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iron butt rally . . .
Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2009 10:54 am
by geobas
'They said the job couldn't be done but with a smile he went right to
it. He started the job that couldn't be done and damn it all, he
couldn't do it'.
Neil Ward dropped his KLR while returning from the Bristlecone bonus
earlier today.
Although Neil and the bike are apparently okay, Neil has decided to
withdraw from the
Rally. -- Iron Butt Rally
My helmet's off to Neil. Eight 1,100 days of competitive riding was
quite remarkable. Most of the bikes were twice the size of a KLR. It
has also been unseasonably hot (over 100 degrees) all over the West.
Well done Neil !!
George in
Rancho Bernardo, CA
iron butt rally . . .
Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2009 12:00 pm
by Kevin Powers
That Bristlecone bonus claimed a rider from MN who broke a collarbone when
he dropped his bike there. Heat, fatigue and mechanicals are taking there
toll and reducing the field on the final leg of the rally. The leg started
in Santa ana, CA mand ends in Spokane, WA. bonus locations are as far east
as Gay, MI and north into the Yukon territory and Alaska.
http://www.ironbuttrally.com/IBR/2009/2009IBRday8.pdf
Kevin
On Tue, Sep 1, 2009 at 10:54 AM, geobas wrote:
> 'They said the job couldn't be done but with a smile he went right to
> it. He started the job that couldn't be done and damn it all, he
> couldn't do it'.
>
> Neil Ward dropped his KLR while returning from the Bristlecone bonus
> earlier today.
> Although Neil and the bike are apparently okay, Neil has decided to
> withdraw from the
> Rally. -- Iron Butt Rally
>
> My helmet's off to Neil. Eight 1,100 days of competitive riding was
> quite remarkable. Most of the bikes were twice the size of a KLR. It
> has also been unseasonably hot (over 100 degrees) all over the West.
>
> Well done Neil !!
>
> George in
> Rancho Bernardo, CA
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
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>
>
>
>
--
Kevin Powers
White Bear Lake, MN
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
nklr computer passwords for kilerista's
Posted: Wed Sep 02, 2009 8:54 am
by dooden
--- In
DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, Tengai Mark Van Horn wrote:
>
> At 6:05 PM +0000 9/1/09, revmaaatin wrote:
> >This hint from Kim Komando...
> >
> >Q. Anyone here do this?
> >Q. How well does it work for you.
>
>
> I could tell you what I do, but then I'd have to kill you.
>
> Mark
>
What if I guess ? Am I safe ?
I am guessing you write them on the screen with a Dry Erase Marker !!!
Dooden
A15 Green Ape
iron butt rally . . .
Posted: Wed Sep 02, 2009 8:55 am
by stevedyer@cox.net
Anyone have an idea of the overall safety record of this rally? Some years ago I was on the FJ1200 list and Jeff Earls was competing in the IBR on a modified FJ. There were a few others on the list at the time who fancied themselves LD riders and one of these guys dozed off and T-boned a light pole early one morning after many hours of high speed riding with zero sleep. He wrote to the list that the reason for his crash was departure from his strict diet regimen, intended in part to prevent meal-induced sleepiness. At the time his perception/attitude seemed skewed to me, and it appeared the more realistic reason for the crash was riding far too many hours with no rest.
Surely the IBR organizers have developed steps to minimize this sort of thing, and they must be successful at it or there would have been significant backlash over the years. All in all, how safe has the rally been for participants and those who share the public roads with them?
Steve
iron butt rally . . .
Posted: Wed Sep 02, 2009 10:28 am
by Kevin Powers
With 100 or so riders each riding 1,000 mile days for eleven days you're
easily looking at a million rider miles per event. With that many miles you
can expect the entire gamut of motorcycle incidents to occur. Several
riders in this event have ended up in the hospital. I'm aware of a deer
strike, a highway-speed rear tire failure and a street-bike-on-a-dirt-road
get off. Those type of incidents are to be expected with that many riders
riding that many miles.
Are there fatigue-induced incidents? Seems someone rear-ends a vehicle
during every IBR; I would characterize these as a classic fatigue-related
events where depth perception, situational awareness and reaction time were
all at least partially reduced due to exhaustion.
Event organizers are very sensitive to safety of the riders on public
roads. The 24-hour and longer rallies I'm familiar with typically include
rest bonuses to encourage the riders to get off the road and rest. The IBA
has also had seminars on how the body and mind respond to lack of sleep -
these are based on an article written by an LD riding former Naval Surgeon
based on research the military has done. They also coach the riders in
dealing with the media to manage perception of the event.
You raise a thorny issue. When does a challenge, of any type, become unduly
risky?
Kevin
On Wed, Sep 2, 2009 at 8:55 AM, wrote:
>
>
>
> Anyone have an idea of the overall safety record of this rally? Some years
> ago I was on the FJ1200 list and Jeff Earls was competing in the IBR on a
> modified FJ. There were a few others on the list at the time who fancied
> themselves LD riders and one of these guys dozed off and T-boned a light
> pole early one morning after many hours of high speed riding with zero
> sleep. He wrote to the list that the reason for his crash was departure from
> his strict diet regimen, intended in part to prevent meal-induced
> sleepiness. At the time his perception/attitude seemed skewed to me, and it
> appeared the more realistic reason for the crash was riding far too many
> hours with no rest.
>
> Surely the IBR organizers have developed steps to minimize this sort of
> thing, and they must be successful at it or there would have been
> significant backlash over the years. All in all, how safe has the rally been
> for participants and those who share the public roads with them?
>
> Steve
>
>
>
>
--
Kevin Powers
White Bear Lake, MN
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
iron butt rally . . .
Posted: Wed Sep 02, 2009 11:48 am
by stevedyer@cox.net
Kevin,
The participants in these events understand and accept the personal risks and it appears most prepare themselves as well as they possibly can. If they have a mishap due to their own fatigue or excessive speed, they've no one to blame but themselves and that seems fair to me. My concern with this IBR setup is that it may be unfairly putting innocent drivers and bystanders of the general public at risk - risk they have not been asked to assume or even informed about. The FJ rider mentioned previously could just have easily impacted a group of school kids waiting at their bus stop instead of a convenient light pole.
Unless I'm missing the big picture here, the IBR appears to be long-duration, high-speed motorcycle race across a huge swath of public roadways. Unfortunately this sort of competition isn't well suited to closed circuits, or in the US even a known public circuit similar to the Baja races, where the local populace are at least aware of what's going on and can take precautions.
A motorcyclist frantically dodging a deer and accidentally crossing the highway center line to impact an oncoming car is one thing. Seems to me a motorcyclist who nods off and drifts across the center line to impact a car because he purposefully rode beyond any reasonal personal endurance (and legal speed) limit is in another category altogether.
Not really meaning to gripe about this - the KLR/IBR discussion just reminded me of the mindset of some of these guys and I wondered what you KLR fellows think about the IBR format on public roads.
Steve
---- Kevin Powers wrote:
With 100 or so riders each riding 1,000 mile days for eleven days you're
easily looking at a million rider miles per event. With that many miles you
can expect the entire gamut of motorcycle incidents to occur. Several
riders in this event have ended up in the hospital. I'm aware of a deer
strike, a highway-speed rear tire failure and a street-bike-on-a-dirt-road
get off. Those type of incidents are to be expected with that many riders
riding that many miles.
Are there fatigue-induced incidents? Seems someone rear-ends a vehicle
during every IBR; I would characterize these as a classic fatigue-related
events where depth perception, situational awareness and reaction time were
all at least partially reduced due to exhaustion.
Event organizers are very sensitive to safety of the riders on public
roads. The 24-hour and longer rallies I'm familiar with typically include
rest bonuses to encourage the riders to get off the road and rest. The IBA
has also had seminars on how the body and mind respond to lack of sleep -
these are based on an article written by an LD riding former Naval Surgeon
based on research the military has done. They also coach the riders in
dealing with the media to manage perception of the event.
You raise a thorny issue. When does a challenge, of any type, become unduly
risky?
Kevin
On Wed, Sep 2, 2009 at 8:55 AM, wrote:
iron butt rally . . .
Posted: Wed Sep 02, 2009 12:22 pm
by revmaaatin
--- In
DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, Kevin Powers wrote:
SNIP
The IBA
> has also had seminars on how the body and mind respond to lack of sleep -
> these are based on an article written by an LD riding former Naval Surgeon
> based on research the military has done. They also coach the riders in
> dealing with the media to manage perception of the event.
>
> You raise a thorny issue. When does a challenge, of any type, become unduly
> risky?
>
> Kevin
Kevin
You ask some valid questions-
and I see that there are some built in rest periods; that is, the 11 days is not 11 days continuous--at least not by what I have read. (I am only an interested observer; not a participant.)
IRT to the flight surgeon--
And did the flight surgeon also disclose that certain USAF (and probably USN missions as well) included/required amphetamines
(under Dr's supervision, cough)
to ensure the pilots did not go to sleep?
These missions also required a certain amount of 'down' time, IE days; and Dr supervision after the mission ended.
I did one 22hr mission--from alert to final touch down; a mission that was JCS authorized/mandated. It was not supposed to be that long, and would not have taken that long under normal circumstances but the helo did not cooperate and had to abort after 1 hour and return for a faulty pressure switch on a 3000psi hydraulic servo that controlled the rotor head.
Yeah, we will get that one fixed....
In a 3-day period, the helo was airborne 35 hrs.
Why is that special?
It has a normal maintenance of 50+ man-hours maintenance for every hour flown. When we limped home, it sat in the hanger for weeks catching up on all the components we wore out/broke or flew to it highest limits of wear.
The only drug we used for that flight was coffee/caffeine--and at one point, I was tempted to pour it in my eyes.
I set several squadron 'records' that month.
Most miles traveled.
Furthest distance between two points flown in one month: