Post about your Iron Butt (SaddleSore) ride experience, Good, Bad, Fastest,Worst

[Black Pearl's Captain]

OK I'll tell about my best-fastest. Just this August 1st. I had had my ST1300 3 months and hadn't rode it more then 800 miles in a day. That wouldn't do for me. So I did a impromptu ride from Wichita Kansas to Minnesota and back Via Nebraska and South Dakota picking two new states for the ST and one for my lifetime riding map.

I woke up at my normal 05:23 and I'm fed, suited up (70 degrees virtually all day until 16:00 in shady skies) and got my first-starting gas receipt at 05:57 (my bike clock displayed 6 sharp) from Andover Ks.

I'm not normal for what everyone says on a long ride, I don't drink anything other then a sip now and then and a water with the noon "meal". No drinky no pee'e, I 've never had a problem with dehydrating in just 14 hours. The first road stop was at about mile 225 in southern Nebraska for a little "pilot relief". I was planning to make Nebraska City without getting off the bike but nature won instead. That was the first time I got off the bike since the start.

First gas stop at Nebraska City, 254 miles at 09:21. Average speed 74.70588235, pee stop and back on the bike, less than 6 minutes.

I hauled butt up I-29 even tough there was lots of construction areas on I-29. I was able to make good time because there were numerous other cars and bikes headed north for the first Saturday of Sturgis bike week. Everyone seemed to be in a hurry! I made it to the next gas up at Sioux Falls, South Dakota with only a stop at the S.D, state line for a picture. I arrived at Sioux Falls at 12:21 PM, 231 miles in 3.0 hours for a speed of 77. Filled up and pee stop.

Off to Luverne Minnesota only 35 miles away East on I-90. I stopped for a picture at the Minnesota state entry sign and a quick gas up at Luverne for the gas ticket. McDonald's was in the same parking lot so I went thru the drive and got two cheeseburgers and stuffed them in my Joe Rocket jacket. 35 miles and average speed of 63.75 to Luverne. By the way my speeds do not remove any time for the gas up or pee time. Gas fill receipt to fill receipt times divided by miles is the stated speed.

I got back on I-90 and passed 35 bikes in 35 miles that were headed to Sturgis. The wind was a head wind at 30 mph! I ate the cheeseburgers and sipped a little water to wash it down. I should have asked for no ketchup because that was messy at 85 mph. Filled again back in Sioux Falls for a turn corner receipt. 35 miles at a speed of 65.625.

I was back headed south on I-29 and the next stop was back in Nebraska city, 233 miles 3.233333333 hours for a speed average of 72.06185567. Gas up and pee, I spent a little time walking around and made a phone call home. Don't you know, Willow and Motomama were at my house visiting Rhonda. Just my luck. Rhonda gave me the impression they were staying the night so I figured I better put a hump in it and get home. No more smelling the flowers, ride boy ride!

The last stop was back home at Andover at 7:44 PM, 258 miles and 3:05 moving time for a speed of 83.67567568. I got real lucky with "rabbits" running the front door for me with one rabbit in a Benz holding 95 for 100 miles on the Kansas turnpike. That's the speed I wanted to hold all day but it didn't happen. I had a northwest wind from Andover to Sioux Falls at 30 mph so that direction was not good for fast moving. The construction on I-29 didn't let me fly much either so I had to settle for an elapsed total ride time of 13 hours 46 minutes (13.7833), 1045 miles, average ride speed of 72.80306895 mph and satisfaction that I made it in under 14 hours which was a primary goal. Cut off the 45 miles and my 1000 miles would have been 13 hours and 15 minutes? I liked it.

I didn't find out until later but Willow and Motomama passed me on the turnpike headed the opposite direction for home. Carl pointed me out to his grandson and Kaydon said, "Waymon go fast on motorcycle". I would imagine Carl said something like " Yes Kaydon Waymon does, You shouldn't do that or anything that Waymon and I do".

Yes I sped a lot and it was a trip with no purpose other than ride but I like to do that kind of stuff (go fast and ride steady).

That's my ride report for my best SS1000. I haven't turned the papers in yet and I'm not sure if I will. I know I did it and that's all that matters to me after the first one which I got the cert for.

Who else has an unusual SS ride report?

Raymond

[ptgb]

Posted this back in July... all about my SS1000 in 2007... the good, bad, and ugly:


Here is a ride report I posted on another message board after I did my SS1000 in 2007 (sorry about the length, but it tells pretty much the whole story)

My Butt Is Now Made of Iron.... But My Spine Is Crepe Paper

Well I (we) did it... 1057 miles in 22 hours! Been planning this ride since March and Friday was the day. With trepidation, about 5 minutes after I woke up at 1:30 am began to get ready...

Decided to plan a route that most people could picture in their minds and give them some idea of the distance ridden. Instead of saying "we went to (insert state) and back", it is much easier to say we went "in a big circle around Lakes Ontario and Erie".

Friend was on a 2007 Harley Streetglide   
Nephew was on a 2007 Hayabusa    - he's 25 so we figured he could handle the physical part of being hunched over.
Me, on my 97 Valkyrie Standard

The Preparation:

Loaded up the Valk with couple changes of clothes, some handtools, a camera (more on the lack of photos later), rainsuit (more on that too, later), cell phone, 12 forms of ID (border crossings), MP3 player, and most of my nephew's stuff; he was on a Hayabusa after all, he only had room for money and keys pretty much.

Time to go:

Met at a local gas station at 3:00am. Planned to go clockwise around the lakes - Youngstown, OH to Toledo, up to Detroit, across the border, east, etc. Well before I left the house checked the weather map and a low pressure - cold front they had been talking about all week was bearing down on Ohio moving southeast. The weatherchannel.com radar showed a huge blob of green/yellow over Toledo... damn! Well we met at the gas station and decided to go counterclockwise to stay ahead of front and to loop around hopefully north of it and then back east behind it. Well that's what we thought, but more on that later. Kickstands up at 3:10 am and off we go...

The Ride:

Actually the ride was pretty uneventful. All interstates, for the sake of time. Averaged about 70-80 the whole way and we were making pretty good time until the weather problems. Nothing major mind you, just a shower here and there that lasted 5-10 minutes - except for one, but more on that later. Took all of 22 hours for various reasons.

To summarize it all...

The Good:

Was a great ride! Not too much scenery as all interstates look alike pretty much.
Very cathartic riding, lost in my thoughts and my music mile after mile.
The Valk ran great and was very comfortable throughout.
The Mustang seat and Alaska Leather sheepskin, with the addition of some special unmentionables (no, they were not silk or lace  ) allowed for great comfort.
Traffic was reasonable for 1050 of those miles, only two cager problems.
1 - PA Trooper - flew past us going somewhere, 2 - NY Troopers - paid us no mind, 1 - OPP (Ontario Provincial Police) Officer - helping someone else. We were intrigued by the speeding fines of $300 for 80mph (whatever KM that equals). Ouch!, 0 - Michigan Troopers - they don't like to get wet. 1 - Ohio Trooper - too dark to see us.
Another quick Canada story, my nephew wanted to stop at a fast-food place in Gananoque, Ontario after we got gas. I drove right past it... once we turned around and went back I told him... what do you expect, the sign was in Canadian (ba-dum-ba- chink!)   
The $30 Army-Navy Store rainsuit did its job amicably.
Great company, we all cooperated and had no personailty issues.
No issues at either border crossing... 1000 Islands region of New York/Ontario going in to Canada...Detroit to get back in. Both customs guys were very nice and after they heard about what we were doing, they got us through very quickly. The wait at either crossing was only about 15 minutes.

The Bad:

Going up I-79 towards Erie, PA at 4:00 am is nervewracking! This highway is pretty desolate at night only a few other cars/trucks on it. It is farmland... I was looking for glowing, beedy, deer eyes the whole time and praying I didn't see any. A few times caught a glimpse of a road reflector that ended up in the weeds (eyes! eyes! everywhere!) and had some maalox moments.
We hit a few 5-10 minute rain storms w/light rain, maybe 3 or 4. Not a problem because we had rainsuits but when it wasn't raining, it was warmer and humid making the raincoats unbearable so we had to stop to put them on, then take them off, then on again. Finally I just kept the pants on and only switched the coat on an off...still this made for extra stops, even a 5-10 minutes it added to the time.
We made great time for the first 350-400 miles and it looked like we were going to get home in 16 hours or so... but the stops got longer, the above mentioned rainsuit foibles, and traffic (later) and it quickly stretched.
I got horrendous gas mileage! Usually get about 120-130 miles out of a tank on the Valk. Because of the speeds, was getting about 100 out of a tank. That meant more gas stops. Had to go on reserve a few times and was worried that I was going to run out before the next gas station.
Because of the above mentioned things, stopping to take any pictures was impossible, too worried about time.
We were literally 1/2 mile from our home exit... a drunk in the interstate was doing his/her best to take up all the lanes.

The Ugly:

Toronto Traffic! Rush hour. On the original plan to go clockwise this would have put us in Detroit right before rush hour and in Toronto (which some Canadian riders warned me about) around 11am +/- 1 hour. Well by going counter clockwise we hit Buffalo morning rush hour which wasn't too bad, but we hit Toronto afternoon rush hour. Holy Crap! it took us 1.5 hours to go about 10 miles! My clutch hand was swearing at me and I had my raincoat on! Pant, Pant, Pant! The second worst part of the trip.

Woodhaven, Michigan. Just south of Detroit, and I really shouldn't blame the city but I had no idea that they got MONSOONS there!!! We hit a rainstorm from hell there. Luckily had the rainsuits on but my clear glasses got wet outside and inside. I could not see anything and decided that when I ran over the plywood sheet in the middle of the freeway that it was time to get under a bridge. I figured at that point if it had been a 2x4 or a truck tire carcass, I would be on the pavement. We got under a bridge only to find that in Michigan the shoulder under the bridges near Woodhaven are about 36 inches wide! Real fun feeling watching/feeling the truck drive past you, in a monsoon mind you, at 80mph! The other guys could see much better then me so they tucked me in between and they rode with 4-ways on at about 50-55 in the right lane until the storm past.

The Aftermath:

The Valk is dirty, dirty, dirty - I couldn't stand it and as soon as I woke up on Saturday I washed and waxed it.
Physically, it was not bad at all. My back is a bit sore, shoulders and neck moreso... 3 Advils cured that.

Would do it again in a second! ...Well maybe next year.

[fudgie]

Me and my HD bud decided to do it in June of 01. We should have picked a better route.  Alot of stop and go around Chicago. It rained all the way to St Louis. At night it was 40 deg coming thru southern Ind. We were beat. Never have done a long trip before. He don't remember going around Indy that morning. I think he was asleep! We made it back home with Min to spare. We never did turn in the paper work.  After the miles and trips I have done, it would be alot easier now to do it, but not for him.

Sturgis bound 06 I made it from Davenport Ia to Sturgis in one trip. 900 miles or so. Got up at 8a and got there at midnight. It was easy except for the severe wind on I-90. I even stopped for a hour and shopped in Mitchel SD. Never been on 90 again after that. Didn't get let into camp that night so I curled up next to the bike for a good night of sleep. This was solo. Be hard to do this 2 up.

[Jim_Orr]

 Last weekend I completed a Iron Butt Association SaddleSore 1000 without leaving Oklahoma.  The ride was organized by another forum I visit and the route was precertified by the IBA.  I rode 1089 miles in a little over 18 hours and even took some time to take pictures. 

  The trip started and ended at the Quik Trip truckstop on the east side of Tulsa.  The first stop was out in Kenton.  The tempeture dropped 15 degrees to 36 before I even got to Moreland.  My hands were so cold I was holding one hand down by the radiators for 5 minutes and then switching hands.   I got out to Kenton and was thinking this area looks alot like New Mexico, then realized I was only a couple of miles from New Mexico.   :  I took some pictures then decided to get my butt in gear.  The next stop was back to Woodward and then down to Elk City, OK.  I then had to bounce across I-40 to Webber Falls.  I think Oklahoma is the only state that has smoother two lane highways than non-toll interstates.  I then just had a short trip back to Tulsa.  I got back to Tulsa right at 10:00 pm and got my witness form signed and completed my paperwork.  I visited with some other riders and then came home.  I got home right before midnight after riding 1,167 miles. 

Oklahoma SS1000 Route and Stops


Starting Time and Odometer


Kenton General Store


Sante Fe Trail Crossing


Home Time and Odometer

 

[valkmc]

Never did an iron butt, but have had many long days in the saddle. This summer I left Michigan, Just north of Detroit at 7am and pulled into my driveway the next morning at 10am. I live in Ocala Fl. I rode 1246 miles in 27 hrs. I did stay in a cheap hotel from about 10pm until 4am. The ride was mostly on I-75 but did get off in Knoxsville and ride across the MTs on route 60 (I think) and came back onto I-75 just outside of Atlanta. The main reason I was on I-75 was my clutch started acting up while in MI. and I was trying to get home without a lot of shifting. I made it and have sense rebuilt the clutch.

My favorite long ride was from New Orleans to Ocala a few years ago. I left New Orleans at 4pm and rode along the Gulf on 98 the entire way back to central Florida, Non-stop. I arrived at about 7am, there was a full moon and a cool breeze the entire ride. The only problem I experienced was I had a hard time finding gas at one point, all small towns and no all night gas stations, I rode 161 miles on one tank and was kind of nervous.