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JOSEPH TUSCALOOSA WABASH WACO WICHITA AKRON CASP CEDAR CITY CHATTANOOGA DEL RIO DODGE CITY LY GRAND JUNCTION GUYMON LARAMIE LAS CRUCES LOS ALAMOS MONTICELLO ODESSA OWENSBORO POPLAR BLUFF PUEBLO SARASOTA SIOUX CITY TEMPLE TEXARKANA TUCSON WICHITA FALLS WINFIELD GREENSBORO BALTIMO BIRMINGHAM BOULDER CHICAGO HOUSTON LOUISVILLE MEMPHIS SAN ANTONIO ST. LOUIS TAMPA CHARLOTT CINCINNATI DALLAS DAYTON KANSAS CITY NEW ORLEANS OMAHA ORLANDO PITTSBURGH WILMIN CHIHUAHUA CULIACAN HERMOSILLO LA PAZ MONTERREY ATLANTA AUSTIN CHARLESTON CHEYENNE COLUMBUS DENVER DES MOINES FRANKFORT INDIANAPOLIS JACKSON LINCOLN LITTLE ROCK MONTGOMERY NASHVILLE OKLAHOMA CITY PHOENIX SALT LAKE CITY SANTA FE SPRINGFIELD TALLAHASSEE SALTILLO BATON ROUGE TOPEKA JEFFERSON CITY WASHINGTON D. 90˚W 100˚W 110˚W 0 0 C O L O R A D O C O L O R A D O I L L I N O I S I L L I N O I S I N D I A N A I N D I A N A I O W A K A N S A S K E N T U C K Y K E N T U C K Y M I S S O U R I N E B R A S K A N O R T N O R T C A R O L C A R O L C A R O L C A R O L O H I O O H I O V I R G I N V I R G I N V I R G I N V I R G I N W E S T W E S T W E S T W E S T W E S T V I R G I N I A V I R G I N I A V I R G I N I A V I R G I N I A V I R G I N I A AINSWORTH CEDAR RAPIDS DANVILLE DANVILLE DANVILLE DYERSBURG DYERSBURG DYERSBURG FORT WAYNE GREAT BEND GREELEY LOGAN LOGAN NORTH NORTH PLATTE ROLLA RUSSELL SPARTANBURG TORRINGTON TORRINGTON TORRINGTON ASHEVILLE ASHEVILLE BOWLING GREEN COLORADO SPRINGS DURANGO DODGE KNOXVILLE KNOXVILLE KNOXVILLE KNOXVILLE LEXINGTON LEXINGTON NORFOLK PROVO ROANOKE ROANOKE ROANOKE SCOTTSBLUFF ST. JOSEPH ST. JOSEPH WABASH WICHITA AKRON CASP CEDAR CITY CEDAR CITY DODGE CITY LY LARAMIE LARAMIE LARAMIE OWENSBORO POPLAR BLUFF PUEBLO PUEBLO SIOUX CITY WINFIELD GREENSBORO GREENSBORO GREENSBORO GREENSBORO GREENSBORO GREENSBORO GREENSBORO BALTIMO BALTIMO BALTIMO BALTIMO BOULDER BOULDER BOULDER CHICAGO CHICAGO CHICAGO CHICAGO CHICAGO CHICAGO LOUISVILLE LOUISVILLE ST. LOUIS ST. LOUIS ST. LOUIS CHARLOTT CHARLOTT CHARLOTT CHARLOTT CINCINNATI CINCINNATI DAYTON KANSAS CITY KANSAS CITY OMAHA OMAHA OMAHA PITTSBURGH PITTSBURGH PITTSBURGH PITTSBURGH PITTSBURGH WILMIN WILMIN WILMIN WILMIN CHARLESTON CHARLESTON CHARLESTON W E S T CHARLESTON W E S T W E S T CHARLESTON W E S T CHEYENNE CHEYENNE COLUMBUS COLUMBUS COLUMBUS COLUMBUS COLUMBUS COLUMBUS COLUMBUS DENVER DENVER DES MOINES FRANKFORT FRANKFORT FRANKFORT FRANKFORT V I R G I N I A FRANKFORT V I R G I N I A V I R G I N I A FRANKFORT V I R G I N I A INDIANAPOLIS INDIANAPOLIS INDIANAPOLIS LINCOLN NASHVILLE NASHVILLE SALT LAKE CITY SALT LAKE CITY SALT LAKE CITY SALT LAKE CITY SALT LAKE CITY SALT LAKE CITY SALT LAKE CITY SPRINGFIELD SPRINGFIELD SPRINGFIELD SPRINGFIELD SPRINGFIELD TOPEKA JEFFERSON JEFFERSON CITY WASHINGTON D. WASHINGTON D. WASHINGTON D. WASHINGTON D. WASHINGTON D. Winter 2014 | IRON BUTT MAGAZINE  RoadSigns THERE’S ONE THING that every long- distance rally and IBA contest has in common — the relentless ticking of the clock. Paradoxically, it is what both attracts us to the liberating nature of this sport and enslaves us to a rigorous sched- ule.As a rational lot,we know that trying to manage time is all we can attempt to do in the confines of whatever quest we are undertaking. Whether the challenge is  hours or  days, the goal is always the same: try to beat the clock. Our fascination with time is under- standable since it affects every part of our life, on and off the bike. And as it relates to IBA rides,there have been three devel- opments in history that have made it pos- sible for us to pursue our long-distance passion; they all are centered on evolu- tionary improvements in timekeeping. Event #: From clocks and watches to computers and GPSs, the origins of modern timekeeping can be traced back to Galileo. In , Galileo was studying at the University of Pisa and, as legend has it, he observed a suspended chan- delier swinging back and forth from a ceiling in a cathedral. But it wasn’t until  that Galileo made the connection between the unique characteristics of the pendulum and oscillation. His discovery led to the study of time intervals and in  a Dutch scientist used Galileo’s ideas to develop the first pendulum clock. Interestingly, the methodical motion of pendulum clocks was so precise that it remained the world’s most accurate way of keeping time until the s. According to Steven Johnson, author of How We Got to Now and narrator of a PBS show of the same name, the watch was actually our first high-tech gadget. In the th century, it transformed how we experienced time and gave us the power to organize and improve the effi- ciency of our lives. Up until then, time- keeping was an imprecise pursuit where most people planned each day with the rising and setting sun. Event #: If you were involved in commerce, communication or trans- portation in the s, timekeeping was extremely important. However, there was no standard time. For those traveling by train (the most popular and efficient con- veyance of the time),this was problematic since every railroad company used its own standard time. With more than  rail- road times and hundreds of local times — every town had its own time — multiple clocks had to be displayed in railroad sta- tions to show the local time and the times for other railroads. This, understandably, created confusion for passengers, but it was the only way companies could main- tain the appearance of a schedule.Thank- fully, that was about to change. In , a railroad engineer by the name of William F. Allen was appointed by the General Time Convention (renamed the American Railway Asso- ciation in ) to create a plan to stan- dardize times in the U.S. and Canada. He subsequently developed a four-zone system and because railroad companies had the most economic influence, they were instrumental in adopting a national standardization plan. “Railroad time” eventually came to mean “local time”and as a result,the U.S.government was pres- sured to enact the  Standard Time Act, which established time zones (and also instituted Daylight Saving Time). Imagine, for a moment, that we didn’t have standard time today and you were riding in a multi-day long-distance rally. If, for example, you bagged four bonuses from one state or province on the same day,you may have recorded four different times, assuming you could even find the right time! The volunteer sitting across from you at the scoring table would probably go insane trying to validate your bonuses. I suspect documentation requirements for riders would be a lot different today if this were the case. Event #: The next major milestone in timekeeping was atomic physics, not to be confused with nuclear phys- ics. Time is no longer measured on the movement of celestial bodies or mechan- ical devices, but is now based on tracking the movement of atoms. Atomic clocks are the most accurate time standard and are used for international time distribu- tion services and in global navigation satellite systems. Your GPS is more than just a naviga- tion system.It is also an extremely sophis- ticated and accurate clock. GPS satellites continuously transmit signals as time stamps that pinpoint our exact location. There’s no denying the importance of the GPS in the world of long-distance riding since the “Great Equalizer” leads every- one to their destination, bonus, or way- point the same way regardless of routing skills. If there is one ubiquitous device on practically every LD bike, it’s a GPS with its time based on an atomic clock. In his PBS show, Johnson remarks, “Our ability to measure time in increas- ingly smaller elements has made the world a smaller and more connected place.” Long-distance riders, probably more than most, can relate to this state- ment. Remember how small your riding universe became after finishing your first SaddleSore? Your idea of what com- prised a “long distance” was never the same again. And it all started with Gali- leo. His observations forever changed the way we think of and reference time — on and off the bike.. Plan your ride. Ride your plan. U T A H BOULDER U T A H COLORADO SPRINGS DURANGO GRAND JUNCTION GRAND JUNCTION GRAND JUNCTION MONTICELLO MONTICELLO PUEBLO By Bill Shaw, Editor-in-Chief A Stitch In Time