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Heading to the start of the 2017IBR

Congratulations LD. Tremendous achievement on any bike but even more cool that you're an NC guy. I said it last time and I'll say it again. I would love to hear the stories that arose from this and the last IBR.
Well Done!
>Thom
 
I noticed at the Allen checkpoint, you still had your aux tank jb welded into the gas cap (I do also BTW). I assume the IBR staff had no issues with that? Was that a 2.5 gallon tank?


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There were zero issues with the JB welded bung, but the tank was a bit loose so I had to tighten it down a bit more so that when the tech inspectors grabbed the tank (only) they could rock the entire motorcycle back and forth without having the tank move on the mounts.

That tank has about a 3 gallon usable capacity, so between the two, I have a sure 320 mile range, which is what I programmed into my GPS. The tank performed flawlessly, and I will post up some pics of the plumbing once I get some rest.

Arrived back in Maine today (Thur) after a 1,000 mile, 19 hour ride from Tennessee where I stopped to visit family for a couple of days after the IBR.

I'll probably put under 2,000 miles on the bike the rest of the summer ;-)
 
Congratulations LD. Tremendous achievement on any bike but even more cool that you're an NC guy. I said it last time and I'll say it again. I would love to hear the stories that arose from this and the last IBR.
Well Done!
>Thom
Thank you for the compliments and I will write up a report with all the interesting (and not so interesting) details. I don't have any pictures, our memory cards are collected after each leg (there are three legs) and I didn't dare try to save them to my PC before scoring for fear of losing them (and the bonus points they represented).
 
My 2017 IBR summer vacation costs $$$

I'm going through my receipts and some of you might find the costs interesting. I've learned to put the receipts in a spreadsheet as I accumulate them. That way I'm not totally surprised when I finally total everything up...usually.

This isn't an inexpensive hobby ;-)

Before I turned a tire in the rally I had 'fixed' costs. This includes the insurance ($500,000 CSL), medical evacuation insurance (MedJet), insurance to get my motorcycle back to Maine if I can't ride it or it is damaged (Medjet), Spot tracking (but not the device, I already own one), the 2017 IBR entry fee, batteries, memory cards, etc,. I even included post office fees for shipping documents to the rallymaster. There is nothing really tangible on this list. Everything will be used only in the rally and if I wasn't doing the rally, none of this stuff would have been purchased.

Fixed costs: $2,568

Lodging includes hotels on the way to the rally, the hotels on the way back from the rally, and of course the hotels at the checkpoints (there were three) and the hotels during the rally. I stayed outdoors two nights during the rally, grabbing a couple of hours sleep on picnic benches in rest areas. Not recommended but when you are tired and have to stop, you have to stop. Sometimes I would check into a hotel at 0400, only to check out at 0830. I was able to stay one night in my own house, when I missed a ferry in Portland, Maine to Nova Scotia and was too beat to ride any further. Ended up staying about 12 hours ;-)

Lodging costs: $1,350

Some meals were included at checkpoints, and while on the road I tried to eat somewhat reasonably. Mostly Subway sandwiches, McDonalds grilled chicken salads and gas station Gatorade. I think I had maybe three sit down meals during the rally, usually during hellacious thunderstorms when I couldn't ride anyway or it was 105 deg F with 99% humidity. Had one in Louisiana, one in Wisconsin and maybe someplace else, don't remember.

Food/Meal costs: $445

I have a total of about 7 gallons of usable fuel on the bike, and thanks to the frugal nature of the NC, I only used about 225 gallons. My fuel costs were probably the lowest in the entire rally.

Fuel costs: $491

I left Maine on the afternoon of June 22, sneaking out of school a day early and the motorcycle showed 31,932 miles on the odometer. When I pulled into my driveway Thursday morning, July 13 the odometer read 43,986 miles (I spent a couple of days at my brothers's farm in eastern Tennessee after the rally). During those 12,000+ miles the NC did need some maintenance. I was hoping to do some of it myself at the checkpoints, but that plan went out the window because all I wanted to do was rest. Not wrench.

The drive chain and sprockets had 10,000+ miles on them before I left for the rally, and the Pro-Oiler I installed seemed to work well. I did have the chain replaced when I left Tennessee, it had become kinked and wouldn't adjust. At that point, the chain had close to 21,000 miles on it so I don't think that was too bad. Sprockets still look fine. I obviously had to do an oil/oil filter change, DCT filter change, put new tires on and some other simple stuff that I wouldn't normally have to do in three weeks of riding ;-)

Maintenance costs: $644


Sooooo...the total for my little Summer 2017 IBR vacation is right around $5,500, which I believe is on the low end for most riders. This was my third IBR, so I already had quite a few of the necessary 'farkles' already. A new IBR rider would of course have to factor in all of those additional costs.
 
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For anyone interested this is how my aux fuel tank was setup for the 2017IBR. I ran a similar setup in 2015 but with one major difference that I will point out. I also ran an aux tank in 2011 on my GL1800 and had an experience that cemented in my mind the importance of a proper installation:

In the 2011IBR I hit (of all things) a mountain lion on the last night of the rally while on I-40 in Arizona at (according to Spot and my GPS) 74 mph. My GL1800 was completely demolished. It did an end over end sort of thing and was found about 560 ft from where I hit the lion. I was found about 286 ft from the lion, unconscious. Every panel on the Goldwing was damaged. The <only> thing that wasn't crunched or smashed was my fuel cell. I don't want to think about what would have happened if I was drenched with 4.7 gallons of fuel during my little getoff. The lady driving behind me told the highway officer that it looked like the Fourth of July, there were that many sparks flying off the crash bars on the 'Wing as it slid and tumbled down the interstate. **


So....There are many ways to install an aux tank, everything from plastic milk jugs in the Frunk to stainless steel AN fittings expertly routed to welded bulkheads on the stock and aux tank. Some are better than others. This is somewhere in the middle. My goals were to make it comfortably safe, it needed to pass tech inspection, and I wanted to be able to return to stock in minutes. I also couldn't afford to spend a lot of money, nor do I have the skills to fab up parts myself.

In 2015 the fuel shutoff valve was installed on top of the stock fuel cap. A hose ran from a simple 1/4 inch fitting on the bottom of the tank to the fuel shutoff. You can clearly see the valve here in the "fuel flow off" position.
IMG_2533-L.jpg


The 90 degree fuel valve was a generic item bought at Tractor Supply or similar for about $8 (more on that later). I simply drilled a hole in the top of the stock tank a tiny bit larger than the thread on the fuel valve and epoxied it using JB Weld. Easy peasy.

Note: You cannot drill a hole and "screw" a bulkhead or fuel valve into the stock cap, the raised "wings" on the cap will prevent you from turning the fitting.

I also installed a fuel rated quick disconnect. That allowed me to simply push that silver tab you see in the photo above and the hose would well, quick disconnect.

Once the hose was disconnected from the aux tank, I could then twist the stock cap off to refuel without the hose binding. Obviously I would refuel the aux tank by using the cap on that tank. The whole process was quick and easy, and total cost (including the tank) was very reasonable. Yeah, I was doing a lot of connecting and disconnecting with a plastic fitting but it worked fine and never leaked. It was another quality Motion Pro product and I would use it again. I rode the 2,600 miles from my house to the start of the 2015IBR and everything was peachy.

The 2015IBR started in New Mexico and by the time I returned home to Maine three weeks later, the NC had 14,000 miles more miles on it. That is a LOT of refueling when carrying only about 7 gallons usable, even at 50 mpg. This configuration worked fine, right up to the time it didn't ;-)

Remember that $8 generic 90 degree fuel valve bought at Tractor Supply? It leaked. Wouldn't shutoff. I purposely bought a 3.5 gallon aux tank so that when my stock tank started with the red flashing, I could confidently empty the ENTIRE contents of the aux tank and not have to worry about the stock tank overflowing (since stock fuel capacity is greater than the 3 gallons I typically put in the aux tank).

If I had a larger aux tank (I was allowed up to a 7.5 gallons) I would have to meter out fuel from the aux tank while keeping an eye on the (totally flaky) fuel guage so I wouldn't overfill the stocker. I wasn't interested in making my life more complicated on say, day 9.

Since the fuel valve was now leaking and wouldn't "shutoff", I couldn't fill the aux tank until the stock tank was empty. So basically, I had one tank of my choice to fill: Either the stock tank or the aux tank, but not both. Bummer.

Besides the shutoff valve that wouldn't shutoff, the thing I didn't like about this 2015 configuration was that there was no way to stop fuel from drenching me and my motorcycle if there was a breach in the fuel line. The fuel shutoff valve was placed <after> the hose, on top of the stock cap as shown in the above picture. That means any damage to the hose (which was directly connected to bottom of aux fuel tank and hidden under the rack) could potentially result in 3.5 gallons of fuel pouring out, with absolutely no way to stop the flow. Not good.


In 2017 I changed the configuration so that the fuel shutoff valve is connected to the aux tank and <then> a fuel line runs from that shut off valve to a bulkhead fitting on the stock cap. That way, I can shut off the flow from the tank if I notice a leak or need to remove the tank for some reason. You can see that configuration here. Notice there is no fuel shutoff valve on the stock cap and the fuel line is a more flexible vinyl rather than a thick rubber:
IMG_6323.jpg


I stepped up to a Motion Pro fuel shutoff valve of higher quality and mounted it directly to the bottom of the aux tank. In this photo the fuel shutoff is "on" or flowing and is screwed into an aluminum bung welded (from the manufacturer) on the tank. You can also see a bunch of electronics under Dale's rack that have to do with my GPS enabled Pro-Oiler and some other stuff. Nothing that you would want drenched with fuel. I have small hands and can wriggle them through the fuel cutout on the rack to reach the valve while riding. Someone with larger hands would have to put some sort of extension on the valve to turn it on and off.

IMG_6326-L.jpg


Rules require that any aux tank be vented, and by vented they mean an actual hose from the aux tank routed away from the motorcycle and to the rear. A vented cap is not sufficient, as many found out during tech inspection when their full aux tanks were puking fuel all over the back of their motorcycle from the vented cap. The vent hose must be directed away from the bike, especially the rear tire. The black vent hose shown here snakes it way down along the mounts for the Givi Trekker Outbacks and is zip tied so it won't be puking fuel on my rear tire. Some rallymasters require a catch can for the fuel, the IBR (as of 2017, could change) does not.

IMG_6331-L.jpg


With iteration number 2 I no longer need a quick disconnect to refuel. The long, flexible fuel hose has enough slack in it so that I can give the 3/4 turn or so twist to the stock cap and remove the cap without issue. The JB Weld epoxy has worked great. I found out exactly how tough it can be when I tried to remove iteration number 1 (2015) the leaking fuel valve from the cap. I hammered it to death and it didn't move so I ended up taking a torch to it and if finally gave up. I have no problem with using JB Weld for attaching a fitting or bung and either did the tech inspectors.

There are two weak points in this current setup that I see (so far!).

One is that the aux tank is mounted on basically, the passenger seat pan. That doesn't give me a lot of confidence in the event of a catastrophic crash like I had before. I can fix it simply enough, by adding some clamps from Dale's rack to maybe the passenger hand holds. Tie down straps or similar would also work, there are already slots cut into Dale's rack that look like they line up pretty good with the passenger handles screwed to the frame of the bike.

Second, the fuel line will eventually fatigue due to the constant turning/binding when refueling, especially near the nipple on the bulkhead epoxied to the stock cap. That is where most of the stress develops. Better would be to have a proper bulkhead fitting or bung welded to the top of stock tank and feed the fuel from the aux tank through that rather than the stock cap. The issue with feeding through the cap is the constant flex on the fuel hose or the constant uncoupling and coupling of quick disconnects when you have to refuel the stock tank. Either are fine for two, three weeks and 40 or so refuelings, but I see neither as a permanent or particulary elegant solution.

To that end, I have bought a used NC tank off ebay. Iteration number 3 will be all AN fittings, stainless steel sleeved hoses and proper (expensive) Earls or similar fuel shutoff valves. The stock tank is paper thin metal so I will probably have an -4AN fitting epoxied to the tank and use a proper stainless steel clad rubber fuel hose (also in -4AN size) feeding the stock tank. There will be no flex in the hoses due to refueling and with a set of robust clamps or straps securing the passenger pan to the frame of the motorcycle I will feel confident that the aux tank will survive most any "event".

My quest to build the World's Most Expensive NC 700XD That Is Worth 1/4 Of What I Have Into It will continue ;-)


Although I write like I know what I'm taking about I really don't ;-) I am certainly not an expert at this and if anyone has comments or ideas on improvements I'm all ears and I do appreciate any feedback.


**
Before the start of the 2017IBR I'm sitting with a group of riders having dinner. We are all telling war stories (some of them even true!). At one point Michael Boge mentions that he was having a GREAT rally in 2011 and was just about to become a Gold Medal finisher when he got stuck in traffic on the last night. He was in Arizona on I-40 at about 21:00 when they shut down the interstate for almost three hours because of an accident. While waiting he asked the highway patrol if it was a motorcycle rider. It was. He then made sure that highway patrol called the emergency number that we all carry around our necks on a lanyard. They had. He then goes on to say they had to lifeflight the rider out, the lion he killed was beautiful, and that he tried to get a picture of the big cat but highway patrol wouldn't allow it. The worst he says? It cost him almost three hours!!!

I told Michael I can totally relate, and then I told him the rider that killed the lion was me! He looked at his wife and daughter and his jaw just dropped...priceless ;-)

They went on to become the first family to ever finish an Iron Butt Rally!
 
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So what kind of injuries did you get from the wing and the lion crash
Bad ones, sometimes they still hurt :-(

In regular motorcycle conversations riders do not really dwell too much on the crashes and "what ifs" that might happen if they get seriously injured or worse (!).

In the IBR that elephant in the room is pretty much front and center. Your safety and the consequences if bad things happen is the most important element in the rally, and rather than pussy footing around, it is addressed head on. All riders are required to have medical evacuation insurance. That is the insurance that gets you back to a hospital closer to where you live (it does NOT transport you home). Once admitted to a hospital closer to your house, all your friends can then easily visit and remind you what an idiot you were for "riding in that crazy rally" ;-)

There are some rather somber moments when registering at the start: You legally acknowledge the risks (up to and including death). You sign documents that your family is prepared financially if you don't come back in one piece (or in a box....seriously). Documents are signed acknowledging that you may be riding in conditions that many riders flat out fear and are less than ideal. Stuff that I think all riders are cognizant of but certainly don't dwell on or think about all that much.

The video tape is running during the entire process. It is you, alone in a room with a videographer and a staff member. It does get you thinking....But, that is the reality of ridiing a motorcycle or even just getting out of bed in the morning and the IBR simply puts the obvious right out there for you to ponder and prepare for. Just in case.

But, the logic (and data) shows that IBR riders are incredibly safe, given the miles we cover in a single rally. Think about it: 100 motorcycle covering 8,9, or more thousands of miles EACH and only a handful of accidents. As a group they are probably the safest riders on the planet. The staff that runs the IBR does all they can to keep it that way and they do a great job. Obviously every rider has all the gear all the time. That includes wearing a helmet if you are just moving your bike in the parking lot!

Here is me heading out in 2011 on a Monday morning on my first ever IBR! Hoping like heck that I don't drop it right there and then!

IBRstart-L.jpg


Writing a note to my ex-wife telling her not to block any calls from a Lisa Landry, even if they are at some ungodly hour of the day or night and giving her information about where/how my remains might be delivered does get you thinking about what is important in this rally and what isn't ;-)

Sadly, the call did come in on June 30th at about 0030 EST,

I was on my way to the 4th of the four corners, having already bagged Blaine, WA, Madawaska, ME, and Key West, FL and all the States in between. It was my first IBR and I was clearly going to be a Gold Medal finisher!! Yeah, I was pretty proud of myself. For awhile.

I remember collecting four states by simply laying my flag in all four at the same time! Pretty clever eh? Those were the last points I scored before the accident.

IMG_4056.jpg


After visiting the Four Corners I stopped and got a drink in a quick mart and ran into Cliff Wall, another rider on a GL1800. That is the last thing I remember in the 2011 Iron Butt Rally. The rest was mostly pieced together from my GPS and Spot tracker, receipts, phone records, witnesses, and the Arizona Highway Patrol accident report.

I woke up from a sound sleep laying on my back and was looking at a beautiful star-filled sky, something that isn't unusual for me. Always have been interested in and an observer of all things celestial. One bookmark of mine is a map of all the "dark sky" areas of North America and I will be heading to Nova Scotia for the annual Perseid Shower in August if the moon cooperates. Weird thing is when I woke up the evening of June 29th and looked at that starry sky, I was wearing a motorcycle helmet! Why the heck did I have that on????

I sensed someone kneeling near my left side, holding my hand and talking to me. This is getting VERY weird I thought. Believe it or not, the first words out of my mouth were "Where am I".


Arizona????


I was dumbfounded. What the heck was I doing in Arizona? I had no idea how I got there or what I was doing. That got me really, REALLY scared.

I remember another rider standing over me, wearing a helmet. He said to me that I was in the Iron Butt Rally, that I hit a lion. It was all too much so I went back to sleep ;-)

About 20 minutes later (according to the report) I was woken up by a law enforcement officer rummaging around my pockets. He said I was too far from a hospital to be driven, so he called for a helicopter to take me to a trauma center. This chit was all way, WAY too much to process so I went back to my nap.

A little while later I felt someone tugging at my Aerostich and when I looked, they were cutting it off of me. He said he was a flight paramedic, that he and his partner were going to give me something for the pain and put me on a stretcher. I told them to stop, I can unzip everything but they just kept slicing and dicing until I was completely naked, except for I think, my helmet. Not a good look for anyone ;-)


I never saw or heard the helicopter land, I do remember them putting me on a stretcher and screaming at the top of my lungs to stop whatever they were doing (rolling me over). Nobody listened to me.

I was flown 96 air miles to Flagstaff Medical Center, which was the closest trauma center.

All the ribs on my left side were snapped. EVERY.SINGLE.ONE. Ouch!
My left shoulder blade had snapped (Still hurts!).
Bruised a kidney
Sliced my spleen
Punctured a lung
Mangled up my right hand including thumb (still doesn't work right)
Suffered a TBI, and had trouble remembering the people I've worked with for 15 years and how to do math (I teach mathematics and computer science).
Suffered from Vertigo for about a year.

Very little road rash as the Aerostich did its job in my nearly 300 ft slide.

Was in ICU for about 4 or 5 days and then transported by medical air ambulance (Lear Jet) to a hospital in Portland, Maine for a few more days. The medical air transport was me on a stretcher, two flight nurses, a PA and of course two pilots.

Exactly one year to the day I bought another Goldwing. I noticed the date when I went to register it. When I got back home from DMV after doing all the paperwork, my daughter had put a lion on the seat of my new ride to remind me to be safe:

IMG_0575-X2.jpg


I've studied the GPS tracks, the Spot Tracker, my receipts, everything to see what I could have done to prevent this. The only thing I can come up with is this: My phone showed a call that I received from my sister that I didn't answer about 4 hours before the accident. She never calls me so I ignored it, thinking it probably wasn't good news (It wasn't). Spot tracker and a receipt show me in a Burger King at the time.

If I had taken the call, it might have cost me five or ten minutes of time on the last day of the rally. But, it would have been plenty of time for that big, beautiful mountain lion to cross the Interstate while I was still five miles away ;-)

About the same time I went down, Ken Meese, this year's third place finisher also went down. He had hit a coyote and was also out of the rally.

The cost to fly me from the Interstate to the Trauma Center was $32,000, lucky for me (and I hope anyone that experiences this) my medical insurance at work covered it. Chartering a private, medically equipped Lear Jet with two flight nurses, pilots and a PA was probably $50,000 or more (Thank you MedJet!) Transporting the pieces of my motorcycle back to Maine probably cost a grand (Again, Thank you MedJet!).

About $186,000 USD later I'm good to go ;-)

I don't remember the flight to the trauma center, or the flight back to Maine. I don't remember anyone that visited me while I was in the hospital in Portland, Maine. I don't recall anything at all from the accident. I have no idea what happened. The police report says after I hit the lion I went down and slid for almost 300 ft. The motorcycle tumbled for over 500'. Luckily there was very little traffic in that remote area of Arizona at that time of night.

Lisa Landry put out on the LD riders list that I was injured and needed help getting my stuff back to Maine. Within literally minutes people had volunteered to gather my belongings, collect my GPSs, Spot Tracker, and personal items. I remember getting a few calls while in the hospital from other riders and just regular guys that were following the rally on the internet, all wishing me a speedy recovery. It was unreal.

Look, I know people can get hurt getting out of bed and people fall off porches and break their necks. But, anyone even considering the IBR must get through their head this simple truth: NOBODY CARES IF YOU FINISH OR NOT! Even if you win it, nobody will remember your name a week later. I've had an IBR plate on the back of my NC for a couple of years now. NOT ONE SINGLE MOTORCYCLIST EVER NOTICED IT! Sooo, this isn't something that is done for glory or bragging rights. Nobody really cares ;-)

We are all told that the most important thing in the rally is to get home to the people that love you and screw everything else.

After all, this is just a ride, nothing more, nothing less..

Before:

IMG_3494-L.jpg


After:

IMG00144-20110701-1620-L.jpg
 
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That is a remarkable story! Can you imagine a compilation of all the tales that are burned into the memories of IBR riders as a whole? What an amazing book that would make!

Once again, Congratulations Rob, for an amazing feat on your super cool NC.
 
As a rider I hear from well meaning people all the time telling me to give it up or be careful, "no one is looking anymore, everyone has a cell phone in the car". If I bother a meaningful reply it's that I fear hitting an animal in the middle of nowhere more than anything.
 
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