Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 84Winter 2014 | IRON BUTT MAGAZINE  rally, and your routing is done on the clock. Being efficient at routing is a requirement for success in either event, but even more so in the IBR. The Learning Curve Since I had never ridden a multi-day route before, I was victim to the old adage,“You don’t know what you don’t know!” What would my average speed be on Interstate and secondary Roads? How far could I safely ride in  hours? Could I keep it up over  days? How would the weather affect my plan? How would I deal with fatigue, and how much rest is necessary to stay safe? The only way to find the answers is to ride a multi-day rally and learn from experience. This is especially true when it comes to how fatigue reduces attention and performance. The Five ’N Dime showed me how far I could ride in  hours and the importance of being flexible. My ,-mile first day would drop to  miles on day-three, as I rode up the East Coast and into Washington, D.C., New York City, and Boston, Massachusetts. High-value bonuses lured me into congested traffic, costing me time that I could never make up. City heat added to the fatigue and by the time I rolled out of New Eng- land and into Pennsylvania, I was a full day behind schedule. Not even better roads, lighter traffic, and higher speed limits west of the Mississippi were going to help me make up the lost time. I pushed westward through Iowa and then Nebraska on I-, fighting strong crosswinds that, along with fatigue, short- ened my daily mileage. In South Bend, Indiana, a line of violent storms forced me off the interstate and into a hotel. I got six hours of sleep and was back on the road at  am.My plan was to head for a major bonus at the northernmost point on the Wash- ington coastline.The following day I arrived in Butte, Montana at : pm, after riding a solid , miles in the previous  hours. Although I was exhausted, I wanted to continue. Sitting in a McDonald’s,I called an old friend whom I intended to stop by to visit on my way through Spokane, Washington. He is an experienced pilot and pointed out that riding through the Cas- cades at night with little sleep and abundant wildlife was not a smart idea. Fatigue had affected my judgment and I was about to make a poor decision. I was grateful for the reality check and spent the next eight hours in the hotel across the street — the first eight hours of sleep I had since the rally began seven days before. I awoke early, well rested, and with a clear head. I decided to change my route and head south through Idaho. I lost a full , miles of planned distance due to fatigue, but was still in the hunt. »