30 Years Ago

Ira

Ira

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It's coming up on 30 years since my first Saddlesore 1000. Found my welcome letter while doing an office cleaning the other day. It came with the full list of all certified rides (including a Mile Eaters list) - all six (6) pages.

Time flies when you're having fun. :)

Ira
 
......"access to the internet".....

Well done Ira, on completing the challenge 'back then'. All IBA rides can have their difficulties, but in 1996 it must have been quite an effort. Less fuel options, worse tyres, poor lighting, no Garmin on the handlebars, SPOT? (what's SPOT?) and not even a hint of adaptive cruise control.

We've all ridden farther by standing on the shoulders of giants such as you and the scant few that fit on 6 pages of text.

Congratulations.
 
Now I'm curious to hear about the ride itself... what bike, what route... anything interesting? What lead up to it? Obviously it didn't put you off LD riding. I'd be curious to know the percentage of one-and-done riders there are too... Inquiring minds want to know!
 
I was on my 1988 BMW R100RT. A thousand miles straight down I-40, on my way to the BMW national rally in Morganton, NC, with a stop at a rally in TN. Partied with the Sled Dog Touring Team from the Boston area - a really wild and crazy bunch of BMW /2 enthusiasts.

When I got to Morganton, I got to meet the one and only Mike Kneebone (who was hanging out with Paige Ortiz, who did the IBR poster art back in the day), who I excitedly told I had just completed my first SS1K. He just smiled and said congratulations. :-)

I also met Gay Moore, one of the original IBR finishers. He had his rally bike there, farkled up to the extent one could farkle them back then (Gary has been know to show up at the Bike Week Pizza Party from time to time). Great guy.

I was hooked.

Ira
 
Pretty cool Ira! What was your original IBA#? I completed my first SS1000 a little after you in September 1996, earning #3277. I don't think I have my original letter from Mike, sadly.
 
Very cool! Did you know about the IBA and the guidelines for getting verified? With all of the available communication channels available now, "we're" easy to find, but I imagine in the 90's it was probably more like an urban-legend!
 
I had been involved with the BMW MOA for a few years at that point. Mike and quite a few others already involved with the IBA (like Dave McQueeny, Bob Higdon, and Jan Cutler) were also known within certain MOA circles. Paul Glaves, a contributor to the MOA magazine (later to become MOA President) rode in the '99 IBR and his wife Voni rode with him in the '01 IBR. I'm not sure when the first IBA Web site went up, but it was already there in the mid-90s and had the rides and rules posted (all submitted via snail mail, of course.).

Ira
 
Hey Ira,

This is a great trip down memory lane. I also have my original acceptance letter in my filing cabinet (mine only came with a copy of everyone who completed a ride "around" the same time as me, not the full list). My original ride was June 1999 and my original IBA number was #7898. One day, when I finally get my man cave set-up, it will be up on the wall.

Cheers!
 
Congrats Ira [who misspells his last name ;)]. BTW, please notice that the date on that letter is on MY birthday.
<sigh> you misspell your last name, get your first letter from Mike - written on my birthday [month and day - not year] - geez man, what's next???
Oh, did I mention Congrats?
 
Ira said:
To tell you the truth, I really don't remember what it was, but I recall it was in the low 3000s. My current IBA member number is 188.

Ira
Click to expand...
Understandable. I don't recall anyone caring much about their IBA # back then. The goal was to complete a ride, make the list on the website, and get that plate backer.

I didn't know my original IBA # until I needed it to register for this forum 10-15 years ago. I had to ask someone to look it up for me, I thought that was you. Maybe it was Dave...
 
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Congratz, Ira!

Coming up on the 30yr mark is Melissa Holbrook Pierson's "The Perfect Vehicle". Seems like yesterday to me and I never get tired of reading her opening sentence/paragraph. Why I have not yet copied that out and framed it to hang in my garage/shop in the 30yrs escapes me?

My daughter and SIL garnered their 2up ss1k about the same time, pre-marriage. When they did get married, they left on their honeymoon 2up with a bit of bridal veil duct-taped to the back of her helmet and a 'just married' sign on the bike with an IBA backer plate. (Still married. Shared IBA experience must be good bonding cement?)

Good thread, Ira, and I hope others will post some vintage thoughts.

great memories,
fran

edit: Back when MCN got their website up, I posted info there about the IBA and let Prez Mike know that I had done so. Surprising to me, Mike politely sent me an IBA hat and a note of thanx. Still got the hat and never ride anywhere w/o it packed on the bike. Thanx, Mike, you're quite the gentleman. On another instance, Mike needed to sign the credit card receipts at the Denver Meet (05?). He was out in the parking lot when the paperwork was delivered to him and used my aux tank as a desk to get that done. I didn't have a camera handy for the moment, dang! The group ride on the day before the Denver Meet remains a peak experience memory for me.

edit 2: don't get me started

edit 3: Ok...once upon a long time ago, Lisa Landry posted that rejected applications for a IBR would get rejection letters. I sent in my (noob) application. The closer that the drawing date came, the more that I very much wanted 'in'. And the more terrified I became that I might actually get 'in'. When my rejection letter (email) came, I was, at once, severely despondently disappointed ... and just as severely relieved. THAT email exchange is framed and hanging in my shop/garage.
 
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