What a fun and interesting routing challenge posed by the rally organizers! Congrats to them and to all the riders. And a big thanks to this forum and Dale for his interesting updates, and thanks to Jason Jonas. BTW, Jason will never remind you of this but I will - spotwalla.com accepts donations. It's painless. I figure at least the cost of going out to a movie would be fair for the entertainment he provided us - his IBR page was hit over 400,000 times.
There were 5 basic routes available, and you pretty much had to commit to one of them before you left Seattle.
Before Meese crashed he was on a smooth course to claim NV, CA and finish his 4-corners. This would have given him probably first place by 500 points or so.
So if Meese had not crashed, ALL FIVE of the basic routing options would have been reflected in the top 5 finishing positions. That blows my mind.
Hyder (Sinclair)
Hyder & 4-corners ME Leg 2, KW Leg 3 (Meese)
Just capitols (Jewell)
4 corners ME leg 1, KW leg 2 (Frens)
4 corners ME leg 2, KW leg 3 (Behm)
(Meese's Leg 3 & final numbers extrapolated as if he had finished after adding Carson City, Sacramento and San Ysidro.
I'd add that Frens had this thing won but penalty points bumped him down to the bottom of the podium.
I believe the route with the most potential points was not ridden by any of the finishers. It was 4-corners with ME in leg 1 and KW in leg 2 (similar to Frens) but the New England states are touched on Leg 1 and the New England capitols ignored on Leg 2.
A fairly conservative take on that route comes up over 26,000 points (example below). A real big-dog might be able to add a couple more capitols like Cheyenne and Santa Fe to even do better. I'm not saying I could ride it, but I'll bet any of the top finishers could have.
Here's the details on the route I think would have won:
Leg 1: https://goo.gl/SH7Fs
Capitols: WA, OR, ID, SD, WI, MI, PA
Leg 1 States: All except WY, KS, MO & KY.
Non Leg 1 states: CT, RI, MA, NH, ME, VT
Skipped Capitols: MT, WY, NE, KS, MO, ND, MN, IA, IL, IN, OH, KY (1433 points total)
Corners: Blaine and Madawaska
Notes: Painful to skip Cheyenne, but couldn't make it work without risking the 1,000 point Harrisburg PA and limiting rest.
Scheduled an 8 hour sleep bonus and should have time for a couple of other good rest periods
Leg 2: https://goo.gl/kv2Nw
Capitols: NJ, DE, MD, VA, NC, WV, SC, GA
Leg 2 States: Touched all remaining (New England states were touched in Leg 1)
Non Leg 2 states: Touched KY
Skipped Capitols: NY, CT, RI, MA, NH, ME, VT (1009 points total)
Callin bonus
Notes: Should arrive at CP2 early enough to get good rest.
Leg 3: https://goo.gl/yjHVZ
Bagged Leg 3 Capitols: FL, AL, TN, AR, OK, CO, UT, NV, CA, AZ
Leg 3 States: All
Other states: MO, KS & WY
Skipped Leg 3 Capitols: MS, LA, TX, NM (2059 points total)
Corners: San Ysidro (finished 4-corners bonus)
Notes: Basically threaded all the high point capitols except TX - other capitols were bagged only if they were already on that route. Picked up MO, KS and WY to finish 48 states.
Divided available rest up over the hot part of the last 3 days.
I hope this was of interest to someone - I'd hate to think I'm the only route porn addict out there.
There were 5 basic routes available, and you pretty much had to commit to one of them before you left Seattle.
Before Meese crashed he was on a smooth course to claim NV, CA and finish his 4-corners. This would have given him probably first place by 500 points or so.
So if Meese had not crashed, ALL FIVE of the basic routing options would have been reflected in the top 5 finishing positions. That blows my mind.
Hyder (Sinclair)
Hyder & 4-corners ME Leg 2, KW Leg 3 (Meese)
Just capitols (Jewell)
4 corners ME leg 1, KW leg 2 (Frens)
4 corners ME leg 2, KW leg 3 (Behm)
(Meese's Leg 3 & final numbers extrapolated as if he had finished after adding Carson City, Sacramento and San Ysidro.
I'd add that Frens had this thing won but penalty points bumped him down to the bottom of the podium.
I believe the route with the most potential points was not ridden by any of the finishers. It was 4-corners with ME in leg 1 and KW in leg 2 (similar to Frens) but the New England states are touched on Leg 1 and the New England capitols ignored on Leg 2.
A fairly conservative take on that route comes up over 26,000 points (example below). A real big-dog might be able to add a couple more capitols like Cheyenne and Santa Fe to even do better. I'm not saying I could ride it, but I'll bet any of the top finishers could have.
Here's the details on the route I think would have won:
Leg 1: https://goo.gl/SH7Fs
Capitols: WA, OR, ID, SD, WI, MI, PA
Leg 1 States: All except WY, KS, MO & KY.
Non Leg 1 states: CT, RI, MA, NH, ME, VT
Skipped Capitols: MT, WY, NE, KS, MO, ND, MN, IA, IL, IN, OH, KY (1433 points total)
Corners: Blaine and Madawaska
Notes: Painful to skip Cheyenne, but couldn't make it work without risking the 1,000 point Harrisburg PA and limiting rest.
Scheduled an 8 hour sleep bonus and should have time for a couple of other good rest periods
Leg 2: https://goo.gl/kv2Nw
Capitols: NJ, DE, MD, VA, NC, WV, SC, GA
Leg 2 States: Touched all remaining (New England states were touched in Leg 1)
Non Leg 2 states: Touched KY
Skipped Capitols: NY, CT, RI, MA, NH, ME, VT (1009 points total)
Callin bonus
Notes: Should arrive at CP2 early enough to get good rest.
Leg 3: https://goo.gl/yjHVZ
Bagged Leg 3 Capitols: FL, AL, TN, AR, OK, CO, UT, NV, CA, AZ
Leg 3 States: All
Other states: MO, KS & WY
Skipped Leg 3 Capitols: MS, LA, TX, NM (2059 points total)
Corners: San Ysidro (finished 4-corners bonus)
Notes: Basically threaded all the high point capitols except TX - other capitols were bagged only if they were already on that route. Picked up MO, KS and WY to finish 48 states.
Divided available rest up over the hot part of the last 3 days.
I hope this was of interest to someone - I'd hate to think I'm the only route porn addict out there.
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. I am sure we will hear more about it but he pulled off a hard core 3rd leg for win. Truly well deserved and couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.
