New here, looking for ride planning feedback.

[psycoreefer]

Hey everyone. My second post! I'm waiting for the certification on my first ride that I completed last year in September a SS1000. I'm thinking of doing a ride along the path below on my birthday as a Nevada 1000 and also a possible double qualifier as a BB1500. I'm planing to do the odometer+receipt plus using bubbler gps and spotwalla. Any feedback appreciated.

Ride route



There are a few short out and backs, my goal is to hit all the Butler G1's in Nevada that I haven't already ridden.

Edit: cleaned up a bunch of waypoints.
Edit: made the map link more noticable

 

[Greg Rice]

Welcome to the forum! What is your name and what do you ride?

That is a lot of stops for a SS1000 / BB1500. It is doable as I once did 16 “bonus” stops on a BBG.

I guess your plan to mark the turnaround points is with Spotwalla?

 

[psycoreefer]

I'm only planning to stop for gas, and any photo ops that are too good to pass up. All those pins were just left overs from the app I used to map the route, I removed them. Yes I am planning to track the trip and mark all the turns with spotwalla.

I'm riding a 2016 Yamaha XSR900 that I bought last spring. So far I've Managed to add 11k miles to the odometer since I bought it. I guess I can post any photos cuz they're too large.

 

[CB650F]

Is a Spotwalla mark enough for verification? IIRC, a DBR is the primary method of verifying you were there. That's a lot of potential shortcuts and those two short out and backs can be trouble. Spotwalla might not be reliable if you are using your phone as the tracking device. I believe your phone needs cell service to reliably get Spotwalla to track. (I very well could be wrong there, so someone fact check me.) Those two legs go into the middle of nowhere, or mountains which can be spotty for cell reception. You'd need a reliable marker at the ends of those little legs.

It's a complicated route with lots of potential to miss a section and not end up with the full mileage. If you accidentally take I-80 into Reno then 580 down to Carson, you'll lose some mileage so be careful with things like that too. I'm a big fan of simplicity when it comes to routing and would worry about verification issues. I tend to prefer either 1 big loop, or an out and back type ride for simplicity's sake. Then again, the IBA sincerely wants you to succeed so they will try to make it work. Just be sure you don't miss one of those loops or short legs. Like Greg said, it's a lot of stops, but it's doable.

 

[EricV]

@psycoreefer - That concept is unlikely to work well. I've ridden a lot in NV. I used to go to Gerlach 4-6 times a year from Portland, OR and St George, UT for a decade or so, and do endurance rides and rallies out of Ely, Gerlach, Alamo and other places. Bubbler is a phone app and you won't have cell reception along some of your route. If you want to ride to the Butler G1 locations, do that on an off the clock ride. Also, this route is a nightmare to verify. Typically you need a DBR at any turn around, as well as corners. Expecting to substitute the Spotwalla track, even if it comes out well, is not promising. This is not a existing ride like a Heaven to Hell or a pre-approved route where Spotwalla is a better method to verify where no DBRs can be had. And most people doing those use a Spot or InReach satellite tracker.

Consider what your priorities are. Do you want a fun ride hitting all the Butler G1's? Ok, then do that. Forget about the IBA certs and just enjoy your ride. OTOH, do you really want the cert ride? Ok, then clean up the hot mess of your route so it's easy to verify and do that ride.

Here is a NV SS1K route - LINK

 

[psycoreefer]

Thanks for the feedback guys. My priority is to go out and do some fun long distance rides where I get to see and do things others usually skip over. I have a family and not a lot of vacation so minimal stops & riding through are just 'how I ride' so that I can get out further and see more. So far the butler G1/G2 roads have been pretty neat - quite a few 'off the beaten path' roads I wouldn't have found otherwise, and I've only got a few more to hit and I'll have done all the ones in Nevada.
I do not 'really want' the ride cert, but thought it was a fun way to document and commemorate these long rides. If the only way to get the certifications is 'loops' or 'out and back' runs I guess maybe this whole IBA thing isn't for me. I like the idea of the 50 states, coast to coast, and National parks rides but I simply don't have the time at this point in my life to be 'away' for that long.

Two more questions:
1. Is spotwalla the only tracker IBA accepts as proof? I've been using Rever to track my rides and it seems much more reliable in 'low signal' areas than Bubbler GPS, and it doesn't require dedicated hardware devices. This was a ride I did on fathers day where I only had signal for about 10% of the 175 mile route. I stopped the tracking just before I hit I80 on the north end of this route for the rest of the loop home.


https://go.rever.co/ysW7rlulhhb

2. Is there any 'penalty' for riding more miles, other than not getting credit and making it harder? For example, could I ride my preferred route of 1500 miles and still submit it for the Nevada 1000 knowing that I wouldn't get credit for all those out and back loops, it is still 'more' than 1000 miles?

Edit: made the map link more noticable.

 

[EricV]

Last question first - Sure, you can ride more miles than the minimum for a cert. Generally speaking, if the mileage qualifies for a different cert, you'd submit for the more challenging one. You can do in-state rides with any ride. I.E. An In-State BBG or BB, they don't have to be all SS1K rides.

Spotawalla is not accepted as 'proof', it helps document the ride, but your receipts are your proof. If you had an irregularity during the ride, missed a receipt, (except for a start or finish), then Spotwalla would help show you did what you say you did. I have no idea what the IBA thinks of Rever or other tracking set ups.

You don't have to do loops or out and back rides for certificate rides. But, YOU said a NV1000, so you're limited to staying within the confines of the state for any In-State ride. In most cases that's going to be a loop or some out and back, etc to get the mileage.

Wandering all over on small scenic roads is fun riding. But doing that and making 1000+ miles in 24 hours means you don't get to stop and explore anything, and every state looks the same in the dark. Never mind forest rats at night in NV, black cattle on the road, etc.

The main thing about cert rides is you need to document your ride. That means a valid DBR at the start, corners and turn around points so that the verification teams can follow your path and see that you didn't take a short cut. The route is completely up to you, but going out and back to Owyhee is a bit more challenging to find a DBR, especially after 7 pm when the store closes. And getting a receipt in Austin is easy, but there isn't a damn thing on 722 and Middlegate sure isn't 24 Hr and I have no idea if they give a good DBR. Great burgers though. I'll be on that road 18 days from now and have to use a picture to document I was there, but it's not for an IBA ride. What hurts your route is you don't follow through. You're riding out a road, then in the middle of no where, doing a u-turn and riding back the same way instead of riding the road to a destination where you could get a receipt.

Bottom line, if you want the certificate you have to be able to document that you did the ride in the manner in which the IBA lays out. Hoping to fill in the blanks with a Spotwalla track may help, but on a route as convoluted as the one you originally showed, (Google Maps links work better for showing your route than a screen shot, btw), you would be wise to submit it to the IBA for approval first.

Check out RideMaster for events like the Alamo Express or Lobo Loco rallies. The Alamo Express is a BBG event and has suggested routes that are proven and have known documentation points.

 

[Ira]

I should also mention that Spotwalla isn't a tracker - it collects data from trackers, stores, and displays it. One reason it is popular is because it will store the tracks indefinitely, as opposed to the SPOT tracks, for example, which only store your tracks for a limited length of time. The second reason is that it interfaces with a variety of apps and devices from Garmin, SPOT, Bubbler, and others. I'm not sure if it supports Rever, but it is worth looking into.

Ira Agins
Iron Butt Association

 

[psycoreefer]

Ride route

https://go.rever.co/ysW7rlulhhb

but on a route as convoluted as the one you originally showed, (Google Maps links work better for showing your route than a screen shot, btw), you would be wise to submit it to the IBA for approval first.

FYI - I think you missed the map links, they are in my original posts. I just included the screen shots because on other forums people seem to want to 'see' without following a link, not sure what the norms are here yet, in the future I'll include just the links.

I do really appreciate your advice. I'll check out the 'rideMaster' link you provided. How does one go about submitting a trip for 'pre-approval'? I don't think I've seen that mentioned elsewhere.

I believe what I'm hearing from everyone is 'this isn't a good route because it has a low chance of being approved/certified' which was my suspicion to start with and why I posted the question. I figured all the experienced folks would recognize right away if a spotwalla track was enough to 'overcome' the route deficiencies or not, or possibly be able to suggest some small changes to improve my odds.

 

[CB650F]

Thanks for the feedback guys. My priority is to go out and do some fun long distance rides where I get to see and do things others usually skip over.
...
I like the idea of the 50 states, coast to coast, and National parks rides but I simply don't have the time at this point in my life to be 'away' for that long.

I know exactly what you mean! I'm getting ready for a ride right now and I'm adding quite a few miles and hours to the ride in pursuit of enjoyment. I could take the easy route and just do interstates all the way, but that would be a long boring ride. I would prefer to take the scenic route over just burning up miles on the interstate. There are plenty of guys who will disagree with me and prefer to just hit the interstates to make the best time possible. To each his own.

Based on your map, you look like you're around Reno. Joshua Tree National Park is 504 miles from Reno according to Google Maps. That puts you over 1,000 miles there and back. I wonder how your bike would look next to a Joshua Tree. 568 miles to Zion National Park. You could ride out to Zion, hike up the Emerald Pools, then head back home. Or head over to Salt Lake City and take a dip in the Great Salt Lake. I bet you can even get a note on your cert saying something like, "Psycoreefer rode over 1,000 miles just to take a dip in The Great Salt Lake." The verification team is pretty cool. Or you could get a picture of your bike by the big Mormon temple while you're there. It's impressive. Looks like 700ish miles down to the Grand Canyon's south rim, so you're in bun burner territory there. Stopping in Flagstaff for food will probably put you over the 1,500 mile marker. I wonder how many miles it would be for you to see the Golden Gate Bridge and the Hollywood Walk of Fame in the same trip. 1,070 maybe? Your bike in an iconic shot of the bridge and your favorite actor's star would be pretty cool. I bet you don't already those pics.

Sometimes it's better to do less on a ride rather than trying to pack everything you can into a single trip. You'll enjoy the things you do more if you do fewer of them per trip. I know it sounds wrong, but you get more out of doing less in a single trip. Remember, you are talking about a short time window here. If you were doing a week long ride, then heck yea do all those little roads you want. They won't amount to a hill of beans when compared to the overall ride in terms of time. On a ride that is counted in hours rather than days, hit one or two of them.

The loops and out and back rides are certainly not the only way to do IBA rides. Please don't think that they are. It's just that a ride that crosses its own path several times makes it difficult to verify. Short out and back legs are hard to verify too if you can't get a receipt at the end of the leg. The route you have linked from Rever looks like a fantastic ride! You can certainly incorporate a few rides like that into an IBA ride. Plenty of people have included the Tail of the Dragon on IBA rides before. Make your rides epic, but maybe also make them easy on the verification team too.

 

[EricV]

FYI - I think you missed the map links, they are in my original posts. I just included the screen shots because on other forums people seem to want to 'see' without following a link, not sure what the norms are here yet, in the future I'll include just the links.

I do really appreciate your advice. I'll check out the 'rideMaster' link you provided. How does one go about submitting a trip for 'pre-approval'? I don't think I've seen that mentioned elsewhere.

I believe what I'm hearing from everyone is 'this isn't a good route because it has a low chance of being approved/certified' which was my suspicion to start with and why I posted the question. I figured all the experienced folks would recognize right away if a spotwalla track was enough to 'overcome' the route deficiencies or not, or possibly be able to suggest some small changes to improve my odds.

No, I didn't miss the map links. You have to have a Rever account, and be signed in to see those. IOW, useless to anyone except you.

If you have an unusual ride that you want to do, you can submit it to the IBA via an email address listed on the SS1K page. It's near the bottom of the page, "If you have any questions about this ride, contact us at..." I'm not putting the email here so you will go to that page and hopefully read the entire page. There is info there gleaned from many years of cert applications that you may find helpful.

There is nothing wrong with planning your route to cover the roads and types of roads you enjoy. But, you simply need to form the plan with an IBA ride in mind, if that's what you want to do. Look for places to turn around that have an available receipt location.

The Alamo Express is typically done mid May. All the Nevada you can ride. Contact [email protected] for more info.

 

[psycoreefer]

Thanks Eric, I'll re-read the SS1K page. I read it back about a year ago when I did my SS1k, but I've clearly forgotten some of the info. The link to ridemaster was great, didn't even know such a thing existed. The LOBO LOCO rallies also look really fun. You've exposed me to some things I didn't even realize I was missing!

 

[EricV]

You've exposed me to some things I didn't even realize I was missing!

That's what I'm trying to do! Endurance rallies are great at taking you places you'd never go on your own. I have seen some unique and amazing things all over the US while doing rallies. Many are 24 hour and can be done over a weekend, depending on how far away they are from you. The Lobo Loco rallies can be done anywhere, which makes them a great way to find new things more or less in your area. I've ridden rallies with the RM in the past and he is a good person with a good head for giving riders fun things to go after.

You missed some other rallies that are no longer around, but more are coming and usually get announced at the RideMaster web site. There are also other events like organized cert rides and Grand Tour events that can be done anywhere. Local to you is the Big Money Rally as well. They usually have their end of the Winter long event in Minden or near by. I have known Reno John and his family for quite a few years now. RenoJohn.com Good fun.

 

[rneal55555]

I'm of the do the ride you want to do and do your very best to document it. If you out and backs don't provide a for a DBR mark it with a tracker take a pic of your GPS, download the track from your GPS and submit it you have nothing to lose. If you hang around here for a while you'll certainly hear it's up to you to prove you rode the ride you are submitting. The primary method is dated business receipts certainly for your gas stops and pretty much mandatory for the Start and Finish. Do your best to document the ride and enjoy it. the worst that can happen is it won't certify (but I think it will if you do the things I describe above and they mesh with the DBR's you do get. What have yo got the lose.

 

[rneal55555]

Also the phone apps store the locations and the data to Spotwalla when you get a signal. It's not an unlimited number of locations but it's pretty substantial. The GPS in the phone works independent of he Cell Signal.