FJRForum Official 2019 Iron Butt Rally Tracking/Analysis Thread

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What does Road FM 170 look like on the Texas / Mexico border ? A few riders are picking off Baquillas overlook as a Bonus ? It must be hotter than blazes down there, and it’s not easy to get there either.

 
Day 9 Quote from a IBR person on FB that knows a thing or two about LD riding and wonderfully salty:.

Win, lose or draw, these are pivotal hours, nothing else in the world matters. You are completely alone with the stench of bad choices, a touch of fear, the taste of failure frosted with a faint sight of victory.
Personally, I'm reminded that it's now Day 9 of the IBR and in 2007 they had just started the "call-in bonus" concept. I did mine and in the middle of it debated with myself as it chewed up the seconds, "Ummmmm....it's Day 8 of the rally......or is it Day 9? It's Day 9! And I'm in Colorado and headed to Greensburg, Kansas next."

After I hung up the phone I continued riding and then that evening read in the daily dispatch, "Matt Watkins debated in his call in bonus whether it was Day 8 or 9. Matt, it's Day 10."

Doh! I felt like Homer.

In 2009 I LITERALLY took a Sharpie to the surface of my SPOT tracker and scratched out the days as a ritual each morning. (I saw somebody do this on their fuel cell at the CP this year too). By the end of the rally my hash marks miraculously matched reality.

IIII IIII I

 
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170 from Presidio to Terlingua follows the Rio Grande river . It is 60 plus miles of curves with elevation changes. It ends at 118 that either goes to Alpine or to Big Ben national park, where the speed limit is 45 mph . Speed enforcement is in use in the park. Earlier today it looked like one of the riders was in near Boquilias canyon near Rio Grand Village campground in the park . One into this area one way out.

 
In 2009 I LITERALLY took a Sharpie to the surface of my SPOT tracker and scratched out the days as a ritual each morning. (I saw somebody do this on their fuel cell at the CP this year too). By the end of the rally my hash marks miraculously matched reality.
Reminds of the first year I ran, 2011. To finish you had to nail all 48 states. Around Day 3 was getting paranoid I would lose track. So I wrote down on a piece of paper the 2 letter codes for every state in two columns then folded the piece of paper so it would sit in the tank bag visible at all times. Every time I scored a state I literally scratched it off the list.

It ended up being oddly comforting/reassuring to see the steady progress of scratched off items and be able to verify everything I had scored (and had still to score)

- Colin

 
About the clump of 3 in Saskatchewan:

Remember that riders that chose Alaska left Kennewick (at best) with a brand new rear tire. I bet their Alaska choice chewed rubber up like cheap bubblegum.

And Edmonton looks like the first real place to get fresh rubber...and also a pretty good place to land last night after midnight to snag a rest bonus. I think that pack of 3 probably will deal with these variables a bit differently. It's possible the order of those 3 will change as they clear that city.

...snip
Having done a similar route with the same roads in AK, but riding two up and towing a trailer, I got 6500 miles on a Michelin PR2 in 2015, and 5800 miles in 2018. The second trip we carried more weight in spares with us as we had two new riders going along and not sure what they would have with them.

Granted we didn't average rally speeds or distances each day, but we usually were doing about 500 miles per day at pretty close to rally speeds.

If they keep a reasonable throttle hand (not accelerate too hard) then they probably can make the tire last. The paved roads in the areas they were are actually pretty good. (better than many of the chip sealed roads in Washington).

EDIT: If they have a car tire on the back, they should have not worries. The roads are not that twisty so the effort to turn is not impacted.

 
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It ended up being oddly comforting/reassuring to see the steady progress of scratched off items and be able to verify everything I had scored (and had still to score)

 
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In 2009 I LITERALLY took a Sharpie to the surface of my SPOT tracker and scratched out the days as a ritual each morning. (I saw somebody do this on their fuel cell at the CP this year too). By the end of the rally my hash marks miraculously matched reality.
IIII IIII I
Mine was a grease pencil with the windscreen and tank bag my palettes. I didn't trust memory at this stage. Must do x & y at next fuel stop... And triple checking distance, speed, time calculations, what time zone?, Km to miles if north of the border. And checking 'stitch pockets for rally critical items- camera around neck? Flag? Camera card? Rally pack? Rider card? Passport? Credit card? Phone?

 
In 2009 I LITERALLY took a Sharpie to the surface of my SPOT tracker and scratched out the days as a ritual each morning. (I saw somebody do this on their fuel cell at the CP this year too). By the end of the rally my hash marks miraculously matched reality.
IIII IIII I
Mine was a grease pencil with the windscreen and tank bag my palettes. I didn't trust memory at this stage. Must do x & y at next fuel stop... And triple checking distance, speed, time calculations, what time zone?, Km to miles if north of the border. And checking 'stitch pockets for rally critical items- camera around neck? Flag? Camera card? Rally pack? Rider card? Passport? Credit card? Phone?
I call this the pat down. To be done while repeating "Everything has its place, and everything goes in its place" over and over.

 
Watching those two riders headed to what I think is a bonus at Perce Rock or the lighthouse in Perce. If it is a daylight only bonus--I think the traiing rider is VERY close. Sunset for Perce is 8:23 EDT. That's 9:23 ADT PM (local time) and memory serves that you have to be able to have a lit sky in the photo or receipt within an hour of sunset. That's 10:23. And I project they arrive about 10:20. That's VERY VERY close.


 
Well it's been an entertaining day, got a call last night that John Coon's bike was toast, cracked cylinder, he limped it to home. He called Randy Gabrick and arranged to use one of his KLRs except Randy is in Spokane. They needed me to pick up Randy's trailer and bike and run it down to John's place. In about two hours John farkled the KLR to near Rally spec, well as cloes as you'd except for a KLR. I'm happy to say john is back on the road as of a bit after noon today.

It wasn't pretty.

i-rzMnRDs-L.jpg


i-pJBZngB-L.jpg


Not the fanciest cockpit in the IBR parking lot.

i-czH3gRD-L.jpg


Complete with aux fuel
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Man Im having daily report withdrawal...

Would have been nice to get far enough into the rally to at least see the 2nd packet.

Damn deer....

Andy

#548

 
The front Perce rider appears to be doing the full Gaspe loop. Assuming they come back down the peninsula clockwise, they will have done 980km with the blue Atlantic Ocean & St. Lawrence River off their left shoulder since this morning. Stunning. Simply stunning!

Here is my counter-clockwise version from 2007.

2019-06-26_14-50-35.jpg


 
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Tip of Key Biscane is now in play , that a new bonus !
Interesting! On the theory that Leg 2 packet is an addition to Leg 1 and all 99 pages are in play...that makes it pair well with the Everglades one from earlier.

 
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