2012 UK Iron Butt Association Rally

[niesmann]

I'm the Rally Master for the 2012 Britbutt Rally and the entry has been open for a couple of weeks now for the event taking place on the 26th/27th May.

For those of you who are not familiar with the IBA we are a group of Motorcyclists who take on long distance rides and rallies.

The rally is a 36 hour event (mandatory breaks must be taken) and is basically a photographic rally with 60 locations spread around the UK which are worth points.

The object of the rally is to gain as many points as you can through good route planning and bonus selection within the time period.

We have taken steps this year to assist new riders to the event and if anyone is interested take a look at https://www.britbuttrally.info for more information, the organisation web page is at https://www.ironbutt.co.uk it would be great to see some more riders at the event.

Hope you don't feel I've hijacked the forum but we would really like to see some new faces within the organisation.

Many thanks for your time and apologies in advance to anyone I may of offended.

Chris

Rallymaster 2012
____________________
Rally master 2012 Britbutt Rally

[Rogerborg]

Looks interesting and fun, but you've "dropped the entrance fee to £50"? I shudder to think what it was before.

What exactly do I get in return for my £50? "Riding around on the public road" isn't a particularly compelling answer, since I already pay the government and insurers quite a bit for that privilege.
____________________
Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[garth]

I can think of other ways of spending £50 and getting a sore bottom.
____________________
You ain't a has been if you never was

[niesmann]

What do you get for your £50 (previous entry was £80 but we have a new management team in place and we felt that was too much).

The event starts on Friday afternoon where the bikes have a basic check over (make sure the tyres are round and nothing is hanging off !) also we check to make sure each bike and rider is legal, insurance, Mot etc.

Then the riders ride a short 10 mile known distance route so we can calculate the differential in speedo calibration so everyone starts on a level footing. The whole process takes around 30 minutes and we normally start around 3pm right up until 6pm. At about 7pm we all have a beer and then a meal (meal paid for) and at 8pm a quick briefing and then the rally books are handed out and the riders disappear to plan the winning route!

6am Saturday morning the rally starts and you then have 36 hours to ride your route and photograph the bonus locations as detailed in the bonus book. Some will be in cities (but not many) and are literally all over the country. As an example I rode a a huge clockwise loop covering Western Scotalnd, the Highlands, John O Groats 1200 miles in all this year. Others rode similar distances but South. You pick your bonuses and ride where and how you want if you are lucky you may see another rider a checkpoint but more often or not you don't see another rider until 6pm on Sunday when you all return to base.

When you return on Sunday you go and get scored, then normally a beer and of course swapping tales of adventure on the Great British Highway and at around 8pm we all sit down to a 3 course meal (and beer !) meal is included in entry fee. We have the presentations and we all head off for a beer (notice the trend !)

That about sums the weekend up, the rally has been held for the last 4 years and many of us have competed in all 4. It's a great weekend and a real challenge you ride in places you'd never normally go to and you get a real sense of achievement at the end of it and of course the all important IBA number.

Hopefully your appetite is then whetted for the real Iron Butt Rally held every two years in the States 11000 miles in 11 days see https://www.ironbuttrally.com/IBR/default.cfm this year one of our members finished the US event on a 1969 Triumph Trident !

Many of us are regarded as bonkers, can't understand why !

Hope this helps if you have any more queries drop me a line on rallymaster@ironbutt.co.uk

Cheers


Chris
____________________
Rally master 2012 Britbutt Rally

[Knot600RR]

It's a shame, but I'm washing my hair then.

[G]

[Rogerborg]

Oh, right, I missed that. So the £50 entry fee buys you a lecture on how to ride and not ride on the public road.
____________________
Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[tahrey]

Interesting, but I'm not sure I could keep up the required 35~40mph-ish average (allowing for all of 3 hours sleep...) to pass the minimum score, let alone win, regardless of darkness, location, and weather conditions, on a machine which only makes an average of 65mph flat out up hill and down dale... on the motorway. With cities, single track roads, posed photos, mountain passes and missions to buy certain things from remote supermarkets involved, no less. It'd be fairly grim and very tempting to speed on a faster bike with a 2-person team (can you even stay upright on a pillion whilst asleep?), suicidal to solo it and/or on anything that isn't quite as punchy.

Besides, I've tried self imposed time trials before (e.g. some bonkers attempt to string together three xkcd inspired Geo-hashes in the space of 2 hours on the night of October 21st, thereby being in 2 places at "the same time", twice) and though it was an interesting challenge, it wasn't what you'd call fun.

Good luck to all those who do give it a go, though