Good morning,
The title of this Blog is Living in the Tunnel which is where I have been over the last few days and it has been very dark down there.
Actually the tunnel analogy comes from the amount of focus that I just can't help putting on the ride as the departure time draws near. Last February the IBR was "something in August" as we loaded HP 2's in New Hampshire for the Sandblast Rally. Then it was easy to think of something else but now with less than a week before I leave for St. Louis, it is all 'Butt, all the time.
As I have mentioned previously I had been having a hell of a time getting my cell phone to work on the bike. As much as I wanted to I just could not get the JM stuff to work as it should so I scrapped it and went with Autocom. I am much happier as now I can communicate. Unfortunately I lost the opportunity to have CB, which to me was the big plus to the JM, however I could never make even this core function work properly so it is no loss. To say it was a frustrating experience would be putting it mildly, I just can't imagine a company that provides little to no tech support and refers calls to the owner who doesn't take calls can stay viable. My faith was misplaced.
It is interesting how important a working cell phone is to many riders. I heard through the grapevine that Rebeca Vaughn has been fighting issues with her cell phone and JM system for a few weeks and that my buddy Jim Frens was also working on his comm setup.
For me the cell phone is critical for booking hotel rooms, checking on things like ferry availability and just plain shooting the breeze with a buddy when we need a little boost. Let's be honest with each other, no matter how much you like to ride a bike, doing the Tour Du Corn (Kansas) again can get a little boring. On a recent ride a "quick" stop for a necessary call was six minutes long, time an IBR rider can't afford to burn to talk on the phone, especially when multiple vendors offer phone in the helmet solutions.
In the IBR there are rules against outside assistance, however we are allowed to call a friend and discuss possible routes. We are also allowed to ask for information such as local sunrise at a specific altitude or to confirm opening times of a National Park for example. It has even become permissible for us to send our "ground team" a copy of the bonus locations, however it is frowned upon for a shore team to plan the actual route while the rider sleeps.
In 2005 there was a "team" approach to the rally by a group of riders. I am not sure it helped them with their routing and bonus selection but it did help when it came time to get ready for scoring.
Personally I don't subscribe to the team approach, nor do I want to trust my routing and bonus selection to someone who is a thousand miles away in the comfort of their home. I do believe it is valuable to have one or two buddies with rally experience to call for information and advice. I will have such a person available and I will be sending him my rally book. One of the big things I learned at the IBR National Meet last summer is that the very top riders plan alone. This struck a chord as in 05 I did my planning for the last leg with another rider and we convinced each other that going from Maine to the West Coast was smart. (it wasn't)
Once I have my route set in the computer I will be sending an electronic copy to a my "lifeline" and my friend Chace. This is not really for them to review the route but to have a copy of where I am planning on going should I turn up missing.
So now that I have the communication issues resolved I can focus on all the other details, none of which will make or break my ride but in total will make things go smoother.
10 days.
