E-mail sent to a distribution of friends, family, and acquaintances:


I’ve been talking about it with great excitement for over two years….and now the event is about to happen……

I’m about to ride in the Iron Butt Rally!

I’m departing for St. Louis on August 14th and will actually begin riding on Monday, August 21st, at 10 a.m. local time CDT. The finish at 10 a.m. on Friday, August 31st. It’s an 11 day vacation for me that I’m eager to go look for America.

Most have heard me talk about it……extensively. For those that that haven’t…the basic idea is it’s a bit like a scavenger hunt and I’ll be competing with about 100 others (see explanation towards end of e-mail).

Most important is that there will be a variety of information resources to keep an eye on what I’m up to.

Please understand I probably won’t be able to return e-mails or cell phone calls during the ride. I’ll be a bit focused on things like routing and riding, but assured I have four simple goals.

Finish!

Finish Safely!

Finish Without Having to Talk To Johnny Law!

….and if I accomplish the first three….

Finish Well!

Enjoy watching the ride!

Matt

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Resources to Keep Up with Matt

The Iron Butt Rally Website – http://www.ironbuttrally.com/IBR/2007.cfmThis is the official website and will give a great overview of the event through “daily dispatches” from the official “scribe”. This site is a must read and will truly give you a forest-for-the-trees perspective of the whole event.

My Personal Blog – www.mattwatkins.org/ibr

Hopefully, I’ll be able to have time to do the occasional update and even download a picture or two, but even if I don’t I’ve enabled several friends and family members to post on my behalf. You also will have the ability to post comments if you want. …again…no guarantee I’ll respond, but I’m hoping to have a bit of time each day to check in.

There are also some links to my fellow competitors that may be updating their blogs.

Star-Traxx – www.star-traxx.com

Username: public

Password: public

This is cool technology! I’m planning to partner in the rally with Doug Chapman. He is an IBR veteran, nice guy, have ridden together some before, and has this wonderful piece of technology that actually transmits GPS position periodically and displays it on a map. This means you can tell where we are in North America updated approximately every hour that we’re riding. Combine this with the the “rally packs” they end up publishing online shortly after each checkpoint and you could possibly figure out where we’re headed.

It’s also likely a combined route for this rally will appear. See http://rally.star-traxx.com/ for a list of rallies that will likely have the 2007 Iron Butt with this information “aggregated” together. If so, the bike with 59435220 in the URL will be us.

Friends and Family

Besides these resources I will likely be keeping in contact with Dale “Warchild” Wilson (IBR veteran, IBR technical lead, mentor, and work colleague), and John Rider (work colleague). I’m counting on them to update my blog if I tell them some detail over the phone. My family, Clark Watkins and Kris Watkins, will be driving out for the finish of the event…so will probably be the first to see on the flip side.

Countdown to The Rally Start

http://www.timeanddate.com/counters/customcounter.html?month=8&day=20&year=2007&hour=10&min=0&sec=0&p0=605

Information About the Iron Butt Rally

The Iron Butt Rally Concept – http://www.ironbuttrally.com/IBR/default.cfm

The idea of “Bagging a Bonus” - The basic part of the rally is to ride to assigned checkpoints around North America within specified time windows, but the meat of the rally is visiting places or “bonus” locations to accumulate as many points as possible. But, the rally master gives you a packet of possible “bonii” (plural of bonus) that is like a smorgasbord. In this metaphor it’s impossible to eat everything…..without becoming very, very sick.

The trick is to figure out which combination of dozens of bonii net the largest amount of points within the time window allowed. Typically, one gets this packet at each “leg” of the rally and tries to locate everything on a map and/or laptop computer with a mapping program like Microsoft Streets and Trips. You figure out how much time you have, how much distance you can travel, which bonii you can snag within the time, strategy for that particular leg, etc.

Again, it’s about time and distance management while reacting to the unknowns of weather, traffic, construction, road conditions, and many other variables…..realizing that many of the places I have never, ever been to before. While a good GPS with XM radio might help it’s no wonder that the front-runner in this sport, Jim Owen, is an airline pilot by day.

Miscou Island 17,745 points Available daylight hours

New Brunswick, Canada

Take a picture of the Miscou Island Lighthouse

There are many ways to get to Miscou Island, this is one possible route: starting in Maine, take I-95 north, crossing the border into Canada and continuing on NB-95. Turn right on TC-2 and ride approximately 67 miles. Turn left onto NB-8 and continue for approximately 110 miles to NB-11. Go north toward Caraquet, approximately 59 miles and turn right onto NB-113. Stay on NB-113 all the way to the extreme northeastern point of the island. The lighthouse is at the end of the road.

Key West, Florida 14,001 points Available daylight hours

Take a picture of the Key West lighthouse

Key West is located in extreme southern Florida at the end of US-1. Take US-1 south into the town of Key West. At the US-1/A1A split, bear RIGHT staying on US-1. Continue South on US-1 (which is also known as Truman Ave.) past mile marker 1. Cross the main party/tourist street of Duval Street to the next intersection south which is the intersection of Truman Ave. and Whitehead Street. The lighthouse is approx. 150 feet to the right on Whitehead St. and will be at approximately the 2 o’clock position as you are sitting at the traffic light at Truman and Whitehead. You do NOT have to go on the grounds and pay an entry fee to take a picture of the lighthouse.

Riders to Watch – There are a few folks that are seasoned veterans and definitely worth watching.

Some of my FJR cronies to watch:

  • Tobie and Lisa S. (and possibly Brian R. on a V-strom) – Yakima couple and Nevada boy. This duo occasionally turned trio has been doing very well on the 1 and 5 day rallies the past several seasons. They epitomize the adage that they are more than the sum of their parts. Tobie’s a veteran and Lisa is a rookie like me. Brian started the ‘05, but had an unfortunate encounter with a deer and had to withdraw, but is all healed up with the World’s Most Expensive V-Strom
  • Greg M. – An IBR rookie Greg absolutely knows how to ride long distances for long periods of time and think his way through puzzles. If he can keep his bike upright, the ol’ girl doesn’t spew it’s guts on the road, and not have a helmet fire…he will be a force.

2007 Rules – http://www.ironbuttrally.com/IBR/2007/IBR_07_Rules.doc

You made it this far in the e-mail and still want to know more. Enjoy the Word Document that I have to read and understand. If you understand it all….be sure and explain it to me sometime. ;)

Gratuitous Inspired Song Lyric

Kathy, I said as we boarded a Greyhound in Pittsburgh
Michigan seems like a dream to me now
It took me four days to hitchhike from Saginaw
I’ve gone to look for America

Simon and Garfunkel