19 days

August 1.

I have been burning the numbers off a credit card ordering last minute bits and equipment. Using the very best of “Just in time” inventory control I have plenty of boxes arriving daily.

Tomorrow morning I am getting up early and taking the long way to Charlie’s place in Vermont. By early I mean around 3 so I have six hours to throw on 400 or so miles. After the day with Charlie I will do a good loop to end up in Heath, MA Friday evening. It is possible I could throw in a Saddle Sore Thursday night / Friday which would be nice.

Saturday I’ll leave to head to Virginia for a ship visit and if it all goes my way I’ll stay in the mid-Atlantic for an extra two days and see a second ship before heading home. The alternative is Heath – Norfolk – Bristol, RI (office) – Charleston, SC between Saturday and Thursday morning, not that I am afraid of mileage right now but time is a bit compressed. It would be nice to have an extra 36 hours or so between Norfolk and Charleston to ride new roads rather than a few more burns up and down I-95

So today is a big day, both for work and the amount of stuff the boys in brown should be sending my way. When I arrived this morning the first wave had arrived and the driver was just leaving. Karen, our office manager told me his computer told him he had three boxes but he could only find two on the truck. This is not cause for panic as he may be getting the box at noon or it may be on a different truck for delivery before 4.

I wonder which box it is.

Is it the seat?
Is it the box from Bio-Relief? (you don’t want to know)
Is it a box from Max?
Is it a box with vital cables from PC Connection?
Is it the box with the 3M clear paint protection film?
Is it something I forgot I even ordered but will really, really miss on day 10?

I have all of 19 days to figure it out.

20 days to go.

There is a number to give one pause, we are inside of the twenty day ring to the start of the rally.

On one hand I could (and probably should) have a good panic attack about my preparation right about now. The actual list of work to be completed is not really that large. I could make the list real short by simply having on item:

Get ready for the rally silly!

But that is a bit broad.

I am a detail oriented person or at least that is what I have been told. A number of years ago I was involved in the management and preparation of a new yacht for Key West Race Week, the largest and one of the most competitive regattas in North America. The captain of the boat who I respected greatly told me I was the “most detail orientated muth**rF**ker he had ever worked with which I took as a great compliment. I also took being called a workaholic a compliment too. I just like to be busy.

Once in while I get a bit freaked out over all the details on this bike, some of which I won’t have time to get to. When I get worried I look back on my previous rides and break the game to its most basic elements. I have a great bike, the lights work and I can navigate. I don’t need all the little extras to finish the rally but I do need to get my seat sorted out. Such is life at 19 days, my custom seat is giving me a wicked hot spot and it will be going back to Rocky for a little adjustment.

There is a huge amount of equipment involved in riding the IBR. I have been fanatical about trying to save weight, space and clutter by taking as little as possible. I will have two sets of just about everything with a plan to switch out at the mid-rally checkpoint back in St. Louis. Even so from things like an alternator belt and tools to lubrication for the ear plugs there must be space for everything and everything must have a space. I have got just about all of the “what” and most of the “where” figured out but I will still be refining this over the next two weeks. I remember a buddy giving me grief before the start of my first IBR as I packed and repacked the bike about a dozen times to make sure I knew where everything was and to try to calm rally jitters.

So in the next 15 days (I leave five days before the start) I will ride three thousand miles, spend a day in Vermont with Charlie attending to a few bits, spend a day at Max’s getting full service and attend my local club rally (the Damn Yankees Rally) in western Mass. I have a mile long work list on the bike and will spend every spare moment testing, packing and fine tuning my set-up.

Also in the next 15 days I am kicking off a 100k IT project at work and will visit two of our vessels, one in Virginia and the other in Savannah, GA or Baltimore to get them up to speed with our vessel management systems. In a nod to Andy Goldfine’s Ride To work day, I will ride to work on the ships.

Time to get crackin!

As the Iron Butt Rally has become as much as a navigational and routing exercise as much as a test of endurance a strong electrical system is very important. All BMW Motorcycles excel in this area with large alternators, however the RTP has a second battery and electrical system that is non-can bus and has various switched and non switched circuits. In my previous bikes the largest modifications came to the electrical system. By starting with the Police Motor the electrical system is ideally suited for modifications.

Here is a picture of the front of the bike. The extra lights are Hella FF200’s on top, Hella Micro DE on the bottom and Hella Fog lights on the crashbars. The top two sets are HID.

The lights do an amazing job of night time visibility. I recently did a quick training ride from Bristol, RI to the Cabot Trail and back, much of it in the dark. The amount of usable light is awesome and the edges of the road are well illuminated. I saw many deer that I am sure were always there but now I can see. I like it when I get the full “cranial cavity reflection” and if they are not on the shoulder I am pretty confident that they are fully “jacklighted” and will not move.

All these lights are mounted on stock brackets that were on the Police bike that would be expensive and difficult to fabricate for a stock RT. The switch gear is also Police stock and I can have multiple configurations depending on needs.

Here is a good shot of the left side of the bike.

Note the custom bags over the authority crash bars. Storage is tight on the RTP so I had these bags made to handle tools, first aid and other items I need to have but hope to never use.

My tankbag is custom made from Linda Tanner at customtankbags.com. She is an experienced LD Rider in her own right and makes great stuff. She made the bag on the RT base and I had a custom bracket made up for holding the display. The display is hinged and most of the time will be in the down position giving me a clear view of the GPS units and bike instruments.

The police radio box has been replaced with a custom 4.3 gallon auxiliary fuel tank which brings the total capacity of the bike to 11.3 gallons. For the IBR there is a 11.5 gallon limit so I should be ok.

On top of the fuel tank is a Hardigg storm case which contains all sorts of electrical bits and a Panasonic Toughbook computer. The display on the tankbag connects via wirelesss to the toughbook so I can have navigation and other information at my fingertips.

The display up.

And the display down

For GPS units I have a Garmin 2820 and a 2610. In my opinion the 2610 is the best GPS available, especially for rally use and the 2820 is a nice toy. The 2820 also has XM weather, traffic and music, bluetooth for a cell phone and the ability to store MP3 and audio books. The Garmin is interfaced with the JB / BMW comm system. This gives me CB, radar, phone, music and navigational prompts into the helmet.

In the photo above you can also see the two volt meters (police bike has two batteries stock) and LED lights for the fuel management / transfer system.

Hydration is an important and vital consideration when riding the Iron Butt Rally. In the past I have used camelbaks but after a few days wearing water on your bike becomes a pain in the ass. For 2007 Charlie came up with the bubba keg cooler which is mounted on a custom bracket. It also has quick release fittings and an in line washer pump. I can quick remove the cooler and take it into a truck stop for ice and I can get a nice drink by pushing a button!

As you can see plenty of thought and effort has gone into this bike. As in the past I tried to identify ways to save time, increase comfort and make the bike as reliable as possible. I studied past Iron Butt Rally reports. One story involved going down a rocky driveway / access road to a bonus when a rider on a K11LT bottomed out on a rock and put a hole in his oil pan.

This should not be a worry for me as I have a custom bash plate. I am pretty confident that this is the only R12RT with a bashplate!

As much as I would like to say I did all this work myself I do not have the skills, shop or time to handle this. The project and this bike would not be possible without Max and his buddy / race project builder / back woods savant and all around great guy Charlie.

Charlie lives in a secret location deep in the heart of Vermont. I met him a few years ago when Max was way to busy on a Friday and threw me the keys to his sprinter van and asked me to take his turbo GS project to Charlie. I ended up not only meeting Charlie (an experience any gear head needs to savor) but I wound up helping out a customer of Max’s with a flat tire too.

Charlie came up with the Bubba Keg Cooler, in comparison my idea sucked so I took Charlie’s good advice. This was to become a trend in the project, I would describe the issue and my ideas to Charlie and between the two of us (well mostly Charlie) a fantastic solution would emerge.

I am going to have a great time with this bike thanks to Charlie and Max!

Good morning,
Last night’s show with the Cat Empire was everything I hoped for and much more. They brought some serious energy to Lupos and I rocked the night away. it was a welcome diversion as I get a bit obsessive about the Rally.

Today’s topic is the Man who makes it possible for me to have the coolest bike in the rally. This would be none other than Max Stratton, of Max BMW Motorcycles.

Twenty Five Days to Go.

If I type it all out does it get any longer?

26 days to go and I am so not ready. I suppose that if the rally was on Monday I could be ready and that in my world I’ll never actually be “ready” so I’ll just do the best I can.

I have a few bike issues to sort out. I have had a chance to do the ride to the MOA National in West Bend with a long day being 600 miles and my little adventure on the Cabot Trail last weekend. My communications system is not quite right, I have a leak in the hydration system, my seat has a wicked hot spot and the aux fuel transfer system is not quite 100%. These are the big items.

On the little detail side the list is long and ever changing as I spend more time with the bike.

To address the issues above I need to strip all the bodywork off the bike which is a hassle and takes time. I don’t want to do this more than once or at the most twice between now and the rally and I don’t want to have it off for more than one day per session so scheduling is going to be key.

I also need to do a test load of my complete rally set up. I will be riding each weekend and doing simulated rallies while scouting bonus locations for the Minuteman 1000, an endurance rally I host along with the North East LD Riders in June.

Once I figure out where everything is going to live I can attack some smaller details such as installing the bungee buddies (tie down points) on the panniers and if I will need to add a small briefcase on top of the Storm Case.

So tonight rather than attack the bike I will be heading into Providence with my son Dillon and his friend Eva to see the Cat Empire at Lupos Heartbreak Hotel. I am a big fan of good music and I am delighted that my son and I can enjoy the same bands. He turned me onto the Cat Empire and I introduced him to Modest Mouse. It is a blessing and a curse when your 15 year old wants to borrow your I-Pod and your best headphones.

Speaking of Modest Mouse they are playing Cleveland, OH the night I leave Bristol for the Iron Butt Rally. I can’t think of a better way to blow off a little pre rally steam than an evening with Modest Mouse so I have two tickets.

I think we could all agree that it would be really dumb to take the FJ to the show with the RTP on the trailer or try to park the whole rig at a hotel downtown. I’m looking for a like minded individual who might have a place in the western suburbs for me to leave the trailer for the evening. If you like Modest Mouse and want to see the show I am sure arrangements can be made especially if you might want to put a weary traveler on your sofa or even in a tent in the backyard.

One of the greatest misconceptions of the Iron Butt Rally is that it is a race or we go flying around the country at mach 10.

Rather than get all wound up about this I will ask that if you are a rider next time you are done with a long ride on the interstate, think about going out and doing it again. And again. And again. For an Iron Butt rider your long ride is a half day of 22 half days. It is exhausting enough without trying to beat every car on the road. I like finding the right flow and using as much information as possible to avoid big tie ups. Better to sleep an hour than go 10 miles in a traffic jam.

I’ll admit that on a Sunday ride with the Sled Dogs I like to ride a spirited pace with one or at the most two good buddies. After both IBR’s my first ride with the Sled Dogs had me feeling like they were riding fast. The Iron Butt Rally is not about burning a tank faster, it is about going further on a tank and then doing it over and over again.

Running around at extra-legal speeds is simply too fatiguing and over the course of 11 days too hard on the equipment. The odds will catch up with someone who travels faster than the speed of surrounding traffic and if they are lucky it will only be a citation vs a wreck. Iron Butt Riders have an incredible safety record considering the millions of rally miles we have and road side chats with Law Enforcement cost more time than going the extra 10 mph was gaining. Best to stay under the radar so to speak.

Where the event is “time competitive” is, believe it or not, when we are not moving. Let’s be realistic, in the modern IBR there are 20 or even 30 riders who are serious about doing their best which means they all have a chance at the top ten or even top five. The top tier is getting more competitive and everyone has the same mileage potential with a few having more than the rest of us so the gains will have to come when we are not moving or reducing the number of reasons we need to stop. I call it efficiency.

For example I block my time in the following increments

• Six Minutes (Full load of fuel)
• Ten Minutes (Full load of fuel, inside to get water and bars.)
• Fifteen Minutes (Gas Major, includes some time in the washroom.)
• Twenty Five Minutes (Nap on grass)
• Rest Bonus (sleep)

the average rider on a 200 plus mile road trip will take 20 minutes to get gas and they may stop twice in such a ride. When in the my grove I can go 400 miles, stop 10 minutes and go at least another 200 before taking a 20 minute road side nap so I had 10 minutes less saddle time than the average, covered two to five percent more miles and had a nap. My goal is to either be moving, getting fuel, obtaining points or sleeping.

For eleven days.

What exactly is the Iron Butt? It is an eleven day scavenger hunt on steroids. It is also a chance for you to meet all the demons you carry, even the ones you didn’t know about. It is a grand game, a huge personal challenge and the motorcycle touring version of sprinting up Mt. Everest all in the name of fun.

The night before the start riders are presented with a Rally Book that will contain a number of locations scattered about the United States and Canada. Based on the information in the book riders develop a route that gets them to a mandatory checkpoint at a specified time.

Before getting their rally books, riders must pass a technical inspection to insure the motorcycle meets the rules. We are given a rally flag with our number, an emergency contact card we must wear around our necks and a name tag that must be worn at all functions including scoring.

The concept of the rally is simple, riders choose locations from the rally book to visit and complete specific tasks such as taking a photo, answering a question or making a purchase to claim the points associated with the bonus location. Additionally we can also get points for keeping a fuel log and taking minimum rest stops. It is a good idea to bag these points, they take little effort for something you need to do anyway. Unfortunately in 2005 I lost a fuel receipt that was also an anchor to a rest period. This one lost receipt dropped me from sixth to sixty-third at the scoring table after the first leg which was very difficult to recover from.

2005 was a tough rally for me. I had some personal issues that boiled over in the winter before the rally and it was difficult to get in the right frame of mind for the ride which likely contributed to my loosing the receipt. I also did not do a single competitive or documented ride between 03 and 05.

07 is going much better. I rode the Void Rally last fall with my good friend Peter Withers and we tied for first. I did the Cape Fear Rally this spring with a focus on some new navigation and paperwork methods and was happy with the result even though I had to pretty much disqualify myself for a rookie mistake.

For me part of the game is preparing the motorcycle. My background is in preparing ocean going sailing yachts for racing offshore such as Newport, Rhode Island to Bermuda. Systems must be tested and able to endure the punishment of the event without failure. I believe in doing everything possible to identify situations where time can be saved and errors minimized. While it is a game with someone keeping score for me I really want to have a ride I can be proud of and have fun too boot. If I didn’t think it was going to be fun I couldn’t get up for it.

Welcome,

I am preparing for the 2007 Iron Butt Rally which is in 27 days, 21 hours, 9 minutes and 10 seconds from now., not that I am paying attention to time or anything. (you can stop trying to check the post time to the actual start time, I noted the time when I started blogging, silly)

This will be my third IBR. I finished my first in 2003 on a BMW K11LT. It was a great bike but it met it’s demise on the rally. I hit oil outside of Moab, Utah and pretty much destroyed the left side of the bike. I got a flatbed into town and thanks to the good folks at Moab Off Road I was able to get the valve cover welded and rejoined the rally the next morning.

My dearly departed K 11.

After collecting myself I finshed the rally in 23rd place which was good enough for a silver medal. I felt pretty good about the finish and decided to try again in 2005.

For ’05 I purchased a R1150GS Adventure from Max Stratton of MAX BMW Motorcycles. I’ll talk more about Max later, he has become a good friend and a big supporter of my IBR efforts.

The 2004 GS Adventure I rode in 2005.

For 2007 I have a 2006 BMW R1200 RTP with the P standing for Police as in Authority Motor.

The intent of my blog is to discuss the build of the Police bike and what it is like during the final 20 or so days before the Iron Butt Rally.