2005 Iron Butt Rally

[DarkCloud]

Who is going to enter the lottery?

What kind of a personal commitment do you have to make now? Does the average rider spend the next 18 months setting up a bike, training, doing Iron Butt rides to compete?

A thousand miles a day for eleven days, physically and mental stress, when does the drain level off or stop? How do you organize support for the bike?

The entry fee alone is enough to separate the goats from the sheep. How many miles would you ride in the next 18 months including the rally? Could one bike do the training and be a viable ride for the rally?

JON

[Rob Nye]

Greetings,

For each applicant the answers will definately vary.

First, there would be no reason to plan for anything until after the drawing. For now all we can do is hope our lucky number comes up.

If it does the preparation begins in earnest. For me this would start with a budget for the bike and the rally itself. Depending on your goals it can be a very expensive undertaking with the total including entry, bike prep and expenses being anywhere from 3-6k.

The Iron Butt is a very personal experience and the most important thing is to have a realistic goal. The next rally will be very different because there will be a minimum points requirement to be considered a finisher. No longer will one be able to enter the rally, ride checkpoint to checkpoint on time and automatically be considered a finisher. Every year the bar gets rasied a little, to me this is a big jump as it means that while one could enter and be committed to finishing, there is no way to know what it will take to finish until the game is on.

Last time I started an exercise program 9 months before the rally and I lost 20lbs as well as made what used to be a heavy bike feel light. It made a huge difference and the added benefit is that I have retained the habits I picked up for the IBR so if I am in I expect to work harder on physical training.

The Iron Butt is all about having a great ride and doing things that you may not have realized you could do. Fatigue management is critical to your chance of finishing as well as your personal safety. To me a cornerstone of fatigue management is to try to reduce the chances of errors that can not only cost time but really hurt mentally when coupled with fatigue. One thing you can start doing is practicing things you do now that you would also do in the rally such as getting gas. I get gas the same way every time weather it is on a Sunday group ride or day 10 or the rally. This way during the rally I don't have to think about how I get gas, where I put my wallet, etc. I just do it.

What I would suggest is that you do a saddle sore and identify all the little things that bother you about your bike. While little now, they can turn into a huge PITA after multiple days. You need to make your bike fit you so well that you want to get on time after time, day after day. You need to love your bike that much. Identify areas where you would want to make improvements and figure out how and how much it will cost to make them happen. Factor this in with what your comfort level with risk is and you will be ready to make a decision should your number be a lucky one.

There are also numerous rallies you can enter this year and next spring to get a fell for your routing skills. Only experience will give you the ability to look at a map and *know* how long it will take you to go from point A to B on a given set of roads. If you have a GPS start logging all your rides and pay close attention to the overall rate of advance which will be average speed including stops.

Even with a crash in Utah I had the time of my life on the 03 IBR and I have all appendages crossed in hope of getting in for 05.

Best,

Rob Nye