@JAVGuzzi - I am at a loss here. You don't seem to understand the conversation. It's not about if
you got certified or not. I never mentioned or implied rally riding.
The point of the buffer is simply to help ensure riders
do ride enough miles. You don't have to ride more than 1000 miles to get a certified ride, and no one ever said you did. There also isn't really any reason to cut it super close in most cases either. You have plenty of time for most SS1K routes that anyone would plan, on most bikes. Even my Scooter SS1K ride had an extra ~60 miles or so, not because I felt I needed the miles, but because of where my stop point was for the end receipt.
The Verification teams will use the receipt
locations to map someone's ride. What someone's odo read has little to do with the conversation. I've had bikes that the odo was perfectly correct too. That doesn't have anything to do with planning a cert ride. Nor does the IBA care if your odo is correct. That's not a threshold for getting a ride certified.
Not relevant? You didn't understand. I'll try to explain. If you plan a complex route that has more opportunities for short cuts, you have to ensure you document that you didn't take the shorter route. If someone misses the fact that there is a shorter route between two of their DBR locations than they actually rode, it will appear that they rode less miles than they are claiming. That means more work for the verification team. And the possibility of a denied cert. Regardless of what the odo readings were at start, finish or in-between.
How much leeway is given now with photos of odo/receipts is unknown to me. I've only used that method once. I didn't really care for it because of the pain in the butt of getting good photos with an electronic digital odo in varied light conditions.