30 Years Ago

Ira

Ira

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IBR Staff
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IBA Welcome.jpegOld IBA List.jpeg

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?
 
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