On June 30 I posted the following status update on my Facebook page.

Friends, Tomorrow I start my fourth Iron Butt Rally. I’m looking forward to a great time on two wheels and seeing my sweetheart at the finish. I’m not in it to win it but I figure I have a good shot at beating my best finish. To those who have asked for my tracking information I’m sorry but we’ve been instructed / asked not to share this sort of information. You can follow everyone’s progress on the IBR page: http://www.ironbuttrally.com/IBR/2013.cfm

To those who have sent me good vibes thank you very much. Cheer for me to finish and I feel confident we’ll all be happy with the results. Bet on me to win and you’ll likely lose your shirt.

Here is the story of my ride in the 2013 Iron Butt Rally.

After my first rally in 2003, I labeled The Iron Butt Rally an 11 day “Scavenger Hunt on Steroids;”   As far as results go it was my best finish (23) along with being an epic ride as I slipped on some oil outside of Moab, Utah, tearing a hole in my valve cover and removing most of the glass and plastic from one side of my motorcycle, yet still made the next checkpoint on time.

I came back with a BMW R1150 GS Adventure in 2005 along with the support of a great dealer; Max BMW Motorcycles.  There was a bit of fun and hype in ’05 with Max featuring me and my bike in some advertisements in some BMW publications.  Hype is no guarantee of success but I did enjoy a Gold Medal finish however I was still mid pack on points.

In the spring of 2006 a casual conversation with some executives from BMW resulted in my coming to own a BMW R1200RTP with the P designating a police bike.  This bike was a marvel of engineering and planning.  It came with a gaggle of switches for lights, sirens, radios and such. We used each one.  The bike was dubbed the spaceship and I was looking forward to meeting my goal of a top ten finish.  From the if only files I was well on my way to a top ten when the final drive gave up the ghost in Edmonton while on my way to Alaska. 

This was to say the least a very painful experience.  I had built what I felt was the “prefect” rally bike only to have it succumb to an issue that BMW did their best to deny existed.  I became the poster child for every flaw in the drive train of a BMW built from 1999 to 2010.  The relationship between a boy and his horse is vital to his success and after driving the rear shock through the swing arm scouting Minuteman bonuses I sold the bike on e-bay for 8 grand and a  promise to never call me.  I like to think we both got a good deal.

Since 07 life has been busy, busy enough that I entered and did not start 09 and 11.  I got divorced, remarried, watched my father succumb to Parkinson’s and my employer of 21 years get caught up in the economic crisis; forcing a AMEX listed company to liquidate, leaving me under-employed as I decide to do with life after the big 5-oh.  I’ve also become a “stunt father” to my new niece, a delightful 10 year old who is now living with us.

They say you have to be certain kind of crazy to want to do the Iron Butt Rally, I wonder what they would say about someone who is doing it to relax.

I looked forward to the Iron Butt Rally as a vacation, eleven days just for me and my motorcycle. Having been in it to win it I knew there was no way I’d be able to dedicate the time and resources to be ready to compete at the top, while at the same time another DNF would be completely unacceptable.  One thing I was sure I didn’t have the juice for was to “trick out” another bike, or dedicate close to 20k on a dedicated rally bike.  I’ve also evolved in my approach to the bike and the rally; gone is the appeal of extra buttons, pumps or bells and whistles.  I wanted a bike that when rolling would look like any other bike out on tour, not some sort of geeks wet dream or something that would be called a spaceship.

Just a guy on a bike heading north on I 5.  Photo courtesy Maura Gatensby

 I ended up adding some bits to my BMW R1200GS Adventure.  With a stock fuel capacity of 8.9 gallons, a riding position I love and the comfort of a boxer twin I already owned what in my opinion would make a fine platform for a big ride.

My original plan was to leave the bike as close to stock as possible.  I planned on not mounting a second fuel tank, fancy water jug, pumps and all that.  This was before I started channeling my inner Eddie James.  I could write volumes about Eddie; he was a friend who served as the rallymaster for the first event I entered; the Butt Lite II in 2000.  We rode together a little in 2003 and for the last few days of the 2005 Iron Butt Rallies.  Sadly he left us too early as a victim of a motorcycle accident in Atlanta a few years ago but I carry him in my heart whenever I rally.  Eddie would never consider entering an IBR with anything less than maximum fuel so I came up with a nifty aux fuel design that utilized the stock mounting points for the Adventure rack and worked by gravity.  No pump required.  For a top box I mounted the same Hardigg storm case I used in 2005 to the top of the fuel tank, for hydration I put a platypus water bladder on top of the storm case, again no pump required.  I felt I was on to something as one of my major build goals was to make a IBR bike that I could convert back to a woods weapon in a few hours *and* I really wanted to keep the weight down.  Using the stock mounts and standard switched (electrical) sockets on the GS I was able to accomplish this easily.  My bike will be back to stock and in the woods 5 days after finishing the rally.

For navigation I wanted to return to the active screen I used in 2007 however I was very interested improvements to be gained from 2007 when I ran a remote display slaved to a laptop in the topcase.  This time the cornerstone of my set-up was a Panasonic Toughpad.  This is a recently released military spec tablet running Windows.  I configured it to run Windows 7 Pro, Delorme’s Street Atlas and Adobe reader.  Using a fax to email service I was able to get the paper rally book converted to a searchable .PDF file.  I did my planning on a full sized laptop, then transferred the files to the tablet using a USB stick.

I was not able to get the tablet until early April and the mount wasn’t available until mid May.  This didn’t leave me much time to practice or get familiar with the tablet but I figured by the end of leg 1 I’d have it well sorted out, one way or another.  I finished the bike three weeks before the rally, then went to a motorcycle rally in Johnstown, PA as a demo rider for Yamaha.  Interestingly enough we rode the incline and I mentioned to fellow IB Rally vet and co-worker Pete Withers that this could be a bonus in the rally.

By the time I left for the start I put about 750 miles on my bike in rally trim.  I wasn’t ready but I was somewhat confident that because of the simplicity of the modifications that there was nothing done that could be a ride stopper.  If all failed I had a laptop, Zumo and a stack of index cards along with the mantra of “no drama.”  If it doesn’t work move on.  In each rally past I’ve spent some time in a truck stop fiddling with this or that and getting worked up that something isn’t just right.  I was determined through either redundancy or a I don’t care attitude that I’d be able to avoid reaching for tools this time around.  Bluetooth and simple electrical wiring made this a reality.

I only wish the bike looked this good now.

  Next:

Let the Games begin