IBR Training Ride

I'm doing a shake down ride in preparation for the 2015 Iron Butt Rally that start June 30.  My IBR goals and objectives are set, the bike is ready for the test run and I plan on getting lots of good riding conditioning before I get back.  

I'm using the IBA Memorial Day Event to get in the George A. Wyman Memorial Grand Tour Gold IBA certification.  I'm planning on starting the Grand Tour Gold on Monday, Memorial Day in San Francisco.  I'm leaving home on Friday morning to ride out to Adobe, just south of Alpine, TX.  I'm delivering the Ardys Kellerman book to Voni Glaves.  Check out "The Paths of Legends" posting below for the details.

Leaving Alpine on Saturday morning I doing a hard 1,000 miles to just north of Los Angeles to get into position to arrive in San Francisco mid afternoon on Sunday.  Got lots to do there before starting the Grand Tour clock on Monday.  Your can follow along here:  Riding the Grand Tour

IBR Training objectives I will be working to accomplish during the Grand Tour are:

Riding and Risk Management:  Riding from TX to CA to NY to TX over all kinds of roads in all kinds of weather will sharpen my riding skills.  My goal is to have no "close calls", which I define as an instance of evasive maneuvers to avoid a hazard I did not see in time, or did not anticipate..

Planning and Navigation:  Point to point and route navigation using concurrent GPS displays, zumo 665 and 590.  The zumo 590 is relatively new to me and I have not used in to navigate a rally so this will be a good exercise.  Loaded all 5 Legs for the Grand Tour. 

Bonus Stop:  Practice Spot-Doc-Pic-Get routine to gain consistency.  I plan on more that 145 bonus location stops while doing the Grand Tour Gold.

• Spot - send OK message to mark the location. 
• Doc - Review the bonus listing for the requirements. 
• Pic - Take the correct picture of pick out the item designated by the bonus location instructions. 
• Get - Review the bonus location 1 more time before "Getting" the next bonus location up in the book and on the GPS, then Get on the road. 

Resource and Rest Management:  I have changed my down-load and up-load routine at motels while doing rest stops.  This ride will be a field validation of the new routine.

Validate LBE:  I have reduced the number of items I carried in previous IBRs and this will be validation of load bearing equipment and that reduction. 

Hydration and Nutrition:  My hydration system has not changed but I have changed to a whole foods plan based diet since the last IBR.  I'm been quite successful adapting to the new nutrition regime while on the road. On this trip I am replace the highly process junk food with no2low processed food with freeze-dried fruit, and veggies. 

Farkles:  I have cleaned up the GPS and Spot mounting arrangement with a "Farkle Bar".  I have also added Garmin SmartLink for smartphone and GPS data linking.  I'm looking to see how this new technology can be employed to enhance information management while on the clock.

Mechanical:  I'm looking for problem areas on the bike and all equipment to identify any weaknesses or potential issues that might show up on the IBR.

When I return home I will have three weeks of down time before deploying to ABQ for the start of the World's Toughest Motorcycle Rally!