IBR 09 Ride report Leg 3

2009 IBR Report by David Porter

Leg 3
August 31-Day 8 Here we go again up at 03:30 and a quick shower before our 04:00 riders meeting. A quick communication from the Rally Mistress, then bonus packets were handed out for leg 3 and off to the room to plan my route. This time I was determined to not leave early. I wanted to spend time setting up a good route to hit the 76,000 needed total to be a finisher. That went out the window at 07:00 seeing that I needed to be at my first time-restricted bonus to make my second one. So again here we go three of five days figured out this time. I left Santa Ana knowing there was going to be traffic and that my route was taking me through Nevada and Utah (not just hot but damn hot). When I hit my first fuel stop in Mesquite, NV it was 104 and 108 when I hit Vegas. I was at least correct on the time; I made my first bonus Mountain Meadows Memorial early giving me plenty of time to get the Overland Hotel and Saloon but I knew I would not make my next daylight bonus the southern most point in Zion National Park on time so I adjusted my route and picked up the Hotel Nevada (picking up a poker chip) and Gunnison Massacre Site before sundown. I also set myself up for Zion if I really wanted it. That night I decided to give up on Zion’s big points because felt I would lose too much time in the park and have trouble getting to my other time restricted bonuses that day.



September 1-Day 9 I headed for Colorado for Linwood Cemetery and Doc Holliday’s grave site (this was an interesting one a half mile moderate to extreme hike to the top of a hill and boy did they mean it) and then a picture of the Police Car in Rand, CO. The police car was cool it was parked next to Rand Yacht club (out in the middle of nowhere) and it had a dummy in the driver seat with another dummy with it’s head in the officer’s lap (my guess kids did that). I then headed for Wyoming where I bagged JJ’s Bar and the Goshen County Courthouse then off to South Dakota for Crazy Horse Mountain (I ran into Dennis again and Jeff and Carol) and Old Style #10 Saloon in Deadwood. I pulled up and there was a no parking sign but the door man waved me in saying it was ok so naturally I had to get him to hold my rally flag for me. After getting the saloon bonus, I rode close to Devils tower setting up Day 10. I ended up riding to Sundance about 20-25 miles from Devils Tower. I pulled into the hotel right behind Jeff and Carol, they had the same idea of setting up for a short run to Devil's tower in the morning.






September 2-Day 10 I woke and took my time getting going knowing that the next bonus was not available until 09:00, so I didn’t leave the hotel until 08:00. I arrived at Devils tower and was sitting in the parking lot waiting for the 09:00 start time. I noticed several riders leaving the site before the designated time as I rode up. I decided to call the rally mistress becasue the visitors center was open, I found out the bonus opened at 08:00 so our paperwork was wrong. I bagged the bonus then headed off for Summit Hotel in Big Sky, Montana and Frontline Processing. I then headed for Idaho and a Post Office. I rode for a few more hours then calling it a night stopping in a rest stop in Oregon. I figured this was my last rest before Spokane and I had a big day planned so I didn’t want to take any extra time with a hotel. I found a shelter grabbed my tank bag for a pillow and set the screamin meanie for a 2.5 hour nap. If you have never heard on of these things it is light a car alarm going off and you are only a foot away.




September 3/4-Day 11 I woke up after a 2.5 hour nap, washed my face and grabbed a snack bar to get me going. I picked up the Young Life Christian Farm what a bonus about 10 miles of gravel. At one point on the road, I saw a sign that said Emergency phone 1.2 miles; I remember laughing to myself thinking that was silly. About a half a mile later I remember seeing a speed limit sign that said, “Speed Limit 5 MPH and we Really Really mean it”. I could do nothing but laugh as I was going about 25-30 MPH on this gravel road thinking how much worse could it really get. Boy was I surprised, I crested the top of the hill and all I saw was blue sky. The road completely dropped off and I felt like I was on a ski slope. The road was a downhill straight away for what seemed like a half a mile with a 90-degree turn at the bottom. I immediately hit the rear brake and started sliding down; I slowed just enough to make the corner. Once I turned the corner there was a Goldwing heading right for me. We both hit the breaks stopping about 20 feet apart, I wasn’t sure who it was at first, then he flipped up his visor and it was Jerry. He had just grabbed the bonus and was heading out. (I later found out only a few of us made it all the way to the water tower for the picture.) I asked Jerry if the road got any better. He said, “no but it doesn’t get any worse”. So I continued on to the bottom getting a picture of the water tower. As I'm filling out my bonus sheet a car goes flying by with kids hanging out the windows screaming, so I figured it was time to head out. My next stop was in Portland and I was thinking, I was going to hit the area perfectly, I was trying to get in and out before the traffic got bad (boy was that a bad plan). It took me 3.5 hours to get Pleasure Acres Thoroughbred Farm and the Home Depot bonus. My next stop was Skamania County EMS across the gorge bridge in Washington. I saw Joe another rider at this bonus. We were heading for the same bonus but I was planning to stop and grab a bite to eat before pushing on. This would give me time to decide if I wanted to continue hunting bonuses or call it good after the next one (I was concerned that I lost too much time in Portland). We took off together from the EMS bonus and it wasn’t soon before it was apparent that he needed to stop. He was tired and it showed he was having a problem maintaining his speed, so I signaled that we should pulled off the highway, he agreed so we stopped grabbed some gas and coffee. I talked to him and asked if he wanted me to wait for him or push on. He said to go he was going to take his time stopping every 30 minutes till he got in (he decided right then and there he was done). I told him not to push and take his time and I would see him in Spokane, I went ahead and he stayed back relaxing for a little bit. I decided to push on to my next bonus then I would stop and decided if I wanted to continue hunting bonuses or call it good. I grabbed the ZZ Streetrod Sign bonus and headed for the highway and Spokane. I pulled into the first truck stop, reviewed the map and bonus locations and decided to skip the Western State Hospital, it was worth over 1000 points but it would be a 200 mile trip. I figured I could head to the hotel and then decide if I want to go for Zip’s Drive In. I grabbed a cup of coffee, verified my receipts and points knowing I easily had enough to be considered a finisher. I arrived at the hotel parking lot a little after 02:00 to a woman clapping and waving and congratulating me. It might have only been one person but it was nice to have that cheer as I showed up. There must have been 40 bikes already in and I’m sure I was one of the last for the night. I pulled the gear off the bike and saw a good friend Jeff Bakker talking to a few other riders. I asked him if he was going to cruise up and get the time-restricted bonus Zip’s Drive In. He told me he and Milinda were done I was thinking of making the run but felt I had enough points and as long as I didn’t make a mistake at the scorers table I had plenty of points to be a finisher so I decided I was done. I went upstairs and woke my wife to let her know I was here and going to head back downstairs and get ready for rider check in and scoring. At 04:00 they opened scoring and I was the third in line (wanted to get it over). I went into the scorer’s room and found Heidi not scoring anyone so I sat down with her (she scored me in leg 2). I walked away from the scoring table not missing a thing. I was feeling pretty good knowing I had completed the rally and had enough points to be considered a finisher. As I was walking out of the room Ira congratulated me on finishing. Tell me I did New Mexico proud. I hung around waiting for Jeff and Milinda to complete their scoring; afterwards we all went to breakfast. We sat talking about our rides the positives and negitives, where we screwed up and what we would do if we had a second chance. We talked about would we do this again and I think yes was the answer.




After a 3-hour nap, I went to a beautiful park next to the hotel walked around with my wife and son and stopped at an Irish pub for a light lunch and a beer. That evening we attended the cocktail party and banquet sitting with friends we had made at the National Meet in Tulsa. Wayne and Robin came to the finish to congradulate me on my finish. It was cool to sit with them and talk, they were very interested in my ride and the places I went. After the banquet and awards ceremony, we went out to the hallway drinking and laughing seeing friends that I had made on the ride talking about our experience. As the night wore on, we heard that Davo had passed away from his injuries from his accident, which put a dampener on our ending. Davo was on the ride of his life he told me at the start. He hit a deer after leaving Canada that morning heading for Spokane, so close to the finish. He was with a group that was hunting bonuses in Canada. They came up on him after the accident but there wasn't much anyone could do from what I heard.

The next day I hung around waving goodbye to other riders heading out that morning. I spent time talking with Bob, he hit a deer in South Dakota and busted up his FJR pretty bad. The good thing he was able to keep it up-right, to keep going he duct taped his plastic fairing back together. I also took in the sites of Spokane, WA with my family, we went walking in the park; swimming in the pool and that night went to a nice restaurant over looking the river. My family took off the next morning, they were flying home. I took my time getting out of the hotel, I really didn't have a set time that I had to be back home so I was in no hurry. It was raining so I put on my wet gear, saddled up and headed for home. That day I rode just past Salt Lake City about 750 miles. It rained about four hours of the ride but was kind of a nice change. The majority of my rally was in the heat, so the rain was a pleasent distraction. It was raining enough to keep everything wet but not so hard that you couldn't run highway speeds. The next day I had a quick breakfast, jumped on the bike early and was home by 15:00. I didn't push hard, I took my time doing the last 600 miles. The ride was quiet with no pressure to be at a bonus location or document a stop, so it was a nice time to reflect on what had transpired during the rally.

So far, I have been having a hard time explaining why I did the ride. I’m still thinking about what ifs or how I could’ve improved. I’m also thinking about what’s next, I have the New Mexico Land of Enchantment rally coming up in October but have not thought much on what I want to do next year.

Below is a listing of the bonuses I reached and points per leg of the rally. I ended up 51st out of 101 riders that started reaching bronze medal status.

David Porter Yamaha FJR1300

Leg Bonus Description Points Penalty 3 Finish, Spokane, WA
3 Arrival Points - Leg 3 100
3 Gas - Leg 3 3000
3 Police car Rand 4568
3 Linwood Cemetery (a/k/a Pioneer Cemetery) 1464
3 Post office Midvale 402
3 Summit at Big Sky Ski & Summer Resort 1818
3 Frontline Processing 246
3 Hotel Nevada 1216
3 Overland Hotel & Saloon 201
3 Young Life Christian farm 3874
3 Pleasure Acres Thoroughbred Farm 3576
3 Home Depot 429
3 Crazy Horse Mountain 4980
3 Old Style #10 Saloon 218
3 Gunnison massacre site 387
3 Mountain Meadows memorial 4835
3 ZZ Streetrods sign 1079
3 Skamania County EMS 171
3 JJ’s Bar 267
3 Goshen county courthouse 288
3 Visitor's Center Devil's Tower 5837
3 Rest Bonus - Leg 3 6003
3 Call-In Bonus 1 9-1-09 - Leg 3 749
3 Call-In Bonus 2 9-3-09 - Leg 3 751
Totals for leg 3: 46459

leg 1: 9,349
leg 2: 28,671
leg 3: 46,549
My total was 84,479

Below is a map of my route, the green is my leg 3.