Travel Log Archive

February 28, 2008 Tim’s 2007 SPANK Rally experience - Prologue

Before I can tell this story I feel I should try and explain a few things for the uninitiated. First of all, my particular niche in the motorcycling world is long distance or LD riding. I am a member of an organization called the Iron Butt Association, (IBA), although I am but a tiny little fish in that great, huge pond. Their website does a much better job of explaining their existence than I ever could but I will say that they are dedicated to safe, long distance motorcycling and the entry level achievement for admittance into the Association is 1,000 miles or more in 24 hours or less. Although Spoke 'N' Word is not necessarily a Long Distance group, we have several members who are also IBA members. I believe their membership rolls are nearing 40,000 worldwide. Doing a thousand or more miles in a day is not my preferred riding style all of the time but once or twice a year I like to test myself by attempting progressively more challenging LD rides. It's also nice to know what my limits are when the goal is to travel with a minimum amount of vacation time used. Secondly, this is a different kind of event than most motorcyclists think of when they hear the word rally. It’s not like Sturgis or the Oyster Run. The SPANK Rally, as well as many more like it, is a long distance endurance rally. Far from being a race, rather it’s a sort of a scavenger hunt and a time/speed/distance test in one. These rallies not only challenge your riding abilities and endurance but also your critical thinking, reading comprehension and route planning skills. Generally, participants receive a Rally flag or towel with their unique rider number on it and a list of bonus locations, each assigned a point total. The list will have specific instructions for each location that must be followed in order to receive the points for that bonus. Generally, a Polaroid photo of an object or sign with the rider’s rally flag clearly visible is sufficient, however sometimes there is a question or questions that must be correctly answered about a particular sign, building, landmark, etc. As an example, below is an actual bonus location, with instructions, from Leg 1 of the 2007 Iron Butt Rally: Kansas City, Missouri - 3,333 points - Available 8 am – 3 pm M-F Harley Davidson Visitors Center 11401 N. Congress Ave Buy a smashed penny with a flag design. Located on the north side of Kansas City, from I29 take exit 12 and go east on NW 112th St. for 1 mile. Turn left on N. Congress and ride north 1/4 mile. Time: _____________ Odometer: _____________ Code: KHC Approved: _________ The riders are also given a time limit in which they are to complete the rally or a segment thereof. The challenge is to decide which bonus locations they can make it to, (one could never make it to all of them in a well planned event), in the given time frame and which combination of bonuses, (or bonii in the LD vernacular), will yield the best point total. These rallies range in duration from 12 hours to many days and the Granddaddy of them all is the Iron Butt Rally, held every odd-numbered year. The IBR spans 11 days and can take participants to every corner of North America in their search for points. Typically, Rally Masters build in rest bonuses where the participant must get two date and time stamped receipts from the exact same location. These receipts must show that the rider was idle for a specified time period. A rest bonus usually includes a pretty high point value because the rally masters want everyone to get much needed rest. It is also fairly common for rally organizers to include locations that they presume nobody could possibly make it to and still get back in time. These are known as “sucker bonii” and they usually have extremely high point values just to tempt the foolhardy. For 2007, SPANK was a 30 hour rally. In even numbered years it is generally a multi-day event. In 2006 it was 5 days and in 2008 I have heard it will be 8 days. I had the opportunity to ride to Colorado Springs, CO with Rod, another Spoke ‘N’ Word member and frequent riding buddy, to attend the finisher’s banquet of the 2006 SPANK Rally. We had great fun on many of Colorado’s tasty twisties, got better acquainted with some of the folks who ride in these types of events regularly and visited some places in Colorado where Rod grew up. All of this served to increase my desire to try my hand at endurance rallying. I was already plotting a 5 day, IBA Certified endurance ride for sometime in 2007 but I began to realize that, for the same investment in time and finances, I could travel to and ride in a 1 day Rally instead. Since I already have several certificates from the IBA, I decided that entering a Rally was what I really wanted to do. The search was on for an ideal event that wasn’t too far from home and meshed well with my vacation schedule at work. When I learned that SPANK 2007 was to be headquartered in Escondido, CA and would be 30 hours, I knew I had found the rally for me. On to Part 1