In case you hadn’t noticed, we like to do some things a little different on every Butt Lite. Butt Lite 6IX, we started  in Georgia and ended in Denver, the checkpoint was the fantastic Flying Dutchmen Motorcycle Club on a gravel road in New Ulm, MN, and there were separate bonus lists for leg  1 and leg 2.

Butt Lite 7, the start and finish were in Minnetonka MN, the checkpoint was the traditional two-hour window at a motorcycle dealer in Austin TX, and there were separate bonus lists for leg 1 and leg 2.

Butt Lite VIII started and ended in Denver, the checkpoint was a casino in Reno, but there was only one bonus list for both leg 1 and leg 2, including the combination bonuses. That meant the score that a rider had after leg 1 didn’t include combos they were working on and so might or might not mean anything.

Butt Lite IX started and ended in Lexington KY, the checkpoint was in Maggie Valley NC,  we were back to separate bonus lists for leg 1 and leg 2, but we incentivized riders to get to the checkpoint and get scored early and get rested, by giving them a 2-hour headstart on routing if they arrived in the night before the checkpoint opened.

Butt Lite X, the checkpoint was originally planned to be at the beautiful Arrowwood Resort in Oacama, SD (across the river from Chamberlain). When we rescheduled the rally from July to September to try to save it, Arrowwood was sadly not available; it was the weekend of the induction ceremony for the South Dakota Hall of Fame. (The ceremony since got canceled anyway). Hence the move to Rapid City.

Even with the date change to September, realistically we could only hope that the pandemic would be less severe, not that it would be over, So we made plans for a minimal-contact rally, as well as plans for a no-contact rally. To minimize contact at the checkpoint, and to do something different, and to throw a curveball at all the riders who look at other riders’ scores after leg 1 and plan their ride accordingly, we decided to eliminate in-person scoring at the checkpoint.

So, the plan was, when riders arrived at the checkpoint in Rapid City, they would just check in, turn in their scoresheets and photos, and get the rally pack for the next leg. There would be no sitting at the scoring table within 3 feet of a rally volunteer, huddling over a laptop screen and exchanging breath. To encourage riders to arrive early get some rest, any rider who checked in before 6 am would get the leg 2 rally pack at 6 am; any rider checking in after that would have to wait until their check in was complete to get their rally pack for leg 2.

While travelling between the checkpoint and the finish, rally staff would score all the leg 1 submissions. Any bonus that was disallowed or questionable would be flagged for review with the rider at the finish. At the finish we would set up with as much space between riders and scorers as we could manage.

We also had plans to provide really nice black Butt Lite X logo face masks for all the riders and staff.

Ah well.