The Key to Iron Butt Certification…Document, Document, Document

I’ve ridden the SaddleSore 2000 in my head a hundred times and I’m comfortable with my ride plan. I’ll start at 1:00 a.m. on Saturday, 3 May and with a little luck will finish by midnight on Sunday, 4 May. If all goes as planned, I’ll complete the 2000-mile ride within the required 48 hours. All that will be left to do is turn in my documentation package and pay the certification fee. Sounds easy, right? Wrong.

 To be fair, the process isn’t too difficult but it is rigorous and requires attention to detail. The Iron Butt Association doesn’t just hand out certificates and pins to anyone who claims to have completed an Iron Butt ride. They make you prove it, and they do that by requiring you to document all aspects of your ride. Once you’ve submitted your package, they do a thorough review to verify you rode the ride you claimed.

 For SaddleSore and BunBurner rides, the documentation requirements are the same. You’ll need to provide:

• Information on yourself and your motorcycle 
• Certification fee (check or money order) for ride being certified Signed witness statement for both the start and end of ride 
• Log of all stops Copy of all gas receipts (time and date stamped) annotated with odometer reading at the time of stop 
• Map showing an overview of the route followed 
• Notes on difficulties encountered (i.e. unable to obtain a receipt, etc.) or any other information to assist the verification process 

 For me, these requirements were a little overwhelming at first. I was concerned I might miss or forget something along the ride and not have what was required to complete the certification process. To keep this from happening, I created a certification documentation package template in Microsoft Word. I used the template to create the certification package for my Texas Tour of Honor Extreme BunBurner ride and it helped me keep things straight. I carried the paperwork in a folder and used it at every stop to capture the required information. I kept all my receipts in a zip-lock bag. Once I completed the ride, I scanned my receipts and added them to the document package. I then printed-out the entire document and mailed it to the IBA for certification. About eight weeks later, I received my IBA BunBurner certificate letting me know the ride was certified. Success!

 Here’s a copy of the certification documentation package I used for my BunBurner ride, I’ll create a similar one for the SaddleSore 2000. If you’d like a fill-in-the-blank MS Word version you can edit to document your Iron Butt ride, leave a comment and let me know how to reach you…I’d be happy to send it to you.

You can increase your chance of Iron Butt success by planning your ride, riding your plan, and remembering to document, document, document. While you’ll always have the personal satisfaction of completing a challenging ride, if you don’t document it properly, the IBA won’t certify it as an “official” Iron Butt ride. Hopefully the information shared here has helped demystify the documentation process and will help you reach your Iron Butt goals.

If you’d like to do a virtual ride along on my SaddleSore 2000, visit my Ride Along page and follow my progress on the SpotWalla map. It should start updating around 1:00 a.m. on Saturday, 3 May. It’s almost time to ride…

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To learn more about the various Iron Butt rides and rules check-out the IBA website.