2021 IBR – Day -1 Late Report

Best Laid Plans

A very touching tribute was unveiled at the banquet tonight that rider Danny Dossman will be riding Tom Loftus’ 1995 Honda ST1100 as a tribute to Tom who passed away in 2019 and will live on as a legend in the LDRider community. Tom started 10 and finished 7 IBR’s and was always a threat to garner a top 10 finish. He was the best of us all and represented the riding community with dignity. Danny will be first in the procession tomorrow in honor of Tom, to complete the ride on Tom's 200,000-mile ST1100 that he had entered in the 2019 rally.

At the banquet 75 riders with 6 pillions sat anxiously awaiting the distribution of the first leg bonus pack. It is excruciating waiting for these instructions even though food is sitting right in front of you, a normally irresistible temptation for most LDRiders. Finally when the din had receded to a low rumble Lisa Landry started handing out the rally packs. It was at this early stage in the rally that we had our first blown tire. The riders wanted to hurry things up and were jogging up to get their rallypacks when Lionel Ramos blew a shoe and highsided rounding the corner between the first row and the podium:

The good news is that Lionel was not hurt and is a terrific guy who took it all in stride, and he got his proper rallypack. As a matter of fact when he fell, Lisa was in the process of proclaiming him the nicest guy in the rally.

Now for the meat of the matter:

The theme of the rally is “Miles of Progress” and the intent is to find bonuses with historical significance in innovation and progress for the human condition.

Tonight, riders were handed a notebook with two different and distinct bonus packs. One is the Leg 1 bonuses and the other is considered rallywide bonuses. The riders have until Thursday at 8:00pm to get to Carmel, Indiana where they will be scored for the bonuses they have collected by that point.

The Leg 1 bonuses are just as they are stated – leg one only. The rallywide bonuses can be collected anytime during the rally, but you only have one opportunity to claim them. In other words if you fail to get one you claimed there is no going back to it later. These rallywide bonuses are also progressive in nature and the riders were provided with a progression scale. They were also told, and I clearly heard, that leg-specific bonuses will increase as the rally progresses. There are three legs and Rallymaster Earls clearly said that leg bonuses on the third leg could easily exceed the value of rallywide bonuses (whose points will NOT change over time).

Also critical to the riders is the delivery of bonuses via email as a downloadable file. That file was being sent as the presentation of the rally was being made to the riders. As of my writing all is quiet in the hotel as riders have mostly retired to their separate rooms to work their own personal magic and create the formula of points that will ease them to the top of the leaderboard.

One last time – here is a “before” picture: