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 84 IRON BUTT MAGAZINE | Winter 2014 BonusPoints By Jeff Earls By Jeff Earls A COMMON MANTRA in long-dis- tance riding is to simplify: simplify your equipment, simplify your accessory controls and interfaces, simplify your nutrition and hydration solutions, and simplify your ride plans.These basic con- cepts all have significant merit. The goal in simplification is to minimize those things that can distract you from focus- ing on safely operating the motorcycle. The concept of simplification is very important when actually riding the motorcycle. When off the bike, and spe- cifically when approaching a fresh rally pack, consider the opposite. Embrace complexity! Simplify What You’re Doing If you’ve ever entered a rally, you know the feeling.You open the rally pack and are confronted with a plethora of information. The more you read, the less you comprehend. It becomes just words flowing randomly from one page to another. You quickly feel overwhelmed knowing you only have a few hours to form a plan. Your first step at this point should be backwards.Take a deep breath. Remember this concept: the more com- plex the rally, the better your chances of doing well. This might seem counterin- tuitive, so hold that thought for later. After the bonus listings have been handed out, listen carefully to the infor- mation being presented by the rally staff. They are not talking just to hear them- selves. They are conveying what you need to know to do well. Be present in the now and listen. You won’t be able to do this effectively if you are trying to read through the rally pack at the same time. Ask questions if you do not under- stand a point. You likely are not the only one with that question. Pay attention to the questions others are asking and the answers they receive. Arm yourself with all the information you need before returning to your room. Break It Down Your approach to processing the rally should be independent of the size of the pack. Start by reading through the entire body of paperwork. You need a picture of the entire rally, looking for themes and trends. You may also find a special nugget buried deep in the text. Do not even consider a routing exercise before reading everything carefully. Armed with the big picture, break it down into approachable sections. These sections might be the first six hours to a checkpoint, the remaining time until sundown, then the night section to dawn. If the rally has multiple threads or themes, it may make sense to pull the problem apart by those. Every rally will be different. The key is to separate the whole into parts that you can easily solve. It’s easier to understand a subsection of  bonuses than a complete tapestry of . It is highly probable that the ideal solution to one section does not work with other sections. Don’t worry about that yet. Your goal is to gain insight on each section. For example, there may be a thread of bonuses that require you to visit specific poultry farms. Each bonus you gather is worth twice as many points as the previ- ous one. There may be a second thread with half as many locations that require you to visit specific fried chicken restau- rants. Each bonus you gather on that thread is worth three times as many points as the previous one. Find the optimal solution to each of those within the limits of traffic, weather, road condi- tions, and your target goals. Another example would be routing a solution from the start to the first check- point. Is it worth more or easier to grab one big distant bonus or string together a several smaller bonuses? Consider those same choices for arrival times both at the beginning and end of the checkpoint window. Then repeat the exercise for the next section from the first checkpoint to the next. Again, find solutions for early Embracing Complexity By Jeff Earls