Unlike the riders focused on points I didn’t dip south after Vancouver. I had a great ride through British Columbia and Montana, so great that tomorrow (8.13) I’m packing up the truck with the bikes on the trailer to head back. My wife (she of the real job) is flying into Denver and we’re going on a 11 day tour.<\/p>\n
There are many different motivators for riding the Iron Butt Rally. It really is the Mt. Everest of street riding; this time almost a third of the riders who attempted to finish the rally did not. To be a finisher of the Iron Butt Rally is to accomplish something that fewer people have done than have climbed the real Mt. Everest. For others it is the competitive aspect, which thanks in part to the Internet and the easy publicity it brings has been on the rise in recent years. While it is great to watch the riders in it to win it at work, it gives me pause when a first time rider takes this approach.<\/p>\n
Then there are the folks such as myself who know full well we are likely never to stand on the podium yet we keep coming back for more. For us the Iron Butt Rally is one of the greatest games on two wheels. It is incredibly well managed, fair and so much fun that multiple riders with no chance at a prize enter time and time again. The friendships made and camaraderie shared through the common experience are enduring.<\/p>\n
In my case it was to put away the sting of the DNF in 2007. I was in that rally to be on the podium and my approach was not unlike how I prepared sailboats for national championships. At the end of the day I was more prepared to win than to deal with mechanical issues and ultimately that’s why I did not finish. At most Iron Butt Association events there comes a time when they introduce folks that have finished the IBR. The speaker will start by inviting everyone who has finished the IBR to stand, then remain standing if you’ve finished two, then three until there is only one rider standing. Every time I attended such an event and had to sit at two it was like picking at an old wound. This year the man most often the last standing did not finish the rally due to a mechanical gremlin; I can imagine how he feels. The other painful memory of 07 was meeting Chace at the finish. She got to see me at my lowest and I know it wasn’t any fun yet she still married me. It was very important to me that the finish of 2013 would be a wonderful contrast.<\/p>\n
This is what I thought about often during the rally; the finish and some happiness for both of us. When I starting getting too ambitious, or hard on the equipment I thought of how much it sucked for her to have to deal with such a wet blanket in 07. It is why I ran such a conservative rally, this was not the year to worry about points or beating “that guy” whoever it may be. This was the year to finish and get a big hug.<\/p>\n