Can you say 2009 IBR
April (16 Months to go)
Well on April 14th I received the good news that I was selected to take part in the 2009 IBR. Now that it is a week later I’m still amazed that I made it and of course still trying to talk my wife into letting me do it.
For those that have not heard of the 2009 Iron Butt Rally (IBR), it is an 11 day motorcycle ride that roughly 100 motorcyclists are selected for. The riders will traverse US and Canada hopefully collecting enough bonus points to qualify as a finisher. This ride is not about speed but route planning, conserving energy and a lot of luck.
Well here we are end of April and the wife has said yes and the entry form and 800.00 dollar deposit have been sent. I also signed up for the National Meet in Tulsa, OK. in August. I’m hoping to get insight into what I will need to have a successful ride. Whether it is route planning, farkling or mental preparedness, this is going to be a great check for me since two weeks later I’m doing the Run What Ya Brung (RWYB) starting in Salt Lake City, Utah on September 2nd. It’s a five day 5000 mile ride. The RWYB considers you a finisher if you complete 5000 miles in the allotted time. I’m hoping to not only hit the 5000 miles but to also accumulate enough points to get into the top 20 riders.
May (15 months to go)
Well it’s now May and I have been working on the motorcycle getting it ready for the National meet and RWYB later this year. I have added driving lights to help with night driving and critter avoidance. My son and I have also been practicing my route planning with maps using past IBR waypoints. I call out the cities or locations and he puts a push pin in the map and then we design a route based on highest points and time allotted. Once we have completed the route we then download into our computer and transfer to my GPS for practice. I’m also designing a ledge for all my electronics that will sit between my handlebars. For our anniversary my wife bought me a SPOT it’s a GPS tracker. It will allow someone to follow your progress and it will allow you to send a signal out saying you’re fine or asking for help. The system updates your location on goggle earth every ten minutes.
In June or July, I’m planning to do a BBG1500. That’s another IBA ride that requires you to travel 1500 miles in 24 hours. I have been working out a route that will take me no more than an extra 50 miles starting at home and circling back. I’m planning to take a camera and practice taking pictures at my fuel stops for documentation like I would for waypoints for the IBR. I’m going to work on quick stops (fuel, food, picture) hopefully 15 minutes max with the exception of one longer food stop. To complete the 1500 miles in 24 hours I will have to average 62.5 mph for the time, so running mostly interstate will have to be must.
August will be a big month for me. My wife and I will be heading for the IBA National meet in Tulsa, OK. My wife and son will take off in the car for Mustang, OK a couple of days earlier to spend time with her parents. I’m going to ride to Mustang, OK. pick her up and head for Tulsa. We are planning to stay for four days checking out the seminars and spending time with past IBR riders talking about motorcycle set-ups and equipment.
June (14 months to go)
Well here it is June and I only have 4100 miles on for the year (weak) I started slow this year and I’m really behind the curve. I was hoping to get at least 20K on this year. I did a nice 240 mile ride turning it in four hours. It felt pretty good since I had to stop once to put on rain gear and I stopped for fuel and strip the rain gear back off. It was great to get out in the rain averaging 60 mph with to stops and good practice for the up-coming BBG1500. I’m still working out the route for the BBG1500 attempt and I have a couple of friends that want to make the run with me. I’m still debating if I want to take the chance and let them come or not. I really want to focus on good stops and photographing when I make the stops just like I would in a rally. I also set up my SPOT (given to me by my wife for our anniversary). I used it yesterday on a 370 mile ride. System worked well but I did feel that a negative to the system is that if you want to share your ride with someone you have to give them access to your account.
Well I’m up to 4700 and hope to have 5000 miles by July. I have been slowly increasing the miles each month and stand an outside chance to get to the 20K mark by end of year.
What an end to the month of June. I totaled my ST1300 on June 27th; I was heading south to umpire a little league all-star game when I was hit by a garbage truck. The truck was in the middle lane and I was in the right lane. We were both going just about the speed limit when he started to come in my lane. I hit my brakes trying to avoid him but we touched and I went down. The truck kept on going, I don’t even think he knew I was there or that we hit. The bike traveled across three lanes of traffic, the median and came to rest in the north bound lane. I went skipping, sliding, and tumbling straight forward. I came to rest about 75 feet from where the accident happened. I was extremely lucky that several people stopped and I was well taken care of until the ambulance arrived. I was also luck that the semi-truck driver right behind me stopped and gave an account of what happened to the officer at the scene.
I ended up staying one night in the hospital with a broken clavicle, four cracked ribs and a partially collapsed left lung. The motorcycle sustained a considerable more damage and was totaled by my insurance company.
WOW what a month!
