Before we start, we want to take the opportunity to thank all the riders who have participated in Butt Lite over the years. Without you, the rally could not happen, and because of you, we make the rally happen. Some of you even come back for more, which either shows we’re not cruel enough or there’s something wrong with you, or both. 

Also, we want to take the opportunity to thank all our volunteers over the years. Truly, the rally would not happen without your participation. Your continued willingness to travel half way across the country to get up at 4 am and deal with cranky, smelly rally riders and cranky, smelly rallymasters constantly amazes us.

 At the end of each Butt Lite rally, people start asking us when the next Butt Lite will happen. We have always responded that this is like asking a woman who just gave birth when she wants to have the next baby. This time, riders were asking us before we’d announced the results, which is like asking that woman even before the umbilical cord has been cut.

 Nevertheless, we did start talking among ourselves about the possibility of another Butt Lite fairly soon after the end of BLIX – sooner than we had started talking about it after any of the other rallies. We fairly quickly realized we all had the same feelings about the future of Butt Lite and we fairly quickly came to some decisions.

 We are planning that there will be a Butt Lite X in 2020.

 We are expecting that it will be the last Butt Lite rally.

 When we decided to do Butt Lite 6IX in May 2011, we were terrified that we would not live up to the standards and goal of Total World Domination established by our founders, Eddie James and Adam Wolkoff, and that we would somehow ruin the name of Butt Lite. We still strive to meet that standard of performance but we have less fear of failure. Over the past 7 years, we’ve had more fun working together to put on Butt Lite than you can imagine. One of our serious considerations regarding the future of Butt Lite, and a huge downside for us, is that breaking up this team will feel like breaking up a family.

 But, it is 2 solid years of work and stress that goes into putting on a multi-day rally like Butt Lite. The rally pretty much fills all available non-day-job hours. We want to be free to tell friends where we went on our last motorcycle ride without worrying about accidentally revealing a bonus location. We want to be free to post photos on social media without giving away a secret. We want to be free to go on a vacation that isn’t guided by the parameters of the next rally. As much as we enjoy working together, and as much as we will miss that, our lives have been controlled by the rally for 7 years now, and we (and our significant others) all feel it’s time for that to end.

 But why end Butt Lite instead of passing it along to someone else to continue? We just feel that closing up shop is the right way to go out. There were five Butt Lites under Eddie and Adam and there will be five Butt Lites under the Gen 2 rallymasters, and that’s a nice symmetry. We hope and expect that there are others who will develop another multi-day rally that will be as successful as Butt Lite, and we’ll be happy to give any advice we can. But the past can be a burden, and we think it’s best for the sport and for the LD community if that future rally, whatever it is, can be free to develop its own identity and become its own legend.

 There will be more details on Butt Lite X in time. But there is one other thing we need to tell you right now, and it will unavoidably make some riders unhappy. Because Butt Lite X will be the last Butt Lite, we expect there will be a lot of riders who will want to be part of it. And that’s great. But it’s incredibly important to us that those loyal Butt Lite riders who’ve supported the rally in the past, and for some reason still want to come back for more, get the chance to do so. So, as much as we enjoy watching the free-for-all, first-come-first-serve registration scramble, we’re not going to do that for Butt Lite X. We want to ensure that Butt Lite veterans don’t get shut out so there will be some sort of drawing process TBD that will give preference to returning riders. The good news is, you won’t all have to be sitting at your computers at midnight frantically hitting the Enter key.

 There will be more information posted at the TeamStrange website and discussion board and the Butt Lite blog in due time. And again, we want to thank our past and future riders and volunteers who gave us the opportunity for so much fun and angst over the past 7 years. One last time, light fuse and get away.