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Getting Technical
It has been a great few days. On Thursday morning I left Rhode Island by 6am. I called Chacifer about four hours later.. "I'm bored" She laughed at me and said I was really up a creek if I was bored after four hours. As much as I like my little FJ cruiser it just isn't a good highway monster like the old F-350 with the Powerstroke but really neither is as fun as the bike for gobbling up mile after mile day after day. I could easily turn this into a million words on why I ride but at this point you either understand or you don't. I figure if you are still reading this lame blog then you get it so let's move on. Thursday evening I made it to Cleveland and joined my friend Bob for a trip downtown to see Modest Mouse. Prudence kept me out of the mosh pit which was actually pretty tame compared to Lupo's Heartbreak in downtown Providence. We got back to Bob's around 11 and i thanked him as I didn't think we would see each other in the morning. I think he took this as a challenge but I was up and gone when he got up at 4:30; I wanted to get through Columbus where I stopped to take a nap. The ability to power nap is key for the rally and I have always been good at it. I pulled into a mickyd's parking lot, put the seat back and 18 minutes later work up with no alarm, pulled out and felt great for the rest of the day. I arrived in Saint Louis and went straight to the HQ of the BMW Motorcycle Owners of America so I could wash the road grime off the bike and say hello to the office staff. I was an officer of the MOA until this summer and I have fond memories of the great team we have at HQ, which as a coincidence is just down the road from the Rally Hotel. When I got to rally HQ I immediately sought out Dale Wilson (aka Warchild) and Tom Austin as I wanted to have my aux fuel tank inspected. Dale is the chief tech inspector for the rally and Tom is the chief tech guy for the association so I wanted their input right away. It passed the initial check for structural integrity but there were some concerns about volume so I was prepared for scrutiny at tech this morning. As my practice (remember the ritalin boy thing) I was first in line for tech and after very close inspection it was determined that the total fuel capacity of my motorcycle is 11.45 gallons. The maximum is 11.5 gallons so I am 0.05 gallons short. Har de har har.
Posted 10:51 PM, Aug 18, 2007 by sleddog
Har De Har Har
It is my last day before departure and I got a lot to do. It is also my last day at work for two and half weeks so I got a lot to do. This afternoon I am going to run by EMS (Eastern Mountain Sports) for a sack for the mini Thermarest (Son Corbett lost the original) and some nifty socks, then over to Kingstown for an inspection sticker. I don't need a sticker as in Rhode Island you don't get one your first year but I don't want to worry about having to prove this at tech. Then I will visit the original Sleddog and Chief of the Sled Dog Touring Team, Doug Mo for a ceremonial laying of the hands on the bike. I will also get a pair of original SDTT stickers which will be the only stickers on the bike, other than the blue reflective tape Pete put on yesterday. So, I leave tomorrow, got a ton of stuff to do and I am blogging. Hare de Har Har and a big Roger Ramjet to you, I'm almost outta here.
Posted 2:02 PM, Aug 15, 2007 by sleddog
Come in ground control!
With any competition there are rules and there will always be folks who look to exploit the rules for an advantage. This is what I learned from my time managing high end racing sailboats for the uber rich. I also learned that the rule book is a good way for someone new to the game to figure out what can provide a competitive advantage. For example in the Iron Butt Rally we are allowed a maximum amount of fuel. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that carrying as much fuel as possible can be advantageous. Rules with absolute values (like 11.5 gallons) are easy to understand and enforce. It is the rules with terms open to interpretation that can cause problems for both the competitors and the people enforcing them. The theme of the IBR is one rider, one bike and one ride. Over the years technology has enabled riders to use computers for mapping and planning, GPS devices for positioning and cell phones for communication, however the rule states that: "Riders will not receive undue assistance during the event. In determining what constitutes "undue assistance," the rallymaster's determination shall be final. Close questions in the interpretation of this section shall be construed against the rider. See, IV.A.4 for further details." The IBR staff has a policy that they will not have a rule they can not enforce. When I first started paying attention to the rally (2001) a rider wrote about calling a friend who ran some "what-if" scenarios on the computer which he incorporated into his ride. From what I had read I thought this was against the rules or at least pushing the envelope a bit. In 2005 we were told that it was permissible to fax our route sheets to our support team with the stipulation that if any of the information were to become public and traceable back to any rider, said rider would be tossed from the event. With riders sending their actual bonus listings to friends the possibility of having someone plan your route is a real possibility. Also in 2005 there were a few "teams" were veteran riders who were not riding the rally were on hand to couch their charges and assist with things like bike maintenance and pre-scoring. Personally I don't see an advantage of planning in a team setting and while I do see some advantage to having a coach on-site I think this is pushing the limits of what the rally is all about. I have to be careful about being a bit hypocritical is my bike and the effort of people like Max could also be seen as pushing the envelope, however it is something that is available to any rider, unlike the team gig. So last night my ribbi, lifeline, coach, mentor and general all around good guy Pete Withers came by. Pete has ridden four Iron Butt Rallies and has retired from competitive events, except when I drag him out for one more rally. Pete is going to be my lead support call during the rally so we wanted to get together so I could give him copies of the latest mapping software. We also needed to discuss how we were going to handle file transfers. Pete brought over his wife's nifty brand new Dell notebook running (more likely crawling) Microsoft's new OS, Vista. As an IT manager I have managed to avoid Vista, however now I was forced to watch it suffer as we discovered that Street Atlas 2008 (can't get much more current) won't load. Too funny. To me it actually is comical because in the grand scheme of the ride weather or not Pete and I can exchange map files is meaningless, yet come next week people will look at my bike and think that Pete can ride it form his couch. The entire idea of having someone plan my route from the comfort of their couch is comical. My experience has me thinking that my best chance for a great ride involves doing my planning alone. What is important is that when I have a question I know who to call for an answer. The question about where to go and how to get there will be answered on the bike, but trick questions like the local sunrise at the summit of Mt. Evens Co can be answered by anyone, even someone who doesn't even ride a motorcycle. That and mechanical help at the checkpoint is the extent of my plans for outside assistance. Gimmie the Book!
Posted 2:01 PM, Aug 15, 2007 by sleddog
One week to go
One week to go. I had a very productive weekend. Saturday I put the bike on the trailer and went up to Max's in New Hampshire for a final service. Two new tires a set of new tires on the spare wheels, switch to synthetic oil, new brake pads all around and I am good to go. Sunday I spent the day alone in the garage and took all the body panels off so I could run a few comm wires and tidy up the autocom installation we did last week. I think I am going to be very happy with the Autocom. A dark cloud / silver lining sort of situation developed as apparently the Garmin 2820 has issues with the stereo jack so Autocom highly recommends (in fact their cords demand) using the mono audio out incorporated into the power cord. I rode home from the installation using XM in mono and I thought it would work *ok* but when I got home I plugged in my I-Pod and unleashed the stereo potential of the new system. Rather than purchase a new XM receiver I went with Sirius because I think they have better music and they are introducing a Grateful Dead channel. (you can stop rolling your eyes now) So I have the Sirius ready to go save a mount, other than this the bike is ready. I am getting down to the little details, earlier today I swung by a Kinkos to get a checklist page laminated. This will go inside the lid of the document box as a little reminder when getting fuel or bonus points. So the big issues are all sorted out. All of my new Boxers have at some point before 16,000 miles transformed themselves seemingly overnight from a new motor to something perfectly run in and sorted out. With this bike the motor fairy visited about a week and a half ago or right around 10,000 miles. Oil consumption is nill, range is up and when asked the bike gets up like a scalded cat. The police model has a different final drive with a lower ratio which improves acceleration at the expense of economy at cruising speeds. I am happy with the ability to do low speed maneuvers with ease, the wonderful roll-on power and the fact that I am getting over 40mpg. So with two more days before I leave for St. Louis I feel pretty good and I am getting excited. Let's GO!
Posted 6:29 PM, Aug 13, 2007 by sleddog
All better now
Good morning, The title of this Blog is Living in the Tunnel which is where I have been over the last few days and it has been very dark down there. Actually the tunnel analogy comes from the amount of focus that I just can't help putting on the ride as the departure time draws near. Last February the IBR was "something in August" as we loaded HP 2's in New Hampshire for the Sandblast Rally. Then it was easy to think of something else but now with less than a week before I leave for St. Louis, it is all 'Butt, all the time. As I have mentioned previously I had been having a hell of a time getting my cell phone to work on the bike. As much as I wanted to I just could not get the JM stuff to work as it should so I scrapped it and went with Autocom. I am much happier as now I can communicate. Unfortunately I lost the opportunity to have CB, which to me was the big plus to the JM, however I could never make even this core function work properly so it is no loss. To say it was a frustrating experience would be putting it mildly, I just can't imagine a company that provides little to no tech support and refers calls to the owner who doesn't take calls can stay viable. My faith was misplaced. It is interesting how important a working cell phone is to many riders. I heard through the grapevine that Rebeca Vaughn has been fighting issues with her cell phone and JM system for a few weeks and that my buddy Jim Frens was also working on his comm setup. For me the cell phone is critical for booking hotel rooms, checking on things like ferry availability and just plain shooting the breeze with a buddy when we need a little boost. Let's be honest with each other, no matter how much you like to ride a bike, doing the Tour Du Corn (Kansas) again can get a little boring. On a recent ride a "quick" stop for a necessary call was six minutes long, time an IBR rider can't afford to burn to talk on the phone, especially when multiple vendors offer phone in the helmet solutions. In the IBR there are rules against outside assistance, however we are allowed to call a friend and discuss possible routes. We are also allowed to ask for information such as local sunrise at a specific altitude or to confirm opening times of a National Park for example. It has even become permissible for us to send our "ground team" a copy of the bonus locations, however it is frowned upon for a shore team to plan the actual route while the rider sleeps. In 2005 there was a "team" approach to the rally by a group of riders. I am not sure it helped them with their routing and bonus selection but it did help when it came time to get ready for scoring. Personally I don't subscribe to the team approach, nor do I want to trust my routing and bonus selection to someone who is a thousand miles away in the comfort of their home. I do believe it is valuable to have one or two buddies with rally experience to call for information and advice. I will have such a person available and I will be sending him my rally book. One of the big things I learned at the IBR National Meet last summer is that the very top riders plan alone. This struck a chord as in 05 I did my planning for the last leg with another rider and we convinced each other that going from Maine to the West Coast was smart. (it wasn't) Once I have my route set in the computer I will be sending an electronic copy to a my "lifeline" and my friend Chace. This is not really for them to review the route but to have a copy of where I am planning on going should I turn up missing. So now that I have the communication issues resolved I can focus on all the other details, none of which will make or break my ride but in total will make things go smoother. 10 days.
Posted 2:29 PM, Aug 10, 2007 by sleddog
Can you hear me now?
Original composed, Monday August 6. Today was a nice day for a ride even if it had to be up the Eastern Seaboard via the Delmar peninsula. As I have said it is not about speed. Here is the money shot from the GPS. !http://RPB.smugmug.com/photos/180769176-L.jpg! As I have said it is not about speed, it is about keeping moving. As my last weekend of solid riding (I went the same distance yesterday) the bike is working great. I now have just over 11k and will easily get the next 1k so we can do a full service this weekend. Part of today's ride was to decide exactly how important a integrated cell phone is to a competitive rally rider. In short order I was able to conclude that I have been fooling myself into thinking that not having the ability to place and receive calls while moving would be no big deal. In my first rally, the Butt Lite III I arrived at a hotel late at night with another rider. We had been riding for a long time and this was the junction where the road from nowhere got on the Interstate to nowhere and it was this one chain hotel or the ground. It was hot and really humid too. So we walk up to the counter and the nice lady asks I was the rider who called. I said no and she said I was still in luck she had one room left. Five hours later as we left I saw LD legend Gary Egan trying to sleep on the ground while flies were having him for dinner. That was 7 years ago. Now if you are out on the interstate highways on a Thursday - Sunday night and you don't get a room by 7 you are on the ground. I have the ability for my GPS to look up a location, give me an ETA and place the call but THEY CAN'T HEAR ME. So I have been after this for over a month and we are down to under two weeks to go. First thing tomorrow the plan of action generated on the ride gets put in play. The fairing will come off one more time and I'll have all the necessary parts to troubleshoot the whole ball or wax or I'll simply replace the whole lot. All I really need is the GPS to work two ways into the helmet, then I have music, phone and traffic. No big deal with 1 week to get it right.
Posted 11:24 PM, Aug 09, 2007 by sleddog
Training Beverages
Original Composed Saturday, Aug. 4 . It has been a busy and productive couple of days. Last Thursday I got up early and went to Vermont to see Charlie and get a few details sorted out. My list has gotten shorter but one major item remaining was a few minor modifications to the aux fuel system. My fuel cell uses a pump with a spring loaded check valve which is supposed to prevent any siphoning or flow through the system when the pump is not on. I feel it is very important to have precise control over when the fuel is transferred and on my run up to the Cabot Trail I discovered that on the interstate fuel will flow to the main tank. I also had an issue with the cap as the threads were too fine. The first time I saw it I thought it would be a problem but it took cross threading the cap in Maine to prove my point. This is why I am doing as many shakedown rides as possible to find these sort of issues. I left a little later than I planned and I got to Vermont around 9am. Charlie and I got started and by 2pm we had a petcock and a new filler neck installed on the aux tank. This is great. When my reserve light comes on I know I have used 5 gallons and have two remaining in the main tank and 4.3 in the cell. At this point I can calculate current consumption, then dump in the extra gas. Unfortunately we were not able to resolve the issue with the J&M system. I can hear everything wonderfully, however I can not place a cell phone call or get a response on the CB. Charlie and I confirmed the installation yesterday with no luck. I am in the process of deciding exactly how important communications are (vital if you ask) and what to do about it. J&M has a "unique" way of doing business and so far they have been helpful but not really effective. Today I need to decide if I am going to ditch the JM stuff and put in something else, or just go with what I have. After spending quality time with Charlie I headed down to Heath, MA where my local club, the Yankee Beemers were having their annual Damn Yankees Rally. This is always a good time and since I was in the neighborhood I thought I would drop in and put up my tent before heading back to RI for the night. This way I could roll in Friday and not have to worry about setting up. I needed to get back to RI for some work (waiting for the UPS man actually) Friday. My weekend included plans for some serious training, Sled Dog style. One thing that is difficult to practice is riding somewhat fatigued or trying to simulate the way we feel on day 9. The Sled Dogs have prefected a method for emulating this feeling, the key ingredient is to have a destination of 500 or more miles away for the following evening, then proceed to consume mass quantities of "training beverages" the night before *and* limit yourself to under 5 hours of sleep. This also works best if you sleep on the ground too. I executed this method to perfection by the use of Stella Atoris as the training beverage of choice and also were around people who became more difficult to converse with as my friend's "accents" became somewhat variable as the session progressed. At about 3am my coach said I was done and at 8 I was up and at em. I won't say I was my normal hyper self I tend to be first thing so I was a bit casual about my departure. I had a lovely day putting down 550 miles in 95 degree heat on the eastern seaboard, riding from Heath, MA to Norfolk, VA. The NJ turnpike still sucks. The bike ran great, the fuel cell worked as it should and life is grand. Except I still can't make a goddamn phone call.
Posted 11:22 PM, Aug 09, 2007 by sleddog
The missing box
19 days August 1. I have been burning the numbers off a credit card ordering last minute bits and equipment. Using the very best of "Just in time" inventory control I have plenty of boxes arriving daily. Tomorrow morning I am getting up early and taking the long way to Charlie's place in Vermont. By early I mean around 3 so I have six hours to throw on 400 or so miles. After the day with Charlie I will do a good loop to end up in Heath, MA Friday evening. It is possible I could throw in a Saddle Sore Thursday night / Friday which would be nice. Saturday I'll leave to head to Virginia for a ship visit and if it all goes my way I'll stay in the mid-Atlantic for an extra two days and see a second ship before heading home. The alternative is Heath - Norfolk - Bristol, RI (office) - Charleston, SC between Saturday and Thursday morning, not that I am afraid of mileage right now but time is a bit compressed. So today is a big day, both for work and the amount of stuff the boys in brown should be sending my way. When I arrived this morning the first wave had arrived and the driver was just leaving. Karen, our office manager told me his computer told him he had three boxes but he could only find two on the truck. This is not cause for panic as he may be getting the box at noon or it may be on a different truck for delivery before 4. I wonder which box it is. Is it the seat? Is it the box from Bio-Relief? (you don't want to know) Is it a box from Max? Is it a box with vital cables from PC Connection? Is it the box with the 3M clear paint protection film? Is it something I forgot I even ordered but will really, really miss on day 10? I have all of 19 days to figure it out.
Posted 2:43 PM, Aug 01, 2007 by sleddog
Time accelerates
19 days to go. There is a number to give one pause, we are inside of the twenty day ring to the start of the rally. On one hand I could (and probably should) have a good panic attack about my preparation right about now. The actual list of work to be completed is not really that large. I could make the list real short by simply having on item: Get ready for the rally silly! But that is a bit broad. I am a detail oriented person or at least that is what I have been told. A number of years ago I was involved in the management and preparation of a new yacht for Key West Race Week, the largest and one of the most competitive regattas in North America. The captain of the boat who I respected greatly told me I was the "most detail orientated muth**rF**ker he had ever worked with which I took as a great compliment. I also took being called a workaholic a compliment too. I just like to be busy. Once in while I get a bit freaked out over all the details on this bike, some of which I won't have time to get to. When I get worried I look back on my previous rides and break the game to its most basic elements. I have a great bike, the lights work and I can navigate. I don't need all the little extras to finish the rally but I do need to get my seat sorted out. Such is life at 19 days, my custom seat is giving me a wicked hot spot and it will be going back to Rocky for a little adjustment. There is a huge amount of equipment involved in riding the IBR. I have been fanatical about trying to save weight, space and clutter by taking as little as possible. I will have two sets of just about everything with a plan to switch out at the mid-rally checkpoint back in St. Louis. Even so from things like an alternator belt and tools to lubrication for the ear plugs there must be space for everything and everything must have a space. I have got just about all of the "what" and most of the "where" figured out but I will still be refining this over the next two weeks. I remember a buddy giving me grief before the start of my first IBR as I packed and repacked the bike about a dozen times to make sure I knew where everything was and to try to calm rally jitters. So in the next 15 days (I leave five days before the start) I will ride three thousand miles, spend a day in Vermont with Charlie attending to a few bits, spend a day at Max's getting full service and attend my local club rally (the Damn Yankees Rally) in western Mass. I have a mile long work list on the bike and will spend every spare moment testing, packing and fine tuning my set-up. Also in the next 15 days I am kicking off a 100k IT project at work and will visit two of our vessels, one in Virginia and the other in Savannah, GA or Baltimore to get them up to speed with our vessel management systems. In a not to Andy Goldfine's Ride To work day, I will ride to work on the ships. Time to get crackin!
Posted 2:14 PM, Jul 31, 2007 by sleddog
The Bug Light
The Bug Light The motorcycle I am riding is a 2006 BMW RTP with the P designating that this bike is an Police Bike. As the Iron Butt Rally has become as much as a navigational and routing exercise as much as a test of endurance a strong electrical system is very important. All BMW Motorcycles excel in this area with large alternators, however the RTP has a second battery and electrical system that is non-can bus and has various switched and non switched circuits. In my previous bikes the largest modifications came to the electrical system. By starting with the Police Motor the electrical system is ideally suited for modifications. Here is a picture of the front of the bike. The extra lights are Hella FF200's on top, Hella Micro DE on the bottom and Hella Fog lights on the crashbars. The top two sets are HID. !http://rpb.smugmug.com/photos/176254048-L.jpg! The lights do an amazing job of night time visibility. I recently did a quick training ride from Bristol, RI to the Cabot Trail and back, much of it in the dark. The amount of usable light is awesome and the edges of the road are well illuminated. I saw many deer that I am sure were always there but now I can see. I like it when I get the full "cranial cavity reflection" and if they are not on the shoulder I am pretty confident that they are fully "jacklighted" and will not move. All these lights are mounted on stock brackets that were on the Police bike that would be expensive and difficult to fabricate for a stock RT. The switch gear is also Police stock and I can have multiple configurations depending on needs. Here is a good shot of the left side of the bike. !http://rpb.smugmug.com/photos/176252929-L.jpg! Note the custom bags over the authority crash bars. Storage is tight on the RTP so I had these bags made to handle tools, first aid and other items I need to have but hope to never use. My tankbag is custom made from Linda Tanner at customtankbags.com. She is an experienced LD Rider in her own right and makes great stuff. She made the bag on the RT base and I had a custom bracket made up for holding the display. The display is hinged and most of the time will be in the down position giving me a clear view of the GPS units and bike instruments. The police radio box has been replaced with a custom 4.3 gallon auxiliary fuel tank which brings the total capacity of the bike to 11.3 gallons. For the IBR there is a 11.5 gallon limit so I should be ok. On top of the fuel tank is a Hardigg storm case which contains all sorts of electrical bits and a Panasonic Toughbook computer. The display on the tankbag connects via wirelesss to the toughbook so I can have navigation and other information at my fingertips. !http://rpb.smugmug.com/photos/176255245-L.jpg! The display up. And the display down !http://rpb.smugmug.com/photos/176305236-L.jpg! For GPS units I have a Garmin 2820 and a 2610. In my opinion the 2610 is the best GPS available, especially for rally use and the 2820 is a nice toy. The 2820 also has XM weather, traffic and music, bluetooth for a cell phone and the ability to store MP3 and audio books. The Garmin is interfaced with the JB / BMW comm system. This gives me CB, radar, phone, music and navigational prompts into the helmet. In the photo above you can also see the two volt meters (police bike has two batteries stock) and LED lights for the fuel management / transfer system. Hydration is an important and vital consideration when riding the Iron Butt Rally. In the past I have used camelbaks but after a few days wearing water on your bike becomes a pain in the ass. For 2007 Charlie came up with the bubba keg cooler which is mounted on a custom bracket. It also has quick release fittings and an in line washer pump. I can quick remove the cooler and take it into a truck stop for ice and I can get a nice drink by pushing a button! !http://rpb.smugmug.com/photos/154881837-L.jpg! As you can see plenty of thought and effort has gone into this bike. As in the past I tried to identify ways to save time, increase comfort and make the bike as reliable as possible. I studied past Iron Butt Rally reports. One story involved going down a rocky driveway / access road to a bonus when a rider on a K11LT bottomed out on a rock and put a hole in his oil pan. This should not be a worry for me as I have a custom bash plate. I am pretty confident that this is the only R12RT with a bashplate! !http://rpb.smugmug.com/photos/176306333-L.jpg! As much as I would like to say I did all this work myself I do not have the skills, shop or time to handle this. The project and this bike would not be possible without Max and his buddy / race project builder / back woods savant and all around great guy Charlie. !http://rpb.smugmug.com/photos/138573210-M.jpg! Charlie lives in a secret location deep in the heart of Vermont. I met him a few years ago when Max was way to busy on a Friday and threw me the keys to his sprinter van and asked me to take his turbo GS project to Charlie. I ended up not only meeting Charlie (an experience any gear head needs to savor) but I wound up helping out a customer of Max's with a flat tire too. Charlie came up with the Bubba Keg Cooler, in comparison my idea sucked so I took Charlie's good advice. This was to become a trend in the project, I would describe the issue and my ideas to Charlie and between the two of us (well mostly Charlie) a fantastic solution would emerge. I am going to have a great time with this bike thanks to Charlie and Max!
Posted 3:58 PM, Jul 30, 2007 by sleddog
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