IBR 2017 - Rally Wrap Up

There is an excellent café just a couple miles from Rally HQ-Minneapolis called, Good Day Café, Bad Day Bar.  They got a lot of our money this month.  After all our friends had parked their bikes, and Kirsten and the pups were tucked in for an afternoon nap on Day 11, I went over to pick up some of their fantastic salad and homemade bread.  When Kirsten rolled out at the start, she had told me that she was looking forward to another meal from the Good Day Café at the end.  I had been thinking about that café for the past 11 days, concerned when I thought I might have to fly to Reno instead of drive back to Minneapolis.  But there I was, sitting in a big comfy chair, with a lovely latte, when the woman brought over my bag of to-go deliciousness.  I nearly cried.  After 11 days of rallying, it was such a relief to have this meal, and some calm.  

Kirsten, Jennifer, and Lisa Landry at the 2017 IBR banquet.

By the evening, the calm had been replaced by excited anticipation as everyone gathered for the IBR 2017 banquet.  Rallymaster Lisa Landry and I had “a moment” when we saw each other.  I’ve never talked to her so much during a rally, and I know she won’t be offended when I say, I never want to talk to her that much during a rally again.  There is nothing like strolling through the lobby with all these amazing riders, hearing snippets of stories, and seeing the smiles through the soreness.  “...Did you go to the giant grasshopper group photo bonus?”  “…and then I realized that I could ride 500 less miles and get 2,000 more points and I thought, well I should do THAT!”  “...When Jim called to let me know he’d be back over an hour into penalty points, I said, wellll, are you ok with that?  And he said he thought he’d be fine…” There was a group of new Iron Butt riders from Michigan who bought banquet tickets and organized a Saddle Sore 1000 just to be in the room for the finish. 

The banquet started off with Mike Kneebone calling Kirsten to the podium, waving her SpotTracker, wondering where she was.  Of course, Kirsten was getting ice cream, so I started to walk up saying, “well, I know where her Spot is…”  But there’s no getting around Mike when he’s on to something – and in this case, it was relaying, from his perspective, Kirsten’s adventures in the Nevada desert and offering a very special award.  A singing outhouse to commemorate her night in the vault toilet- a whole new form of Iron Butt Hotel.

An assemblage of Kirsten's rally memorabilia, including the special award for the 2017 IBR.

There were other mishaps.  Jon Kerr was there with his broken leg – having ridden to the finish with said leg in a cast.  Asked how he managed it, he said seriously, “the last 1200 miles were really tough.”  Troy Martin, 1^st place to Kirsten’s 2^nd place in last year’s Butt Lite, shared pictures of his totaled bike.  “Where are the handlebars Troy?” I asked.  “Oh, somewhere back here.”  I looked at his wife Amanda.  We both sighed.  Our spouses were in the room, and we were all standing there together in Minneapolis.  ‘nuff said. 

The evening concluded with Bob Lilley and Jim Owen on the podium.  Safari master Jeff Earls drew out the drama saying, “And in 2^nd place, on a R1200…..” we all waited.  Both Bob and Jim are on R1200 BMWs – but which one?  “GSA,” said Jeff.  Bob’s bike, in 2^nd place.  Jim and his R1200RT, who were only 20 minutes from a DNF at the final checkpoint, instead finished in 1^st place making him the only person to ever finish in 1^st place in two Iron Butt Rallies.  Legend.  And friend.  If you haven’t already, you can view the official final standings of the 2017 Iron Butt Rally on the rally site: http://ibr.wvi.com/ibr/_2017/finalstandings.pdf

Jim Owen, becoming the first person to finish twice in 1st place for the IBR. 

Riley and Bela welcome Bill and Diane 

Eight days later, we gathered with local friends and riders at Morton’s BMW who hosted a celebration.  IBR 2017 finishers Tina Venters, Eric Bray, Chris Comly, and Kirsten shook hands, told stories, and looked at each other with that look – the look of success, frustration, pride and exhaustion that finishers of the IBR understand.  In fact, Tina and Mike were still on Leg 4 – arriving for cake before they had even made it home.  True to form, when you tell the long distance riding community there will be cake, they come from 5 states, battling the horrendous DC metro Saturday traffic, to participate.  Bill and Diane Dunlap arrived in Spotsylvania to make sure that we, the pups, and the bike had all made it back just fine.  They had helped to load the RT into Chase Van 2.0 just the weekend before.  Rick Miller, a Top 10 IBR veteran and MD 20-20 rallymaster arrived to poke Kirsten in the ribs, making sure she was in one piece.  Nick Byrnes welcomed the pups and I home – thanks for being an avid blog-reader!  Several friends from the Fredericksburg area came to have a bite and hear a story.  It was a wonderful day.  Our thanks to Steve Anderson and Jeff Massey and the whole crew at Morton’s who always make us feel right at home.   

Upcoming Events: Tina Venters, Chris Comly, Eric Bray and Kirsten consider their next adventure after finishing the 2017 IBR.  Celebrating with cake and friends at Morton's BMW.

We are now 2 weeks post-rally finish, yet the experience lingers.  There still have been a couple moments where I’ve woken up and wondered where I am.  The pups walk through the house to make sure we are both here, if not in the same room.  Kirsten is restless and scrolling the posts for new bikes.  The insurance claim has been made for the war horse R1200RT – a bike that has been THE rally bike for many years and 185,000 miles.  Yesterday, we went to Beemers Uber Alles  to bring home Mr. Happy, the rubber duck, the Bead Rider, and other rally farkles.  Kirsten is currently riding the F800ST, but despite creative thinking about modifications, it’s just not going to work for a rally bike.  (Soooo- the ST is still for sale!)  We’ve gotten MANY helpful suggestions from all over the country about the next bike, but leaving the RT at the shop still leaves a sore spot.  Her mom, who says her vote counts more than others, votes for 4 wheels.  Kirsten thanked her for suggestion she get two bikes for those 4 wheels.

Rally scribe John Harrison wrote in the IBR Epilog post, “Emerging from that depth of focus can be unsettling.”  I know that’s true, for riders and for everyone who has held that depth of focus for rallying, while continuing with daily life.  I’m sure that rally fans are still trolling through social media, bored with more political posts and missing the steady progression of reports from a multi-day rally.  Lisa Erbes, 2017 IBR finisher as part of the two-up Team Winterer-Erbes, primed the pump a bit by posting the date that registration will open for the 2018 Butt Lite (midnight, CDT, September 9).  Rallymaster Randy Gabrick invited us to come and participate in next year’s Minnesota 1000 , which will be the last that he and IBR 2017 finisher Connie Gabrick will host.  Bill Watt told Kirsten and I to just come and visit him in Vancouver next year.  I was thinking that scouting bonus locations for IBR 2019 sounds like a good plan.  We’ll see.  Meanwhile, I had several more perfectly good posts in draft for this rally that I never got to use due to Kirsten’s adventures.  So perhaps the coming weeks will be sprinkled with some catch-up rally posts on the blog.  It’s good to have a plan. Meanwhile, back at work, Kirsten’s staff discovered a Civil War-era unexploded ordinance this week.  Never a dull moment.  Perhaps the post-rally plan should be to look for the next adventure.  As the Butt Lite page says, “Light fuse.  Get away.”