Electronic Ride Certification Submissions The Easy Way

#1
I have done a number of IBA rides but the most recent was the first since 2007. Fortunately I checked to see if any of the submission details had changed and they had. The photo of the receipt in front of the bike's odometer. I knew that printing out those photo's would be a huge printer toner suck but fortunately I stumbled across a forum post on the electronic submissions possibility. Without going through all of the gyrations that I put myself through in preparing my submission, I'll just get to the point.

Use Google Docs. I use Google Docs (GD) for sharing trip planning with family and friends so it was a natural. Here's how :

- Created a new GD for the ride. Be sure to put an appropriately descriptive name in the top left.
- Create a table using the Insert / Table menu function with 1 cell across and about 25 high ( the excess can be deleted later ).
- Add a receipt photo to each cell in order using the Insert / Image menu function
- Type a short description below each photo.
- If you have created web based maps, you can use something like the Microsoft Snipping Tool to capture a screen image and paste that into the GD.
- When you are finished, use the menu's print function which will turn the whole thing into a PDF.

Once I had completed the above, I opened my PDF in Adobe Acrobat and used the Document / Insert / Pages from file menu function to insert my other PDF documents. In my case, I had done a pretty crappy job of the receipt photography so I also scanned the receipts to PDF and inserted that to the GD PDF. Alternatively, I could have taken a photo of each one and added them like the other photos. Conceivably, you could also take a pic of your application form or scan it to JPG and insert them that way.

And perhaps the best part... don't create a PDF at all. ( Ira, you listening ? ) Once the GD is finished, just click on share and set the GD so that anyone with a link can view it. Then submit the link if that is acceptable to the IBA. One upside here is that if a reviewer has issues with your submission, presumably you would be permitted to correct your deficiencies by editing the GD and advising them of the changes.

One more thing for Ira. If you like the idea, you could create a GD template which users could copy to their own Google Drive for completion.

For your viewing pleasure, here is the first part of my submission ( subsequent copies of the receipts and rider & ride details not included as they were added later to the PDF for submission. )

David Morrow 1600K ( insanity ) I call it an insanity ride because I left my FJR in the barn and rode my CBR1000RR.
 
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Stephen!

Flivver Flyer
Premier Member
IBA Member
IBR Finisher
#2
Perhaps it is my eyes or my screen, but I cannot read a single thing on any of the receipts.
 
#3
It is partly your eyes; I can read most of them. But Yes, I did a really crappy job of the photography on some of them. That's why I scanned them and added that to the main PDF I submitted. The bad ones shouldn't be an issue. But the purpose of the post is to hopefully assist other ride finishers in their submissions.
 
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Amnon Romano

Premier Member
#4
David, If you haven't already sent your submission, you may want to take another look at it and maybe add/replace some of the photos.
For example, forget for few seconds you've been to Cache Creek - and try to guess that from your document...
 
#5
David, If you haven't already sent your submission, you may want to take another look at it and maybe add/replace some of the photos.
For example, forget for few seconds you've been to Cache Creek - and try to guess that from your document...
As noted in my original post above "...( subsequent copies of the receipts and rider & ride details not included as they were added later to the PDF for submission. )

As noted in my reply to Stephen! the purpose here is simply to illustrate how other riders may want to use Google Docs for preparing their submissions.
 

Redwing56

Premier Member
#6
Interesting. I took everything I had taken and created a nice PowerPoint with all the scans of the info and photos from my phone. It was all photographed and scanned using an iPhone. Just popped it into the PowerPoint. Easy peasy
 

kerrizor

Premier Member
IBR Finisher
#7
I've been doing a manual hack of overlaying text on the PDF of the Trip Log, but hadn't thought of assembling the photos and maps together into one nice Google Doc.. clever!

I certainly don't want to EVER make MORE work for the volunteers (besides the act of submitting new rides, that is..) but I'd really love to be able to submit a spreadsheet for the Trip Log, at least when doing to electronically. It would be astoundingly easy to set up a template for this as well; it would take LESS time for me to set up a nice template than to fill out the PDF version.. ^_^
 

kwthom

=o&o>
Premier Member
IBA Member
#8
I certainly don't want to EVER make MORE work for the volunteers (besides the act of submitting new rides, that is..) but I'd really love to be able to submit a spreadsheet for the Trip Log, at least when doing to electronically. It would be astoundingly easy to set up a template for this as well; it would take LESS time for me to set up a nice template than to fill out the PDF version.. ^_^
See the last image in this post in my 48 State thread:

https://forum.ironbutt.org/index.ph...orcycling-48-state-challenge.2413/#post-32936

I had annotated the image that I submitted (along with the 60-odd others) with the file name (DSCNxxxx.JPG) and timestamp on the image itself as an overlay.

For each line of my Google Sheets log I created, I had a column that tied back to the image number that I was submitting.

The Google Sheets log was provided as another part of the single PDF file that's requested by the verification team.
 
#9
Does anyone know what the current trend is for approval times with electronic submissions?
I am wondering how long to patiently wait before I should start to worry that there may be problems......
 

Uncle Zoom

Premier Member
#10
At the end of May, Doug Vance and myself did a Memphis, In-City SaddleSore and we are still waiting on that certificate - the reason for the delay is they are designing a new certificate for that ride. In June, I did an In-State Minnesota SaddleSore and had the certificate in my hnads in less than a week.
 

Stephen!

Flivver Flyer
Premier Member
IBA Member
IBR Finisher
#11
Does anyone know what the current trend is for approval times with electronic submissions?
I am wondering how long to patiently wait before I should start to worry that there may be problems......
A lot depends on the completeness and accuracy of the documentation, the clarity of the documentation, and the complexity of the ride. Also a (big) factor is the workload of the volunteer verifying your particular ride application .

That is to say, you cannot accurately guestimate how long it will take to certify your ride based upon the timelines of others' unless you rode identical rides with identical documentation and were assigned identical certifiers. ...and even then they need a potty break now and then. :D
 
#12
Nice BC ride David. I have complete 3 BC in province 1600km rides so far. The Vancouver Island 1600km and 2 more 1600km in province this year. The rides are a lot more challenging. With 2 lane highway for most of the ride you need to stay on it and stay sharp.