minimum, but instead was tied to a minimum number of parks (50) in a minimum number of different states (25). If a rider completed that successfully, they would be a finisher in the 2015 IBR.



There were some nuances. In each leg, there was one group photo bonus, where the riders needed to be there at a specific time for the photo; the park was not available at any other time during the rally. Almost all of the parks were limited to daytime only access; very few (only 1 if I remember correctly) was available 24 hours. In addition, many of the parks had even more limited time restrictions, with the gate only open a certain number of hours per day. The rules were laid out that the parks without gates were available any time (during daylight), but we couldn't ride through or around any locked gates even if it was still daylight. In other words, no trespassing. This greatly complicated routing, as it means we need to time the arrivals at each planned bonus to make sure it would actually be available once we get there. After a handful of clarifying questions (can we go to the same park in multiple legs?), we were set free to run upstairs and start route planning. In addition to the rally bonus book (downloadable above), we were given a 12 page packet for Leg 1, which assigned bonus points for each of the 300+ available parks. These bonus points would change each leg. For this first leg, most bonuses east of the Mississippi were set at only 1 point, encouraging most to stay west and north in planning for the first leg. The first checkpoint was going to be back here in Albuquerque at 8 PM Thursday evening.

Route planning was surprisingly straightforward for me that night. The first step was a whole bunch of data entry, assigning the point values to each of the waypoints, and plotting them on a map to see patterns. Here is my general process:

1. Create new EZ-Bake spreadsheet for leg. Enable macros.
2. Paste txt file info from waypoints into ezbake spreadsheet.
3. Enter points into EZ-Bake. Enter time restrictions. Adjust point ranges.
4. Press trim spaces from name.
5. Generate Garmin CSV file.
6. Run G7ToWin to convert Garmin CSV file to .gpx file.
7. Load gpx file into BaseCamp.
8. Within BaseCamp, create new route with start and finish checkpoints, and start including high point value bonii that look attractive.
9. Once the high point ones are in, start adding additional bonii that look close to optimal route.
10. Continue to adjust route by adding bonii, until the total miles hit a perceived limit. This limit will depend on rider, mine is pegged at roughly 1000 miles per day.
11. Add in layover time at each bonus (I use 10 minutes, some might use more or less)
12. Identify where I plan to stop each night, and reset start times for the next morning within the route
13. Recalculate route to make sure it all still seems doable and is calculating correctly.
14. Export to both GPS's. (waypoints and route). (route might fail if too long, but waypoints are most important)
15. Write out bonus order in notepad / 3.5 cards.

With the daylight restrictions, it is very important to understand where you are going to be when; it's not only the amount of the miles, it's if the miles will be happening when you need them to be. Once daylight runs out, the next few hours can be used to place the bike very near the first daylight bonus planned for the next morning.

[Alex]

Leg 1 Bonus Locations

This is what I was looking at on screen after all of that data entry. The spreadsheet allows you to classify the different bonuses by point value. The green are the lowest point value, and it progresses up through blue, red, and finally purple. My goal was to fit in enough red, and maybe a purple or two to maximize points. I also wanted to give myself some breathing room later in the rally, so I really tried to hit as many states as I could within this first leg. After including the purple ones up in Montana and Wyoming, and starting with the photo bonus west of the start, a clockwise loop started to come together for me.



I transcribed the bonuses I had added online over to some index cards, and I was ready for some sleep.

[Alex]

Day 1:



Start: Albuquerque, NM at 9:02 AM (all times Pacific throughout this write-up)
End: Fillmore, UT at 12:57 AM
Length: 893 miles / 56 mph average

Rolling out of the parking lot in quick succession with the 86 other competitors was great fun:

Link to original page on YouTube.

We had a police escort to get us out of town to I-40, and nearly every rider was heading west at that point. The first bonus that most were chasing was only a few miles away, at the Petroglyph National Monument (PETR): (most bonus pictures throughout this ride report will be clickable to a google maps link of the bonus location)



After getting the first one under my belt, the jitters started to wear off a bit and the riding itself became more fun. Next on the list was the El Malpais National Monument in Grants, NM (ELMA).



It was a fun time on a somewhat mountainous and twisty road to get to the next potential bonus on my list. I was monitoring the time to be able to make the group picture bonus, and it looked like I was well ahead of schedule, so I headed toward the El Morro National Monument (ELMO):



I showed up at the group photo location very early, with an hour to kill. A time zone change had granted us all some extra time, which didn't feel particularly helpful. It never feels good to be sitting around waiting when the wheels should be turning, but there wasn't anything close enough to go out and back in the time we had, once we were already there. Dennis took the group picture at exactly 2:45 PM, and we were then on our way again:



I now had two bonuses left before daylight ran out; one still in Arizona, and the last one just inside Nevada. Here was the Walnut Canyon location (WACA):



Heading over to Lake Mead in Nevada was now a several hundred mile trip, but it looked like I'd reach it well within daylight hours. The ride back across I-40 was uneventful, but it did get progressively warmer as I got closer and closer to Vegas. While climbing the hill on I-93 on the way to the Hoover dam area, my dash showed 110 degrees ambient! I was going through quite a bit of water, and I was looking forward to some night time riding soon. Here is the visitor center for the Lake Mead National Recreation Area (LAME):



With daylight fading, it was now time to place the bike near the morning's first bonus, the Timpanogos Cave National Monument (TICA) in Utah. I planned to get as close to Provo as I could before tapping out for the night. Riding through Vegas was quite a chore. It stayed very hot well after dark, and I felt overheated. I pulled into a rest stop, and found another rider there already. I refilled my ice container, and also drank a bottle or two of electrolytes. There was some time to call home and let folks know how the day was going. Another rider pulled in to the same rest area, and we compared some notes. He had just experienced a small tip-over, but his GS was essentially unharmed. After this short break, we all headed north together toward Utah.

While riding through the night, there was a bit of a lightning show over the mountains to the east. It was visible for quite awhile before we approached the storm cell itself. As I hit the rain for the first time, I stopped for some fuel and to check the moving weather map. The other two riders continued on ahead, so I was on my own again. Fortunately, the cell was pretty small, and it looked like I'd be through it very quickly. This turned out to be the case, so I was able to continue on until I couldn't keep my eyes open as I reached Fillmore, which then became my stop for the night. I grabbed a fuel receipt, to start my rest bonus time period for the leg, and checked into a Comfort Inn. I was a little farther from TICA than I had hoped, but overall I had successfully hit each bonus I planned for the day, so I was feeling pretty good about my progress so far.

[Alex]

Day 2:



Start: Fillmore, UT at 6:49 AM
End: Livingston, MT at 1:23 AM
Length: 890 miles / 48 mph average

I woke up after a reasonable amount of sleep, and was on the road a little before 8 AM Mountain time. I had hoped to be moving about an hour earlier, but I probably needed the rest anyway. Weather was bright, and it took me about 90 minutes to get to my first bonus of the day, Timpanagos Cave. This was located off some pretty suburban roads, and the road within the park itself was nice and twisty.



After taking the picture, I headed back out the same road, and continued Northwest for my next target. As I was going through Salt Lake City, I hit a significant amount of unexpected traffic. Lanes were a little tight to split, and cars were a bit chaotic. It turned out to be abnormal traffic, as there was an accident that had clogged up the road somewhat past the normal commute time. It was well over 90 degrees, so sitting and baking in traffic while moving a few feet at a time was not welcome. Once past the obstruction, traffic cleared up quickly, and I was able to cool down. But then I started noticing road closure signs for I-15 11 miles ahead. Nobody seemed to be getting off or doing anything different, so I kept moving to see if the warnings were accurate or just preliminary cautions. I realized it was the former when the traffic came to an abrupt halt, and the line of cars looked to be stationary for miles in front of me. Fortunately this happened right at an exit, so I was able to maneuver my way off I-15, and pulled into a McDonalds to plot my next move. Online traffic showed the backup to be 5 miles or so, blocked solid red. I saw a route around, and confirmed the local road with someone in the restaurant. This took me parallel to I-15 for 5+ miles, but at the end of that detour, I saw that all of the I-15 traffic was being shuffled onto this local road anyway. By that point the choke point on the highway was such that the cars getting off to the local road were manageable, so the detour probably did save me an hour or more. I still felt behind the curve from starting late, so I decided to drop the Golden Spike bonus, and headed toward the City of Rocks. I had it in my head that the Golden Spike was going to be taking me well out of my way, but looking at it afterwards, it probably didn't save me much time.

Circle of Rocks was going to be my first bonus in Idaho, so I was excited about collecting another new state. Both of my GPS units routed me on a side farm road, off the interstate, with a sign that said something like "Next services 80 miles". It's nice to have over 400 miles of fuel range when those pop up, meaning I don't have to start those challenges with a full tank to not be worried about running out. But after riding 50+ miles in the same direction on this tiny road, the directions then had me turning left on a gravel road, for 20+ miles to reach the next bonus. Crap. I'm a novice dirt rider at best, and the RT with street tires just isn't the best tool for such a trip. A woman was just exiting the road in a pickup truck, so I spoke to her a bit to find out more about the road (how deep gravel, how remote, any washouts, etc.). She shared that it was pretty much the same as I could see all the way in, and didn't get much worse. I pulled up my big-boy pants, turned onto the road, and gassed it. For much of the road, it was pretty tame, and the bike wasn't that hard to handle. But after a few turnoffs, there were some deeper gravel areas that had me wobbling around a bit. At one point, a wasp flew inside my helmet, freaking me out and causing me to put the bike into a front end wobble. I steadied the bars, which kept me from digging in and tipping over, and managed to shoo the pest away without it stinging me first. I was seeing the miles counting down to the end of the road, and was hopeful I'd make it without further incident. When I did reach paved road again at the end, it felt like quite an accomplishment. The bonus (CIRO) was then just a few miles down that paved road, and afforded me a short food/water/restroom break.



Now back on pavement, I pointed the bike to the next bonus in Idaha, the Minidoka National Historic Site (MINI). I remember it being a fun ride, with nothing to worry about from traffic, weather, or really anything else. This was a somewhat small location on the banks of a river:



Next on my list was another Idaho location, Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve (CRMO). This was a nice twisty route up a mountain, and the landscape was quite interesting. It looked like, well, craters of the moon.



On the way out, I didn't have to backtrack, and could continue moving in the same direction. Unfortunately, this meant that it was another 15 miles of a gravel covered road. This one was much less taxing though, as it appeared to be almost a paved road with gravel strewn on top, rather than gravel being the base itself. It wasn't a challenging ride, but was just somewhat slower going than it would have been otherwise. The skies were starting to look a bit ominous in the distance, but for the most part I was skirting the edge of a storm the rest of that afternoon, without needing to get directly under it.

It was now going to be a long slog (hopefully a fun slog) all the way up to Yellowstone, WY (YELL) for the 24-hour available bonus at the Old Faithful geyser. It was worth a good number of points, but required a picture of not only the location, but taken while the geyser was erupting. This would involve a bit of luck in timing. The ride out was quite fun, the roads are peaceful, the traffic light, and the scenery memorable. It does get a little tourist-trappy when getting closer to the park, but it doesn't take too much away from the experience. Once in the park, it's still another 40+ minute ride to get to the geyser itself. I found the parking lot, hopped off the bike to quickly get in position, and found out that it had literally just finished erupting. Which meant a 90+ minute wait. Ugh! It was enough points that it was worth waiting, but it felt like torture to sit around with not much to do other than wait. Here is what the location looked like in daylight, sometime after 8 that night:



Here is a picture of the geyser itself, with a volunteer holding my flag, when it erupted at 9:55 PM (local) that night:



And now for the fun part. I was done bonus hunting for the night, and the goal was to find somewhere to sleep near Billings, MT. This would put me a in a good spot to pick up the Little Big Horn high value bonus the next morning. I had entered Yellowstone on the west side, and traveled to the geyser, generally on the southwest area of the park. The route took me all the way through the park to the east side. Dark, twisty, animal-filled, and slow; but I made it to the eastern edge of the park. At that point, I only then saw the road construction warning, with pavement out for 7 miles, muddy road ahead. Crap! I could not psych myself up for potentially dropping this bike in the middle of the night in the mud, so I decided to backtrack all the way through the park, out the only entrance I could be sure of. Which cost me another hour, and placing me back in the same spot I had come in several hours earlier. I was not in the best frame of mind, seeing my ETA in Billings creep way past midnight. Once out of the park, I aimed at the first northern-pointing highway (as my GPS units were still telling me to go back east through the park), and was then gifted a few miles in with more road construction / chip seal, and a portion which required waiting for a pilot car. No more than 5 minutes after the pilot car set me free, I dodged several deer scampering off the side of the road. It was clear that I was being tested this night, but was able to navigate each of the challenges so far. I finally made it up to the main highway running over Yellowstone (I-90), and started heading east. I was pretty sure I wouldn't be able to make it all the way to Billings, and eventually had to pull in for the night in Livingston, MT, about 120 miles from my target. It was already 2:23 AM local time, and I was out of energy at that point. A comfort inn was happy to charge me $180+ for the 4 hours I planned to use their room that night, but was happy to pay it for a warm shower and a clean bed.

[Alex]

Day 3:



Start: Livingston, MT at 7:03 AM
End: Centennial, CO at 11:13 PM
Length: 940 miles / 58 mph average

When I woke up on Day 3, it was now time to start collecting some large point value bonuses. My first two of the day would be my first two purple bonuses, the first over 3000 points, and the second over 2000 points. I had hoped to be at Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument (LIBI) at daybreak, but since I had called it quits the night before 120 miles out, and I overslept a bit that morning, I didn't get to the bonus until 10:20 AM local time. The guard at the entrance did confirm that a handful of folks were waiting for him to open that morning.



After a quick picture of the monument, I pointed the bike to Devils Tower, Wyoming (DETO). It didn't occur to me until I was speaking about it just this morning, but there was a reason that Devils Tower was in my consciousness; it was the memorable location where Close Encounters of the Third Kind was set:



When I arrived at the turnoff for the park, 50 miles away if I remember correctly, there was a flashing road sign warning of road construction and gravel. I doubled back to a general store at the turnoff as I saw some other bikes parked there, and had a conversation about the road conditions with the riders. They weren't in the rally, but they had just come down from the park, and shared that the road was completely fine; there was just some gravel scattered on the road from some shoulder construction, but nothing to worry about. They did warn that it was quite windy, but I was fine with that. Happy for the road report info, I again aimed the bike to the park. I caught up to Steve McCaa as we rode west to the park, and we rode together right up until Devils Tower. There was some road construction where we had to wait for a short while, but nothing too onerous. As we approached the park, I tried to get Steve's attention to see if we needed to go all the way in, but we both then decided to ride all the way up to the GPS waypoint as given. It was only after we rode that 10 - 15 min up the mountain and parked, that we realized we could have taken the required picture from all the way back down on the main highway. This cost us a bit of time, but seeing how it was a 2000+ point bonus anyway, I didn't feel too bad about the lost time. This was a bit of a rarity, as almost all of the other waypoint locations were placed exactly where you wanted to put your bike for the required picture, so I didn't get caught out like this too often during the rally.



I was now off to South Dakota, looking for the Jewel Cave National Monument (JECA). Another fun twisty road to reach the park, and I was able to have a volunteer take my picture:



I almost didn't receive credit for this bonus, as the number on my flag was partially obscured. After a little back and forth, my scorer ultimately allowed it at the end of this leg. On the way out of the park, a father with some kids in his car came over to ask about the bike, the rally, and the adventure I was on. Evidently an R1200RT is his dream bike, which is sometimes good to hear after all of the FJR fawning in this event.

Next I headed for the Wind Cave National Park (WICA), also still in South Dakota. I was trying to hit 2 parks per state if I could, knowing that ratio was useful, and also inoculating me from losing an entire state if one bonus was to be denied for some reason. I ran into Mark Starrett (not for the first time) at this bonus as well:



My next targets were in Nebraska, heading for the Agate Fossil Beds National Monument (AGFO). The road out to this location was memorable. Tiny little two-lane road in the middle of nowhere, looping up and around wherever the topography went. I remember it being 20 or 30 miles of fun well after the interstate, and it ended in a completely empty location with a simple picture:



My last bonus before daylight would run out, was Scotts Bluff National Monument (SCBL). This was also still in Nebraska, but it still took me about 3 hours to get to the bonus. When I pulled into the lot, I saw several more bikes including Rod Schween and Andy Mackey if I am remembering correctly. Andy took my picture:



I was now done bonus hunting for the night, and planned to rest somewhere near Denver for the night. I rode for a short while with Andy, but we separated at some point when he likely found a better way to get where he was going. I headed for the interstate, and eventually into a moderate amount of rain during the night. I stopped for dinner and fuel at a rest area, and another rider also joined me a short while afterwards (Eric Edelman, I believe). I had plenty of time, and still hoped to be asleep in Denver before midnight. After getting back on the road after the rain had slowed slightly, I had a rude surprise once in Denver. Road construction had shut down traffic almost entirely for an extended period. I was in stop and go traffic, trapped in one lane between "jersey barriers", for several miles through the downtown area. I was glad I had taken a rest/dinner break, as without that extra energy I might have had real problems this late at night. I kept calling hotels near the highway to see when I could get off, but none had vacancies, even after calling 6 or 7. I had to keep moving southbound, and exited Denver to some of the cities below. When I was finally too tired to go another mile, I pulled off in an area where I had seen some hotel signs from the road, and the first one I rode up to had 1 room left. I was happy to park the bike, bring in my gear, and take a hot shower. This was at 12:13 AM local, in Centennial, CO. The hotel was very good quality, and not terribly expensive (unlike up in MT the night before). I went to sleep happy with my progress that day, even though I had expected the night portion to be a little less stressful than it had turned out to be.

[Alex]

Day 4:



Start: Centennial, CO at 6:18 AM
End: Albuquerque, NM at 2:55 PM
Length: 515 miles / 60 mph average

For this last day of this leg, I only had two bonuses in my plan, with an optional third if I had time. I wanted to pull into Albuquerque no later than 5 PM, in order to get to the tire shop well before the checkpoint deadline. My first bonus target was the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument (FLFO), my first location in Colorado. Now in the daytime, I enjoyed riding through Colorado immensely. I remembered much of it from the Pikes Peak bonus in the 2013 rally, and I enjoyed it then as well. Fun twisty roads, limited traffic, wonderful scenery.



My next bonus was the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve (GRSA). This was an interesting location that I hadn't heard of before. It really was out in the middle of nowhere, with a 50+ mile road that went nowhere other than to this particular park. I was actually having some fuel stress, as I hadn't filled the bike up in quite awhile, and it looked like I was going to be down to my last 20 or 30 miles of range before hitting a gas station that should be near the park itself. I did come across one a few miles earlier than I expected, which wasn't showing up in my GPS prior.



As I now continued south back to the checkpoint, I saw that I did have plenty of time on the clock to chase another bonus or two, even while trying to get in early for tire service. I aimed toward the Bandelier National Monument (BAND), only 300 points or so, but not too far out of the way. As I approached it, there were road signs explaining that you couldn't access the park by vehicle, and needed to take a bus shuttle. In a minor brain fart, I ended up just giving up and not taking a picture of these signs. Others did get credit for the bonus by documenting it that way, and I certainly should have as well.

I made my way back to Albuquerque proper, and pulled into the lot of my tire shop at 3:55 PM local time. The folks in the shop had the rear mounted and balanced quickly just as promised, and I headed back to the checkpoint with a fresh rear tire. I decided to keep the original front tire on, as it had shown almost no wear over these first 3200 miles or so.

[Alex]

Leg 1: 3239 miles



I was happy with how the first leg went. I hit almost all bonuses that were in my plan, I stayed close to schedule, and ultimately I didn't lose credit for any bonus that I had even attempted to document. Here is my scoring sheet for this portion of the rally:



The next morning at breakfast, I learned I was roughly mid-pack, in 46th place, with credit for 19 parks and 10 states during the leg. The number of parks was somewhat lower than some (one rider bagged 31!), but 10 states was probably one or two higher than the average, making me feel reasonably comfortable about the next two legs.

[Alex]

Leg 2

That Thursday night, I was in early enough to get cleaned up, be scored reasonably quickly, and ready to sleep by early evening. I had enough extra time that I decided to have the hotel shuttle drop me off at a local laundromat, and I decompressed for an hour while cleaning up all of my wearables from the first leg. While there, I ran into Ann Melchild, who was likely doing the same for some other riders in the rally. I was back in my hotel room before it was too late, packed/prepped for the morning, and went to sleep.

The next morning I was at the riders meeting right at 6 AM when it started, and Mike Kneebone shared some thoughts on the first leg. A few riders were chastized for pegging the speed meter a bit north of recommended, and some were shamed by sharing how low they were in the positions, and still were speeding excessively. This was determined by Bob Higdon's careful analysis of the satellite tracking data that each bike was required to be using. Mike's intent is that someone can perform very well in this rally without having to run around with their hair on fire, by routing smarter and just keeping the wheels turning.

At the end of breakfast, riders were handed the points addendum for Leg 2, and people hurried back to their rooms to plan. While many of the points values stayed the same for this leg, almost all of the ones on the East coast now had real point values instead of being set at "1" like leg 1. After 20-30 minutes of data entry and manipulation, I was left with the map shown below. We had 2.5 days to show up in Kingsport, TN for checkpoint 2 on Sunday evening.

Leg 2 Bonus locations



I started the route planning by creating a simple route from ABQ to Kingsport. We had about 57 hours to get there, and with my rough overall speed of 40 mph all-in (including sleep time), that gave me about 2300 miles to play with. A straight shot with no deviation is already 1500 miles, so there isn't a huge amount of extra play time on the way east. There were good sized bonuses well south in Texas, but I just didn't want to go that far south in that heat & humidity. I saw some reasonably high bonuses up in Kansas, and then added in a few more red bonuses along the way in states between here and there. The route that I landed on was somewhere around that 2300 mile number, so I loaded the GPS units and wrote out my index cards before heading to the bike (with a luggage cart, for the epitome of laziness! )