Category: Iron Butt Rally 2013

After midnight. Route of the first leg of the ET2014 is planned. It will be a flower picking ride despite the rain. Leg 2 will bring a monster route, but I will decide it at the checkpoint hotel in Brno on Monday night. Yes, Brno in the Czech Republic.

This is what we received as bonus point locations for BOTH legs. Note the accumulation of high points in Ireland and the Iberian Peninsula. 

So Stuttgart to Brno is just a warm-up before it gets….spectacular!

Tomorrow start at 7 a.m. for me.

So here I am, about to go to bed, because in 5 hours we will set of for this year’s Brit Butt Rally. For the first time, I’m the defending champion. Rally master John Young has prepared a tricky rally again, I had to do a lot of number crunching, but I think I found a good route. Lots of nuts to crack. The only problem is that I have to go the only place where there will be the only rainfall in the UK: Cornwall. And then the bank holiday traffic. And some boat trip as well…My Pan is ready and so am I.

You can follow my spot as usual:

https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=10c4d573dc751c73e7

At the end of a successful year, why not riding a new little rally just for fun? In two hours, I will start on a 8 h rally through East Anglia that was designed by Mark Fowler to attract newcomers. As a veteran, I’ll get a handicap. And I have already chosen another one by riding with a 1985 XBR500. Yes, the one that won the BBL 2014, hehe.

you can follow my spot under

https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=eda655fcf601581ed

I just woke up after a seven hour nap on the sofa – just before moving to bed, I need to drop some quick lines…

First, my apologies for the not working SPOT link. I had picked two packages of batteries, but unfortunately both of them contained used ones. I hoped that the old batteries would still work, but no.

Well, I had opted for the route to Poland and had a good ride. I had a good ride to the Baltic sea and stayed even 30 minutes in the sea, 3 m under sea level :-)

I could follow my plan and I knew that my choice was right – the option of Denmark was too tricky and included very bad weather. I never had ridden so carefully in a rally, my long lasting rear tyre was a nightmare to ride under wet conditions. Although there was only one hour of rain, the roads were wet for many hours. So I had to take it easy, especially riding for hours through polish back roads at night. Arriving well had top priority.

I was called to the podium together wich Peter and John. The order of the BBL rally some weeks ago was reversed and John came second and I defended my title – again. For the third time in a row, I had won the German Butt Rally.

A great rally that deserves a report. But later, I first need some more sleep :-)

Ok, so it’s time to get to bed. My route is planned. When you read this, I will be already on my way.

We start after 6:15 in the morning near Bielefeld (D) and will return 24 hours later. There are basically two winning routes: to Denmark or to Poland. I chose one of them.

You can follow my SPOT live under

https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=eb0955e8af58b824a

enjoy!

A couple of hours and I will ride this year’s BBL Rally, the little brother of the Brit Butt Rally: it’s only 12 hours instead of 36 hours, but it will be a short, but very demanding rally. At the moment, I am still the champion of the BBR15 AND the BBL14. Will I be able to defend the title? Rather unlikely, in this short rally, everything has to run perfectly and I miss the local knowledge.

you can follow my spot here:
https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=e0a255a519aa250b0

I slept great that night. I got up late, had a long, relaxed breakfast and hit the road at 9:30 a.m. I went east on the same I-80 I rode west two days earlier. I entered Wyoming, but this time I crossed it under blue skies. In Cheyenne, I kept on straight and crossed the border to Nebraska. Nevada was arid, Wisconsin was hilly, but Nebraska was grassy. Only grass, grass, grass. And the road went straight forever. I basically stopped only for petrol every five hours and combined it with some food uptake so I could keep changing gears to a minimum. It was still a mess to get back in fifth gear, but I had regained confidence that I could make it back to the rally finish. I wanted to be there when all the riders would return. It’s a special atmosphere; no wonder the event attracts so many spectators. I estimated that I could arrive on the evening of the eleventh day; I had already my booking and I would be able to watch the arrival before the dead line of 8 a.m. the morning after. That meant two days of straight riding…..riding….riding….riding…..OMMMMmmmmmm……..

You think you would get bored a lot; you’d have a lot of time to think, to cuss and lament your past decisions. Or to drown yourself in self-pity.

None of all this. My mind was blank as I rode through these endless plains. Before the rally, I had set up the electronics so I could hear music while riding, but so far I hadn’t made use of it. And even now, I didn’t need, I didn’t want it. Just riding…..riding…..riding…..ommmmmmmm……

On day 9 of the rally, weird things start to happen to the riders. I had read all kinds of stories about this. I heard veterans talk of the weirdest things that happened to them. Apart from the physical effects that are mainly caused by sleep deprivation, it’s the mental effects that haunt the riders. Taking wrong decisions, confusion, unawareness and the like. Your internal battery is simply running out of energy.

But this was not a problem for me any more, wasn’t it? I was basically out of the rally and I could stop any time. Around 7 p.m., I got hungry and decided to stop in the next town. I was a bit exhausted, it had been a hot day and I felt like toast. Let’s enjoy the shelter of an air-cooled McDonalds and its delicious products. When I was sitting there, I looked at a counter opposite of me.

Hm, I thought, they installed it badly, it’s not vertical, but a bit tilted. Hm, actually, the whole wall is tilted. Wow, what a crap work. But how can a whole ceiling be lower at the right end than at the left end? I looked to the right. There it’s the same. And the left side? As well. Was the whole building tilted?

Wait. Again. Look straight: (skewed lines), look right (skewed lines), look behind (skewed lines), look left (skewed lines)…that didn’t make sense! All right corners were lower than the left corners!

I looked at the semi-transparent cup with Coke in front of me. The liquid surface level on the left wall of the cup was higher than the one next to the right wall….

This…..was….creepy. Very.….creepy.

I tried not to freak out. Let’s be logic. Unless the laws of Newtonian physics had ceased to exist inside this building (and I had no reason to assume this), there must be a proper explanation. Let’s see…in the past 9 days, I had ridden way more than 11000 km (6830 mls) with minimum sleep on a small bike, had barely had time to eat or rest, was roasted by the sun during the last three days, felt physically and mentally tired…what could possibly go wrong????

By stepwise exclusion of the more unlikely explanations (I skipped the assumption of a crack in the space-time-continuum very quickly), I came to the conclusion that something must be wrong with me. Hmmm. Assess yourself! What’s your name? Where do you live? What’s your birthday? Why are you here? Etc etc. The answers I gave to myself seemed quite reasonable so it must have something to do with my perception or vision. For the rest, I felt quite OK, it was just that I had the impression that everything leaned a bit to one side. Like on a ship that rolls to the right. OK, maybe it was a good idea to call it a day soon.

I mounted the bike and went back on the I-80. The next hotel stopover is the only hotel of the whole three-week stay in the US and Canada that I can’t remember any more. According to my spot, I must have stopped in Ogallala one hour later. I remember that I noticed on the road that all posts were leaning 2 to 3 degrees to the right and all bridges over the highway were higher at the left side than at the right side. I had concluded it was time for a rest.

The next morning, after a long, refreshing sleep, I woke up and I studied the ceiling of the hotel room. Hm, it seemed to be vertical. A good sign. I had a relaxed breakfast and left again at 9 a.m. There is little to report from day 10. The only change in the landscape was the arrival to Iowa: suddenly it turned into green farmland with occasional trees. I hardly remember anything of that day apart riding on a straight highway.. After a while, the optical illusion came back. As it was better in the morning, I concluded that it must be a stress symptom or a bad posture on the bike. The effect wore off after the rally so I guess it was a matter of brain overload. After the rally I had dinner with two other riders and told them this story. They confirmed both that they had observed similar effects.

I passed Omaha, Des Moines, Davenport…at 8 p.m. I entered Illinois and one hour later, I stopped at the Hampton Inn in Peru. No, not in South America. Peru, Illinois. I had a relaxed dinner and I knew I could make it back to the rally finish the next day: only 810 km (520 mls) left.

The next morning I got up even later than the other days. At 10 a.m. I left the hotel. As I knew that I would pass Chicago, I finally switched on the iPad and my head set and listened to The Blues Brothers when I passed Joliet and Chicago. This was the first time I listened to music. But the landscape was not monotonous any more and I had only a few hours to go. However, a well-known effect occurred: if you are not under pressure and you know you’ll arrive in time, the final stretch gets eeeendless. I stopped for lunch at a rest area and found this interesting place cover on the table:

At 4 p.m. I crossed the border to Ohio, 440 km (275 mls) to the finish. The remaining miles seemed endless….Hello Pennsylvania, only 77 km (48 mls) to go….So in the end I would make it back to the finish! Bravo, little XBR! I had done it! I rode the toughest motorcycle rally in the world! I would not be a finisher, but I knew that without the transmission problem, I would have made it. Of course there remains always a certain bitterness about the bad luck, but this is part of LD rallying. Failure doesn’t bring you down, but it teaches you a lesson about modesty. It draws your attention back to what your priorities are, in life and in rallying.

When I exited the I-76 with only one mile to go, I thought that the shuffle mode on the iPad had selected the most appropriate song for the finish: “nada de esto fue un error” (none of this was a mistake). Laughing and giggling, I sang the song full-throated. At 8:29 p.m., I arrived back at the Marriott in Cranberry Township, after 10.5 days and 8596 miles (13830 km). Nobody was there to cheer and welcome me. But this was no surprise, I was almost 12 hours too early. When I parked my bike on the parking, I saw the little green Ninja 250 standing there. Poor bugger, I thought, so we share the same fate in the hopeless class. While I write this, Kurt Wolden is still going in Leg 3 of the IBR2015 with 24 h to the finish – let’s hope he makes it this time!

I checked in, had a shower and went to the restaurant where I had an entertaining dinner with the rally’s daily poet Bob Higdon who could not believe it when he saw me there eating my large chunk of steak accompanied by a glass of nice red wine:

“Robert went missing a few days ago after he began to experience gear
box problems with his Honda XBR. Imagine our surprise last night when we went
into the hotel’s dining room and found one of our favorite German riders
contentedly eating dinner and having a glass of wine. Excuse me? Where did
you come from? He explained that he had never been able to get the bike
repaired, so he just learned how to jiggle the shift lever around enough to keep
rolling toward Cranberry Township. He’s a non-finisher, but he’s here and that’s
all that matters to us.”

A whole paragraph in the final concluding report of the rally. For the wrong reason, though…LOL.

From there on, I was able to blog again, so I don’t want to repeat myself, but I just want to refer to my posts from that time:

Back at the finish

The riders are coming back

After the rally…

So, no IBR for me this year, but as I still have some unfinished business there….what about 2017? ;-)

I hope you enjoyed the reports over the last days. I surely have forgotten a lot of the details in the last two years, but the great moments did not fade.

The IBR riders have reached the second checkpoint hotel in Tennessee in some extremely bad weather. By this time, they have already left the checkpoint, starting Leg 3 to end the rally back in Albuquerque.

In 2013, the morning rider meeting was similar to the one of the first leg, but Tom Austin made a surprising announcement: to be a finisher of the Ironbutt Rally 2013, you needed to have at least 60.000 points! I had expected a threshold of only 45.000. That was a huge blow to my aspirations to become a finisher. I checked the standings: I dropped from 36th to 74th place (out of 90 riders that were still in the game). The reason was that I missed the huge points (>8000) from Pikes Peak. The ranking was not the problem: I had 30362 points at that moment which meant that I needed almost another 30000 points! My hopes were that I could choose a northern route back to Pittsburgh to avoid the heat in the south. I had followed John’s advice to cut the lower part of the fairing to prevent overheating, but still I preferred to avoid the big heat. When I checked the rally book for Leg 3, I learned very quickly that the northern route via San Francisco and Vancouver would not give me enough points. In a frustrated mood, I built a southern route that would give me enough points, but would be difficult to arrive in time:

I needed to go down to New Orleans and it was clear that a similar effort like in Leg 2 would necessary to achieve this goal.

In retrospect, I made a a horrible mistake in my planning: in order to speed up the selection of locations in the GPS program, I took all locations from all three legs and deleted the locations from leg 1 and leg 2. As a result, I would have all the locations from Leg 3, wouldn’t I? It did not come to my mind that point from Leg 1 or 2 would be re-used in Leg 3 with a higher point value. This error I will never commit again.

All I needed was to leave. It was a nice and sunny morning with moderate temperatures (the previous afternoon had been very hot). In the parking I changed some words with a spectator that was interested in my bike. I mentioned that I should have got me lighter gloves for such a hot climate – he said “wait a minute”, went to his car and came back with some used DIY gloves. He insisted that I should use them instead my warm leather gloves. Thanks, mate! I still have the gloves.

I left the checkpoint at 8:45 a.m. Los Angeles, here I come! My plan was to bag four big bonuses going south in California. I was riding on a freeway with a 60 mph limit in some congested traffic, when suddenly Giel Kerkhof passed me. In the US, filtering/lane splitting is forbidden, except in California. I remembered this now and I thought “it’s still cool, let’s have some fun!” and tried to follow Giel. His huge Harley zoomed through the line of cars and I tried to follow. Not an easy task, but I managed. This was indeed fun and lasted about 20 minutes when we needed to take an exit. When we went on a ramp, I wanted to switch down gears, but I couldn’t! What was this? I managed to get over the ramp with a sliding clutch, but then I had to stop next to the road. The fifth gear would not move. Yes, this has been a quick ride, but not faster than usual and the temperature was still moderate…I couldn’t shift the gears any more.

There comes a moment when you know: “that’s it. It’s over.”

I knew that the rally stopped here. I would not be a finisher of the Ironbutt Rally 2013.

But there was no time to be disappointed. My brain switched directly from “rally” to “survival” mode. I had to fix this. How could I do this? Where’s the next Honda garage? I asked two guys with a pick up truck who told me an address. Later they even offered me to take the bike there after they had delivered something. I tried to shift gears again. BANG! Fourth gear! It worked! BANG! Third! BANG! Second! First! Hmmm, maybe the thing healed itself? (Desperate escapism, isn’t it?). I wanted to give it a try…after 1 km, I stopped again…the first three gears worked, but I could not engage the fourth one. All right, that’s that. I made some phone calls and informed my lady at home and Lisa the rally master. I wanted to go back to Sacramento to find a garage. With MJ’s help, I planned to go to a dealer on the way back. Lisa had warned me that on Monday, dealers would be closed.

I went back to the freeway and rode in third gear to that address. Of course, it was closed. What now? Let’s go back to the rally hotel…John responded to my text message and phoned me, so I pulled over and talked to him. I never will forget the moment when a motorbike cop stopped next to me, his facial expression motionless behind his aviator sunglasses…”John, wait a second, there’s an officer that wants to talk to me….yes, Sir?”

“Is there a problem?”

“Er, no Sir.”

I was afraid I had broken some unknown law by phoning on a bike on the side walk, but apparently I didn’t, for he rode off not without giving me this “I’ll remember your face, boy” look. So I went back north to Sacramento. In third gear. The rally was basically over for me, but that was not the problem at the moment. The problem was not to get back to Pittsburgh, the problem was to be at Toronto airport in seven days! That was my goal now. What would I do if the bike would break down? A 27 year old bike that was never sold in the US? Even if I would find an open garage, what could they do? Was this caused by overheating? Well, the rally was definitely over, I would not dare to cross the Mojave desert with this problem.  And there weren’t enough bonus points on the way back to the finish. So Toronto airport became my objective. What’s the direct route? 2500 miles (4000 km)…six days and nights….if I would go in third gear, I could do at 70 km/h (43 mph)…that would be tedious, but possible. Crazy, though. But what options did I have? I needed to take that plane, or otherwise I’d be confronted with a massive financial and logistic disaster. Maybe I should try the fourth gear?….I tried it, but the fourth gear wouldn’t stay in it’s position….until it worked! The fifth, gear, however, would not remain in its position. But at least my riding speed was increased to 100 km/h (63 mph)!

Some minutes later, I tried the fifth gear again, and after some jiggling, the fifth gear stayed in it’s position! Yes! Let’s roll. But when I had to switch down gears with some terrible noise, it was difficult to install the fourth and firth gear again. But this was less of a problem: after Sacramento, I turned eastbound on the I-80 again: the sat nav made a distance calculation to Pittsburgh I’ll never forget: “follow the road for 2489 miles”.

I went back on the road that I came from the day before. Up in the mountains, I took one of the few pictures on the way back.

On my way through Nevada, I had a lot of time to think. I went at some 65-70 mph (105-112 km/h) as I was not in a hurry any more. What had happened? I still have no answer. Gear box problems of XBRs are basically unheard of. Well, my first gear box lasted 232.000 km (144.000 mls) until the second gear died. I had expected that something similar would happen one day to this gear box as well. Since I had placed it, it never had the smoothness of normal gear boxes and lately, the second gear would jump out a little bit too often. But problems with fifth AND fourth gear, out of the blue?? That doesn’t make sense. Was I riding too hard? Not really, I was going faster than usually during the rally, but in Europe, I ride a lot harder than that. The temperature was still cool in the morning, so overheating is unlikely, the oil temperature was hot, but in a normal range. I categorised this as “simply bad luck”.

The gearbox was tricky to use, but slowly I learned to engage the fourth and fifth gear. The bitter thing is: the bike made it back, and I was riding it a couple of thousand kilometres in Europe afterwards. I still haven’t replaced it to this day. It’s tricky to shift gears, but it’s possible. Should I have tried to continue the rally? In retrospect: yes! But you have to assess the situation always under the light of the moment. I had taken the right decision. Would this rally have taken place in Europa, I would have risked it. But not on a different continent.

So I went slow, but steady and at half an hour past midnight, I arrived again at the Hampton Inn in Salt Lake City. The lady at the desk was surprised again. “You’re back? from Sacramento??”. This time, I was not in a hurry, I did not set the alarm clock….

On that day, I was mentioned in the Bob Higdon’s daily bulletin of the rally: “Robert Koeber lost the top gear in his Honda XBR500. Since his initial report we have heard nothing further from him. Something makes me believe he has an international following. I got an e-mail today from a fan of his in Sweden.” Unless you are a top rider, it’s usually not desirable to appear in Higdon’s brilliant reports. It means something unlucky, terribly stupid or very embarrassing has happened to you.

The riders are heading east. It’s interesting to follow the spots and the bulletins from the rally HQ. Day 6 is an intermediate day, time

to go for the big mile. Day 7 means getting to the checkpoint in time. In a couple of hours, the riders will arrive in Kingsport, Tennessee.

I started my night shift from St. Louis. I followed the I-70 to the west. The cone of my 22W LED headlight illuminated the highway. The traffic got more and more quiet and soon I was in a steady-state mode: the road, the dark night, the humming XBR and I. This monotonous rhythm was my companion for the next hours. Thanks to my Russell seat, I did not have any pain, it was like sitting on your sofa at home. I was going at 80 – 85 mph (130 – 138 km/h), that means at a speed that was over the speed limit, but would probably not cause the road police to act. At least this was the recommendation I got from the IBR veterans. I was not carrying the radar warner and at that speed, it did not seem to be necessary.

I noticed that another bike was catching up. It followed me for a while and I could feel the curious looks of the rider in my back. Then the bike passed me slowly, the rider greeted me and then he opened the throttle. Wroooooooom. The bike disappeared into the darkness. Whoa. I looked at my speedometer. 85 mph. How fast was this bike?? I had recognized the bike, it was one of the top riders (no name revealed here). OK, so this was how it worked.

I still was not tired so I continued my ride. I passed Kansas City and the big plains welcomed me again. After half an hour, I did note that I got tired. Well, I was in the middle of nowhere. The only chance was checking in the “Ironbutt Motel”, i.e. sleeping by the side of the road. But there was no rest area. I continued, slowly fighting against the upcoming sleep. I had slept only a couple of hours the previous night, fix the tyre problem and had ridden about 900 miles (1450 km). No wonder I was tired. On the other hand I had still at least 1800 mls (2900 km) ahead of me. And only about 40 hours left. On a little XBR 500.

It began to dawn on me that there was no time for a stop at a hotel. OK, the Ironbutt Motel  then. Finally, at a quarter to 1 a.m., I stopped at the Topeka service area and looked for a quiet place. I found a dark spot under a tree. I set my “screaming meanie” 120 db alarm clock and laid down in the grass, leaving the helmet with my earplugs on. I was really tired, but I needed my time to come down. Approximately 30 min. After another 30 min of sleep, the infernal alarm clock went off. A powerful power nap. I felt refreshed. I continued my ride.

At 3:20, I needed to stop for petrol and had a light breakfast. I was still tired, but I had to push on. Finally darkness faded – but bad weather turned up. I stopped and put on my rain suit. I considered to stop at a motel but again, there was nothing out there. I was tired, but I had some distraction: I needed to fight against the rain and the wind. And where was a toilet when you needed one? Finally I tried my luck in the open desert – assessing the right wind direction is essential! The rain vanished slowly, the arid landscape got a little greener again. And the I-70 continues in a long line. At a quarter past eight, I stopped for another fuel stop. What, another 500 km have passed? I took another real breakfast. It was sunny, a lovely morning, but I felt very tired. Probably I needed another power nap.

At 10 a.m., I gave in and stopped at a parking area and looked for a spot in the shadow of a tree. The same story. 20 minutes to come to rest, 30 min of sleep. But again, the nap was refreshing. Soon I left the I-70 and took the Highway 24 towards Colorado Springs.

Around noon, I got to the first bonus point location since 18 hours ago. It was the airplane restaurant. I met Kurt Wolden there; he and his Kawasaki Ninja 250 were even more “hopeless class” then I was. Respect! I went north to Denver and I wondered why the XBR showed signs of lost power. Was there a problem? But then I had an idea…I checked the altitude on my GPS…I was riding at 1800 m (6000 ft)! Whoa! No wonder the XBR rode a bit sluggish. I t would have been the moment to opt for Pikes Peak, but this convinced me that this was no match for my 498 cc, one cylinder motor with carburetor.

In Denver I visited the Forney Museum of Transportation, i.e. I took a picture from the exterior. I was impressed by a rider who had a peli case as a top case wich a connected laptop inside. He opened the case and checked quickly his route. And I felt like a geek because I was simply carrying a laptop in my luggage…There was some bad weather approaching. I looked to Rocky Mountain range….bad weather! If I had chosen to go to Pikes Peak….oh dear! The next stop was not far away. The Colorado Railway Museum was a few miles to the west. When I got there, I met Giel Kerkhof exiting the site. He shouted the directions to me and was gone. I knew he was in true rally mode for he shouted in Dutch. No problem for me though…

I entered the site and followed Giel’s instructions. I could see building where I had to take a picture of. There was a family car in front of me that just stopped. I waited for a while, but then I passed him on the left and parked my bike to the right in front of him. I needed to be quick as the thunderstorm could break loose any second. I took out my camera and had a look the rally book.

“YOU FUCKING MORON!”

Hm! What?

The driver of the car seemed to be particularly unhappy about the fact that I parked my bike on the last available parking space. He was foaming at me and kept yelling. Well, why was he hesitating so long? Under different circumstances, this would have been a good start for a fight. But sorry, I didn’t have time for that. So I chose a totally different strategy. Without even looking at him, I said in a relaxed voice:”You have not flashed your indicator”.

He gasped. He was not prepared for this. It took him totally by surprise.

“Well, um, OF COURSE I DID!!”

No, you tosser, you didn’t. Why would you?I didn’t speak out my thoughts but took my picture, checked its quality and put everything calmly in my tank bag, still not looking at that guy.

“Well, I couldn’t see any flashing light…”

He gasped again, this time he was speechless. I mounted my bike, left the irritated twat behind and within a couple of seconds I was gone.

Not a moment too early because now the heavy rain started. I went back to the main highway and continued north.

I crossed the border to Wyoming visited an old train in Cheyenne. It was 5 p.m. and I needed to arrive in 27 h in Sacramento that was 1100 mls (1760 km) away. This seemed feasible; I had made some good progress. I check my maps. It seemed wise to plan a stopover in Salt Lake City, this would be the perfect timing. Only 440 mls (710 km) to go. Not bad, for an “evening ride”…

The land got hilly now, after all I was crossing the Rockies. It turned also more dry and arid. Many times during Leg 2, I had to think of that particular episode of the iconic old Bavarian TV series “Münchner Gschichten”. The episode was called “Der lange Ritt nach Sacramento” (The long ride to Sacramento): “only two days to Sacramento”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjG6lnxExTA

(best scenes: 1:53 – 3:20; 27:54 – 29:30).

Slowly, some clouds came up. It was indeed a long way to Sacramento, but for this evening, I had no more bonus point to collect and the only stop would be at a petrol station. I rode on the I-80…Laramie, Rawlins, Red Desert, Rock Springs….I had to stop for fuel and it was right on time, a strong wind blew a massive thunderstorm right in my direction. When I wanted to fill petrol at the pump, I had to grab the bike with one hand. The wind was so strong that the bike would have toppled over! I was hungry, but under this circumstances I wanted to move on, it would get dark soon and it was still far away from Salt Lake City. I returned on the I-80 and then hell broke lose. The wind and rain made me slow down a lot. Sometimes I had the sensation that my front wheel was lifted in the air. But also this massive thunderstorm passed by.

I entered Utah and got to a lower altitude again when it got dark. I was really looking forward to staying in a hotel again. I had covered 3400 km (2125 mls) in 36 hours since my tyre change – this was a true BBG (Bun Burner Gold) pace – on a XBR 500! I checked in at a Hampton Inn hotel for I had made a very good experience with them: they provide check-in and check-out tickets, both of them carry a time stamp. That means I needed not to look for electronic tickets to document my rest stop.

The lady at the desk asked where I came from. Why didn’t she believe me when I said “Pittsburgh”? The restaurant was closed, but I purchased some snacks, I didn’t want to leave the hotel so I had a rather simple meal in my room. I planned to have a long 8 hour rest break, it would even give me some extra points. I slept very well that night.

The next morning was a sunny one. I had a real breakfast at the hotel and left at 7:30 a.m. What a luxury! But I had more than 12 hours and 1050 km (650 mls) to go. The next bonus point was easy: it was just around the corner. Piece of cake. I joined the I-80 again and two hours later I reached the Bonneville Salt Flats International Speedway. A small point in the salt desert. Actually it was not completely dry at the moment, but a salt lake was still present. The next location was about two hours away, an old hut of the Pony Express. The Pony Express combo definitely a must for the top ten riders, they had to visit more than 30 location for this huge combo. Before the stop, I had been overtaken by Kevin and Lyn, but after it I was off first – I was working well that day. Of course, I was overtaken by them after that. Nevada is a very dry place – hardly any green around. And not very populated: there came a moment when I was running out of petrol! An enormous range, but almost no fuel left in the tank! I rolled slowly towards Battle Mountain and luckily, I made it to the petrol station, pffffffff. At 1 p.m., I stopped in a town called Winnemucca, a generous 30 min rest break at a Jack-in-the-box. This was OK, I had 300 mls (480 km) ahead of me and more than 9 hours left. This meant I was a bit ahead of my plan. Great! This meant I could collect some smaller bonus around Sacramento before arriving at the checkpoint hotel. It was hot now and the hot air from the motor was directly deflected on my legs.

Three hours later I passed Reno and soon I crossed the border to California. The road climbed up the Cascade Range Mountains and soon the Nevada desert changed into some very lush, green pine forest. After a bonus point stop near the Donner Lake, the long descent to the Pacific began. This was a good feeling, I had four hours left and only 45 mls (70 km) to go.

In the next three hours, I visited nine (nine!) bonus point locations around Sacramento. Finally some small bends again and as I’m quite quick at the bonus point locations, this was quite some fun. I even passed the checkpoint hotel before making another loop around and through Sacramento. At the last location, I met Matt Watkins who had left first at the start of the rally as he had won the “haircut contest” – he had ridden a hell of a leg 2 and had done the complete Pony Express and Pikes Peak – impressive! With 20 minutes to spare, I arrived at the checkpoint. The parking was already full of people. I grabbed my stuff and my arrival time was registered. I was lead to a large where also other riders were already preparing their scoring. I got me something to eat from the buffet and filled in the my scoring sheet. I forgot to include a stop in the right order and corrected it. Finally I was ready and after some waiting time I could enter the scoring room. This time, I was scored by veteran Jeff Earls who gave rookie meeting. This was a different atmosphere now than in the first meeting: everything was taken with a grain of salt. The corrected bonus point? Minus ten percent penalty. But then he wanted to strip me off a huge bonus – I can’t remember what it was exactly, I guess it was a general bonus like fuel log or something similar that did not have a particular time. However, he stated that without a claiming time, the bonus would be lost. I protested. This did not make sense. But Jeff acted so self-assured that I started to hesitate. Then he asked how this was handled in the first leg and we looked it up….it was done in the same way as I proposed it….he mumbled that there would be a problem. Finally I insisted in a clarification. We called co-rally master Tom Austin and explained the situation. Without any doubts, he confirmed my opinion. Phew! Losing these point would have made it very difficult to become a finisher.

I didn’t have to fix anything at the bike, so I could spend my time preparing my stuff for the next morning. I had made it to Sacramento! In the hopeless class! I had hoped for that, but Leg 2 was really the test for me and my small bike. If it could do this, I could also survive the next and final leg. I had already achieved quite a lot and I was on a good way to become a finisher. The only thing that was worrying me was the heat of the deserts in the south-west. Would the bike survive it?

In a couple of hours, the riders will come back to Albuquerque and finish Leg 1 of the Iron Butt Rally 2015. This was only the beginning, but already at this early stage, first riders will have dropped out. Actually, when I watch the spotwalla page right now, I wonder if all of them will make it in time. Hurry up, boys and girls!

In 2013, in the morning of the fourth day, I could leave late before 7 a.m. because I had plenty of time to arrive at the Ford Museum in Detroit. On my way there, I stopped at the Buick Gallery and Research Center in Flint. Yes, THE Flint that was in the centre of “Roger and me”, the film which started Michael Moore’s career as a documentary director.

The closer I came to Detroit, the more the decline of the automotive industry with its impact on the cities became visible. Take the potholes in the road, for example. I took a picture of an anchor at the Dossin Great Lakes Museum on Belle Isle. The funny is, it is actually visible on Goggle Earth! My next stop was nearby, a memorial at the banks of the Detroit River. I did not want to enter the pedestrian zone, even at this early hour, so I had to walk a bit. I wouldn’t care too much in Europe if I don’t bother any people, but in the US…

A couple of minutes later, I arrived at the Henry Ford museum. It was THE location to visit on Leg 1, giving a massive amount of points. The twist was: we had to take pictures of 25 artefacts! 25! And the trouble is: you have to find them in that big museum! In the next 90 minutes (after a hefty 20$ admission fee) , I had quite some fun, this was a real scavenger hunt now. At least a dozen riders were running around in the museum trying to find all the cars, motorbikes, planes, trains etc. This had a certain slapstick touch to it. But like on the road, riders help each other. So we managed to find the iconic artefact somewhat quicker. The European connection with Kevin and Lyn worked quite well.

Some of the stuff to be found the car in which JFK was shot, the first bike to cross the USA, the first “Otto” motor (it looked more like a steam engine), classic car models, the bus where Rosa Parks set the spark of the black civil rights movement, speed record rockets, a replica of the Wright Brother’s plane, an entire DC 3 hanging in the air (!) and and and…

Finally I had my pictures together and I could plan the rest of the afternoon. I concluded that I had enough time to follow the Lake Erie up towards Cleveland and beyond. I took a picture of a horse carriage in Ohio and wondered how I could pass by all this places in only a couple of miles: Milan, Berlin Heights, Florence, Birmingham. Again, where was I? I went up to Erie and took a picture of a ship in the harbour.

Tricky, if there’s a fence in the middle and the flag has to be on the picture as well. I met Phil Weston, IBA UK’s president and we exchanged a few words.

I still had some buffer left and decided to go to the first oil well drilled in Pennsylvania somewhere in the hinterland. I arrived well on time at the hotel in Pittsburgh, registered myself and went to my room to prepare myself for the scoring. I had to wait a while because many riders did the same. First anecdotes were exchanged and the waiting time was used to get some hot meal from the buffet. Finally it was my scoring time. In the big hall, many scorers were waiting at the tables. Impressive. First, my pictures had to be extracted from my card. It was a rally rule that the resolution of the camera had to be very small. I had particularly bought a small camera that still had this possibility, but it turned out that these settings were lost after I had used the zoom for the first time! Gulp! And now? Luckily all my pictures were accepted despite the large size. I moved on to my scorer who was also my technical inspector before the rally. Everything went smooth and in the end I leave the scoring table with all my points! None lost! I had successfully finished Leg 1! Everything I hoped for after my fuel problems. We would only get the rally books for Leg 2 in the next morning, but the preparations started right away.

I went to fill up the bike and discovered a tyre shop that would open at 7 a.m. the next day. Perfect! To my surprise, my rear tyre was already worn! After half of the estimated distance! I couldn’t explain this, was it the rough tarmac? Only later, a lot later, I discovered back home (I carried the tyre always with me, as a spare tyre, just in case) that my tyre dealer had made a mistake and sold me a front tyre instead the needed back tyre…..Truth is stranger than fiction. I needed to prepare all my stuff for the next day and to quickly take care of my bike. I wanted to fix that throttle problem, so I took off the throttle rubber and cleaned the handle bar. From now on, this should be solved. It was already dark and I still needed to prepare everything, including some personal hygiene. I realised that there’s not a single minute to relax in the IBR – you’re under stress during 11 days. Time was flying and finally my luggage was packed and my rally planning devices prepared for the next morning. Finally I crawled in my bed. Now, get some sleep for the alarm clock will go off at 5 a.m.

[…]

[…]

No way. The brain would not come to a rest. Sleep! SLEEEEP!

Brain says: no.

This went on for a while until I finally fell asleep….until I was woken up again at 1 a.m. by the !*^%”?£!!! iPad that makes an annoying noise when it’s fully charged. The same game again. My conscience did not make the situation any better: I knew Leg 2 was a killer. 2500 miles in about 60 hours! From Pittsburgh to Sacramento, California in one go. For a small bike like the XBR, this was really the ultimate test. So, get some slcchhhrrrrrrrrrrrr……

So the riders have taken off. Eleven long days are ahead of them. Eleven days of happiness, frustration, surprise, soaring muscles, boredom, euphoria and pure joy. As the famous quote says: “you don’t know what the Iron Butt Rally is like unless you have ridden it.” True. It’s difficult to explain, but it is definitely an experience of a lifetime.
Two years ago, the riders had to gather at 8 a.m. in the bike park. Two hours of agony before we could take off. Last preparations…did I think of everything? It was raining and some bike were under some rain covers. I wondered why bikes that will go on a 11.000 miles adventure needed to be sheltered from the rain….another culture shock was the provision of ice cubes…riders put them in their big water jugs on their bikes. At high temperatures…OK! But it was rather cool and raining…weird. I put on my flashy yellow rain suit and together with my fluorescent helmet I stood out of the crowd in the last minute rider meeting. Some guys were laughing at my sight but I knew that I would stay dry the whole day. The other riders in their Roadcraft suits probably wouldn’t…
We had been instructed to leave immediately then the finger would be pointed at us, because the whole pack should leave within four minutes. The police would stop the traffic for us, and the start should be very quick. So it was 10 a.m. and the riders that had participated in the “hair cutting contest – oh my dear!” were out first. You’re nervous when it’s your turn and don’t want to cock it up…finally Warchild’s finger pointed at me – wrooooom! What? No propulsion? Ah, The bike was in neutral gear! And with an enormous “WHACK!!!” I hammered the first gear in its position. Off I went! Through an applauding crowd, through lines of policemen keeping the traffic stopped. A special moment.
From the first day, I remember rather little. It was partly raining and rather cool. I went on not so crowded roads in Pennsylvania, New York and Vermont. I learned soon that there was a huge difference with Europe: when riding on highways, there were no parkings where you could stop and empty your bladder….After the first bonus point location ( an old locomotive), I couldn’t hold it for longer and I disappeared in the high grass…..ouffffff. I visited some locations and enjoyed the countryside roads, especially in Vermont. I had a lot of pressure during the whole day for I wanted to visit a location before sunset and there was little time to spare. I was pushing for the whole afternoon, but in the end I arrived with the last sunlight…but I found out that the access was closed already….aaargh! I rode along the site and could see the boat from the distance. This should do. However, it was getting dark very quickly and I needed a lot of shots before I had an acceptable picture of the boat and my rally flag. 5 minutes later, it was pitch dark…..I put some petrol and finally could have snack. I checked my next locations and decided that I better stayed in this town for I needed to go to some remote places and it didn’t make sense to do this at night. So I checked in a hotel and had a good rest for a couple of hours. I took it easy, I knew that the first leg would only be a snack compared to what was ahead of us and I wanted to sleep a lot to be fresh for the second leg.

….will start tomorrow morning. But this time, without me. I had a place at the start for this year’s rally, but in January, I had decided to pull out of the rally. I had to make a decision and it was not easy. But in the end I had no other choice than to set my priorities. I simply had to save my holidays this year to realize a long-term objectives: developing a multi-day rally in the Alps in 2017. This will take a lot of time and actually while I am typing these lines, I am on my fourth scouting trip. Many more will be needed. But maybe I can follow the rally, remembering what happened two years ago when I was in this place…

I always had in mind to write a report of the IBR 2013, but it never materialized. During the 11 day rally, riders are not permitted to communicate with the outside world, so it was my buddy John Young who posted some news during that period. Anyway, there wouldn’t be time to write a blog post.

The atmosphere is tense before the rally. Some riders are relaxed and easy-going, but most are full of tension and some have already put on their game face. Even I was a bit nervous, although I was not on a competitive mission. With my old XBR500, I had achieved the “Hopeless Class” status and I only wanted to arrive at the finish. I had received a lot of wishes from spectators that were studying bikes in the parking.

In a couple of hours, riders will gather in a large hall in Albuquerque. After some words of the IBA president and the rally master, riders will be called one by one and will receive a big envelope with the rally book and the electronic GPS data. They will rush to their rooms and load the GPS data onto their laptops. I had received all the data for all three legs, but only the first rally book. It took me quite a while to sort and re-name all the data for the first leg. More than 100 points to visit. This looked massive. And then there were the minimum points. After a first, shy calculation, I realized that I had to plan much more ambitious for I would not have had enough points in the end. So I designed a 4700 km ride for the next three and a half days. I discarded NYC and planned to go to Vermont, Quebec, Lake Superior and Detroit before returning to Pittsburgh. It was getting late, but at least the start was only at 10 a.m. the next day. But still, the planning took a long time…and in the end, it’s always the same story: when you’re finally in the bed and should get some precious sleep, the brain is still working and your ideas are spinning in your head….

(to be continued)

The Pan has definitely passed its test. After four years, I could finally win the BBR today. Some of the best riders were missing today, but I made a very bold move today and played “podium or bust” when hunting for bonus point locations in Scotland. The high risk in terms of routing paid off and I arrived with 12 mins to spare at the finish, bagging an enormous 92000 points that game me the lead in this rally. Check my GPS track (for the link, check my previous post) for more details.

As usual, report will follow…

Here I am, sitting in my room, reflecting where to go.

I arrived yesterday evening at the rally hotel in Coventry. The check-in, technical inspection and odometer calibration ride went very smooth today and in the last hour, I have renamed all the GPS locations that were provided to me according to my system:

As expected, rally master John Young has prepared a thrilling rally with lots of options….Scotland? France and Belgium? Wales and Cornwall? Staying in the Centre? The answer can only be given after a thorough calculation that keeps me busy tonight. In about two hours, we will have to rider meeting and receive final instructions. Tomorrow at 6 a.m., the pack leaves and only returns 35 – 36 hours later.

As usual, if you want to follow me, here is the link:

https://spotwalla.com/embed.php?id=d3af555e2c26076c4&scale=on&zoom=default&refresh=no

Finally I received my numberplates and could ride the bike officially. I had already ordered new tyres for the old ones were really old (11 years). I printed the relevant pages of the repair manual and started to remove the front and rear wheel. The front wheel was easy, but the real wheel gave me a hard time. When I had it out, I spotted that the parts of the final drive flange were rusty and completely dry.

A quick look in the service papers did not reveal any evidence that the wheel was removed in the last 11 years. The bike was initially sold and serviced at Honda in Germany, but when it was registered in Belgium, the “services” were done in no-name garages. The most important maintenance was apparently done (oil changes, filter changes etc), but I wonder if the bike was always maintained according to the Honda maintenance plan. The bike appears to be in good condition, but I realised that I need to do a lot of (preventive) maintenance in the next months. A checklist will be a good idea.

Luckily, the repair manual gives detailled information how to lubricate what and with what. I cleaned all the dry, rusty parts as good as I could. The female part of the drive flange was difficult to clean, for a perfect result one would have to disassemble the final drive. But this not really necessary, my cleaning was already a big improvement. Luckily the parts were not really affected by this lack of maintenance. I cleaned all part, applied MoS2 grease where necessary and assembled the rear wheel and placed it back.

I have already ordered a full set of brake and clutch tubes, 18 year old rubber is not the best to maintain a good pressure. Other things have to follow. While the rear wheel was removed, I inspected the most critical part of the frame: the swingarm. Mud and dirt get disposed there and many STs have the problem that swingarm get so rusty that it needs to be replaced (expensive) or welded (quite some work). Like the exhaust, the swingarm only shows some superfial rust. So my first impression was right.

I did some test rides and was very pleased with the new BT023 tyres. They give a good confidence and I soon made the footpegs scratch on the tarmac. I visited the next Honda workshop and arranged a change of the totally damaged steering bearing this week.

Lots of ideas for maintenance and farkling, interesting times ahead!

A few lines before I finally go to bed. My first leg was very good. I went to Rome and back to the Alps where the checkpoint hotel is. standings see me in front (check the IBA Germany forum).
As expected, leg 2 is massive!! I needed a lot of time to come up with something very promising. A first glance revealed that Greece or the Baltic states is the place to go, but to my surprise I found a third option :-)
Keep fingers crossed!
Follow my spot!
Talk to you in four days.

There report is here.

Before I leave for the ferry, here is the result. My planned route was good for 2nd place, but due to my lost points i finished 4 th.

winner is German IBA president Gerhard Memmen- Krueger with an epic ride! Congratulations!!!

 Baldrick

(signed)

After a dry and chilly ride to Germany (!) and Denmark, I have returned to the rally base in Örebro. The ride went according to plan, I just lost some points at the scoring table, but that’s ok because I shouldn’t have claimed them in the first place.
Now there is still some time until the ceremony, maybe I can find a quiet place for a little nap….
Swedish country is great, but I had rather little of it. With 1955 km I stayed just under the limit of 2000 km, constantly checking the predicted KMs during the rally.
Update: I was called again to the rallymaster and lost another enormous 2000 points as I was not included on two pictures where this was asked. That is correct, but it is good practice to accept the scoring result from both sides when the rider leaves the scoring room. Changing results after the scoring due to whatever reason (exception: cheating or misconduct) is not good style.
Ok, so I lost 9 % of my points, this won’t be a good result then…

OK, everything is ready and prepared. The route is fixed and this time I go for a bold move. There is a maximum limit of 2000 km for the rally, but I will be close to that (hopefully). Unfortunately, the route will not be very scenic, but if my plan works out, a massive number of points wait for me. If…if…if….let’s hope for the best, keep fingers crossed. ;-)

Tomorrow at 7:30 we start from Örebro.The spot track link is given below. I’m back on Sunday 7:30. Now let’s get some sleep!

So here I sit on board of the ferry boat to Sweden, watching the Baltic Sea.
I just have finished the Smørgåsbord (Swedish buffet). Today was I sunny and quiet day. I went from Belgium to Kiel in a very relax manner, trying to get used to the Scandinavian speed limits….In the harbour, I received an unexpected visit from a XBR500 (I recognised the sound immediately)! It was Style Kyle, a follower of this blog, who saluted me and invited me for a beer. Thanks, mate! I had to wait 90 minutes to be able to board the ship (!&@?€¥%#!!!!!). Now I struggle with the slow, but free internet on board. Just before entering the ship, I noticed that I lost one screw of the aux tank plate. So my first in Sweden will at a DIY shop….the weather forecast looks brilliant for the rally!

Just a quick note before I leave the rally venue. I had a good ride, almost a perfect one. Due to a transcription error, I lost many points at the scoring table. So instead finishing 4th, I ended 6th. I had a good performance, but my planned route was not top of the pops.
John Young (my co-commenter during the IBR last year) won the rally with a cracking performance. Congratulations, old chap!!
Later more…some more rain is waiting for me before I get to the Eurotunnel….

Dear followers,

I have arrived with the ferry in Hull this morning, accompanied by my old motorcycle chap Jo. We had a full English breakfast in Hull and decided to ride directly to the Rally HQ in Castleford, as the weather was not too good. We were very lucky to have our rooms at 11 a.m. And we could start our preparations very early. At 2 a.m., the check in opened, followed by the technical inspection and the odo check ride to determine the odometer calibration factors. The four German riders rode together, accompanied by rain showers.
A fuel refill, stocking up of food supplies and last preparations and there’s still time until the dinner and the subsequent riders meeting where we will be handed out the rally books and when the bonus point locations will be revealed.
I will try to use the spare time for a little nap; the night will be short with the route planning and the adrenalin kicking in….Tomorrow at 6:00 GMT we take off.
As announced in my previous post, you can follow me via my GPS tracker.

Dear followers, finally I managed to finish my report on the Brit Butt Rally 2013 of last year. Enjoy it!

Die Info gibt es hier.

After twenty years of organising the legendary XBR-Alpentour, it’s time to say good-bye (see link)

Finally I finished the report on the European Road Rally last September.

See here.

Well, after a 600 km back home and some 60 hrs without real sleep I am too tired for a long report.
This was a great rally! My idea that the route through the alps was the winning one was correct.
I visited Slovenia and Italy and saw a lot of small roads there. I spent half the night riding over alpine passes. Thanks to the Krista lights, this was fun.
3rd place went to Hans (XBR500, yeah!), 2nd to the Wellers (two-up!) and this beautiful trophy is mine since this morning:

Check my SPOT track (see last post) for my route.
Later more.

I left my BMW at the dealer for a 80000 km service and needed a substitute for a day. Much to my surprise, they provided me with the new  R1200 GS LC, the totally revamped new ” water boxer” model of BMW’s most sold model. I was anyway interested in arranging a test ride and now I had 24 h to check out this bike – “the best GS ever” as many commenters say.

I was expecting quite something, but I was overwhelmed by the sheer riding pleasure. This is not a bike for the elderly rider who wants to have a comfy motorcycle for cruising (that used to be the image of a typical BMW rider before the 4V motor was built). This is a funbike that cries for full throttle riding!!! Assisted by several electronic riding modes (my favorite: Dynamic :-) ) and the automatic Electronic Suspension Adjustment. And the ride-by-wire throttle that transfers the commands of the right hand directly into propulsion. The riding is….impressive. To say the least. The motor is sensational, but you have directly 100 % confidence in this bike. Narrow bends are ridden in a spectacular lean angle. Finally, you can feel what your front wheel is doing. The BMW engineers have done an impressive job. Pure adrenalin. The bad roads in Belgium pose no problem – just bang over all potholes and grooves. They only drawback – a BMW gearbox is a BMW gearbox. Shifting gears is not a subtle process – it’s difficult to engage the first gear without the neighbourhood noticing it.

The problem is – the Adventure model will be released only next year and I have to get many many piggy banks to fill…

Finally, my favorite roads are on the menu: from Saturday on, I will guide my 20th XBR Alpentour. As the XBR still has the sick gear box, I’ll take the Sportboxer. Which is OK, because I neglected her this year. My favorite roads in South Tyrol and Trentino need another visit. Some good riders will accompany me: Gernot, Martin and Hans. The weather will be very good, only 10 degrees too hot, with highs close to 40°C.
My spot is visible under SPOT Alpentour 2013

…is before the rally ;-) . The European Road Runner Rally starts in 10 weeks… :-D I attended the final banquet and the award ceremony. It was announced that the minimum level to be a finisher was lowered to only 55000 points. hmmmm, what would have changed things for me. Not that I had a chance to collect enough points on my direct way back, but my routing for leg would have been different. And: without the gear box (and any other problems), I would have been a finisher, I am very convinced. They probably have lowered the limit because too many riders would have DNFed.

And then the success story of the European riders began:
62. Giel Kerckhof
35. Kevin and Lyn Weller
23. Gerhard Memmen-Krüger (president IBA Germany)
14. Phil Weston (president IBA UK)

Brilliant results! Congratulations to everybody. On that evening and also during the next day, I had a lot of nice chats with other riders discussing what had happened. Gerhard and Giel also stayed another day.
I was mentioned even in the conclusive report of Bob Higdon:
“Robert Koeber went missing a few days ago after he began to experience gear box problems with his Honda XBR. Imagine our surprise last night when we went into the hotel’s dining room and found one of our favorite German riders contentedly eating dinner and having a glass of wine. Excuse me? Where did you come from? He explained that he had never been able to get the bike repaired, so he just learned how to jiggle the shift lever around enough to keep rolling toward Cranberry Township. He’s a non-finisher, but he’s here and that’s all that matters to us.”
I decided to do a little “service” on the bike which consisted in …changing the spark plug. I also found out why the Kristas lights did not work anymore…the cable at the battery was simply broken. I needed to put petrol and to clean the bike and when I went to town, there where some girls offering a car wash….Do you also do motorbikes? Yes, of course! This was hilarious, my XBR was cleaned by a bunch of young cheerleaders…including drying with towels. They were apparently fund-raising for some charity. I had to assist a bit with the dirty, oily parts…not perfectly clean, but the bizarre situation was worth a couple of bucks.
The next day I left for Toronto…a hot day and I got stuck in a one hour traffic jam at the border in Niagara. I felt being cooked alive. I removed jacket and helmet before getting a heat stroke. A woman in a car had mercy with me and offered me a small bottle of water! The border control was quick and friendly – the officer said that she also had been to Kenia. I arrived soon at the hotel at Toronto airport and dropped my bags, but the riding was not over yet! I still had too much petrol in my tank! The ride from Pittsburgh did not burn enough so I had to ride 130 km (!!!) up and down the airport highway to bring down the fuel level to a level that was acceptable for the bike transport (dangerous goods regulations allow 1 gallon max…and not three). I found a car wash and cleaned the bike and the still dirty parts with high pressure until I considered the bike clean enough for transport.
I thought I was very clever to check in the Sheraton directly at the terminal. The cargo terminal was very close by, I wouldn’t need a taxi, the internet rate was OK…but then the rip-off began…$21 taxes, $5 local taxes, $20 breakfast, $15 wi-fi, $28 parking and not to mention the dinner last night. Ouch! A taxi to the terminal would have been cheaper. I dropped off the bike this morning, the agent was very friendly and allowed me to leave my motorcycle gear incl. helmet and a lot of tools on the bike. This saves me another €75 surcharge for the second piece of luggage and I don’t have to carry all the stuff next Friday to Paris when I will pick up the bike.
So now I am killing time before my plane leaves in four hours. A great trip is slowly coming to an end…

So I am sitting here in the hotel lobby and welcome the riders entering the building. The European riders seem well, except for Giel Kerckhof, who seems to have stopped…due to a broken gear box! This is ironic, because my problem appeared when I tried to follow Giel after the start in Sacramento. After a couple of miles, we had to exit the freeway and it was there when I couldn’t shift gears anymore…we must have caught a gear box virus in Sacramento ;-)

I immediately knew: “that’s it”. I had to stop for I couldn’t switch down gears. First I thought to get back to a Honda garage in Sacramento and with the help of MJ I found one – but on Mondays, services seem to be closed in the US. That’s also what Lisa Landry, the Rallymaster, had told me on the phone. After a while, I managed to use the first three gears and while back to Sacramento, I learned how to put forth and the fifth gear, carefully, avoiding to have them jump out again. One thing was clear immediately: I couldn’t ride my planned route to LA, Tucson and New Orleans. I seemed simply utter madness to cross the Mojave desert with a broken gear box. A breakdown there could get really serious. But if I could not go that route, I wouldn’t get enough points to be a finisher. So the most logic conclusion was to try to get back. First, when I only could use the first three gears, I was calculating the time I would need to get back to Toronto Airport going at 45 mph….6 days? That would do…When I managed to get the fifth gear back, I changed my objective to “Let’s try to get back to the finish line in Pittsburgh”. So I entered the Interstate 80 near Sacramento and followed it for the next four days. What kept me thinking a long time is why this happened. I still have no answer. Gear box problems of XBRs are basically unheard of. Well, my first gear box lasted 232.000 km until the second gear died. I had expected that something similar would happen one day to this gear box as well. Since I had placed it, it never had the smoothness of normal gear boxes and lately, the second gear would jump out a little bit too often. But problems with fifth AND fourth gear, out of the blue?? That doesn’t make sense. Was I riding too hard? Not really, I was going faster than usually during the rally, but in Europe, I ride a lot harder than that. The temperature was still cool in the morning, so overheating is unlikely, the oil temperature was hot, but in a normal range. I categorised this as “simply bad luck”.

In the end, I have achieved my prime objective: Arrive safely and healthy at the finish. The second objective, “be an official finisher”, I cannot meet for I could not collect more points. Well, with some detours, I could have bagged some, but it never would have been enough. So why taking a risk. The gear box still could fail completely any time. And there was also another problem: risking a total breakdown would have gotten me into a big trouble: How to drop off the bike next Monday morning at Toronto airport? This would have been a major logistic (and financial) disaster. So under the circumstances, I am happy to be here, safely and with a (more or less) running bike.

Rob Roalfe and others have mentioned that the ride back must be very frustrating. That just seems logical. The funny thing is….it wasn’t. I am surprised myself. I did everything I could do, but when force majeure happens…you only can make the best out of it. Was the whole project worth it? Yes, it definitely was. It would have been nicer to finish the rally properly, but I was already very happy to reach the second check point in Sacramento. I learned of things during this rally and it was big fun. Remember, when I had the fuel problems in the beginning, I was hoping to make it at least to the first checkpoint. By the way, these problems did not come back after I bought always top grade petrol….Things could be worse. Eric Jewell, a top rider who was also very close to win this rally many times…but never managed, was leading after leg one and two until he had a small accident during leg 3 that took him out of the rally. I am sure, he would finally won this time. THAT is tragic.

Could I have been a finisher? Yes, I think I could. But it would have been very close. There is a reason why this is called “the hopeless class”. I learned that my pace was good enough for the first leg where I did quite well. But when it came to cover big distances…the XBR is not strong enough. Not in terms of constant pace. I did obey the speed limits in the West, going at 75 mph (122 km/h), but I was constantly passed by other riders, often with a considerably higher speed. That was also the reason why I lost so many positions after the second leg. I had not done Pikes Peak that was worth 8000 points. It was a mixture of several factors: I thought it would be tougher to get there (missing experience of regional geography), I didn’t know that the difference in altitude was not that big to the top and I thought that the road was still partly unpaved (it isn’t anymore). But my considerations were correct at that time: I simply had no time! Remember, on leg 2, I did 3500 km in 37 hours (including one hour tyre change in the beginning) in one go! My calculations left simply no room for Pikes Peak. With a more powerful bike that is not subject to power loss at higher altitudes, of course I would have done it. Also because I would have got quicker to Colorado Springs in the first place. So, summarising: Leg 2 was already a hell of a ride for a XBR500, 4600 km in 59 h total time.

Leg 3 would have been similar. When I heard that the minimum points to be a finisher were set to 60.000 (I had expected 45.000), I thought “UH-OH, this will be tough”. My route that included enough points was 6200 km long, to be ridden in four days, with tricky daylight bonuses that probably required a lot of night riding to get there on time. It appears to me that this rally was maybe the toughest ever – I wonder if there will be finishers with less than 10.000 mls. Something previously unseen. I had initially estimated to do some 9000 miles, but my planned route would have forced me to go more than 10.000 mls. Well, there is a reason why it is called “the toughest motorcycle rally in the world” ;-) I am happy that I did it.

Riders are still at the scoring table. Tonight, there will the banquet and the ceremony. I’ll report about it later.

Dear all,

these are my first words since 11 days ago…I have reached the finish line despite my sick gear box. But, as you know (Skye and Hampe, does this sound familiar?) :

“A Honda never gives up until it is burning up”

Despite a sick gear box that needed very careful shifting, the XBR made it back to to finish. So far, this bike never stopped in 356.000 km and still keeps running!

I am quite tired and I need some sleep now because I have to get up early for the scoring (which will be very short ;-) ). I will write more during Friday. But first of all let me thank John for his excellent job during the last 11 days. He did this during his trip to Norway, trying to find access to internet, was woken up in the middle of the night by my status updates…..thank you very very much John, the comments posted show that your reports were very much appreciated by the many readers….maybe your writing makes you a potential successor of Bob Higdon in the future ;-) ?

As Thomas commented correctly, you shouldn’t be worried about the restaurant – it will be definetely above fish ‘n chips level :-D

Robert has sent me a quick update before hitting the sack (that means going to bed …..)

He’s had a relatively quiet 750 mile ride today.  The bike still runs perfect – apart from the gearbox.

He’s been through Nebraska, Iowa  and Illinois.  Iowa was were I lost my chain, number plate and half my chain guard back in 2011.  I wonder whether he saw it …..

He’s done his “call-in” bonus today which will increase his points tally

He says he’s tired at the end of today but he is now only 540 miles away from the end of the ride.

So as Robert will be back at the chekpoint hotel by the time the next update is due, (which I assume he will write himself), this will be my last “blog” entry.  I hope that you’ve all enjoyed reading my updates and not been too annoyed at some of the comments and thoughts that I’ve committed to text over the last 10 days or so. 

I was really honoured to be asked by Robert to keep his blog going whilst he was riding the rally and so Robert I thank for for that priviledge, admire you for your determination to finish the rally under extreme circumstances and wish you all the best as your friend ……….

TTFN

John

Robert sent me an email earlier today – except I didn’t receive it …..

So, I’ve just had a lengthy phone call bringing myself up to date with what is happening.  I should point out here, that I had to make the call and so yet again, that damn German has suckered me into paying ……  This posh restaurant he’s taking me to at the end of all of this had better be bloody good !!!!

Anyway, at the end of day 9 he finds himself in Nebraska having covered 650 miles today (that’s Tuesday in the USA).  He’s some 1300 miles from the finish now and expects to be somewhere around Chicago this time tomorrow.

Once the bike is in top gear (5th), it runs just fine but each and every time he stops to top up the bike and/or empty his bladder, then getting the bike through the gears back into 5th is a real problem.

He says that he is starting to feel weary and his knees are hurting.  That will be nothing more than the fact that now is he just limping the bike back and not under pressure any longer, the adrenalin is leaving his body.

We also agreed that the format of this rally has been particuarly tough for the “Hopelessclass” bikes.  In 2011, I got a finish with somewhere around 8500 miles.  We reckon another 1000 miles, at least, is needed to be a finisher for the 2013 event.  Not a problem on a modern bike, but a real problem for the “Hopelessclass” machines.  I notice, for example, that it already looks as though the 1978 XS1100 may not make it either – albeit for other reasons than the mere performance of the bike. 

But that’s just the issue – riding a Hopelessclass bike puts so much stress on both the machine and the rider, that the likelihood of something going wrong is just multiplied many times over compared with the riders on modern machine.

What I am pleased to say though, is that he has spent the thinking time as he makes his way back very wisely – he is already considering what bike he will buy to use in 2015 – Pepa you were right !!  You obviously know him so well :-)

The other thing that he has said is that the gearbox failed as he was following the other Belgian “immigrant” riding in the rally, Michiel Kerkhof at a speed above what he’d set himself as his limit.  Typical – a German blaming a Dutchman for his problems ……. :-)  :-)  Us British of course are above all of this squabbling between you Europeans ……..  Thank goodness for the English Channel ….. :-)

He has asked me to pass on his thank to all of the readers of his blog (actually MY blog !!!) and all of the kind comments that have been posted.  He says reading them form time to time has given him great pleasure.  I have to say throughout the 2011 IBR, I received a constant stream of text messages that always gave me a lift when I read them.  No mention of what I’ve written though I notice … :-)

Robert agrees with me that the expeience of riding in this rally has been invaluable.  Without the risk of sounding condescending, the experience of riding in the IBR is something that you simply cannot really explain – you either have ridden it and therefore understand or you haven’t and you don’t.  Robert will get to the final checkpoint of the rally, of that I’m sure.  No he won’t have enought points to get the coveted “3” digit IBA number, but he will have something actually as valuable – the experience.

Yes, it will hurt for the two years between the end of the rally and the start of the 2015 rally.  However, at the end of the 2015 rally as he collects his finishers award at the banquet, with a top ten (at least !!) placing under his belt, it will all be forgotten ….. 

With apologies to the former “Governator” of California, in 2015 “He’ll be back” !!

Right, I’ve got a days work ahead of me now ……

See ya !!!!

John

Just in case you were all wondering !!

Just had word from Robert that he has reached SLC again – (no, I don’t know what SLC is either !!)

5th is now working, but the gearbox is in a really bad way.  Shifting is very difficult.

He is 2000 miles away from the finish and 3 days left to complete the ride.

I really feel for Robert right now and it will take all of his mental strength to get back to Pittsburgh – but he will do it, that I’m sure.

I’m equally sure that WHEN he returns in 2015 on a modern machine, he will surprise many of our American cousins at just how well he will do.

In my opinion, he should now use the remainder of this rally (however “down” he feels) to begin the preparation for his next attempt.  He has nothing to prove to any of us further on the IBR 2013, he’s already a hero !!

My blog tonights was going to be about how all was going well

I received news from Robert this morning at 8.00am (midnight on Sunday in California) basically saying that in the end he had 3 hours of buffer due to my efficient rest break (finding the hotel and check in) and he also gained some time in riding.  Although he was going slow at 70-75 mph (for him that is), he was constantly passed by other riders – yes, I know how he felt …..

However, he is much faster than others at the BPs !!

In Nevada it was hot (but nowhere near as hot as the Mojave is) at around 40 degrees and although the engine oil temperature was OK, no more than 110C, his knees and thighs are getting burnt.

He acknowledged after this that he had to avoid the southwest!

As he was ahead of time, he sat down and checked the computer and then put together a route that collected at the small BPs around Sacramento and he arrived 30 minutes before the cut-off.

He had a few issues at the scoring table and with a bit of gentle persuasion got the scorers to see his point of view – he can be very persuasive …..

Once he had the bonuses, his worst fears (and mine were confirmed), the rally masters were “encouraging” riders to head into Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada and Colorado – basically the Mojave Desert and just where he needed to avoid.

Eventually he figured a route that would keep him out of the worst of the heat (albeit that he was probably going to need another tyre halfway through leg 3  – I was working on that one for him) and off he set …..

But not for long ….

Basically, 5th gear failed, then any downward selection failed and then when he could get selection, 5th gear no longer worked.

At that point he wisely chose to return to Sacremento as attempting the desert leg and breaking down would be dangerous.  Back in 2011 when I hit the sandstorm, I was lucky in that my bike actually came to a halt at Kayenta – a (very) small town bult around a crossroads.  There was though shelter and more importantly water there whilst I was trying to fix the bike.  Robert might not have been that lucky.  

His plan is now to try to make it to the finishing control, picking up whatever points he can on the way – call-in bonus, rest bonus etc.  He already knows that even if he does make it back (and he’s now only got 4 gears working), he’ll not have enough points to be classed as a finisher.

That doesn’t stop him being a true hero though !!

Riding the IBR is tough.  Riding the IBR on a Hopelessclass bike is all but impossible – that’s why they’re called the “Hoplelessclass”.  I was just lucky back in 2011 that the rally format suited me and my plan.  Even then though, I was the only “Hopelessclass” bike to finish.  Non finished in 2009 and one, I think, finished in 2007 – or maybe it was the other way around.  The point is, very, very few Hopelessclss bikes succeed.

There will be other opportunties for Robert to go back to the USA and compete in the IBR an (but on a proper bike) and show them just what a rider he really is.  For now, he’s just got to limp his poorly bike all the way back across the continent ……

As news filetrs in from Robert, I’ll keep the blog updated

Just as we were leaving Lillehammer this morning, a text came through from our hero !!

As I need to be back home tomorrow for business meetings, I’ve had to wait until I was nearly home before finding a hotel with a computer to give this update – the things I do to cement Anglo-German relations …….

Yesterday Robert came across a sign that read “Hell is real” – he actually didn’t need to be told that as he’s actually experiencing it for real !!

Anyway, the news is that in the last 36 hours, he’s covered 2200 miles with only two short power naps.  He has all of the bonuses that he aimed for but with his rest he is now taking (well he was at 8.00 am “our” time this morning), he only has one “buffer” hour built in to ride the last 700 miles on day 7 to the checkpoint.

He has wisely chosen to avoid Pikes Peak (see my comments below as to what my thoughts were on that bonus)

Day 6 brought all kinds of weather for him including high wind and nasty rain in Wyoming.  However, by choosing a more northerly route for leg 2, he has at least kept out of the extreme heat of the Mojave Desert.  He needs to continue to avoid that in leg 3 if possible as I still worry for the little Honda if he spends too much time in 100 plus degrees …..

So tomorrow (well it’s now today for him), it’s just basically the dash for the checkpoint window.

Then it gets interesting for leg 3.  

This is where he will experience “the wall”.  I was lucky back in 2011.  I hit “the wall” just as I was taking a rest at the end of day 8.  I had pulled into a rest area, parked the bike out of sight and lay down beside it to get a couple of hours sleep.  As I lay there just beginning to doze, the thought hit me that I had been riding for 8 days solid and I was still 3000 miles away from the end of the rally (actually “ordeal”).  Before I could depress myself too much at that thought, I fell asleep and when i woke, dawn was breaking and the world all of a sudden seemed a better place and I was over it.  Robert will almost certainly have some sort of similar feeling tomorrow. He needs to find a way around the negative thoughts that will, just for a moment, flood his mind.

My last text message to him today was just to get to the leg 2 finish and then plot a nice safe route for leg 3.  Now is not the time to take chances.  He has broke the back of this challenge.  No heroics, just now finish the job.  He doesn’t need to leap across the finish line with a flourish, he just needs to cross it.

And, here’s a word of warning …..

Back in 2011, I found myself with 25 hours of the rally left, 600 miles to do and just two states to collect – Nevada and California.  Things were going great.  I had at least a 13 hour buffer zone that I had been steadily building up over the previous three days.  I could see the finishing line.  I could see the ticker tape parade that was going to greet this mad Englishman who’d taken on the IBR with his 43 year old “heap” and come through. My acceptance speech was already being put together in my head …..

Then I ran straight into some of the worst sand storms that Arizona had experienced for some 50 years.  8 of those 13 hour buffer hours disappeared in a puff of smoke (well sand actually), as I frantically tried to get my bike working again.  I really did limp my bike through that last 12 hours riding.

That’s what the IBR does to you.  It suckers you in and let’s you think you’ve beaten it.  Then it turns on you.

ROBERT – IF YOU’RE READING THIS (AND I KNOW YOU DO), TAKE NO CHANCES ON LEG 3.  I REPEAT TAKE NO CHANCES.  THAT’S NO CHANCES – UNDERSTAND ?  PLAY IT SAFE.  JUST DO ENOUGH TO FINISH THE JOB ……..

Pepa – if you could just tell him as well please …….

Next update will be from the UK.

John

PS – The first thing I have to do tomorrow at work is to explain to various clients why all of their meeting times have changed and been put back a few hours.  I was thinking along the lines of “well, you see, I was riding the1400 miles back home in one day from Norway with Sonia on the back when this mad German friend I have and whose blog I am keeping up to date whilst he rides the IBR, sent me a text which I just had to get out to people as I was crossing Germany”   What do you think ? No, I didn’t think it sounded very plausible either ….

PPS ´This one is for Robert.  You know the time we met up when you quizzed me over the IBR over that dinner ?  The dinner that I paid for when we “accidentally” found ourselves in quite possibly the most expensive restaurant in Gent ?  Yes, that one ……  Well, when all this is over, I’m expecting to find ourselves “accidentally” in a similarly expensive restaurant – and this time, it’s your turn to foot the bill !!!

Well he’s obviously taken pity on me and not sent a text message so far today telling me how day 6 fared for him

The only problem is, we need to be back home for tomorrow and as we are currently just over 1450 miles from home, we’re having to make an early start.

So, if I can and if I receive news, I’ll try and stop somewhere and post a quick update.  If not, my next blog entry will be when we’re back home in the UK.

As a matter of interest, I currently have the same problem as Robert – tyres !!

Our trip to Nordcapp was a little harder on the tyres than I anticipated resulting in what I can best describe as tyres currently bordering on something akin to racing slicks ……  Fortunately no rain is forecast for the trip home, so fingers crossed, the tyres should get me home. 

See ya !!!

At 4.00pm this afternoon (9.00am “ish” depending on exactly where Robert is), Robert stopped for an hours rest having ridden through the night.  It seems for this leg he’s staying at the “Iron Butt Hotel”.

He is now 1400 miles away from the checkpoint with 34 hours to go.

It will be tight for him, but he will do it, I know he will !!  These damn Germans are tough S.O.B.’s

As he rides into the desert he will need to keep hydrated. In 2011 Lisa Landry pulled me to one side immediately before the start of the third leg to give me this advice “when you ride through the desert, if you are not peeing at every fuel stop, you are not drinking enough”

That advice got me through my tough last leg.  I have passed the advice on to my Geramn friend ……

More later

It’s a little after 4.30 am here in Lillehammer and I`ve just learnt the news that Pepa is Roberts girlfriend !!  If nothing else, by keeping this surrogate blog for him, I`m getting to know who all of his friends and family members are ……………..

On another note, a text message from him and just woken me up – again  !!!! (for the third day running !!!! – Jeez, I feel like I`m riding the damn rally myself)

As Pepa commented, it was 3 hours out of leg 2 that he lost and so he is now preparing to ride through the night to make up some time.  Those of you who have access to his Spot will know exactly where he is right now.  For those of you that do not, all I can say is that he has 45 hours of leg 2 left and is currently 2000 miles away.

Some of you reading this blog will be already IBA  members and will be thinking 2000 miles in almost 48 hours is a relatively easy ride – it`s just two  SS1000 rides after all ……..  But Robert remember has already been on the road for 5 full days.  Each “just an SS1000” becomes ever more difficult for him.

He has just told me that he’s switched from “Comfort zone” ro “Rally Mode” due to the tyre incident.  I’ve told him to show restraint still …….

No doubt you will be thinking I’m a “bit of an old woman” in keep telling Robert to hold back.

Maybe I am, but I know what’s coming next for him and remember, although Leg 1 was a four day ride, he’s only just over a third through the rally, with the tough two-thirds still to come …..

Right, I’m back off to bed now to have the rest of my nights sleep.  Robert, on the other hand, will be heading west …….

As some of you will now know, Robert is currently lying in 36th Place.

What you will not know is that he “lost” 3 hours searching for a bike shop that could change his tyre.  His message was not clear as to whether he lost 3 hours of rest or 3 hours of the second leg.  If it`s a loss of rest, that`s not too bad.  If he has lost some time out of his second leg, then he will have to ride a little bit harder to make it up.

His messages to me already indicate that he knows that “leg 2” is “massive” (his words). 

I still have plenty of confidence in Robert, but his machine has so far had  more problems than I think he anticipated.  If he has already used one tyre in 3000 miles of north-east USA / Canadian roads, then the South west desert conditions will be equally hard on the tyres again, even though it`s slightly less miles in leg 2.  I am in contact with him regarding this and will report back just as soon as he lets me know.

He will hopefully be able to deal with the continuing fuelling issue, although hopefully it was just poor petrol.

By simply achieving what he has done already, he will have impressed many American Iron Butt riders, many of whom cannot see past a BMW or FJR for these kind of competitive rides …..  Us Europeans are already more than impressed by this mad German no matter how the IBR 2013 ends up for him !!

My confidence remains high in Robert and although the bike is clearly suffering, as I reported earlier, the fact that he has overcome them will only boost his confidence.

Okay, I should be hearing from him within the next 12 hours as to how leg 2 is progressing for him.  I will report asap …..

John  

First of all an apology.  In yesterdays blog, I mentioned excessive fuel consumption that Robert was experiencing.  That was a mistake.  It,s actually excessive tyre wear he is suffering from.  I misunderstood his text message.  That is what happens when a German in Canada is sending brief text messages to a Brit in Norway !!

Anyway, the good news is that he hit the checkpoint deadline and lost no points at the table.

In the first leg, Robert covered 3000 miles.  The bike is running ok but needs some attention now – routine stuff but this will eat into his rest period.  The tyre wear could become an issue on leg 2 where he will be running into blistering heat which takes its toll on machines.  Unless you have actually experienced the desert in New Mexico, Arizona or Nevada, it´s impossible to understand just how hot it is – 49 degrees centigrade is what I experienced back in 2011 and I suspect that is what Robert is about to ride into. 

His oil consumption so far has been close to zero – that is about to change with the heat.  In Three Days times, he´ll be very glad that he chopped the bottom of his fairing away.

Sorry this is brief – I´ve had to borrow someone´s laptop to do this report !!

When we get back to relative civilisation in Lillehammer tonight, I´ll post again 

For those of you unfamiliar with the works of Shakespeare, those are the words uttered by Hamlet when he realises his worst fears are confirmed about his fathers death.

And so it was with me on Day 3 of the IBR when I had news from Robert that one of his throttle cables had snapped.  No problem of course as he had spare cables.

Except he’d listened to all that “good” advice about ditching “stuff”.

Guess where his spare cables where ?  Yes, in that “stuff” he’d left back at the hotel.  As I said, riding a Hopeless Class bike in an IBR is a totally different experience to using a modern machine.  Moderns machines rarely fail.  “Stuff” therefore is quite correctly unimportant.

Except, Robert is not riding a modern machine ……

Fortunately, the Honda is equipped by two throttle cables and by butchering the return cable, he “bodged” enough of a repair that should see him through the rest of the leg and only lost an hour in the process. 

I’ll bet he carries all of his “stuff” with him on leg 2 – no matter what the experts say !!

Day 3 was hot for him and he again experienced fuel problems which he now believes is due to using low grade Canadian fuel meaning he’s using over twice as much petrol as normal – thank goodness for the auxilliary fuel tank.  He’s now taking a full 8 hour rest break before heading back to Pittsburgh tomorrow.

As I said earlier in the week, “competitive Robert” wouldn’t be taking an 8 hour rest break at this stage, but it’s “cautious Robert” we’re now seeing …….

My thoughts are at this stage is that he’ll just aim to get through Leg 1 and 2 safely and still be “in the hunt”.  Any heroics can wait until Leg 3.  That is a good strategy ………

Right, breakfast now for me and Sonia and then we head further south and continue to avoid the hundreds of reindeer that seem to roam freely up here.  We wouldn’t want to kill Rudolph would we ? 

Well it looks as though Canada was succesful.  Robert managed to ride 980 miles today and reports that he is on track.

And it’s finally stopped raining on him.

More importantly, he’s had his first mechanical set back when he thought the alternator had stopped working.  Fortunately, it was nothing more than a loose battery connection.  The main thing is that he’s had his first issue and overcome it.  Although there will be more (no matter how reliable a bike is, the Iron Butt Rally will “find you out”), the fact that he was able to fix it will be a huge physchological (is that how you spell it – where is a spell checker when you need it ?) boost to him.

Each set-back I had in 2011, just made me more confident that I could fix anything that occurred and I’m sure it will be the same with Robert.  I do have a concern though – it seems that he took advice to leave a lot of “stuff” back at the hotel.  That’s good advice for riders of modern machines which rarely go wrong.  Hopelessclass bikes require a different approach.  Spare clothes, yes, you can do without.  Spare parts for your bike, you cannot do without.  Let’s hope he has no more problems before he can recover his “stuff” again.

Apologies for this blog entry being late – I couldn’t find a computer anywhere last night at Nordcapp and my HTC phone refused to log onto the blog.  Now we are back some 400 miles south again, computers are more plentiful so as soon as I hear from Robert tonight/tomorrow moring, I’ll bring you up to speed. 

Well, it looks as though he’s stopped for the night in Vermont.

There’s been a lot of rain today for him, but his general direction suugests he may be heading into Canada tomorrow.

Now that could be risky.  He had problems on the 2012 Brit Butt Rally with multiple border crossings in a short space of time and the UK border control are pussies compared to the rottweilers in the US.  If that is the plan, I can only assume that there is a “big bonus point opportunity for not many miles”, which must be the attraction.

Many of the US riders seem to avoid border crossings if possible (remember that statistic about something like 80% of the USA population not even having a passport), so it may well be that the rally planners have tried to lure riders across the border with the promise of big points to get them out of their comfort zone.  If so, then there is logic to his decision – it’s still a risk though …..

Still, the main thing is that we’re heading into day 2 and he’s still going !! 

Right, well me and Sonia are off up to Nordcapp now (it’s raining here as well) so I’ll “blog” further tonight – assuming I can find a computer !!

Well with the wonders of modern technology, here am I posting on the blog about Roberts IBR ride over there in the good old US of A, whilst I am sitting in a hotel a few miles south of Nordcapp.

As you will all be aware, Robert will be some 6 hours into his ride now.  If he’s anything like I was on that last night before the rally and during the first few hours, his mind will be full of all of the things that can go wrong. 

6 hours into an 11 day rally, will undoubtedly mean he’s still shuffling in his seat trying to get comfortable !!!

This will be a whole new experience for him.  He’s done many big bike trips before, but during those, he was master of his own timetable.  If he wanted to stop, he could.  If he wanted a day off, he could.  On the IBR, those options aren’t available to you.  All he’ll be focussing on, is hitting that first leg cut off deadline. 

I have been pleased that during my chats and text messaging with him over the last few weeks, the normally ultra competitive Robert has been replaced by a Robert whose primary aim is to finish and get that important “3 digit” IBA membership number (the first 999 membershis numbers are reserved for those IBA members who have finished an Iron Butt Rally.  Since the first rall was run nearly 30 years ago, less than 600 of those memebrship numbers have been issued) .  Riding a “Hopeless Class” bike will present Robert with all sorts of issues that the riders of modern machines just will not have to face.  As reliable a Roberts Honda is, it was never built with the thought of it running virtally non stop for 11 days.  Thing will go wrong with the bike. Ultimately what will decided whether Robert comes homes with the “3 digit” number is how well he copes when they do.

Finally a quick apology – just whilst we’re away on this trip, my Blog entries may at time be a bit short and to the point.  I’ll try and post something each day as I get news, but it will not be until we are back home a week today (Monday) that I’ll be able to write much more than a rief summary of what’s happening  

OK friends, this is my last post for the next 11 days. The rally rules do not permit me to publish anything during the rally (“You’ll have no time for that!”).

I have finished my planning which I cannot reveal now. I only can say that I will go where I wanted to go, Some relaxed 4700 km in quiet surroundings…just follow my spot or if you don’t have the password, follow the public SPOT site on http://www.ironbuttrally.com. I think you will soon find out which is my tag.

You will also find the daily reports from Robert Higdon there that comment the rally every day.

And I hope that John Young will be able to entertain you until I’ll be back on air. So pop in every now and then. Yesterday, the blog received 326 hits, impressive! Thanks for your interest.

See you!

When I logged into my account, I was stunned: to this point, the blog has 239 hits today! And the day is not over yet! This topped the record back in 2011 when I reported during the Africa trip. Thanks for your interest!

I received a lot of good wishes from many friends, but also from people I don’t know…be it via the blog, in the bike parking from the many spectator, from other riders, from rally staff, or from people on the street who wave at me to stop!

I went to the Walmart today and bought some food and water. I couldn’t get a pre-paid phone card there, this was already tricky in Canada. So I will reply that the data roaming will work. I had planned so many things around my electronic farkles, but as often, I might not really use them, including the radar detector. I’ll just stick to the speed limits and that’s it.

I also bought me a E-Z Pass, a transponder for the tollways system in the Eastern States and activated it. I filled up the tanks and everything should be prepared now. I followed the advice of Jeff Earls during the rookie meeting yesterday and I will leave half of the luggage back here. The stuff is already in the panniers, and the bag including the spare tyre that I will leave here are also prepared. Maps are unfolded on the bed and the electronic devices are prepared for the routing this evening/night. At 4 p.m., there will be the rider meeting with the banquet. The riders will be presented one by one and the layout of the rally will be explained. Then the rallybooks will be handed out and the riders disappear in their rooms to do the planning of their routes for the next 4 days (leg 1). Tomorrow morning we have to be in the park at 8 a.m. and will start at 10 a.m. Leg 1 ends on Thursday, July 4th on 8 p.m., right here in Pittsburgh. There will be a bank holiday in Canada (1st) and in the USA (4th), heavy traffic is expected and the weather forecast for the Northwest predicts rain, rain, rain. I plan to take it easy and to ride some 3000 mls, the top riders will surely do some 5000 mls.

I took some pictures in the car park this afternoon:

This morning, I had a light breakfast and started my day of registration. I got me my registration papers that should lead me throughout the day. My first stop was a video recording of my statement that I understood all the risks of the rally and was aware of all the liability issues. Second stop was at technical inspection of the bike. Apart from some comments about loose cables (that have no function) my bike was approved, also my insurance and bike documentation. Good! I am getting a lot of positive reactions about the selection of my bike, the Americans can hardly imagine you can do long distance riding with a bike with less than 1000cc. My next stop was at the camera station, my memory cards and the settings of the camera were checked. Next was the odometer check. We had to ride a 50 km route on the highway to calculate a calibration factor. During the ride, the bike went perfect. I had received a lot of friendly offers for help with the carburetor, but at the moment, there is no problem anymore. One reason more to be relaxed. I removed the fuel tube and cleaned it, just in case. Finally it was time for the compulsory rookies meeting. We made aware what is ahead of us. This will be nothing we have ever experienced before. It is challenge to ride 1 to 2-day rallies, but no comparison to 11 continuous days of about 18-20 hours riding per day. This really serious. We were presented the statistics of rookies in the last years: DNFs (did not finish), accident, hospital stays….to remind us this is no piece of cake and that the most important task is to return safely to the finish here in Pittsburgh. Anything else is less important.

In the end I had to pass the final station with some of the most important guys. My emergency information sheet was not there and also my notarised liability waver. I sent it by e-mail, but apparently they had waited for the originals. Finally, this was accepted. I sorted the issue about my Spotwalla track with Mike Kneebone, the IBA president and thanked him for his invitation in person. I had to answer final questions by Ira Agins and after asking, he told me that I was granted the status of being in the “hopeless class”. Yes! My first achievement! I will start the rally on Monday morning!

I didn’t have time to get to the Walmart again, so tomorrow it has to be. I attended a reception for all riders plus the subsequent dinner. I was with the other riders of “Team Europe” and had many chat. Tomorrow is supposed to be a relaxing day, however, I’ll be busy with the visit to Walmart, preparing my gear, my luggage that I will take with me, the luggage I will leave here…and at 4 p.m. there’s already the rider’s meeting!

It is a very warm welcome here, people are impressed that riders from other continents show up here, despite all hurdles. And a 500cc thumper get’s some extra attention, of course :-D .

Well, was could possibly go wrong? Usually the things one does not expect…

In the morning, I left somewhat later than planned as the cup of tea I took in the room was so strong I felt like a hit in the stomach. Woah. I left the hotel, turned onto the Rainbow Bridge over the Niagara Falls and I was already at the border. I was sent into the big building. I carried my document box and I was asked several times what was in there. I showed it finally to an officer…look, only papers, papers, papers, and…oooops, a copy of a swiss army knife…and a letterman. The officer took the two items from me and then I was admitted to the upper floor. I was interrogated about many things, whereabouts, when, where, why, who. I had expected this, after all I carry some picturesque visas in my passport, such  as. syrian, libanese, iranian, egyptian, moroccan and many more.

“So, what did you do in Syria?” “The same as here – tourism”. “But why Syria? Couldn’t you just go to…France?” “Well, I do go there..a lot”.. Again, the officer was interested how many leave days I had. Do I sense same envy there? I was finally interrogated by a second officer, had to leave my fingerprints and finally received my visa. After one hour, I was already on the road again. I didn’t put on my rainsuit and I regreted it half an hour later. There are little possibilities to stop and put on your rain gear. Finally I stopped at a service area and dressed properly before I got even more wet. But what was much more annoying…was the carburator problem. Well, that’s my guess.I had problems to go 65 mls, sometimes only 60 mls uphill. Over time, it got so bad, that I couldn’t do more than 5000 revs/min. A nightmare! And this time, it was independent from the front or rear tank. 2000 kms without problems and now it’s that bad? I was deeply frustrated and tried to think of a plan B. Could I get another bike for rent for the rally? I wouldn’t be able to do the rally like this? Suddenly, sunshine was back and I stopped for a drink. The bike behaved really bad. OK, let’s at least get to Pittsburgh. At 25 mls left to Pittsburgh, the bike suddenly made WROOM and accelerated like normal…more than 80 mls! This stayed until I arrived at the Marriott Hotel near Pittsburgh. This leaves me really clueless…I tried to fumble around at the bike, but I was interrupted by a heavy thunder storm. I finally said hello to Phil, Gerhard, Michiel, Kevin and Lyn from Europe. All arrived well, despite smaller incidents (lost sat navs, stolen tankbags). I also didn’t visit the Walmart due to bad weather. Tomorrow then.

So, what to do? I have cleaned the fuel filter (plastic chunks) and will investigate more tomorrow. I have recalibrated my objectives: arrive well after the first leg back here in Pittsburgh on next Friday. From there on, let’s see. At least I want to start the rally. What comes then…let’s hope for the best. You can also finish with this handicap, but I would require lot’s of luck and a massive amount of patience.

This morning, I drove to the bike and fixed all the luggage. I returned the rental car in the airport and I had to take leave of MJ who returned today. I returned to the bike by shuttled, put some petrol – and I was on the road. It was a very short stint today, I had booked a hotel in Niagara Falls on the Canadian side of the Falls. The riding didn’t take very long, however, I experienced similar problems as during the Brit Butt Rally – limited top speed at 70 mph (116 km/h) and this time I have no clue what is the reason, seems to be independent from the tank. However, it also stopped again and everything was back to normal. I’ll check the tubing in Pittsburgh again. But in the very worst case – I’d have to take it more easy. John Young has demonstrated that you can finish an IBR with a 60 mph cruising speed…right, John? I had very often small problems during my long travels, but in the end I always ended up where I wanted. So, no worries, all will be fine.

I was starting to get nervous today: now I’m on my own and every minute I’m closer to the start, THE question is more and more evident: What on earth have I gotten myself into? It’s not the sheer distance, it’s not the little time, it’s not the conditions that await me, it’s not the fact that I have almost no tolerance for problems…..it’s the combination of it all!

During the last 10 minutes, the rain still caught me, but I noticed that my cleaned gear was very well treated with a water repellent. I checked in the hotel and made a quick to the Niagara Falls just around the corner. A lot of water, but a lot less spectacular than the Victoria Falls I had visited in Africa two years ago. But worth a (quick) visit.

My first task tomorrow morning will be to cross the US border right here in town, then head for Pittsburgh!

Some important information: The official IBA bulletins will be available from Friday/Saturday on under

http://www.ironbuttrally.com/IBR/2013.cfm

The official public SPOT site with the locations of all riders will also be linked there.

My personal SPOT track is protected with a password. If you want to follow my track in real-time, please send me an e-mail on time (e.g. before Sunday noon) to hutzlmandl(at)t-online.de and I will send you the password. Sorry, but the IBR rules are like that!

Let’s see if I can get some decent food in this town….

Last week passed quite quick and after a couple of relaxing days in Canada, we are back in Toronto and our common holidays come to an end. We had rented a huge Chrysler (I like to call him ‘Big Daddy’) for a comfy ride, but the main reason was that it has a large trunk: all the luggage plus the complete luggage for the IBR plus my complete motorcycle gear had to go in there. So we have visited Montréal, Québec and Toronto, with Québec probably being our favorite. Where Montréal seems to be an American city with a European touch, Québec is like a European city with an American touch. At least the Old Town. It was probably the highlight of this short trip. I can’t resist to share this anecdote: when standing on the historic citadel of Québec ( the only one in Northern America), looking down to the St. Lawrence stream that converts into a fjord, a US tourist asked the guide: “Is this the US, on the other side of the river?”. The tour guide stayed calm and replied with a very subtle amusement in his voice:” No Ma’am, the border would be some 2 hours driving from here”. The historic part of the city is very beautiful, even for European standards. The French spoken in the province of Québec gave me a hard time, the accent is quite different from the French spoken in France, sometimes I had to ask a lot to repeat the last sentence….

It was quite hot and humid these days, with heavy thunderstorms in the evenings. But today, we got a nice, sunny day in Toronto, going up the huge CN tower, visiting the Steam Whistle micro brewery and the St Lawrence market.