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The Iron Butt Rally (11,000 miles/11 days)

montana

New member
This was the opening day of registration for The Iron Butt Rally - 11,000 miles in 11 days. Limited entry (by lottery), it's about 125 or so this year. 67 are newbies. It runs every other year - takes that long to put this together.

These bikes were ridden to the starting/ending point in Missoula MT except I did see two bike trailers (hauling bikes not being hauled by bikes). So, some of these folks already rode from FL, OH, etc to get here. The start is Mon 10am. There is a documentary film crew along this year practicing for their official shoot which will be the 2005 rally.

The registration process was interesting - The paperwork, the witness signatures, the video taping of the list of questions where you acknowledge that you know what you are about to do and are doing so as a responsible, nonwhining adult. Well, that's my take. You know how it is these days with liability. The staff is really wonderful, though.

Every bike gets a thorough tech check, including the fuel cell setup and safety, and a sound check at the muffler. A K12RS (the rider is from Singapore via Phoenix) failed at 107 db, 2 over the limit. He just bought the bike and obviously didn't realize this might occur. We sent him to a local performance shop to repack the Two Brothers muffler, but it turned out to be full and good, so they sent him to the local BMW dealer where they were going to sell him the stock muffler off a used KRS on the floor. He has until 2pm tomorrow to get rechecked and pass. That's when registration closes.
 

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Thanks for the picture and heads up.

Keep Posting , we won't see those guys until the 18th in Maine. So please keep posting any info you have. Pics as well !

Thanks

Craig Cleasby
South Windsor, CT
 
This bike has even more lights (6 plus the original headlight):
 

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Same bike, from the rear; this bike shows it can communicate, too:
 

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This is either a fox among the chickens, a wanna be, or the result of a bunch of drunken friends, one night and too much paint (take your pick):
 

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I asked a supposedly experienced friend to come look at this bike and tell me what was "wrong" with it, and he responded, "Oh, the Guzzi?"

Notice the essentials: Fuel, water, doodads including Fozzy Bear and Kermit characters glued to the windshield mounts, lovely custom paint job courtesy of a bunch of drunken friends one night (did you guess correctly?), homemade seat and backrest, and you probably can't read the check list near the gas cap: "receipt" and "no diesel." He bought this bike last year for $800 with 3,000 miles on it, and has already put 26,000 on it. It's a 1982 Honda Silver Wing GL500.

Besides light, it's also about fuel and staying hydrated:
 

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It's been an interesting two days. You walk around and help out with directions, leaking gas cleanup, get a KRS rider a muffler (watch for him: go, Chya!), whatever. You look at the unusual bikes and you know there are stories there. You get to talking to the riders of the "regular" bikes, the K1200LT or R1150 RS or GS, the Honda Gold Wing, the Yamaha Venture, and find out they have stories, too.

There are two no-shows, and one K1200LT is still in Cody, WY. The rear end went out (starting to sound familiar?). The rider was at registration taking care of as much as possible. He has a new rear end in the trunk of the rental car. He is driving back to Cody tonight, the dealer will install it first thing tomorrow morning, then the rider will come back to Missoula to officially start from here. He'll lose half a day, but hey, it's an 11-day event.

One rider from San Jose said that coming to Missoula on Friday he hit the Hot August Nights (in Reno) traffic, once he left the Bay area. He rode about 300 miles in nearly 10 hours, never going faster then 43 mph (per his gps unit).

There is a Yamaha SR500 thumper (chrome fenders!) that is one of only two that are doing this long distance stuff. The owner was telling us he has a support crew all over the country - this has become a virtual neighborhood team effort. He is the original owner and "they" are going to turn 100,000 miles on the first leg, tomorrow. Last week, 10 miles from home, the transmission blew up - first and neutral only. He managed to get parts sent from friends and got the bike running, loaded it to get to the start area in time to register. He's only got 60 miles on the rebuild and is nervous about any overlooked item since there was no shakedown cruise time.

From the "...and you thought your local shop was bad..." department: So, I'm standing at the 500 cc Yamaha thumper, talking to the rider, and I see the bike behind me is a brand-spankin' new Venture (watch for it: gold and red). The rider is from San Diego. Last week his 1999 Venture was in the shop for its major service and prep for this rally. It was well broken in and the mechanic and the owner were pretty confident the bike would make the whole rally requiring no additional service stops.

He picks it up and takes it home but it doesn't seem to handle quite right. What the heck? He notices the tank and windshield are new, and the handlebars seem bent. Turns out, (take a deep breath) the bike fell off the shop lift, three feet to the ground. When it hit, it was topside down. The shop didn't even mention it. They hoped he wouldn't notice.

So now he has a 2003 and it was all he could do to get the first 600 miles on it last week and get the first service done before leaving to come to Missoula. For the first 400 miles here, he had to keep it below half throttle. It does ride nice, though. He's hoping all the bad stuff is behind him, now.

An anatomically-correct mascot:
 

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This one belongs to our own Rob Nye. He's also got a mil spec, fully waterproof table PC that mounts on the tank. I've actually ridden that bike.

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I think he's going to need new graphite rods in the reactor that powers all that stuff by the time he gets done.
 
K Bikes have been the bike of choice for the last 5 or so rally's it is interesting to see your pics's and a few still in the line up.

I know Rob Nye is riding his , I think Paul Glaves is riding his K75 which has to be pushing almost 400K.

Thanks for the update.

Craig
 
So the bike sprouting all the stuff is "Rob Nye the 'MOA Science Guy?" I was wondering how many things you need to tell you where you are, until you finally believe it. That bike is the dictionary reference of "multitasking."

I was very surprised at how many various Hondas there are (oh, is it okay to use the "other" brand names on this forum?) in the crowd. Many GWs and the ST1100 is well-represented. The Yamaha FJRs look popular. I've never seen so much heat-blocking tape being used outside of a furnace room. Of course the BMW R-RT is here but there probably are more K variants. Just a couple of HD, and I keep seeing a side car rig but haven't been able to determine if it's part of the rally or part of the support staff. One V-Strom, and I only remember Chye's K12RS.

I don't know if anyone on this forum is from AZ and knows him, but now that Chye has the OEM muffler from the local dealer, he did the odometer test and is good to go tomorrow. He mentioned that he hasn't stashed stuff ahead, hasn't called ahead for support from anyone, and didn't really know anyone. He said everything he read about this rally indicated that there is incredible camaradrie and a willingness to help each other, even at the last minute, and he's already found this to be true.

There was one bike with a fuel cell that started dripping in the midday heat. Don't know if there was a venting problem or what caused this, since it passed Tech inspection. It was near 100 degrees F today.

Some lightning strikes Fri night seem to have started fires outside of town on all four sides, so ash was falling late yesterday and by this afternoon you couldn't see across town. Must be time to get out of Dodge!
 
Just got off the phone with Rob. He told me they're headed south tomorrow. Rob seems to be heading to Death Valley, Las Vegas and finally to the checkpoint.

I'm jealous.
 
All I can say is AWESOME!

thanks for the pics, we are going to be at the check point in florida to see a friend of ours, So if ya see a gal on a silver R1150RT tell her we are rooting for her and will see her soon!

Tom
 
Marsha Hall

If someone gets a pic of Connecticut's own Marsha Hall please post it. I wonder if she riding that R1100S without a fuel cell.

MarkF
 
Ha ha ha - that was pretty funny! A few of these riders think they have it all figured out.

Official start time 10:00 am.

On the dot of 9:00 am they start lining up, two columns. About 40 bikes are ready to go this way, the others are still sitting off to the sides, riders are putting on sunscreen, strapping gear, visiting with the crowd, etc.

9:40 am final rider meeting. It is announced that the start is at the other end - they're all pointing the wrong way! Chaos ensues in the parking lot.

First checkpoint is Primm, but they got the packet of extra point locations, and this leg includes Orofino and Oregon.

I'll post pictures later tonight.
 
From Bob Higdon:

Missoula, Montana
August 10, 2003
Day -1

Who's Who

The final rider count is 117 bikes. One team is two-up. A
breakdown and a family emergency today will keep John Ferber and Gary
Johnson, both Iron Butt veterans, out of this year's running. They aren't
the only experienced hot shoes missing from the 2003 lineup. Gary Eagan,
the winner in 1995, is at home. The 1997 champion, Rick Morrison, after
having set almost every motorcycle endurance record imaginable, claims to
be in retirement. George Barnes is out this year. He won in 1999, setting
an IBR record of about two billion miles in the process. Only Bob Hall,
the top dog two years ago, is here, trying for a second IBR crown. The
bookmakers in Las Vegas are not looking kindly upon his chances. Since
Mike Kneebone raised the Iron Butt Rally from the ashes in 1991, no rider
has ever won twice. Shane Smith, with three top ten finishes in three
tries (including a second overall in 2001), couldn't make the start, nor
could the profoundly cherubic Morris Kreumcke. Other perennial hot shoes
absent this year are Chuck Pickett, Asa Hutchinson, Bill Kramer, Bob Ray,
and Germany's Martin Hildebrand. These are all colorful people; their
absence makes the rally seem just a little paler this year.
The veterans who have showed up are tanned, rested, and ready to
roll. They are a Who's Who of the long-distance motorcycle world with
hundreds of huge rides in their collective wake: Five-time finisher Harold
Brooks; Joe Mandeville, a member of the exclusive 100,000-mile-year club;
Paul Taylor; Eric Jewell; Eddie James; Tom Loegering; prosecutor Manny
Sameiro; ISDE qualifier Dick Fish; Rallye Tunisia finisher Steve Eversfield
(via Great Britain); Dennis Kesseler; and Tom Loftus. You'll probably be
seeing their names toward the top of the rankings for the remainder of the
rally.
And then there's Peter Hoogeveen, who has more podium finishes on
this event than anyone else. What he lacks is a win. His string of
second-place finishes in rallies all over North America is the stuff of
legend. Still, no one in his right mind would bet against this tireless
Canadian.
There are 67 rookies in the pack. Most of them have no chance for
distinction. But some will do amazingly well and cause no trouble. Other
riders won't do well at all but will cause metric tons of trouble. Take,
for example, Leonard Aron, an attorney who looks as if he might have been a
defendant in the Chicago Seven trial. He isn't a rookie, but he often acts
like one. He introduced himself to one of the check-in workers yesterday
with this: "I'm Leonard. It isn't easy being Leonard. But I make it look
easy because I'm so good at it." His singular claim to IBR fame was that
in 2001, after a bunch of miserable DNFs, he shoved a '46 Indian completely
around the country. It was the oldest bike ever to complete the
IBR. After that, Leonard has nothing to prove in endurance riding forever.
At the drivers' meeting in the afternoon, rules and procedures
were reviewed a final time. For example, it is critical that you must call
the rallymaster if you are going to be more than two hours late to a
checkpoint. A hand was raised: Suppose I am allowed only one phone
call? You get the idea.
Mark Kiecker, who came in 10th two years ago, wondered whether he
would be considered a finisher if his bike broke down in Texas and he
trailered it to the next checkpoint. Kiecker is known to the IBR
administration as a relentless provocateur, a younger, slimmer version of
Eddie James. Mike Kneebone's usually calm demeanor went stratospheric in a
matter of milliseconds. He threatened to have the next person who asked
such a question doused with acid and set afire. The meeting moved along
more briskly after that.
At the opening banquet, Lisa Landry, a finisher on the 2001 IBR
and this year's rallymaster, took over the meeting to pass out name tags
and rally identification towels to the riders. Bob Hall received towel #1
in recognition of his status as defending champion. In 2001 when I was the
holder of towel #1, they told me the number represented my percentage
chance of reaching the first checkpoint in something other than an
ambulance. I thought it represented the rider's anticipated finishing
position. When Hoogeveen was handed towel #116, he sighed, "Of
course. Second to last. I can't even be last."
The riders and guests then filed out into the Holiday Inn's lobby
atrium. A moment later Michael Kneebone appeared on a second-floor balcony
decked out in a white robe and mitre, looking every bit the twin of Pope
Silver Wing the First. He gave a brief blessing to his children, wished
them a safe journey, and commanded them not to speed in school zones. The
audience over, the crowd disappeared --- some to plot routes to the first
checkpoint, some to hoist a glass in the bar, and some to scribble
furiously by candlelight in a cold, dark garret.
When I mentioned some of those missing in action above, I
neglected two because their stories are significantly different. One, Dan
Lowery, isn't here tonight because he is on his way back to Cody, Wyoming
to pick up his bike. It is recuperating from a blown whozit or a fractured
whatzit. We never use the word "race" in endurance rally circles, but at
this moment Lowery is in a legitimate race to retrieve his bike, chase back
up here to Missoula, obtain a timed receipt, and then head off to the first
checkpoint in Nevada. He will be hours behind the field; he will have no
chance to win the rally; he probably won't get a single bonus on the first
leg; but he will be on the road and running. That's all that matters to
him. Any one of these 117 riders can appreciate that.
Another MIA is Airyn Darling. She has never run an Iron Butt, but
she has worked on the last couple as a volunteer. Missoula isn't far from
her home in Seattle, and she had confidently expected to be
here. Unfortunately, conflicts with her work schedule at a wolf shelter
kept her from being here. She sent a despondent e-mail to me a few weeks ago.
I tried to console her. "You have to choose between the animals
that you can help and the animals that no one can help." Tonight the
animals that no one can help are but one restless night's sleep away from
the ride of their lives.
And with that I blow out my candle.

Bob Higdon
www.ironbutt.com
 
Dave,

Thanks for the post, I checked the IB website, Team Strange and the YB's but no one had the info you just posted.

Next time we meet I'll buy the first !

Craig Cleasby
South Windsor, CT
 
I'm cross posting it from the IBMWR list. I'll keep sending them over as I see them.

I sent Rob an email and told him to send pictures. He's probably somewhere in Nevada right about now, Monday night.
 
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