THE   IRONBUTT  EUROPE

                                                                           The "One K" patch

As told in the personal page, I am a member of (or holder of) the  IRONBUTT EUROPE. It is like the American IBA but less organized, going from rider to rider. There are three basic challenges :

1000 km

It's the basic IRONBUTT and most adicts start with this one. You have to ride 1000 km on European backroads in one go. No meter of Autobahn, Motorway or Autoroute is allowed. The distance has to be completed in 24h or less. If you want to average 80 km/h (50mp/h) on backroads, you have to go at 110 km/h all the time, allowing for the odd gas-and-pee stop every 200 km. I rode mine from Monaco to La Rochelle, crossing the French "Massif Central" and it took me just over 15 hours. The "One K" gets the 10 by 15cm patch shown here.

1000 miles

All the same, just longer (1609km). If you calculate an average 80km/h there's a good 20 hours to go. Very few can do that. But some backroads are better than others. Some of the German Bundesstrassen,  French Route Nationales, Italian Strada Statales or English A roads  allow for a higher average. They are pretty much built to motorway standards but work just fine for us (A11 in GB, B65 in D, N10 in F....). I tried the long one three times and  I could not do it without making some distance on those faster roads. Start in the afternoon and ride through the night when there is less traffic, and never go to the limit. Try to make half the distance in the first eight hours. It's a sucker! Mine went from Cambrai to Rome and was rather difficult. Want to show off? You are OK to sport the 30 by 30 cm "Big Pig" on your jacket, meaning you can wear our orange colored Ironbutt center crest. IRONBUTT top rocker and EUROPE bottom rocker come with it, but because a lot of MCs don't like three-part-colors in their area, rarely sported.

X-Town

The most difficult one. This one requires a witness and is pretty stupid. It is also the most challenging one. Ride through a town center (anything from 80 to 100 000 inhabitants upwards will do) without putting a foot on the ground. In daytime. You will soon find out how to aproach traffic lights and that you just can't stop at each and every red light. Now you don't have to do it in rush hour traffic, but somewhere between 0900h and 1600h on a working day is OK. You won't believe how much times you will have to do this one. Noone made it on the first three attempts. I crossed Lille (400 000 inhabitants) on a Monday around 1130h and made it after having failed five times. If you want the world to know about it, show two patches IRONBUTT and EUROPE, each 10 by 3 cm on your gear.

How to make it happen

We are not organized, we just give it from one hand to the next, so if you read this and like it, chances are you will try to get me involved.  I like a system that has already proved reliable and works very well.

1) Contact me via eMail and let me know about your route. I want a perfect explanation, saying: From A via the N123 to B, turning right on the SS239 direction C, then via L89 and a village called X to D .. and so on. I will check! Don't come up with a road that runs somewhere parallel to a motorway. I will then give you my adress and phone number.

2) The day you start  you will need some envelopes, stamps and a polaroid camera (borrow one; it's just for one day!). I will ask you to take photos of you and your bike in front of a significant landmark, town sign or the likes. You will have to post these photos while on the road and they all have to have the same stamp date but different origins. Add gas station bills when available. Give me a call and a telephone number when you start and when you arrive. I will probably call back and check.

3) The letters will arrive within two to five days, so I will send you the required patch about a week later. I have some of them available, but I had to pay them. The price for the One K patch was 11€, the two X-Towns are 13€ FF together and the  three-part Big Pig is 118€ FF (very rare and it may take a week to ten days to get them).

- Ride in a group. It is more fun and each one can motivate the others through a rain shower.

- Have your bike packed, controlled and filled up the day before. It sucks to lose the first hour  at a filling station.

- Go weekdays. The post doesn't stamp letters on sundays!

- Avoid cities in the rush hours.

- Drink lots and lots, have a bottle handy while riding and avoid café. It will make you tired after a while. Eat only vegies, fruit and light stuff. A nice steak with pepper sauce and fries costs too much energy to digest.

- Stop for gas, then roll, then stop for eat, then roll. Don't try to do the two at the same time. Ultimately it takes the same time anyway, but if you can have one more stop, be happy and take it.

- Don't go too far. If you are exhausted, stop it. An accident from being sleepy is a lot worse than an unfinished trip.

- Do it! Once in a lifetime! You just can't do anything more stupid and less fun, so why not go for it?

last updated 05-02-01