2009 Iron Butt Rally - Official Daily Reports

[sagerat]

what i do know is that monday morning quarterbacking is truly useless, as the end result is the same.  

No, it's not.  That's why the military, business, medicine, sports, even STN itself, and many other fields have post-action debriefings to see how things can be improved and lessons learned.

But I do agree it won't bring a fallen rider back who by all accounts was an amazing fellow.

[discochris]

I agree with you here.   I have lived at my current residence for 8 years.  The other day I saw a Fawn walk out on the main road  in perfectly good daylight.  I had never seen a deer on the main road before.  

This is a good point. On the Minnesota 1000 this year, I had done about 970 miles and saw one deer, far off in a field. This was running in Northern Minnesota. I took my rest bonus at my house, about 40 miles from the finish point. When pulling into my suburban neighborhood, there was a fawn eating a neighbors lawn. The odds of those two occurances (NOT seeing a deer in N. Minnesota, AND seeing one a block from the house) are astronomical.  Deer can be anywhere these days. I've nearly hit them coming out of my office as well.  I probably ride in as much deer-infested territory as anyone (riding to our cabin in N. Wisconsin after work on Fridays). You have to be aware, AND you have to be lucky - they're unpredictable, and sadly, tragedies happen.

[tjhess74]

No, it's not.  That's why the military, business, medicine, sports, even STN itself, and many other fields have post-action debriefings to see how things can be improved and lessons learned.

But I do agree it won't bring a fallen rider back who by all accounts was an amazing fellow.

i know all about hotwashes and debriefs.  but the fact is that we may never know what or why, asides from the deer of course.  sitting here behind our keyboards and speculating isnt getting us anywere on this one.  normally i would agree with you that they can be a good source of clues and lessons.  more than likely though, the ink isnt even dry on the official investigation/report, so i just dont think thats its good at this point in the game to start throwing out blame or hard theories.  the cause of the accident is obvious, its the reason for the extent of the injuries (the odd choice of no helmet) that is what we may never know since it was a personal choice at the time.

[sagerat]

I think the fellow was just exhausted and that can make you do some odd things.

Please don't take that as blame; I'm amazed at what Iron Butt riders accomplish and it's beyond awful a rider died that close to finishing.  

[tjhess74]

sag, not taken as such.  there is no question that fatigue played a part in this.

im not saying that we cant offer our personal thoughts on how or why this happened.  i just think that placing blame and starting arguements is fruitless...and dave would not have wanted his name in that mix.

[sagerat]

Agreed.  

[DFH]

sad too since helmet use (even in states that don't require them) is a long-standing IBR rule of participation.

... and for what it is worth in Australia helmet use has been compulsory in all states for decades, making it all the more puzzling. As an aside Iron Butt riding as a concept in Oz motorcycling is little known, but Davo was by far its most visible champion.... a true loss.

dfh

[Slonishku]

Under the "Holy Resurrection, Batman!" category:

I just finished reviewing this thread, one of many on a number of sites that I'll be going over in preparation for the Iron Butt Rally in 2011.

As a follow up, I'd like to be sure it's clear that Andrew loaned me his GS for the last leg of the rally. I put a lot of miles on his bike and dinged a few bits, but Andrew refused ANY compensation of any kind. He wouldn't even let me spring for new tires. I can't thank him enough.

Likewise, the Chicago crew (Tony T, MXVET, McGyver, Four String, etc.) went way, way out of their ways to help me at checkpoint 1, and continued tro help long after the rally ended. Tony and MX drove all the way from Chicago to BFE somewhere outside of Dubuque, IA to trailer my dead beast back to Chicago before my dad picked it up and trailered it all the way back to Bakersfield. All of you guys truly rock.

If I'm forgetting anyone, I truly appologize. There were other folks from here who helped out for sure. I seem to remeber Dread being around...?

There's a lot in this thread to digest that will be useful in my rally preparation. In no small part, the deer issue really has me thinking.

[Ignacio]

Under the "Holy Resurrection, Batman!" category:

I just finished reviewing this thread, one of many on a number of sites that I'll be going over in preparation for the Iron Butt Rally in 2011.

Thanks actually for posting up.  I somehow missed this thread completely....I dunno how.

My heart started racing and got all excited again reading through as it unfolded.  I'd read the dispatches, but not any threads of the event from the outside like this.

The discussion about going dark paralleled what I'm betting was going on between the ears of the riders the first couple days of the rally and that was fun to relive.  Seeing the failed bikes reported by Warchild and others as they happened...never seen that before.  And I didn't really understand the depth of loaning a GS to keep our Slonishku scrambling to the end.

A hundred different stories of how to cross a continent one or more times is always epic!

And the whole Davo thing....I didn't like reliving that particular part.  I was one of the riders behind that particular scene and it will haunt me for the rest of my life.  Reconciling that with a great morning ride I had with him two days earlier in southern NM and Arizona is a bright consolation......playing tag across the desert SW with a C14, FJR, and occasional border patrol cars incuded smirks on both our faces.  

One person noted 7 a.m. isn't the middle of the night...however the accident was earlier and farther north than the finish line (just north of Bonners Ferry)....it was absolutely dark outside until well after the accident scene was cleared.

and finally, I've reaffirmed why I continue to keep rajjerkboy on ignore...he's an abrasive and ignorant jerk generally....but particularly so in this thread.

Thanks all the rest for your posting up during the event.  It was great to see it a year later!

[Tony T]

I'd have to agree with you Ignacio, re-reading these threads a year later and I still have the urge to cheer and yell "GO MAN GO!!" to all the riders that dared.

It was so much fun being there in St Charles and witnessing the riders come in . . . . very cool, great people involved all around, riders and bystanders.

I know it's way early for this but . . . If any STner's are doing the next IBR (or any other IB ride) you can count on me for assistance. (Within the rules obviously.) A drop-point for a change of cloths, a couch to crash on, ect . . .  

This is a standing invitation that will be good for several IBR's.


Edit; Oh, and Slon; I promise no extra reading material.