Jeff and I just completed the 2009 Iron Butt Rally. We were bronze medal finishers. We had the strong support of our family and friends, so were able to put our full time and attention into the rally. Curt Gran, Rebecca Vaughn and Gary Klinker were a vital source of help in much of our pre-rally planning.
16 months ago, when we were selected to ride in the IBR, we had yet to complete a rally. Curt, Rebecca and Gary strongly urged us to do at least one rally before the big dance. They suggested, if we could only do one rally, to participate in the MN1000. They were so right. The knowledge we acquired on that rally was so helpful in the IBR. It made the scoring table a pleasurable experience, instead of a place where hard earned points were lost. We learned to read and re-read the bonus listing sheets. We had an awesome rally experience all packed into 24 hours. Best of all, we were made to feel welcome the minute we arrived.
We have a large family (6 kids), and the IBR had us away from home for 18 days. We didnt feel it was fair to our family to continuously leave them to ride rallies. The MN1000 is a magnificently run rally. It packs the IBR into 24 hours. I would strongly suggest it to anyone who wants practice for the 2011 IBR.
Thank you Bart and Team Strange for all of your hard work. We appreciate all that you do and may not have been finishers in the IBR, if it wasnt for the MN1000 experience. We look forward to participating again in 2010 and bringing friends along to share in the MN1000 adventure. A full ride report of our IBR experience and pictures will be following shortly.
Congratulations to you, Carol and Jeff! We here at Team Strange are glad to have helped you prepare - your words are too kind - and proud of your achievement. Looking forward to seeing your photos and ride report.
I can't begin to express how heartfelt that message is. My words can't thank you enough. We had a great time on the MN1000 and have recruited friends to join us. Although we didn't have multi-day rally experience before the IBR, we got the rally concept from the MN1000. We did enough multi-day, self imposed long distance riding. That, intermingled with rally experience, was the right ticket. Looking forward to the 2010 MN1000.
As Jeff and Carols MNK1 scorer I was a little tickled in the power chair when Carol came to the table with the appearance of a little anxiety (or was that a lot of post ride adrenaline?).
I also felt a little glee in exercising the sphere of power that emanates from said chair by denying claimed points on the Duluth bonus from the submitted picture of the "Road Closed" sign.
"...but Bart said..."
"Talk to Bart"
She did and the points were earned.
I could not help but notice you had a penalty free IBR scorecard!
Congratulations and great work on earning all your points from both rallies. (Stress on earning.)
We had a very similar situation happen on leg 3 of the IBR. It later became known as the "Antelope" bonus. We followed much of the same procedure as we did on the MN1000. We took pictures of the no trespassing signs and attempted to enter all the roads to the bonus. We called the rally master (once we were able to find cell service),and got gas in the closest town (if you could call it a town). A number of other riders experienced the same issues we did. At the end of the day, Bob Higdon gave everyone the points that documented their failed attempts. As I recall, we spent 3 hours attempting to get that bonus. It was a big one, worth almost 4000 points. I guess, in the end, it was time well spent. Riding on goat trails, however, was not fun. These were really goat trails - I think even goats would have a difficult time on them.
At the scoring table during the IBR-I was literally shaking. We saw a number of people lose hard earned points for simple mistakes. Thanks again for the MN1000 experience.
