Iron Butt Rally - Part 3

Rob Nye's Iron Butt Experience

There are a million ways to find yourself during the 11,000 mile Iron Butt Rally. But finding yourself broken down on the outskirts of Edmonton, Alberta on a Sunday afternoon isn't likely to reveal the most gracious part of your character. For Rob Nye, it was a heartbreaker. After a successful first leg of the Iron Butt, where he had laid down 4,492 miles in five days and sat just outside the top ten, Rob started leg two with one goal: to Homer, Alaska and back in five days. From St. Louis. Back to back to back to back to back 1300 mile days is what it would take and Rob was on pace, having knocked down 1850 miles in 34 hours and seeing the skyline of Edmonton on the horizon.

Until this point, everything about the bike that Rob had spent the better part of a year engineering was working flawlessly. He had passed the tech inspection by measuring just .05 gallons under the fuel capacity limit and all of the electronics were keeping him entertained, routed, and focused on nothing but the riding. So it was with a sinking feeling that Rob dismounted the RT-P north of the 49th parallel, having felt that something was not quite right beneath and behind him. Rob's hope that it was simply a softening tire melted away the minute he looked at the final drive. Like so many motorsports competitors before him, he began to experience the disappointment of a good run reduced to ruin on account of mechanical failure.

Meanwhile, Max was back in NH spending his Sunday afternoon running errands when his cell phone rang. It was Rob, with the bad news. On any weekday, Rob's predicament would have been an easy one to solve, thanks to the convenience of overnight shipping. But this being Sunday, the options were few. While Max called as many cell phones and home numbers of BMW North America executives as he could remember, Katie started calling airlines for the flight schedules from Boston to Edmonton.

Max had packed up the tools and parts he would need to repair Rob's bike and was about to head to the airport when Frank Stevens from BMW called to discuss the situation. First thing Monday morning, Rob would need to get the bike to the BMW dealership Edmonton and would receive instructions as soon as a solution could be authorized by BMW at the start of business. Rob took the opportunity to log some hours of sleep and in the morning a friendly BMW riding Edmontonian who had read about Rob's plight on ADVRider.com showed up with a truck and trailer to take Rob and the RT-P to the dealership. A final drive unit was cannibalized from one of the new bikes on the Edmonton showroom floor and installed on Rob's RT-P. In less than 20 hours from the moment of failure, Rob was back in the rally.

Rob optimistically plotted a route back toward St. Louis that would give him enough points to earn finisher status. He visited the site of Custer's last stand and felt a certain fraternity with the man. Checking his route, he concluded that the time lost had proven too great and he would have to abandon the the effort. Although Rob did make it back to St. Louis safely, was carded as a DNF because he failed to meet a point threshold to earn finisher status. Rob attended the banquet and celebrated the end of the Rally, relieved to be heading back east.

This year's Iron Butt saw four of the top five finishers on BMWs. Marty Leir won the Rally on an R1200 GS Adventure completing 12,460 miles, Jim Owen was second on an R1200 RT with 11,137 miles, Jeff Earls was fourth with 11,059 miles and Eric Jewell was fifth with 10,873 miles.

Rob had high hopes for this year's rally and was disappointed to have had a brush of bad luck. However, he was grateful for the monumental effort put forth by BMW USA and BMW Canada on his behalf to get him back on the road so quickly. (Max is grateful that he didn't have to get on a plane on a Sunday evening to deliver a part!) Rob is as confident as ever in his RT-P and is on his way to the VOID Rally to compete in October.