It is with much sadness that we must announce the cancellation of Butt Lite X.

We reached this decision after much analysis and discussion.   It basically came down  to our responsibilities to our riders, volunteers, and their families.   We just cannot, in good conscience, pretend that a group of over 130 people gathering during a pandemic is a good idea.   We also feel very strongly that the added pressure of incorporating the additional safety measures into what a rally rider must normally deal with is unrealistic and potentially dangerous.   Attempting to navigate the various restrictions that can change at the state, county and city level will be nearly impossible, especially when considering the states that have travel restrictions specifically from Kansas.

This was to be a huge celebration.   We had a hell of a rally planned for you. And we are each grieving the loss of our last rally as a team.   We have grown extremely close over the last eight years.  With each Butt Lite, we strove to provide each rider with an amazing experience that would challenge you to think about where you were going and to feel various emotions once you got there. That was the vision of Eddie and Adam when they started Butt Lite and we have always worked to keep it that way.

Riders will be hearing more from us in the coming days.

Many of you have asked why we do not just postpone Butt Lite X until 2021 or 2022.   That is not a simple question to answer. While there is a myriad of reasons, we will leave it at this – We had all agreed that after Butt Lite X we would be done.   Each rally is a two-year project that takes precedent over everything in our lives.   If we were to take this out another two years we would basically have to start over.   Each location would have to be rechecked, hotel contracts would have to be re-written, riders would have to re-register.   We are not going to do that. As sad as this is for all of us, Butt Lite X is the rally that never happened.

The irony that Butt Lite X would be taken out by a global pandemic would not be lost on our mentor, Eddie James, and it is not lost on us.   That little bit of sick humor eases the pain, but just a little bit.

With much sadness,

Bart, David & Lisa

Photo credit David Chan

https://twitter.com/41Strange/status/1217698379997667328

The July 31 deadline to apply for Butt Lite X is near. We could just say that. But how about a nice little story to go along with the nudge?

At this year’s Iron Butt Rally there was a lot of talk about old-school. At TeamStrange, we’re cognizant of history and we approve of old-school.

So y’all know that Eddie James was a founder of TeamStrange, of the Minnesota 1000, and Butt Lite. But Eddie also put together the Grand Tours – starting with the I’ve Been Everywhere Tour in 2000 (visit the locations in the song I’ve Been Everywhere), the Presidential Tour in 2001 (towns named after US presidents), and more. Later in the 20-teens (or whatever that decade is called) Eddie’s brother Jon picked up the baton with the 30th Anniversary Grand Tours, the Whispering Giants Grand Tour, and more. This year’s TeamStrange Grand Tour is States of Confusion, which is . . . well, confusing.

Anyway, States of Confusion rider # 40 inquired about whether a particular building would meet the qualifications for an SOC location. Perusal of the area in Google Maps turned up something that greatly amused the SOC rallymaster.

If you knew Eddie, you knew that he had a mischievous sense of humor and an anti-authoritarian streak.

These tendencies came out in the license plates on some of his motorcycles. Back in the day, Eddie was working at a Harley-Davidson dealer in the Twin Cities, and would ride his BMW to the store. One day Eddie’s BMW was parked out front and the irate and somewhat geographically-challenged owner screamed at him, “Park that Fucking Jap Bike out back!”. Thereafter, Eddie usually had a Bavarian-built BMW with the license plate “FJB”.

At some TeamStrange event, Eddie was downright giggling. He was giggling because he’d just got a new license plate for another of his bikes, and this one said “DONEY“. For those not into the blues as depp as Eddie was, a doney is a term for a woman, often disreputable, and most famously in the Robert Johnson song “I Believe I’ll Dust My Broom” and as electrified by Elmore James in “Dust My Broom“:

I don’t want no woman want every downtown man she meets
She’s a no-good doney, they shouldn’t allow her on the street

Eddie was positively delighted to have put one over on the Minnesota DMV.

So how does this relate to States of Confusion? At the request of the rallymaster, SOC Rider # 40 sent back a photo of a road sign close to the SOC location. Eddie would think this was pretty funny. Thank you SOC Rider # 40.

We always have questions on this.

The top ten finishers in Butt Lite X will be eligible for no-draw spots in the 2021 Iron Butt Rally. That means you get to bypass the IBR drawing process. Whether you must meet any additional qualifications that the IBR may impose is up to the IBR. If you finish in the top ten in Butt Lite X and you already have a spot in the 2021 IBR, bully for you. Un-used no-draw spots do not pass down to Butt Lite finishers below #10.

However, the first place finisher in Butt Lite X gets his or her IBR entry fee paid by TeamStrange, whether he or she already had a spot in the IBR or gets in via the Butt Lite top ten no-draw entry. So, another good reason to strive for first.

Applications close July 30, 2019, tick tock tick tock . . . .

Butt Lite X will start and end in some town or city somewhere in the lower 48 of the USA. The rally will begin on Sunday, July 5, 2020, and end on Saturday, July 11, 2020. The entry fee will be $975 solo or $1175 two-up.

Please read all the information below before proceeding. We know you’re anxious, but reading comprehension is always important:

• If you are interested in applying for a spot in BLX, read this page, then click on the link a the bottom of this post to go to the registration site.

  • Preference will be given to previous Butt Lite riders, Butt Lite volunteers, Minnesota 1000 riders, MN1K volunteers.

  • You will be asked to provide a brief riding résumé.

  • If you have never ridden with us in the past, don’t despair. This doesn’t mean you won’t get in.

• After all the data for the application is gathered, you will be prompted to make a deposit of $100 via PayPal.

  • If you are selected, the $100 will go toward your entry fee.

  • If you are not selected, the $100 will be refunded to you.

  • PayPal will be the only form of payment we will take during the application process.

• Applications will be accepted beginning April 1, 2019, through July 30, 2019.

  • The order in which we receive applications will not impact your chances of getting in. Unlike previous Butt Lites, being first doesn’t guarantee you a spot.

• You will be notified via email (the email you give us during the application process) during the first week of September 2019 whether you were or were not accepted. If you don’t get in, we won’t leave you hanging. This date may fluctuate depending on where we are with reviewing applications.

  • At that time, you will be given information on how to pay the balance of your entry fee (checks or PayPal will be accepted). We will accept two payments over a period of time that will be communicated then.

  • You will be informed of the rally start and finish locations, schedule and reservation information for hotels.

• There will be no refunds of entry fees after you have been accepted into the rally.

• There will not be a waiting list. If you are on the fence about applying for Butt Lite or want to wait to see who else gets in, you will be out of luck. You must apply during the application window in order to be considered.

• If you want information on what to expect during the rally – rules, route sheets, reports from riders – you can find more information on past rallies (and on Butt Lite X as we post it) here.

• If you have any issues with the registration process, email us at teamstrange@buttlitexregistration.com

Light fuse, get away.

Butt Lite X Registration

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.

A great write-up from Tad Scott:

https://alaskaonmywing.blogspot.com/2018/08/butt-lite-ix-ride-report.html

Several of our Butt Lite IX riders are blogging about the experience.  One is a top 10 finisher, another gives us a first-time, multi-day perspective and finally, an Australian pillion riding in her first rally.  They all do a great job of detailing exactly what this is all about.  Enjoy!

Rider #32, 5th place – Steve Gallant:  https://swervenortheast.blogspot.com/

Rider #7, 54th place – James Epley:  https://fatboyrollin.blogspot.com/

Rider #75, 59th place – Rebecca McCallum:  https://pillionpiglet.wordpress.com/