The Tar24 Roundup...Roundup Reports

#1
The Roundup – First Installment from Your MobMaster

(What used to be known as a Rally, but being Aussies (and having to be different), we now lovingly refer to as a Roundup)



What fun I had being the MobMaster (used to be known as Rallymaster) for our very first IBA TAR24 Roundup – Scholars, Winos and Poets.

Firstly, I want to thank all of the Ringers (used to be known as Riders) and Pillion Ringers (used to be known as Pillion Riders and crazy people who wanted to suffer for 24 hours – still known as crazy people who want to suffer for 24 hours) who participated in the Roundup. It was a big ask to spend most of the day on Saturday training on how to route successfully, (= brain fry) and then ride a 24 Hour run. Every single one of you, including those that ended up with a DNF, did a mighty job. It was a great effort for all concerned.

I also want to thank all of the Drovers who helped with the training on the day – John Inkson (Enterprise) and Peter Hogan (Ox34), and those that helped leading up to the Roundup, with their ideas and their input on the Roundup itself, Michael Crapp (Crappy), Martin Little (Kiwi Martin) and Ian McPhee (Tabledrain). Martin and Crappy also planned a route and rode it, for two reasons – Crappy - to see whether his plan was rideable and just because he loves to ride, and Martin - who only ever wanted to ride part of his route, for practice towards his IBR foray next year in the USA. Ian, of course, is in Zambia, South Africa, so his input was more about how to carry out the training component and the Roundup itself.

Most of all, I want to thank my assistant MobMaster, Bill Beaton (Tiger Bill), whose assistance in this Roundup was invaluable. He helped collate my messy data, and put together the Roundup Booklet and all the other bits and pieces of paperwork that all of the Ringers got in their Roundup packs. He coped with my numerous amounts of changes to the Roundup, and took everything in his stride, with only a few eye rolls and “bloody hells” along the way. I absolutely could not have done this without him.

I also want to thank Cuddles (my darling Lord and master), for putting up with my other than delightful moods when I was planning the Roundup – “Could I suggest darling…..” “No you may not!” (you get the drill) and allowing me the freedom to run with my ideas. He, of course, was otherwise engaged in keeping himself alive and recuperating after his horrific accident, but he helped with constructive criticism when I let him get a word in.

When I offered to create this Roundup I had months and months of time leading up to it, and planned on spending lots of my spare time (haha) working on a Roundup that was both fun and challenging at the same time. Like all good plans, it went pear shaped, much like what often happens on an actual Roundup.

Most of the spare time I had was taken up with dealing with the sale of our business, which was in the initial stages. All the weekends I had planned to work on the Roundup, I was spending collating data for the prospective buyer, counting stock and doing the myriad of things that are required in the sale of a quite complex business.

And then there was Lord Cuddles’ little mishap with terra firma at Barrington Tops. At that point, when things were at their most dire, I almost threw in the towel and cancelled the whole thing, but like all good ralliers do, I decided to carry on through thick or thin, and was lucky enough to have great support and assistance from those around me, which helped bring it all together. So thankyou.

When I was planning this Roundup, I wanted to create something a little different. Something that would show the Ringers that there was more than one way to skin a cat.

Most Ralliers get the data that is given to them and work out the highest point route they can create, based on the high point bonuses laying on the map. I wanted to throw a spanner in the works by adding lots of combos (extra points for combinations of bonuses) that could change the whole way that you planned your route.

Was it better to plan it around the high points or around the Combos and then the addition of higher point bonuses? It was a tricky conundrum, and one which even tested the likes of our seasoned Drovers.

They, of course, had a few weeks to play around with the bonus information, and just when they thought they had it worked out, I changed all the point structures and told them to work it out again – that was just a few days before the actual Roundup. They had their own little competition, to see who could come up with the highest scoring route – nothing like pressure.

Crappy was the winner there. That man not only has the knack to be able to ride like the devil, but to be able to very quickly see where the best points are on a map, whether they are just high pointers or combos, and put together a rideable and doable route. He really should think about entering the Iron Butt Rally in the USA, because I think he would have a good chance of winning the damned thing.

On to the Roundup itself.

It was great to meet up with everyone on the Friday night, before all the madness started. Ron (Grey Gentry) outdid himself with some donations to the festivities of some extremely palatable reds, and the camaraderie within the group was plain to see right from the get go.

Saturday morning rolled around with an 8:30am sharp start to the proceedings. Were there a few stragglers? Yes. Did we begin without them? Yes.

Best to begin as we intended to go on. One thing you learn as a rallier Is that timing is important. Not being on time for a bonus can cost you lots of points, (as many of our Ringers were soon to find out), and not being on time for a training session can start you off on the back foot. When you are late, it makes your mind unsettled from the start, and you don’t take in information as well (something else our Ringers were soon to find out).

First Tip – always be on time for a meeting with your MobMaster. Treat it the same way as you would a bonus or a Checkpoint.

The formalities started with prizes being handed out to Naughty Bart and Simon, who had been very good at guessing the name and theme of the Roundup leading up to the actual event.

Then training began in earnest.

I have to admit that even though I told all of our Ringers to become familiar with the use of Base Camp before they came to the training, I had not done that myself. I’m a Mapsource kind of girl. I know the thing back to front. Base Camp, however, is a different kettle of fish. I realised that there was no way I was going to be able to keep up with how to use the programme in that training session, so I sat back and watched everyone else work their way through it. It was a lot of information to take in with only limited time to do it. Some of the Ringers handled the training well, others struggled with it.

To those who struggled with base camp and the routing training, my advice is to spend a lot of time at home playing with the program. It’s what I intend to do, because as much as I love Mapsource, and still believe it is a better programme than Base Camp, it is no longer supported and will eventually become redundant.

A lot of our Ringers looked like their brains were in overload, but to their credit, they battled through it and came up with some kind of a riding plan.

Standing behind them, looking at the shapes of the routes they had planned, I could see that some of them had pretty good routes laid out. They had estimated how much riding they wanted to actually do and worked their plan around that, also based on the bonus points on offer. Some planned to ride 1000kms, some 1200kms, some 1500kms or more. This is the start point of planning your route. How much time do I have for the ride, based on the checkpoint window, how much time will I take for picking up bonuses, fuel and sleeping, how many hours are left and how much distance can I comfortably ride in that time?

The points on offer for sleeping were pretty high. I made them high so that people wouldn’t try to outride the sleep bonus. It just wasn’t worth it. So Ringers could decide to take a 4 hour sleep bonus or up to a 6 hour sleep bonus, and they would earn a massive amount of points for just doing that. For some, it ended up just a little bit less than half the points of their total ride.

One of the most important things to manage on a Roundup is rest. So very important.

The other thing that is important when doing a Roundup is reading comprehension. Reading the bonus booklet is imperative to gathering the most points available, and later keeping the points you have earned at the scoring table. I know it sounds almost “elementary my Dear Watson”, and those of you who are sitting on the sidelines are probably wondering how people could ever get it mucked up so badly, because it’s so simple right? Wrong. There is so much information to take in, plus a mix of anxiety and excitement with it, that it is very easy to make a mistake. Later, at the scoring table, we saw a few.

There were a couple of little changes to the bonuses announced at the training. Important changes. These changes were explained in great detail. Alas, some Ringers just didn’t get them right and would pay the price at the scoring table.

Lyn the Pillion made a plea to all Ringers before leaving that if any of them saw her standing on the side of the road somewhere during the Roundup looking distressed, that they were to pick her up and bring her home. She wanted to know if there were extra bonus points available for any Ringers who took pity on her and did that.

Anyone who has ridden two up in a Roundup will understand how much it can test a relationship. Lyn the Pillion and Fatman were veterans in Roundup riding, and knew what the next 24 hours were going to bring. Gotta love that commitment.

So on to the actual Roundup itself. The Ringers had to be “standing beside their bikes at precisely 14:45 or receive a 30 minute start penalty. Beside your bike means exactly that. The bikes were all grouped pretty closely together and so the Ringers started wandering around talking with each other. It was a pretty close call for a couple of Ringers, who almost didn’t make it back beside their bikes by the designated time. Phew.

Lord Cuddles, who was our official starter, explained the starting procedure, which would begin at precisely 15:00.

Not 5 minutes after the explanation I was being asked by one Ringer was there any particular order that the Ringers needed to leave in. I practiced a stony “Lisa Landry” look, and said he had better go and speak with Lord Cuddles, who was much more obliging than I was in once again explaining the procedure.

15:00 rolled around, and the Ringers were off!

The first large point bonus was a timed bonus, on the main street of Taree - ABAC. It opened at 15:15 and closed at 15:45. There were clear instructions given at the training session on exactly what the Ringers had to do at that bonus. The bonus book said that they had to take a picture of the abacus, but an addition to that was that they also now needed to have a Manning Valley Sticker, which was handed to them at the training session, signed and time stamped by Drover, John Inkson, who would be waiting at the abacus for them.

In addition to that, the bonus had a second part.

The Ringers had to ride out to the Old Bar Tavern, (co-ordinates were given), find World Endurance Champion, Alex Cudlin, have a photograph taken with him, and get him to sign an Old Bar Tavern Coaster. Alex was meeting with some of his sponsors there, so the ringers also had to name one of Alex’s sponsors. For this extra effort the bonus points were doubled. But here’s the kicker. You only got the 3000 points now on offer if you completed both parts of the bonus. The abacus and the tavern. Only do one part and you scored no points at all. Zip.

Now also, not too far away from our Roundup start location, was another 800 point bonus which was available at all hours. It was a little bit tricky in that there were two plaques that needed to be found and located, but easy enough to find when you are fresh; maybe not so easy at the end of a Roundup, when you are fatigued and possibly running out of time.

The large point timed bonus was in a southerly direction from the start, meaning a right turn at the traffic lights. The other bonus was located in a northerly direction, meaning a left turn at the traffic lights.

It was interesting to watch what the ringers did when they took off from the start.

Every single ringer turned right – meaning that they were all heading to the first large point timed bonus, which was less than 5 minutes away. It also meant that they would all get there well before the bonus opened, and would all be milling around the bonus together, waiting for it to open and trying to get their shots.

Every single ringer that is, except one.

We watched as everyone peeled right, and then Crappy casually turned left. The Drovers that were standing there all smiled and said “That’s experience for you”.

Crappy headed up to the 800 point bonus and found the two plaques that he had to photograph. Let’s face it. He had 15 minutes before the first timed bonus even opened and had 30 minutes after that to get that bonus. Plenty of time.
So basically, 5 minutes from the start, and while everyone else was waiting for the timed bonus to open, Crappy was ahead of the field by 800 points.

Every other ringer headed to ABAC to get the photograph of the Abacus.

I have to admit that the timing of this bonus was a stroke of genius on the part of Enterprise, who suggested that having a 15 minute gap from the start of the Roundup to the opening of the bonus might separate the men from the boys as it were. He was going to do the honours at the bonus, allowing him to see firsthand what unfolded.

As suspected, most of the newbies and some of the more experienced Ringers jumped off their bikes and rushed over to the bonus in a state of high anxiety and adrenalin.

The Roundup had begun! This was it! Their very first bonus!

Ringers rushed up to Enterprise, wanting him to sign and time stamp their Manning Valley sticker.

It was 15:07.

The timed bonus was from 15:15 to 15:45.

You see the problem right?

Lyn the Pillion and Fatman arrived at around 15:05, along with most of the other riders, and in true competitor style, realising that the bonus didn’t open until 15:15, started to fuss around their bike, pushing buttons, checking on things, trying to remain as inconspicuous as possible, waiting for the time to tick away, while lots of their competitors rushed Enterprise for their sticker, not realising that they were about to blow 3000 points.

Kiwi Martin also arrived early to the bonus and stood back against a shop window right near the bonus, just watching the other Ringers get their photo and the “all important” time stamped sticker.

As the ringers asked Enterprise if he would please sign their sticker (they were all very courteous), he loudly announced, “I would be delighted to sign your sticker, if you really want me to. The time is 15:07. As the shark feeding frenzy of the first bonus began, Enterprise changed this to, “and the time is 15:07, 15:08, 15:09 …… you get the picture).

I got a Bahahaha text from Enterprise, because his little trap had caught some unsuspecting Ringers.

As I explained, there are no tricks in the Roundup, but some of the bonuses are tricky.

One astute rider, Simon, who had rushed in too early to grab his time stamp, was getting back on his bike and noticed other riders just standing around at the bonus, appearing to be waiting for something, so he decided to re-read his bonus booklet and realised his first mistake. He sheepishly made his way back to the bonus and had his sticker restamped at the correct time. Simon was smart. Be like Simon.

First lesson learned. Read your bonus booklet and make sure you have satisfied all the requirements of the bonus before you leave the location.

I’m not sure how many ringers were caught in Enterprise’s little ruse, or how many realised after they had left the location that they had royally stuffed up, and returned to have the time stamp redone, but there were a few ringers kicking themselves at the scoring table as they watched 3000 hard earned points just disappear into thin air. It hurts. It really does. It’s a hard learned lesson really.

To be continued
 
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Biggles

Premier Member
#2
An Ironbutt Rally here, in Australia!? That's just too good to ignore (like I would ever miss an opportunity to go out and play this game!)
So I left home on Friday headed for Coramba, of all places, to snatch the FarTreasure. That added 60 odd kays and well over an hour to the trip. Mind you, just
getting through the lights and traffic of Coffs Harbour always seems like an hour. Back down to Coffs and on to Taree by 5:00. For sentimental reasons, and the fact
they let me park in the carport (and it's only $99) I stayed at the Taree Motel of Medieval Banquet fame. A short nanna-nap and I was ready for the Chinese Buffet,
and a very fine repast it was. Quite a gathering of notables, too, I might add, presided over by Milady and her wounded Lord who recently came second in a jousting
tournament.

Saturday morning saw a motley crew ranging from a Rally Virgin to four Ironbutt Rally Finishers gathered to share wisdom and skills. By the time the call went out
to go to the bikes, I had achieved the least pre-rally preparation ever! I had decided to head north because it feels vastly safer than heading for Sydney, and there were a couple of big bonuses up there. I loaded every bonus into the GPS and headed off to get as many as possible and scrounge points off sending Check-in SMSes and sleeping. That should get me close to 20,000.

The nervous wait for the starter's signal:


Once through the first hurdles, I hitched my wagon to Martin's highly experienced nouse and threaded through roadworks and up a dirt track to get a winery shot, then
tried to match the big Beemer's pace up the Waterfall Way (closely followed by legendary Ironbutt #202, Derrick). Dorrigo photos snapped, and on to Ebor, arriving at
dusk. The bonus in the bag and a quick scout around for a hiding place for the FarTreasure, then off to Grafton for fuel. The sharply winding road down is made more
hazardous by serious surface damage in many of the hairpin bends. It was on that section I saw the only roo of the evening, and it heeded the roo whistles and went
bush. It was strange riding in the pitch dark and coming upon a house now and then near the road with Christmas lights glowing through the scrub.

After refuelling in Grafton I sent off the first Call-in SMS for 500 points and then headed up the highway for a big bonus on the border. There were two, but I
couldn't see myself getting both, so went for the bigger one. Just after midnight, rolling the GPS destination down to zero put me in a parking bay of a Shell servo
looking through the window at an ATM. But the Rally book specified an NAB ATM. The protocol calls for a check call to the Head Torters and a very sleepy assistant
Mob Master assured me the Coles ATM docket would qualify for the bonus. It was a short ride to the associated school bonus and a meetup with Derrick.



That put me within striking distance of home, so I headed there, naturally to the surprise of my wife who, at 1:20 local time added further evidence to my charge
sheet of insanity. After the minimum four hour rest break, I headed over to Redcliffe for a decent bonus. Approaching the target with 150 metres to go, there was a
barrier across the road for a street market. I parked the bike and walked down to get three required three photos of the threesome.



Note the Rally book to the left, and just out of shot, was my helmet. A brisk walk back to the bike and ready to roll- but no helmet! So an even more brisk walk
back to retrieve it and the final leg of the 600 metre sprint to get to the bike. That's Rallying for you!

The time stamp shows 07:07 DST. On the road with Taree as destination, the ETA was 14:15 which stood me to forfeit 1500 points for a late arrival, totally wiping out
the 910 points I'd just earned. An anxious trip, monitoring the ETA as it trimmed back to 14:00 by Halfway Creek, south of Grafton thanks to the beautiful extended
Ballina bypass. I stopped there for fuel and to send in my second Call-in SMS for another 500 points. (On my return trip home Sunday night, I added up the
roadworks, and the 60 to 80 km sections totalled 83 kms.) I agonised through all of it, following legalistic Sunday drivers staying 5 kph below the posted limit as per their speedos, which put them 10 kph below the speed limit as measured by the GPS. :mad: I could see my hard-won gains evaporating but the excellent Urunga by-pass
recouped some. Just south of Port Macquarie the road opened up, and any attempt to claw back a few precious minutes were thwarted by a plague of highway patrols. One laser gunner on the north-bound side gave me a very long hard look as I rode south a little enthusiastically.

I rolled into the Holding Pen at 13:58, stopping the clock without penalty. Into the Barn to face my Inquisitor. To settle my head at home, I'd spent a little time
typing my Ride Log in an attempt to cadge the 1000 points for a tidy Log. I only had to write in the Redcliffe bonus and Call-in bonus and I was ready to front up,
having checked several times that my envelope contained all the evidence I needed.



John "Enterprise" sternly asked if I was sure I was ready for the assessment and I began my defence. I lost 800 points soon after for a missing photo- one I'd
carelessly deleted from my camera. Further down the sheet I was denied another 500 points for not having the letters "NSW" in my second Call-in. By then I was
grovelling shamelessly, but was finally relieved to be assured he found 25,300 points for me and I qualified as a Finisher.
Whew! That's all I was hoping for. The Big Dogs could have the top positions. I am happy just to keep my record of finishes intact.

I only glimpsed the amount of work that had been put into producing the Rally book, and reading Annette's account of the other issues she worked through while
creating it only adds to my admiration for her resolution. As per my other posts, thanks go to all the other toilers who contributed to the success of the Muster.

Perhaps my account will encourage others to participate, or equally likely, might serve as a warning to regard such outings as folly.
 

Naughty Bart

Well-Known Member
#4
Well someone said there was to be an Iron Butt Rally in Australia

How could I pass up the chance to be involved in the First of such events here down under.

So, after a 12hour night shift on Thursday night I mounted the Triumph and set my sights on Taree, fully planning on a nana nap along the way, with great weather and a good road with exception of Km’s of roadworks this never eventuated.

So it was a tired little Bart that rolled into Taree mid afternoon

After checking into the accommodation, the plan was to grab a nap before the planned dinner in the evening

This was also thoughted upon realising that I did not have the GPS USB cable so a leisurely walk up town secured the missing item. Upon my return to the motel other rider were arriving so the nap was again put on hold

A wonderful meal with great company was enjoyed during the evening and after a total of 30+ hours awake I adorned to bed while fellow riders attempted repairs on Derricks Triumph and displays of lighting effects of Auxiliary Lights on various bikes.

Saturday arrived all too soon and we headed for Rally Central for our day of Training and Planning

A Huge Thank you to all that provide their wealth of knowledge to us victims

I for one have had very little knowledge of Basecamp and think I have only opened the program twice before.

All to soon I had Ox peering over my shoulder making me feel very nervous as I planned my route



1445 Rolled around to see all rider near their bike preparing for the Start, and soon after we were off

The First Bonus I chose was in Taree and yes I was one of the rider that asked to have my sticker signed early but as I was about to remount my bike I had a nagging feeling that something was wrong so a quick check of the Bonus requirements I joined the waiting horde to await the correct time.

Now as a new option for the Rally Riders could SMS there Bonus Photos to the Mob Bosses for conformation that it was correct (This I personally found to be very useful and also a great confidence booster that those points were at least safe )

Off to the Old Bar Tavern for the second part of the big pointed bonus the to head North

I arrived at Wauchope School and grabbed the bonus


This was where i found the first fault in my planning The Next planned bonus was 30 Km behind me

Oh Well it’s in the Plan so back I went.

Bonus at Kew Located and confirmed I was about to get back on the hi way when I spied a takeaway shop with a sign for Hot Dogs in the window. Remembering there was an extra bonus for eating a Hot Dog I couldn’t pass up the points



The off up The Oxley for a fun bit of the ride, that was until I ran smack bang into a wall of smoke from a still seriously burning fire in the most fun bit of the road

30 Km in 1st or 2nd gear does not do your average speed or fuel consumption any favours

After Locating the next bonus after establishing that the coordinates were wrong, I headed into Walcha only to find I could not get fuel, My Planned route went out the window

A conscious Ride to Moonbi saw me reassessing my ride

Next Was Woolomin then Nudgee for two more bonuses then out to Scone

I took my Rest Bonus in the Doorway of the Scone Maccas

Now during the rest Bonus, you are not allowed to collect any other bonuses but no one said you could not re Plan the rest of your route

So, after an hour of playing, a new plan was hatched

Gresford, then Hunter Valley for a couple of Winery’s then a quick skip into Sunday morning Newcastle traffic for some larger points

Then a bolt for the Barn

Arriving at 1319 to stop the clock and be the first rider home (not surprising as I probably rode the least KM [996 Km])



After Scoring and not losing any points at the Table I ended up with a pleasing 26,290 point

And achieving my goal of being a finisher a very happy Bart completed his Rally

That equates to an efficiency rate of
26.39 points per Km ridden
Very happy with that
 
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#6
Second Installment

The Drovers and the Assistant MobMaster and MobMaster all packed up their training materials and headed back to The River House, where they planned to spend the night following the antics of our ringers, via their spots.

On this Roundup we had decided to test the use of smart phones and their capacity to allow the ringers to send their photos taken of bonus locations during the actual Roundup. If the photo was good, the Ringer would be sent a Yes message back immediately, and if it wasn’t, they would be sent a No response. No explanation as to why it wasn’t good of course. Simply a “No”. The advantage to the ringer was that he could see straight away that he had gotten the photo right, and not find out, too late, at the scoring table.

This meant of course that the Drovers had to stay up all night listening out for the text messages coming in – or more particularly, our Assistant Mob Master, who kindly put his number in the Roundup Bonus booklet, had to stay up.

We all settled in for a long night of being entertained by the spots of the Ringers and the photos that were being sent by those ringers who had chosen to take part in the smart phone experiment.

We were all interested in watching Crappy and Martin’s spots. They were both Drovers, but had decided to ride in the Roundup. Crappy was headed to Newcastle and then Sydney as planned, chasing a group of big point bonuses, as well as some combos in the heart of the city and Martin headed north.

Martin’s route was planned to take him in the direction of the Tweed Heads/Currumbin combo, but he was never going to ride the whole route. He wasn’t in it to get the highest points, but just to get some bonus gathering practice for the big dance in the USA next year, the IBR.

His plan was just to get up to Dorrigo, grab some bonuses, have a lovely run down the Waterfalls Way and then back up the Oxley, carrying out his rest bonus at The River House, where the Drovers and the MobMasters had settled in for the night. Then his plan was to pick up the rest of his ride and make his way back to the finish, without losing any points at the table. Ahh, the folly of plans heh….

Crappy, on the other hand, was on a mission. He had worked out a brilliant high scoring route and wanted to see if it was actually doable. We saw that he was moving along quite steadily, picking off all the bonuses in Newcastle as planned. He then headed for Sydney, right on schedule, picking the bonuses off one after the other, right on schedule. Then he began looking for a bonus which was a headstone of Henry Kendal, one of our poets, hidden somewhere in Waverley Cemetery.

Looking for headstone bonuses in cemeteries at night is never an easy thing to do. His spot went quiet for a quite a long time, and we all assumed he was scrambling to find the exact bonus location. Precious minutes from his riding log were ticking away. There were cries of “Come on Crappy” from the Drovers, and educated guesses as to whether he had just blown the NSW University bonus, which would also blow his combo of 2 Unis, 3 Wineries, 4 poets and 5 schools. Bye bye 2500 points.

In the meantime we had also started receiving photos from some of our Ringers. Naughty Bart was the first one to send in a photo of a bonus. Tiger Bill checked that it met the requirements of the bonus, including the necessary Roundup Flag being in the photo.

At this point I would like to briefly digress and thank Ox34 for producing the wonderful Roundup flags that each ringer was given in their Roundup pack. He made them up with the ringer’s own IBA number and did it at his own expense. Well done Ox.

Back to Naughty Bart. His first photo was good, and he was sent a Yes response. Hoorah - that was fun.

We noticed that Naughty Bart had headed north up the highway and had ridden past a bonus at Kendell along the way. Maybe he was on a mission to head to Tweed Heads we thought. We watched his spot as he went to Wauchope and picked up a little bonus there. Must have wanted to ride the Bago Road we thought. Then he turned around and went back down the Bago Road again, heading towards Kendall. We all scratched our heads a little.

He had fallen for the classic Ringer trap. Trying to pick up every bonus location you had on your planned route, no matter that you might miss out on the bigger picture at the end. If you miss a massive point bonus, sure, you might go back; but for a piddly 200 pointer? Nope. Not unless it’s a necessary part of a combo.

One tip to remember is that you only nab the small bonuses if they are on your actual route and easy to get, or part of a combo that you absolutely need to get the points, otherwise just ride past them.

Of course, Jim Owen disproved this theory a little in one of the IBRs, where he rode around grabbing lots of little bonuses in one location to increase his score, but they were all in close proximity to each other, adding up to a larger number.

The other thing is to try to keep the high pointers as your main focus, unless, as in this roundup, combos were to play a large role.

At this point, all of us at The River House decided to partake of some hotdogs for dinner – in honour of the measly 200 point timed “Bite The Wieenee” wild card bonus. Even though we were correct on the time and the action, we never had our Roundup Flag in the photo, so we wouldn’t have gotten the points! It was a laugh anyway.

The ping on Tiger Bill’s phone went off, and a photo came in of Naughty Bart chomping on a Wieenee. He had snaggled the Wild Card bonus and was going to be featured in the USA “Bite The Wieenne” ride to Pinks in the USA, which was happening at midnight on Saturday their time. Good one Naughty Bart.

We were intently watching the spots that we could follow. We could see that Derrick was heading for the Tweed Heads Combo, as was Biggles. Jeff the Chef was also heading in that direction.

Grey Gentry appeared to be kind of heading west, but we weren’t really sure what his plan was. He seemed to be riding past lots of bonuses.

Simon B was heading south, and he too seemed to riding past way too many bonuses.

There was a cry of excitement from Enterprise. “I think he’s heading for Hells Gate!”

“No”, we all wailed in disbelief, but also with a touch of awe. We watched his spot with great delight, and then all of a sudden he turned and changed direction. We were all left scratching our heads, wondering what his plan was. He had ridden over 800 kilometers, and apart from the initial bonus in Taree, we couldn’t see that he had picked up any other bonuses. Maybe he hadn’t loaded all of the waypoints onto his GPS. Another classic mistake. If you only download your route, you ride past bonuses that you don’t even know are there. If you have all the waypoints downloaded, you might pick off some others along your route, especially if you have lots of time. That’s a laugh. Time on a rally. Chortle chortle.

In the meantime bets were on as to whether Biggles and Derrick would make the Tweed Heads Combo, and whether Crappy had actually picked up the NSW uni.

Fatman and Lyn, Philmore and Vlad were off the grid, running under the radar. It would have been great to be able to see their spots as well, to work out exactly where they were on the map. I think this may need to be a stipulation for the next one, or at least a ping at every bonus location. It’s the only fun your Drovers and MobMaster had all night! Apart from the alcohol of course. There was that. Well, not so much. We had to stay awake after all.

We watched as Biggles and Derrick headed for the” Coterm” bonus in Dorrigo, and then we realized that Biggles was heading to Ebor, along with Jeff the Chef. Oh, that was going to make the Tweed Heads combo very tight indeed.

In the meantime, Naughty Bart was somewhere near Yarrowich school, just off the Oxley Highway. We could see he was there for a long period of time. A quick check of the co-ordinates made us realize that they were off by about 3 kilometers. Trying to find something in the middle of the night when your co-ordinates are wrong is a bitch, but he managed to locate the school.

There ensued great discussion amongst the Drovers and MobMaster about what to do if other ringers couldn’t find the school. Would a photo of the phone booth that was at the location count? We decided that Naughty Bart was an absolute legend to find the school, but if someone did produce a pick of the phone booth, we would honour that. The rules provide for that sort of glitch.

We found out later that Kiwi Martin had gone there, couldn’t find the damned thing and kept on riding. Fat Man and Lyn got it, Derrick got it and Jeff the Chef got it. Way to go guys and your MobMaster’s apologies on that one.

Kiwi Martin meantime had headed for the Wauchope bonus. It was the middle of the night. He sent through his photo and was sent back a “No”.

“No?” he thought. He checked his photo apparently – looked good. Couldn’t see the problem. He then checked the requirements of the bonus. Daylight only. Damn. Smack to the forehead, and head back to The River House for his rest bonus.

By this time it was the early hours of the morning. Lord Cuddles was well and truly tucked up for the night, as was your MobMaster, but Ox34, Tiger Bill and Enterprise were still watching the spots with great glee. Kiwi Martin arrived for his rest bonus.

He got off his bike, and instead of doing all the things that the bonus required, he broke his routine and went to greet the Drovers.

“Cup of tea Martin?”

‘Yes please Bill”

He climbed into bed and started his rest bonus. He was still asleep when your MobMaster arose in the early morning light. Enterprise was gnashing his teeth in despair, as he knew that Kiwi Martin had stuffed up one of the steps required as part of the rest bonus. Taking a photo of his bike with his Roundup Flag. He knew Kiwi Martin had messed up, but never said anything at the time. He was feeling wretched.

“Well we know he has had his rest bonus. Should we allow it? It’s your call MobMaster”. The decision was now foisted squarely on my shoulders.

I looked glibly at my very tired Drovers.

“Did he meet the requirements of the bonus?”

Heads lowered, “No, he didn’t”.

“Then he loses the 10,000 points”.

“Shall we tell him when he wakes up?”

“No, he can find out at the scoring table. I’ll make him a nice breakfast before he leaves this morning though”.

Oh the harshness of being a MobMaster.







To be continued.
 

Reader57

Well-Known Member
#8
Decisions like allowing the rest bonus or not remind me of the saying the she was only a little bit pregnant. It either is or it is not; no maybe. Well done on a tough decision!
 
#10
Well someone said there was to be an Iron Butt Rally in Australia

How could I pass up the chance to be involved in the First of such events here down under.

So, after a 12hour night shift on Thursday night I mounted the Triumph and set my sights on Taree, fully planning on a nana nap along the way, with great weather and a good road with exception of Km’s of roadworks this never eventuated.

So it was a tired little Bart that rolled into Taree mid afternoon

After checking into the accommodation, the plan was to grab a nap before the planned dinner in the evening

This was also thoughted upon realising that I did not have the GPS USB cable so a leisurely walk up town secured the missing item. Upon my return to the motel other rider were arriving so the nap was again put on hold

A wonderful meal with great company was enjoyed during the evening and after a total of 30+ hours awake I adorned to bed while fellow riders attempted repairs on Derricks Triumph and displays of lighting effects of Auxiliary Lights on various bikes.

Saturday arrived all too soon and we headed for Rally Central for our day of Training and Planning

A Huge Thank you to all that provide their wealth of knowledge to us victims

I for one have had very little knowledge of Basecamp and think I have only opened the program twice before.

All to soon I had Ox peering over my shoulder making me feel very nervous as I planned my route



1445 Rolled around to see all rider near their bike preparing for the Start, and soon after we were off

The First Bonus I chose was in Taree and yes I was one of the rider that asked to have my sticker signed early but as I was about to remount my bike I had a nagging feeling that something was wrong so a quick check of the Bonus requirements I joined the waiting horde to await the correct time.

Now as a new option for the Rally Riders could SMS there Bonus Photos to the Mob Bosses for conformation that it was correct (This I personally found to be very useful and also a great confidence booster that those points were at least safe )

Off to the Old Bar Tavern for the second part of the big pointed bonus the to head North

I arrived at Wauchope School and grabbed the bonus


This was where i found the first fault in my planning The Next planned bonus was 30 Km behind me

Oh Well it’s in the Plan so back I went.

Bonus at Kew Located and confirmed I was about to get back on the hi way when I spied a takeaway shop with a sign for Hot Dogs in the window. Remembering there was an extra bonus for eating a Hot Dog I couldn’t pass up the points



The off up The Oxley for a fun bit of the ride, that was until I ran smack bang into a wall of smoke from a still seriously burning fire in the most fun bit of the road

30 Km in 1st or 2nd gear does not do your average speed or fuel consumption any favours

After Locating the next bonus after establishing that the coordinates were wrong, I headed into Walcha only to find I could not get fuel, My Planned route went out the window

A conscious Ride to Moonbi saw me reassessing my ride

Next Was Woolomin then Nudgee for two more bonuses then out to Scone

I took my Rest Bonus in the Doorway of the Scone Maccas

Now during the rest Bonus, you are not allowed to collect any other bonuses but no one said you could not re Plan the rest of your route

So, after an hour of playing, a new plan was hatched

Gresford, then Hunter Valley for a couple of Winery’s then a quick skip into Sunday morning Newcastle traffic for some larger points

Then a bolt for the Barn

Arriving at 1319 to stop the clock and be the first rider home (not surprising as I probably rode the least KM [996 Km])



After Scoring and not losing any points at the Table I ended up with a pleasing 26,290 point

And achieving my goal of being a finisher a very happy Bart completed his Rally

That equates to an efficiency rate of
26.39 points per Km ridden
Very happy with that
By the way, Lord Cuddles reckons there's 24 hour fuel at Walcha. It's a. Reddit card pay at the bowser system which allows you to pay at the bowser after the servo is closed.
 

Naughty Bart

Well-Known Member
#11
By the way, Lord Cuddles reckons there's 24 hour fuel at Walcha. It's a. Reddit card pay at the bowser system which allows you to pay at the bowser after the servo is closed.
Yes there is but it would not except my card for some reason
Oh Well thems the Breaks
It just made for a very interesting ( Read Stressful ) next 60 KM :eek:

Coasting Down Moonbi Hill with the engine off in Neutral saved what little fuel i had left and brought back memories of old truck driving days of angel gear. :confused:
 
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SimonB

Premier Member
#13
The M1 exit to the Hunter Valley loomed. There were two bonuses worth a tasty 2940 points in there. I didn’t need them to be a finisher particularly if I picked up the 800 point bonus just to the east of the finish. Taking into account the time to ride north to the finish, I had an hour up my sleeve.

Why sit in the barn with time to spare when you can grab a few more points?

Indicator on and veer left. That was a poor decision that would cost me dearly… but let’s go back to the beginning…

We’d gathered in Taree for the first Australian IBA Roundup. The morning and early afternoon were spent learning from the big dogs. And learn we did. I thought I had a reasonable handle on basecamp already having used it for a while to plan IBA run. But I learned heaps of tips and tricks about not only basecamp, but also planning, and routing.

My plan was to leave Taree, picking up the bonus in town followed by the one at the Old Bar Tavern with the MobMaster’s son. I’d then head towards Newcastle and complete a loop through Pejar Dam, Yass, Binalong, Orange, Gulgong, then return to Taree. If successful I’d pick up both the Banjo Patterson and the $10 note combos. With the rest bonus of 8000 points and two call in bonuses worth 500 points each, I’d have plenty of points.

Allowing 10 minutes for each bonus and adding fuel stops and one meal would have me back at Taree before 2:00pm.

Half way round the loop I’d reassess and if needed, short cut back to Taree to arrive before 2:00pm, after which time I’d start losing 100 points per minute. Not a good place to be.

Old Bar Tavern


By Pejar Dam I was 20 minutes behind and at Yass I was 25 minutes behind. How did that happen? I stopped to put a layer on as the fog descended in the Southern Highlands. But 25 minutes behind?

Pejar Dam

Banjo Patterson Yass


I found a park somewhere in Yass off the main street and took my photos for the rest bonus. It was 11:25pm, so I’d be here until 3:26am. I rolled out the swag and it took a little while to get to sleep but I got about 2 hours. I felt good when I woke.

I got the laptop out and crawled back into the swag. I knew I was behind schedule and after looking at basecamp again I realised I’d need a perfect run to make it back by 2:00pm. I didn’t think that was going to happen so I started working on a short cut.

I’d lose my combo points but should be able to gather enough to finish.

Ready to roll after a good rest


There was a good bonus at a winery at Mt Panorama and I could pick up the Lithgow High School too. I’d head towards the coast and pick up a couple of bonuses in the Hunter…

I made good time but the traffic in the Hunter was awful. I couldn’t find one bonus at all and I abandoned my search for it. I found the other but not before wasting valuable time searching. Time was ticking and it wasn’t looking good. I still needed to get back onto the M1 and all these soy latte/Affogato/ Macchiato swilling Sunday drivers weren’t helping. I wasn’t going to make it back by 2:00pm. How late would I be?

Adding to my frustration, I was low on fuel. I had 10 litres in the pannier but I’d burn more points by stopping and dumping it into the tank. Grrr! I decided to just keep going and chance it.

I rolled into the car park to stop the clock at 2:33pm. It would cost me 3300 points! I fell short of the 20 000 points and DNF’d.

Looking back over my spot track a couple of nights later, I realised that little trip into the Hunter took me about 1.5 hours!

I made quite a few mistakes during the Roundup. More than I’ve declared here! But I still had a good time, doing what I enjoy.

And I learned a lot that I can use next time. Next time? Yes, next time. I’ll be back. Hopefully a little wiser. A lot better prepared and practiced.

To all involved, organisers, big dogs and participants, what an awesome event. Thank you one and all.
 

Biggles

Premier Member
#15
Well written, with that teaser intro. :)

Too bad it all went to worms after all that great planning. There's no justice, as I left without a plan, got to sleep in my own bed and got back inside the time limit, blew 1300 points at the table but still got enough points to be a Finisher. :confused:
 

SimonB

Premier Member
#17
Well written, with that teaser intro. :)

Too bad it all went to worms after all that great planning. There's no justice, as I left without a plan, got to sleep in my own bed and got back inside the time limit, blew 1300 points at the table but still got enough points to be a Finisher. :confused:
Thanks Biggles, though I'm not so sure I planned well. As the Drovers watching my spot saw, I rode past a lot of bonuses. With better planning, I'd have ridden less km and scored more points. Which was what it was all about (scoring points that is). We live and learn.
 
#18
Well written, with that teaser intro. :)

Too bad it all went to worms after all that great planning. There's no justice, as I left without a plan, got to sleep in my own bed and got back inside the time limit, blew 1300 points at the table but still got enough points to be a Finisher. :confused:
If you had done the Currumbin bonus first, then the Tweed Heads one, I think you would have made both. The Currumbin one was QLD time.