MTF 50/100CC Iron Butt Association Ride
Mike Bobbitt 100CCC Ride Report March 2003
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MTF 50/100CC Iron Butt Association Ride
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My photo from the MTF 50CC/100CCC participant page
WARNING!!: I am known to be a bit long winded… lol
All times remain Pacific time to preserve my sanity!
I. PRE-RIDE
II. WEST – EAST LEG
III. MID-POINT
IV. EAST – WEST LEG
VI. STATS
VII. ACCESSORY PROS/CONS
a. Riding Gear
1. Joe Rocket Revolution Jacket
2. Tourmaster Cortech Overpants
3. LD Comfort Dryline Shorts & Long Sleeved Shirt
5. HiTek Magnum Elite 900 Boots
1. Dual Star Heated Grip Wraps
c. Misc Items
2. Radio shack dual countdown timer
OK, time to sit down and write this report. Where do I start? The obsession started as soon as I heard about the Motorcycle Tourer’s Forum (MTF)/Iron Butt Association (IBA) 100 Coast-to-Coast-to-Coast (100CCC) Insanity (coast-to-coast-to-coast in less than 100 hours) group ride. Sounded like a great time. I read all the trip reports from those that had done it the year prior and knew it was something I wanted to do! I initially signed up to do the 50CC, but as things started to grow very quickly, and as I saw the number of people committing to the 100CCC, the good ol’ enabling worked it’s magic, and I asked Alan to move me to the 100CCC list. I figured if all the rest were gonna do it, by God I would to!
I had done a Saddle Sore 1000 (1000 miles in 24 hours), a fairly easy ride, back in June. A couple days after that I attempted to do a Bun Burner 1500 Gold (BBG) (1500 miles in 24 hours), but failed in that attempt due to losing my back tire 800 miles in to the ride. The BBG is a prerequisite for being able to do a 100CCC. I had thought, as others did, that I could just start my 100CCC with a BBG, submit that first and then when that one came back, I’d send in the 100CCC. But after talking with Alan, I decided to abide by the intent of the rules for the prerequisites, and do a separate BBG. It does make sense and I am glad I did it that way. So I planned my BBG as winter set in up here in the Great Northwest, and completed the required ride on November 27th.
I started coming up with a packing list and things I thought I “needed” months before the ride.
My SO was kind enough to get me the Garmin GPS V for Christmas (Thanks Carol!!) What a very hand tool. It is great for finding work arounds to construction, to keep you in line when you are loopy and accidentally get on the interstate headed the wrong direction (Have tested this function personally!! <bag>), and the verified gas stop waypoints were a huge help in trying to stretch out leg mileage!
I already had purchased a Passport 8500 radar detector, and had to work out mounting it and my GPS on my dash, where they would both be in my line of sight with the road. I came up with something that worked great. One thing I learned on the board is the Saran Quick Covers work great as rain covers for the radar detector. One valuable lesson I learned, it is MUCH smarter to stop at the first sign of rain and put it on than it is to wait until it is too late and have the rain knock the detector out of commission for the next several hundred miles!
I picked up a T-bag Backseat Bag to pack all kind of stuff (which as it would turn out I never needed!), because you know us Goldwing guys, we can NEVER pack too much crap with us!! When I started packing, the weather up north here was still in the 30s, still snowing, still crappy winter weather. And no matter how many times I looked at long-range forecasts for the route, the reality of 70s and possibly 80s wouldn’t sink in. So what did I pack? Extra long johns, wool socks, long sleeve t-shirts, some chemical heat-packs for my gloves and boots (in case my electrics failed or couldn’t keep up). I’ll tell you what; my Joe Rocket Reactor (similar to the Phoenix but with perforated leather sleeves) would have fit GREAT in the T-bag and been oh so nice when it was 80°! The T-bag has 4 outside pockets which were great for quick access items like my hygiene stuff, vitamins, eye drops, sun screen, extra food stuff (I fill one of my jacket pockets with 5 or so “power bars” or crackers, and eat while riding… as most long distance (LD) riders do to save time). I then attached my 70oz. CamelBak to the right side of my T-bag, so I could reach it while riding and stay hydrated! The T-bag is pretty water resistant (as I was to personally find out!), but just to be safe (since they sell rain liners, which should be a clue that they do have the potential to leak!) I packed everything inside in those clear plastic “bags” with zippers that new blankets come in. Thankfully my SO is a packrat and had a bunch of them, even some smaller ones to line the side pockets.
I took some advice from the board and packed anything I might need in an emergency (tools, MSR fuel bottle, oil) at the side of the highway in the right saddlebag and filled the extra room up with my electrics and fleece jacket liner. I packed my left saddlebag with my blanky & a $15 travel pillow I bought at REI (I’m not afraid to check in to the Iron Butt motel, but I don’t rough it… lol), my Ultra Guard half-cover, and my bottles for ocean water. In my trunk I had an extra helmet, and my extra “power bars” (I like the Balance bars, they have more protein than Powerbars, and are easier to chew! Only bad thing is they are chocolate coated and get pretty messy when it gets warm and it melts), some Ensure meal replacement shakes, and some snack stuff. I planned on carrying all my riding food with me for the whole trip, since buying this stuff on the road gets expensive!
So now I was all packed up and ready to roll!
Well to go back just a bit… I had noticed a bit of “moisture” under my timing chain cover a few months prior to the ride, but thought maybe I just ran through some crap on the road and didn’t pay it much attention, but it got worse, and soon, I had a dripping oil leak. Great… just what I need. About a week before I was to leave, I rode the bike to work to hook up all my electronics and give everything a test run to see that it was all functional. I had done one of the big “no-nos” of pre-LD riding and installed something new, some of the heated grip wraps by Dual Star (http://www.dual-star.com/). I’ll tell you what, for $30, these things are AWESOME! They fit under my Kuryakyn ISO grips and put out some heat! I thought they would be nice when it wasn’t cold enough for my electrics, but a little heat on my hands would be nice. They work great and I am very happy with them… for the price they are one hell of a bargain! But back to the oil leak…
So I rode to work, and after a few hours I went out to the bike and there was about 3 drips of oil… not good! I rode home and let the bike sit for a couple of hours and again, 2-3 drips on the ground. My concern with taking it to the shop (as I am pretty non-mechanical, beyond the basics) was that it would be something they would have to order parts for or have to tear a bunch of stuff apart to get it fixed, and I didn’t have that time. I posted on the GL1800riders board (http://www.gl1800riders.com/) and the MTF board (http://forums.delphiforums.com/MCTourer), and got a few suggestions. I tightened the bolts around the timing chain cover, cleaned up all the oil grunge, and ran the bike for ½ hour, with no sign of leakage. I rode the bike to work again the next day, and again, nothing. So I thought I was good to go. I threw a quart of Red Cap on the saddlebag just in case.
So NOW I am packed up and ready to roll… but the weather is now not cooperating. I have to go to Seattle on Friday the 7th so I could visit my 8 y.o. daughter for a few days before I headed out for the ride. Her spring break just happened to fall the same week as the ride. I was feeling pretty bad about curtailing my visit with her to do the ride. It was a tough choice, but I rationalized it by knowing she would get to spend the rest of her break with her Grandma, and they did have a good time together… but that “you are a bad father voice” does still whisper in my ear every now & again. I hope she will understand how meaningful this ride was to me… I’ll just have to be sure and turn her into a rider when she gets old enough, then she will… lol
Headed-out of Spokane
The forecast for Friday was for mid-30s and SNOW here in Spokane. Great… looked at the forecast for Snoqualmie Pass, which I have to go over to get to Seattle… it is snowing hard and is currently closed for avalanche control. So I had to take the Southern route through the Columbia River Gorge, about an extra 200 miles to get to Seattle, normally not a problem, but I was pressed for time. It was a great ride; Hwy 14 on the Washington side is curvy in spots and has tons of small waterfalls that are close enough to the road that you get hit with spray from them. Plus it kept me out of Oregon (sorry Oregon folk!) where the speed limits are painfully low, the LEO presence is painfully high, and you have to get handed the gas nozzle at the pump every time you get gas.
On the way to Seattle I stopped in Olympia, WA to meet a friend from the GL1800riders board Dayle Martin (Quickdraw). Had a cup of coffee and chatted about bikes for a couple of hours. He is a great guy, and look forward to getting together with him again in May, with the rest of the NW GL1800 riders and doing some mountain riding!
Checked the bike out in Seattle, and there was no sign of oil leakage. Looking good!
Headed South Monday at noon. My initial plan (pre- figuring out it was also my daughter’s spring break) had been to head that Sunday with Marty Hamilton and Al Carey and taking it easy on the way down, not to start getting burned out before the ride even started. Plan B was to leave late Monday afternoon and ride straight through to San Diego. But I figured if I left at noon Monday I could ride until I got tired, stop for the night, and get to SD around check in time at the Motel 6. I rode to Red Bluff CA and got a room around 1am. Got up in the morning at 6 and checked the bike out, and there was signs of a little oil seepage, but no drips. Oh well, I’ve got a spare quart of oil, a cell phone, tow coverage and the bike is under warranty! Sounds like everything I need to press on!! <g>
I arrived in San Diego around 4pm, and there were already quite a few bikes in the parking lot. I met Jeff Salyer at the front desk, got my room and parked my bike between Coni Fitch’s LT & Chuck Farrah’s GS. Having never met any of the folk from the board, I didn’t have anyone to look for, so I just wandered around and started chatting with people. Was walking by a room and Marty recognized me and I talked with him & Al for a while and then it was time to head over to the banquet.
The dinner at Hunter’s was great, and there was a good crowd of folk there. A few of the guys on the EWE were already showing up and looked pretty beat! Everyone went around the room and introduced themselves, so for a second or two I could put a name with a face, but I suck at remembering names, so that faded quickly… lol
The dinner crowd broke up pretty quickly, I think everyone was anxious to get back to their rooms, get their stuff ready to leave in the morning and TRY to get some sleep. I got back to my room, cleaned the windshield and lights on the bike, packed everything back up, laid out my clothes, set two alarms for 0310 & 0315 and actually faded off to sleep pretty quickly. At 0300 I woke up to the sound of someone else firing up their bike and got up and started getting ready to go, and watching the weather. The temps were going to be moderate and there was a chance of rain in TX, but other than that, I was most worried about my ride home AFTER “the” ride, as it was supposed to rain all the way up North. Gotta love those weathermen… lol
So I got everything stowed on the bike and headed over to the staging area at Hunters. I was surprised at the number of bikes already over there, quite a few folks were already hanging out BS’ing and getting their witness forms signed. The guys who set up the staging area did one hell of a job. They had lights, cleaning supplies, breakfast food, juice, and coffee… I was very impressed! THANKS GUYS, your support was a great send off and was greatly appreciated!
San Diego Staging Area
I got my witness form signed and packed away in the trunk and wandered around chatting with folks. Then the word went out we could head out whenever we wanted to. Mike Ledbetter, on his Venture, was the first to jump on that offer, and I thought what the hell, no time like the present! Marty & Al were also saddling up, so I thought I would jump on their coat tails, since they had done this last year, and knew where they were going. I got on the bike and pulled in line to check out behind Marty & Al, and saw there was another bike waiting to head out (which turned out to be Doug Chapman on his FJR, who I rode the EW leg back with), so I let him pull in front of me. I was pretty wound up as I checked out and as I got on the interstate I realized that Alan Leduc had been standing there right before I left and I regretted not stopping and at least saying thanks in person and shaking his hand… but I was already on the road, so there was no turning back! I headed off to the gas station to get my receipt. Filled up and waited on Al in front of me, so I could follow him out, presumably to the beach to get my sand and water. My official start time was 0426. I wasn’t really paying attention to which direction we headed out in, assuming Al knew where he was going and was going to go to the beach… guess I should have actually asked where he was going, because soon enough I realized we were on I-8, headed East. I felt kind of guilty, as I wanted to do the ride right and make the actual ocean-to-ocean ride… but I figured “oh well, I’ll do it right on the E-W leg.” There was a bike behind me, though in the dark I couldn’t tell who it was. We headed out of San Diego, cruising along at just over the limit. My right hand was getting pretty twitchy… wanting to run it up a bit, but didn’t know the proper “etiquette” (lol) about passing, this being the first time I rode with a group, so I hung with him for 10 miles or so, with the bike behind me doing the same.
Finally I couldn’t take it any more and slowly rolled around Al, gave him a wave as I went by, and cranked it up a few more MPH, the guy behind me (Doug) in tow. We then started to head up towards El Cajon, and I was enjoying the start of the ride, the sun was coming up, and the road was getting twisty… until I got over the top of the pass and headed down hill… I was making a good lean around a 45 MPH curve doing about 65 and all of the sudden I got slapped by a wind gust that almost stood my straight up! I took it a little easier around the curves the rest of the way down! Damn it was great to finally be on the road and doing it after months of chomping at the bit waiting to go!!!
1st gas stop Yuma AZ, @ 0649, 181 odo miles, cumulative 31 MPG.
As I pulled off the interstate, the guy behind me did also, but when I pulled in to the gas station, he as nowhere to be seen… hmmm. I was later to find out Doug wanted to go to the Chevron station up the road. As I was fueling up a guy on a BMW 1150GS pulled up and we gassed up and headed out together.
2nd gas stop Casa Grande AZ @ 0858, 185 odo miles, 347 total miles, cumulative 29 MPG.
I passed Al again on the way to this stop, but didn’t see anyone else (that I remember). I finally introduced myself to my new riding partner, Will Allender, from Woodland Park, Colorado, who was on his return leg of the EWE. Our riding styles were similar and so we hooked up and rode the rest of the way to Jacksonville together. Was nice to have someone who was halfway through to guide when needed. Will is a great guy and it was a pleasure to share this part of the ride with him! He had a bit longer range than I did, but was glad to stop when I was ready.
3rd gas stop San Simon AZ @ 1127, 186 odo miles, 527 total miles, cumulative MPG 32.7.
I was pretty happy with the time I was making; I was keeping my avg MPH up, and wasn’t wasting too much time at fuel stops. I did take a little more time than I needed to getting more water, standing around for an extra minute, but still keeping a good pace. I did take a look at the area under my timing chain cover and could see where there had been some oil seeping, but not a lot, so I didn’t check the oil at that time.
4th gas stop El Paso TX @ 1401, 188 odo miles, 708 total miles, cumulative MPG 33.6.
The weather was getting pretty warm in the afternoon, temps were around 80°. As I said, I didn’t think to plan for warm weather, in spite of seeing forecasts calling for it, I just couldn’t break free of the Northwest’s winter grip on my mind… lol
5th gas stop Balmorhea TX @ 1700, 217 odo miles, 918 total miles, cumulative MPG 37.4.
I think we hit a bit of construction on this leg, which reduced our up till now awesome avg MPH. We hadn’t seen too many other riders on the ride. En route to this stop we saw poor Doug sitting at the side of the road chatting with a feller in a car with purdy flashing lights. It was 886 miles in to the ride according to my GPS. While we were stopped for gas 4 bikes went by on the interstate, but I couldn’t tell who they were. At this stop Will decided to layer up with warm clothes assuming it would get chilly after dark. Sounded like it made sense to me, since he had ridden this leg already. It was currently 74 degrees, but I had faith it would cool off when it got dark!!
6th gas stop Sonora TX @ 1949, 155 odo miles, 1106 total miles, cumulative MPG 27.8.
Not sure why my MPG went down, along with my MPH. If I ride the bike hard I lose a little mileage, but I lost both this leg. I decided to stop at only 155 miles because I was sweating my A** off! The temp only dropped to 68 degrees, and was a bit humid (or maybe it was just me!) We discussed stopping in Junction TX (the half-way point), since Will already had reservations. I wasn’t really tired, but figured it couldn’t hurt. He said if we wound it up we could make it before the BBQ joint across from the hotel closed and get some chow. We figured we had 15 minutes to spare, so we had better hurry up and get there! So we gave our steeds some spur and headed off, mouths watering!!
Rest stop, Junction TX. We arrived at the hotel in Junction at about 2100; the BBQ joint was closed, so there was no chow. We got in the room, got the bikes squared away, and I think it was around 2130 or so before I drifted off, but didn’t really sleep great. We had planned on staying until 2300 so we could get on the road quickly and beat the Houston morning traffic. I woke up 20 minutes before the alarm went off, so if I was lucky I slept for about an hour. We got up, and on the road, stopping at the gas station in Junction hoping for some chow, but the restaurant was closed so we got some beef jerky and OJ and ate it in the parking lot, leaving around 2345. I checked my oil while we were stopped and it was right in between the add & full line, so I poured a bit more in and pressed on.
7th gas stop, Converse TX @ 0140, 197 odo miles, 1295 total miles, cumulative MPG 33.9.
It was still pretty warm; temp was still around 68°. Was starting to get a bit foggy at this point, but not as bad as I was thinking it would get. Saw a few deer not too long after we left Junction, but not too many. The brights on the GL1800 are phenomenal… they sure do light up the road!!
8th gas stop Columbus TX @ 0321, 109 odo miles, 1400 total miles, cumulative MPG 36.3.
We stopped at 108 miles to gas up and be able to make it to the other side of Houston before we needed to fill up again. The fog was getting pretty thick, started before San Antonio and was foggy all the way through mid Louisiana.
Houston: it was right around 0600 local when we hit Houston. I couldn’t believe how much traffic was already on the road! It was already bumper to bumper, but flowing smoothly. Knowing one of the HUGE things about Houston is hitting the HOV lane; I let Will take the lead. Well sure enough, we missed the first HOV lane entrance :o( Will was knocking himself in the side of the helmet in frustration… lol Luckily traffic was still flowing pretty smoothly and it wasn’t a huge deal… and there is a second HOV lane entrance that we managed to catch and make up a little time. Lucky we made Junction such a short stop, would have hated to get through there too much later!! On the radio a bit later I heard a traffic report saying there was an accident blocking the HOV lane and was hoping no one got bottle-necked in that mess!
9th gas stop Vinton LA @ 0619, 200 odo miles, 1592 total miles, cumulative MPG 36.2.
Here we hit a pretty heavy rainstorm, had to pull off so Will could break out his rain gear. Luckily it was only rain. As we went on from here, as I listened to the radio, all the talk was of heavy t-storms, hail and damaging winds. I figured whoever was still behind us was gonna hit some serious weather and was again thankful we had made such a short stop in Junction. Looks like we had threaded the needle and were going to make it through only getting a little wet. I did notice on this leg, as we hit 24 hours, that we had missed qualifying for a BBG by 40 miles.
10th gas stop Hammond LA @ 0915, 200 odo miles, 1785 total miles, cumulative MPG 34.7.
Will was getting fired up already, seeing the end nearing, only having 2 more stops until his end. I was feeling great myself. The skies were cloudy, and looked like it might break loose at any time. But it was still just warm (mid-70s) and humid. Somewhere around here we hit some construction that backed things up for a bit, but for the most part we didn’t hit any major traffic problems the whole way East. Speaking of construction… what the heck is up with the roads in Loooooziana?!? This has been without a doubt the crappiest stretch of interstate I have ever had the displeasure of getting the crap beat out of me by!! I’m thinking the state gov’t needs to stop spending the fine citizens of Looooooziana’s hard earned tax dollars of finding the perfect gumbo recipe and fix these damn roads! I am pretty sure I got airborne at least twice!!! I checked my oil and it was all the way at the bottom of the dipstick! I looked under the bike and you could see where it has been seeping and leaving a trail along the right side. It wasn’t dripping, but it was obvious I was loosing it. I topped it off and we rolled on.
Also on the way to this stop I had the opportunity to educate a very nice Looooziana State Trooper on the legality of headlight modulation. First he said, “Why are your headlights flashing? They aren’t allowed to do that.” I told him they weren’t flashing, they were modulating, which he didn’t seem to see the humor in… lol I told him that there was a difference, and yes, I agree, flashing is restricted to emergency vehicles, but federal motor vehicle statues make it legal in all 50 states, and Title 49 of the US Code is the authority for that statute to override the laws of all 50 states. He called his supervisor on his cell phone and asked him if he had ever heard of that, and he hadn’t either. I told him I had copies of all the paperwork in my trunk and asked him if I could get them, which he let me. When I broke out all the paperwork he said, “You’ve been pulled over for this before, haven’t you?” I just smiled :o) As we were chatting he asked where I was headed and I told him Jacksonville. He asked where I left from and I told him San Diego, and almost told him I had left at 0430 the morning prior, but caught it before it came out… lol He wrote down all the info, and apologized for stopping me and told me to have a safe trip. Will had kept going (as I would have) and was stopped under the next overpass waiting. He said the cop blasted past him, and as he went by said, “He is on his way” over the PA as he went by… lol
11th gas stop Pensacola FL @ 1229, 209 odo miles, 1986 total miles, cumulative MPG 33.8.
As we neared this stop there were some very nasty clouds on the horizon… I looked back at Will and he gave me the thumbs up and we pressed on. Just ended up being a little rain, the clouds were all bark & no bite. But still on the radio they were talking of the severe storms through LA & AL, and I was hoping my fellow riders were avoiding the worst of the weather. I kept thinking I wanted to get something to eat when we stopped, but once I was off the bike for 5 min I was ready to get back on the road!! <g>
12th gas stop Tallahassee FL @1512, 199 odo miles, 2177 total miles, MPG 33.2.
THE LAST STOP BEFORE THE FINISH! Will was all smiles and I was pretty stoked! I was thinking to myself how good I was feeling in spite of only sleeping for one hour and having ridden for 35 hours. We were on track to finish in pretty close to 37 hours, which I thought was pretty cool! I asked Will if we were going to head to the beach first or get gas and Will wanted to head to the beach and finish the ride right. Was a short gas stop and we were off again!!
Will jumped in the lead as we approached Jacksonville. It was already dark, and I stayed right on his tail… too close to loose him now!! Florida is an awesome state to ride through, there are just SO many rabbits begging you to jump on their tail! One drops off and another jumps up and takes the baton; made the trip pretty quick as we got closer to the end. We pulled in to the gas station and got our receipt at 1750, 37 hours and 24 minutes from starting… I was pretty impressed with that time, knowing we hadn’t really turned & burned at our gas stops, so we could have made a bit of improvement on that time. Still, not too bad, with the GPS showing only 6:26 of stopped time, 30:49 hours of moving time (the small time difference is a result of my power cord coming loose a couple of times without me noticing and losing a few minute/miles), and an overall MPH of 63.5!!
END 50CC Jacksonville FL @ 1750, 196 odo miles, 2366 total miles, cumulative AVG MPH 63.5, MPG 34.4
Since it was already dark we decided we would just do the gas stop and get the sand and water when it was light. Worked for me, since I didn’t get my sand and water on the start, I would just make sure to go ocean to ocean on my E-W leg. We were in a hurry to get to the hotel and see who else was in. There were a couple of other bikes in the hotel garage already (while we were eating Chuck Farrah arrived). We got to the hotel just at Mike Ledbetter and Doug Chapman were just heading to the nearby restaurant to get some chow. Will went and quickly checked in to the hotel, then we went and ate, boy was that food good!! I talked with Doug while we were eating and decided we would hook up for the return leg.
I started to fade pretty quickly at that point. I hadn’t gotten a room at the Best Western, my hotel was 3 miles away, so I jumped on the bike and headed over there.
When I got to the hotel I still had 8 hours to sleep. But I was so dead tired that getting my bike unpacked and ready to load up in the morning, washing my drawers and shirt I was going to wear in the am, and getting to sleep, I think I was lucky if I got 5 hours. I did manage to check the weather… chance of afternoon t-storms in the East and rain on the West coast. Looks like we better di-di out of town in the AM before the fireworks kick off again!
I had a 0515 wake up call set, but I woke up at 5. I had woke up once prior to that at 0315 (0615 local) because the curtains were partially open and it was getting light in the room. I got up to close them, and would have sworn I was drunk; I stumbled across the room, ran into the TV, closed the curtains and racked out again. I was still feeling pretty crappy at 5. I got up and started going through the motions of getting ready, I had told Doug I would meet him at the gas station at 0600. My shirt was still wet, so I put it out on the fence outside my room, in the sun. I was putting my GPS on it’s mount and dropped the thumb screw and of course it couldn’t fall anywhere easy, it had to slide right into the minute gap in the fairing near the handle bars and go INSIDE the @#*&%@*%@$ fairing. I had to pull the fairing pocket our and dig around in there until I found it. I checked my oil before I left and it was just a bit under the full line. There were no drops under the bike… this was certainly an odd leak. I was definitely running slow and ended up getting to the gas station at 0610.
Jacksonville staging area
The gas station lot was packed when I got there, a lot of the EWE guys celebrating, and the WEW guys getting ready to head out. I got my witness form signed and was shooting the bull with everyone, taking a few pics. Got to thinking I was going to be on the clock for my back leg 50cc at 0926, so I guess I better get on the road. But I was feeling pretty confident after making the first leg in 37.5 hours, and seeing how well Will held up on his back leg (the part I was forgetting was that Will had stopped for 5 hours of sleep in Junction on his EW leg, so he had a little more sleep in the bank than I did with my one hour on my WE leg!). So we BS’ed a bit longer. I went and got my receipt and read 0945. Doug had gotten his receipt earlier, so he had been on the clock for almost an hour already. I was feeling pretty cocky at that point and said I was going to try and make it in 36 hours… ya right!
So we were off to the beach. Will was coming too, to get his end of the ride water, so he, Doug, and I headed to the beach. Definitely much nicer than the Pacific beaches, white sand and clean water.
 Mike Bobbitt |
 Will Allender |
No Pic of Doug getting water |
The skies were a bit cloudy, but not looking too threatening. Doug took the lead once we hit I-10 and we were off! The ride out of Florida was not near as nice as the on into it. There were NO rabbits to be seen. They were everywhere yesterday and now everyone wanted to cruise along at the limit. I was determined to try and stretch my fuel and make a few more miles each leg, since Doug had a bit more range than I did.
1st gas stop Quincy FL @ 1003, 211 odo miles, 203 total miles (GPS), MPG 34.
It hadn’t taken long for both Doug and I to decide we were just going to take it easy this leg and use as much of the 50 hours as we needed to. He was a bit stiff & sore & popped 4 ibuprofen. So much for the 36-hour goal… lol I was cool with that, I was a little beat down myself, so we resolved to take our time at the gas stops and enjoy the ride.
2nd gas stop Robertsdale AL @ 1259, 202 odo miles, 397 total miles, MPG 32.5.
No rain yet, though the skies were still cloudy and nasty looking. I went in to pay for my gas because the pay at the pump wasn’t working. The lady behind the counter asked where we were from. I told her I was from Washington and Doug was from Oregon. She said, “I didn’t think y’all were from around here”, and I couldn’t resist and said, “Y’all ain’t from around here… are ya?” in that perfect Deliverance voice… lol She didn’t see the humor in it <bag>
3rd gas stop Walker LA @ 1606, 215 odo miles, 604 total miles, MPG 35.2.
We decided to grab a bite to eat at the gas station Subway at this stop. Again we talked about not being in a hurry, so we sat & ate. Discussed getting a room in Junction, but both decided we would just Iron Butt motel it if we got tired. I checked my oil and it was right in the middle of add/full so I put in the rest of the quart I had been carrying with me.
4th gas stop Vidor TX @ 2048, 203 odo miles, 793 total miles, MPG 33.3.
Hit some major construction at this leg, as well as the lunch stop, killed our avg mpg! Came on a traffic back up that seemed to stretch on forever. Taillights as far ahead as I could see. We stop & go’ed for a mile or so, and had entertained the thought of taking the “motorcycle” lane, but thought about waiting it out. Then Doug asked a trucker next to us what was up. He said there was construction ahead and the traffic was backed up for about 7 miles. He then said, “If I was on one of those, I know where I’d be!” and pointed towards the shoulder. Well that was all the encouragement we needed! He made room for us to get by him and off we went, hearing the occasional “friendly greeting” as we went by. There were a few cars pulled off on the shoulder, most far enough out of the way so they weren’t an issue, but a couple of them were pretty darn close. Doug’s FJR is actually a little wider than my wing and I was following him. One of the cars was so close I think I actually just closed my eyes and prayed as I went between it and the cars on the road! Then one trucker eased a little closer to a car on the shoulder and cut me off from following Doug, who some how managed to slide between them. I waited for him to move up some and gave it some gas & caught Doug. We went along for 3-4 miles or so, probably pissing off a couple thousand people! I am all for waiting my turn, but on a bike, stop and go crap like this REALLY sucks! Going 10 feet, shifting in to neutral, putting it back in first, going 10 feet, wiggling the front wheel, trying to maintain balance long while creeping along another 2 feet, putting feet down again and starting all over again… it SUCKS!! So I didn’t feel too badly about doing it, 5 miles of that and I’d have gone insane! But of course there always has to be one big crybaby in the bunch! Just up ahead we see this truck carrying giant concrete barriers pull all the way on to the shoulder and block our progress. I was mildly aggravated, but figured what the hell, we just saved ourselves several miles of this, and we pulled back in to traffic. We got in the left lane and made a little ground and were going to try and go around on the left, and the guy started to pull back in to the right lane, so we gave it another shot and he pulled right back out. So Doug, being the calm, cool and collected guy he is <g> pulled around the left side of the truck and asked the guy “WHAT’S YOUR PROBLEM?!?” The big crybaby said, “It’s not fair, if I can’t go, neither can you.” I wanted to tell him “I figured out life wasn’t fair in kindergarten, now grow up you big baby!” The guy also said something about being in the mood to hit us… lol Well the really funny part was there was only one truck in front of him in the right lane, and then the merge left sign. A nice lady in the left lane let us in front of her, and we pulled in to the left lane, blocking his progress. We stopped for the truck in front of him to merge left, and then pulled up as he kept hopping his clutch, like he was going to hit us. Luckily the lady behind us stayed on our ass and he ended up being behind her. Was kind of worried about him squashing us like bugs against the truck in front of us!!
5th gas stop Houston TX @2339, 119 odo miles, 908 total miles, MPG 35.4.
I gotta give it to Doug, he is a pretty patient guy. Earlier in the ride I had told him that I had planned on stopping in Houston. My ex-wife and her sister live there and her sister suggested I stop by and say hi, so I planned on it. I asked Doug if he wanted to hang with me, or head out; he opted to hang with me. I called on the way (you gotta love the Kennedy Cellset and being able to call on the cell phone while riding!), and told them what time we would be there and she said she would whup us up some BLTs… cool, food!! So we hung out there for ½ hour or 45 min (I really didn’t pay attention). She only lived 8 miles off the interstate, so it wasn’t a far side trip. Was a nice break, got some coffee and left feeling pretty good! Really killed our avg MPH, and we both started thinking we had better pick up the pace a little, our “taking our time” theory seemed to be getting a little excessive.
Well we left Houston and not too far out of town the fog set in, and set in hard! I think it was a good thing, because I think we had both started getting a little tired, the food in our bellies was working it’s magic and the coffee burned off quickly! Not sure where it was, but we pulled off at a gas station and Doug said the fog was getting all over his glasses and shield and he couldn’t see crap. He couldn’t get his adjustable shield dialed in right to keep the fog off him. Since we were both tired we opted to catch a few Zs there. We went in the gas station and warmed up a little, then went back out and crashed on a couple of cement picnic tables out front of the store. I racked out good or a hour and then dozed in & out for another ½ hour. While I was racked Doug had gotten up and talked to someone who had come from the west and they said the fog was bad until 70 miles this side of San Antonio. We went back into the gas station and the guy says, “How come you are sleeping out there, you could have slept in here?” (There was a Taco Bell combined with the gas station, which was closed and had plenty of floor space). NOW YOU TELL US! That cement picnic table was COLD! Doug was stiff again and dropped a few more ibuprofen. So we decide to head out and push through the fog. Doug finally got his shield tuned in right and said it was good to go from that point. Good thing, since I don’t think the fog let up until 70 miles on the other side of San Antonio!!!
6th gas stop Comfort TX @ 0516, 237 odo miles,?? total miles (forgot to write down) MPG 36.
I had to use my MSR fuel bottle on this leg. I used my MSR bottle 4 times (3 on the ride, one on the trip home). All 3 times on the trip it was used a precaution because I had legged it out a little too far and was pretty sure I wasn't going to make it to the next stop. I think knowing it was there gave me a little too much security and I made some poor decisions about trying to stretch it out to the next station. Not very helpful if time is critical, because essentially you end up stopping twice, once to drop in the gas from the bottle and then again when you get to the station. Not very efficient...
The time I used it on the ride home I was the same thing, trying to make it one more exit, but dropped dead 1.5 miles from the fuel stop exit. So the MSR bottle saved me from walking to the station... but then if I hadn't known it was there, I probably would have been smart and stopped earlier.
They are great to have, but hard to forget they are there. Gonna have to discipline myself to know they are there for emergencies and stop thinking I can rely on them to cover my butt when I try and stretch my miles.
Our avg MPH is dropping fast! 51.6 isn’t gonna get us there!! Not really worried just yet, but starting to watch the clock!
And of course just as soon as you start worrying about time, something inevitably happens to make you have to slow down ;(
At 0730 the skies started to get VERY dark & nasty looking! We crested a hill out in the middle of nowhere and there was another small hill 5 miles or so up on the right and suddenly lightening arced across the sky and hit a tower on the hill… oh boy, here it comes! It started raining pretty hard, not hard enough to slow down too much. But my helmet shield started fogging up, so I slowed a bit to adjust it, and then sped back up to catch Doug. Well at about 75MPH my ass-end started fishtailing, I had gotten in a tire rut filled with water and all I could think was “Game over!” But I let off the gas and think I lightly applied the brakes (but there is always a chance I may have grabbed a fist full of brake and the ABS saved my bacon! <g>) and I straightened it out. Took me a few miles to pull the seat out of my ass! Doug was still off in the distance, so I sped back up and pulled in behind him. The radio station I was listening to wasn’t coming in very clearly and there was a bit of static, which allowed me to hear the lightening strikes as the were happening, I would hear the radio crackle and the ZAP!, another streak would flash across the sky. We were still passing the other cars/trucks on the road, and I pulled out my camera and took a picture of Doug as he was following a semi and you could barely make him out in the spray. The rain finally let up after 20-30 miles and it dried up pretty quickly. There was another nasty looking cell to the south, but we managed to dodge that one.
Doug in the Rain
Me in the rain (you wouldn’t know by how dark it is, but it is 9:30 AM!)
7th gas stop Sheffield TX @ 0810, 207 odo miles, 1334 total miles, MPG 32.5.
DAMN TEXAS IS A LONG STATE!! Seems like we have been riding in it for a week! Did manage to make up some time and up the avg MPH a few!
8th gas stop Van Horn TX @ 1220, 175 odo miles, 1503 total miles, MPG 31.8.
We stopped and checked in to the IB motel somewhere before this stop. Figured it would be better to get a little rack time before the day got too hot. Crashed pretty good at 1000, then at 1040 these two a$$holes on Harleys with the loudest f’ing pipes I have ever heard came blasting by on the interstate, so loud it shook my picnic table. So much for sleep… well for me anyway. Doug was in the “room” next-door, still sawing logs. He managed to sleep until 11, until some kids playing around woke him up. While I was waiting for him to wake up I saw 4 bikes go by, the first ones I had seen since we left Jacksonville. I waved and they waved back. Looked like a bunch of BMWs, one of them the one with the metal panniers with the decals all over them (sorry guys, I suck at names and don’t remember yours, even after we caught y’all).
A quick stop at the Iron Butt Motel
9th gas stop Las Cruces NM @ 1502, 193 odo miles, 1689 total miles, MPG 32.7.
We decided we were going to have some chow at Burger King while at this stop. After eating I was in getting some more ice for my CamelBak, and as I came out the door Doug said the guys on the BMWs just went by, so we decided that catching them would pep us up a little, so we hopped on and raced off. Turns out it wasn’t too hard to catch them, they were stopped a few miles up the road at the Border Patrol checkpoint, layering-up for night. Turns out it was a bunch of the guys that hit the nasty weather going West and decided to throw in the towel. They were headed home. We chatted for a few and then they told us there were a couple bikes about 20 min ahead of us, so that perked us up again and we set off on a mission! (We never did catch them; I think it was Lowell and John?)
10th gas stop Wilcox AZ @ 2035, 198 odo mileage, 1879 total mileage, MPG 33.
I was getting pretty dang tired, suggested maybe grabbing a quick power nap at the next rest area. Doug, being a master enabler came up the great idea “Just ride through Tucson, THAT will keep you awake!” Me, being the master sucker, said “OK!” <g> So off we rode!
11th gas stop Eloy AZ @ 2108, 143 odo miles, 2017 total miles, MPG 37.6.
“Just ride through Tucson, THAT will keep you awake!” That was one of the not-so-brightest ideas I have ever had! And Doug had let me LEAD… lol Let’s just say I don’t recall much of Tucson, except that the speed limit is 55, because I kept flashing back to the 75 MPH limit and getting my speed back up to 75, only to see a 55 MPH sign and slowing back down again… did this a couple of times. That was a LONG 2 hours! I was putting up a good fight, but that wall kept smacking me in the head! I’ll let the picture do the talking… and in this case, a picture is definitely worth 1000 words!
Me after riding through Tucson
While I was at the gas stop I suddenly felt the urge to go on a diet and lose some weight <g> and it just so happened I had some of my fat burning Adipo Kinetics pills with me… how handy <bag>. I washed one of those down with a Red Bull and amazingly I was feeling a bit better. And out of Eloy we went, with me in the lead.
An hour or so down the road I noticed Doug’s speed dropping off, and then he’d catch up, and then drop off again. I slowed and let him pull along side, and gave the thumbs up/thumbs down, and of course he gave me back the thumbs up, so I kicked it back up again… and of course he kept yo-yoing behind me… lol
We came to a rest area and I pulled in, and Doug managed to follow me in… lol
It was just starting to rain a bit. I told him we needed to get one more nap in before we went the rest of the way, told him he looked like I felt an hour ago. He said he was good to go, and I told him he was full of s**t. I told him we still had plenty of time and a nap would do us both good. I said it wasn’t worth running off the side of the mountain, and not making it. I told him I hoped he didn’t think if he fell asleep and crashed I was going to stop this close. If he was lucky I would come back after I got to the ocean and got my water and come back to where he crashed and pour a bit of my water on him, just so he would know how it felt. <g>
He finally agreed, and we pulled our bikes down the sidewalk and under the overhang of a picnic shelter. I knew he really didn’t want to stop, and sure enough, he headed to the vending machine and got a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup and a Coke and said to give him 15 minutes and he would be good to go… lol
While we were sitting there up pulls an 1150GS with a feller in a bright yellow riding suit, it was Mike Berlien.
Nothing like running into another rider to perk you up and get you ready to ride again! So all thoughts of a nap were gone and we saddled up and headed west again! As we rode this leg, I smelled something odd, couldn’t quite place the smell, but not thinking quite clearly, I wrote it off as maybe being Mike’s bike (or maybe Mike stopped for Mexican food in Texas somewhere?!?), since he was in front of me, and I hadn’t smelled the smell until now… sorry Mike… lol So I just ignored the smell… and rode on!
12th (and FINAL!) gas stop Yuma AZ @ 0021, 173 odo miles, 2188 total miles, MPG 29.3.
We pulled in to this stop in the rain, nothing hard, just a steady rain. We were pretty stoked at this point and it was a quick stop and we were back on the road again. NEXT STOP: The Pacific Ocean!!!
I didn’t give it much thought, but as I turned to pull onto the on ramp, my ass-end swung way left, and then I straightened back out. I thought no big deal, must have hit a slick spot and thought no more of it. Damn was I lucky (as you shall soon see)!
OK, maybe it wasn’t our last stop. We pulled in to a gas station just before you start climbing El Cajon; we had 79 miles left to go, according to the GPS. The sky had started to clear and it had stopped raining. Doug asked the gas station attendant what he knew about the weather over the pass, and the guy said, “It rained some over here, but it is good to go over on the other side.” Doug was the only one who had additional rain gear to put on, my Joe Rocket Revolution jacket and Tourmaster Cortech pants are waterproof and Mike had on (I think) an Aerostitch waterproof riding suit. Doug decided to take off his rain jacket and leave on his rain pants. The temp was around 55°, so I was a bit concerned that going up to 5,000’ over the pass the temp would drop near freezing, so I made a note to watch the air temp on the way. So, with 79 miles left, we saddle up and I took the lead, so we could take advantage of my nuclear powered headlights.
For those of you with the patience to hang on and read this long, you are in luck, NOW the story gets interesting!
About 5 miles out from that station, as we were beginning to ascend the dreaded El Cajon pass, the heavens opened and out of nowhere came raindrops the size of quarters. The wind began gusting, pummeling us, driving the rain even harder. It sounded like someone was beating on my helmet with a hammer. I figured “no big deal, this can’t last very long” so I slowed down a bit and pressed on. And it kept raining… and raining… and RAINING! We were climbing at a pretty good pace now, up to 2000’. As I approached an exit I thought maybe I should pull off, since I am the guy on the big ol’ wing and I am taking the least of the beating behind my fairing, figuring Mike & Doug are probably getting soaked behind me… But again, I thought, “We are this close… how long could it keep raining like this?” so I pressed on.
And the rain kept on! And on! You could now see water collected on the road (when you could actually see!) The grade was becoming ever steeper and we were now up to 3000’. The good thing about this road is there are some really long straight stretches; it is not all just switchbacks. Traffic was light enough that I could drive with my brights on most of the time, though now, as if the rain & wind weren’t enough fun, it was getting foggy! But keeping my brights on was still the best way to go, because they did a better job of lighting up the center line, which was pretty much my only point of reference in the driving rain & fog. I eventually went in to self-preservation mode and said the hell with the oncoming traffic, leaving my brights on was the only way I could see the lane dividers, my only point of reference on the road. (The on-coming lane was a distance away, so I hope I didn’t blind anyone too bad!)
I pulled my weatherproof non-digital small camera out of the pocket of my jacket and held it up over the windshield and took a couple of pictures… They didn’t come out that great, you can see a little bit of the rain and how crappy the visibility was. Mike, who was behind me, saw the flashes and thought he was either hallucinating, or it was lightening… lol
As we got closer to the top I kept checking the temp, but it only got down to 46°. But the rain just kept driving hard and harder. There were now whitecaps blowing across the road. A truck passed us, the spray of water felt like a tidal wave, I could feel the buckets of water slamming in to the side of the bike, in to me. I can only imagine what the guy driving that truck thought of the three lunatics riding motorcycles through the torrential downpour over the pass at 3 in the morning!
OK, this was starting to not be funny anymore! I was starting to take this s**t personally!!! I was thinking to myself of the conversations I had about the folks who had quit because of the weather. I had said it would take some pretty serious weather to stop me. I knew I still had 6 hours or so left, so I could stop and wait out the storm, but as I said, I was taking this weather personally and was not going to be stopped at this point. Did the fact that I had been going for 94 hours have a big factor affecting my common sense in making this decision? I am sure it did! Hell, on a normal day driving my car I would have probably pulled off and waited out the storm, but NOT 94 hours and 4500+ miles in to my 100CCC!!! Hell no! It was time to put my money where my mouth is, say the hell with common sense and keep on riding! (NOTE: I had to give some thought as to how I should write this paragraph so as not to sound like I was talking bad about the folks who did choose to throw in the towel because of the weather. I respect their judgment, and know a lot of factors go in to making a huge decision like that. I also know hindsight is 20/20 and some of the folks who did not continue seriously regret their choice. But all you can do is go with the information you have available and make the call. That is part of playing this “game.” It is a very personal call and no one has the right to question the choice you made at the time. So I hope there are no hard feelings, we all talk crap after the fact, and I just didn’t want to rub anyone the wrong way.)
The wind just kept getting stronger and crossing the bridges was a frightening experience, because the gusts would literally blow you across both lanes, and with all that standing water I was worried about how much traction the tires were actually getting. We were going pretty slow, around 30 some of the time going up the hill. We approached another exit and I slowed down and checked my rear view mirrors, giving Mike & Doug the chance to put their blinkers on, signaling me to exit, but the SOBs were as crazy as I was and there was no signals from behind, so we pressed on!
As we neared the top of the pass and there was no sign of the intensity letting up I pretty much lost what few marbles I had left at this point!! I began yelling “IS THIS ALL YOU GOT?!?” “IS THIS THE BEST YOU CAN DO?!?” “YOU OBVIOUSLY DIDN’T READ THE LICENSE PLATE FRAMES ON THE BACK OF THESE BIKES, THEY SAY ‘WORLD’S TOUGHEST RIDERS’, YOU ARE GONNA HAVE TO DO BETTER THAN THIS TO STOP US!!!” Yup… I had gone off the deep end! As we hit the crest of the pass, at 5100’ I seriously considered raising my hand in defiance and giving a one fingered salute, but I thought surely this would be a little over the top and be answered with a lightening bolt aimed precisely at my middle finger… see I did have a little bit of common sense left. <g>
I kept checking my mirrors to see if my brothers in insanity were still behind me. I could hardly see in front me, much less behind, the lights of the bikes behind me blended with the headlights of the cars behind them, more people who had to be thinking, “What the F are these guys thinking?!?” and were too afraid to pass us… lol We were obviously on a mission! The good thing about the foggy stretches was Mike would change his driving lights to his amber fog lights, so I knew he was still with me.
I have to seriously wonder about the intelligence of the geniuses who place the road markings on the interstate. Someone was nice enough to place these HUGE white arrows pointing out the desired direction of travel… I guess that makes sense, on the off chance someone gets on heading the wrong way… but do you have to put these HUGE white painted arrows right in the apex of a curve?!?!? I hit one of those damn things and got all kinds of squirrelly, those things are slick when they get wet!
And now we headed down the hill, I could see the road was more like a river, flowing down hill, the wind still whipping up whitecaps as it blew the rain sideways across the road. Another truck went by, spewing water in sheets across the bike, the road, and me. I began to see cars that had spun out and lost control in the median and one off the right side snuggled up with a light pole. We had about 29 miles to go at this point, we had ridden nearly 40 miles through one of the hardest storms I have ever driven through, and there was no way I was stopping now. Again I thought of my brothers behind me taking sans fairings, wind wings, heated grips, wondering how Doug was doing back there without his rain coat, as I felt the cold water pooling in my crotch… but amazingly all my gear was holding fast and I was still dry. Despite the Saran Quick Cover around my Passport 8500, it began giving me a pretty red light show and singing very loudly, so I had to shut it off.
After another 5 miles the rain finally started to ease and the water had run off the road and it was no longer a raging river, so I (Of my own free will, NOT because the weather forced me to!!!! ((Don’t want the weather Gods to think they got the best of me!!)) <bag>) pulled off the next exit and under the over hang of a gas station. I was spun up, the adrenaline flowing from the rush of having experienced what we had just done! I got off the bike and was yelling again, “IS THAT THE BEST YOU COULD DO?!?” I walked around the back of the bike and pointed at the IBA plate back and shouted, “SEE THAT!! YOU DON’T THINK THAT WAS ENOUGH TO STOP US, DO YOU?!?” Even Mike & Doug were looking at me like I had three heads… lol There were some pretty interesting looks from the other couple of people who also happened to be in the gas station parking lot.
Doug pulled off his glove and let his arm fall and water just poured out if his sleeve. He was laughing his ass off, saying every time he hit his brakes his electrics were shocking the s**t out of him. Mike came over and I shook his hand, his gloves were huge, swelled up with water and it poured out as I squeezed. I told them the next time anyone told me I was the craziest person they had ever met I would have to say, nope, there are two other guys as crazy as me! I couldn’t believe they actually followed me through that insanity! Doug said the same things as I did, there was no way in hell he was gonna stop this close to the end! They asked me why I had stopped now; they had expected me to keep going the last 24 miles to the ocean. I told them I felt a little guilty being the spoiled ass Goldwing rider and stopped to make sure they were good. Doug was cussing the guy at the last gas station who had said, “it is good to go on the other side.” There was talk of going back and kicking his ass, but we had no time for that… lol Doug was still laughing (I think we were all pretty loopy by that point!) and said you KNOW you are tired when you can still have the nods in the middle of what we just rode through. In spite of the stress and adrenaline rush of driving through that he was still getting smacked by the wall! But then he blamed it on the hypnotizing effect of the light show every time I hit the brakes… lol
As I climbed back on the bike my intercom was crackling in my ear, and I was waiting to get the s**t shocked out of me at any moment, knowing the bike’s electrical system probably wasn’t designed to be ridden under water… lol
Mike jumped in the lead, with me following, and Doug tailing and we were off down the home stretch! The roads weren’t too bad, though there were still a few cars here and there spun out in the median… this must have been one hell of a storm! We wound the bikes up to a couple of MPH over the limit and I was watching the miles count down on the GPS and at around 20 miles the road condition changed. It was concrete, and you could see where there had been old lane markers, which had been ground down, but the impression was still there. It was at this point I noticed something seriously wrong with the handling of my bike. Every time I would hit a small bump in the road, change lanes, or come across one of these ground down strips, my rear tire would wobble badly. I thought maybe the strips were still slippery from when they had been painted and just tried to avoid them. Then at about 15 miles to go it got worse, and I had to slow down, letting Doug go by me. Soon I was all over the road and the rear tire started hopping, like I had a flat. Boy did I start cussing!!! I eased off to the right shoulder, watching Mike & Doug’s tail lights fade away. Looked at the GPS, 11.9 miles do go… *^*&%$#$%^(&)(*%!!! NOW I realized what that smell had been earlier, it wasn’t Mike’s bike (or Mike!), it was the smell of rubbing tire! Dammit!!!
I jumped off the bike and looked up under the rear, the tire looked fine, it was not sagging under the weight of the bike, it felt firm, I checked the front tire also and they both looked OK. I decided I was going to press on, saying to myself, “I’ll ride this thing 11.9 miles on the rims if I have to!!” Luckily it was 0330, so there was hardly any traffic on the road. I eased back onto the road, with my flashers on, the rear was hopping badly, and I was assuming that I just had low tire pressure or something, but was resolved to not quit now. I was hoping Doug & Mike had pressed on, not wanting them to get lost trying to find me again and both of us getting screwed. I got up to 30 and the bike was handling very poorly, I just tried to not make any sudden movements and eased the speed up a little more. I rode to the left side of the interstate, knowing when the road split I was going to have to take the left split. I got up to 60 MPH, and while I could still feel the tire hopping, it settled down a little and I turned my flashers off. I was feeling pretty good and I passed the Hotel Circle exit… getting close now! I was just concentrating on keeping the bike going straight. As I slowed to exit on Sunset Cliffs Blvd the hopping got worse and I told myself I’d push the damn bike the rest of the way if the tire blew at this point, I still had almost 5 hours, I could do it!! I was back to yelling to whoever would listen, “I AM NOT GOING TO QUIT!!!” I just hung close to the edge of the road so if I lost the tire or the rear wheel locked up I would be close to where I could pull off the road.
I kept following the directions on by GPS, getting closer yet, and I could smell the ocean! So close! As entered the city streets I noticed the roads were a mess, there were pieces of palm tree everywhere in the road, huge leaves, chunks of bark, trash cans rolling around, the wind still gusting strongly. What a powerful storm this must have been! I began laughing, thinking of how crazy we were to have ridden up and down the mountain, what a bunch of fricking IDIOTS!! <bag> And me with a crappy tire that could have gone anytime up there as I was rounding a curve, in the driving rain, being thrown from lane to lane by the wind. WOW!!
As I slowed to stop at the first stop sign I could feel the tire rubbing or dragging hard. When I stopped and tried to get started again it was very difficult, took a good bit of throttle to get rolling again. I was pretty sure I had a flat tire at that point, but again, I was NOT going to stop at that point, I’d buy a new rim before I pulled over and quit! This went on as I slowed and rolled through the stop signs… less than a mile to go!!! And as I pulled up to the turn off to the beach parking lot, a 100-watt light bulb popped on over my head, “HEY DUMB ASS, IF YOU STOP AT THE BEACH AND THE BIKE DOESN’T GET GOING AGAIN, YOU HAVE NO GAS RECEIPT AND YOU HAVE NOT COMPLETED THE RIDE!!! So I settled for seeing the ocean and that was about as spiritual as I was interested in getting at that point!!
Very tired and not really sure which direction the gas station was, I took the time to pull over and pull up the San Diego Receipt waypoint in my GPS and the way it routed me was 3.9 miles… CRAP, I could have sworn it was closer than that, but as wiped out as I was, I played it safe and followed the directions. It was getting very difficult to get the bike rolling every time I stopped. It was also difficult to maneuver it around all the tree branches and palm tree parts all over the road, with every turn the rear would wobble and seem like it was trying to throw me! I was EARNING this ride, it wasn’t gonna be a gimmie, even to the end!
Finally I got back to the main drag, looked left, and there was the Shell station, and Doug & Mike were at the pumps! SWEET, the end was in sight!!! I limped in to the station, and pulled up to a pump (which of course had to be pump #8, the one which wasn’t printing receipts… anything to make it difficult to the last second!). I put the bike on the side stand, and pulled off my gloves and threw them to the ground, losing that last marble I had rolling around in my coconut, cheering and yelling something about being unstoppable… lol
As I was explaining what happened I gassed up and made it an official end! 0408! 44 hours, 37 minutes from the time I left Jacksonville!! Not too damn bad for messing around taking our time! I was pretty damn elated at that point; I had just finished the Iron Butt Association 100 Coast-to-Coast-to-Coast INSANITY!!!!!! WOW! It had certainly lived up to its name!
These stats definitely don’t match up to my first leg, this one was definitely tougher in many ways! That and us taking it easy cost us a lot of time. But there is no bonus for finishing in less than 99:59:59!! And I still can’t for the life of me remember what that top right field records… hmmmm <g>
END STOP San Diego CA @ 0408, 205 odo miles, 2376 total miles, AVG MPH 53, MPG 36.5
Now it was time to try and figure out what the hell was wrong with my bike. I broke out my tire gauge and checked the tire pressure, 40 PSI, so there went the flat tire theory. With Doug standing there I tried to put the bike up on the center stand, and dropped the damn thing on it’s left side. I guess I was more exhausted than I thought. With Doug & Mike’s help I righted the bike, and them managed to successfully get it on the center stand. Doug thought maybe it was the wheel bearings. I lay on the ground and rotated the back tire, it spun freely, but I noticed it looked like it was not round, like it had a bulge in it. But after a minute or two, it went away, and I couldn’t find the spot again.
I contemplated calling for a tow, but said the hell with it, I came this far, and I am riding to the beach! I have my official receipt, so I’ve got nothing to lose now. I planned on riding to the beach, and then to the hotel, hopping my happy ass all the way. Then if the bike wanted to die, at least I was walking distance from a bed!!
So Doug & I headed off to the beach to get sand & water. As we headed off things actually felt normal, but after a mile or so the tire started hopping again and did that the rest of the way to the beach. As we turned in to the parking lot, you could see huge wave crashing in over the San Diego Pier. The storm had the waves surging in, it was an incredible sight! Made getting water a little tough, but at this point I wasn’t going to let a little thing like getting wet stop me… lol
With our water secured, and our mission complete, we headed towards the hotel. We checked in, spent a few minutes in the parking lot chatting with the few other riders who were outside. But that didn’t last long, I was ready for some sleep!! So we headed up to the room. I was saying something about being tired and Doug said, “I actually feel pretty good!” I sat down on the edge of my bed and watched Doug sit on the edge of his, he started to fall backwards, and I swear he was snoring before he hit the bed… rofl.
As tired as I was I actually got up, went all the way back down to my bike to get my camera out of my trunk so I could take these pictures… lol
Earlier he had said something about needing to charge his cell phone, so I tried to wake him up twice, he opened his eyes and mumbled something both times, and went back to sleep. I was too wiped out myself to try again. I rolled in to bed, and was out.
I woke up 4 ½ hours later, looked over, and there lay Doug, he hadn’t moved a muscle! It was time to get up so we could get cleaned up and go to the banquet, so I woke him up and he couldn’t believe he had crashed like that. His knees were killing him!
The banquet was great, all of us telling our stories and sharing many laughs. We then went and hung out in the motel parking lot for a few more hours talking, sharing, and laughing. Bill Watt is a hoot! Not sure what route he took, but the stories he told about the redneck, hillbilly gas stations they stopped at had me rolling!
Mike, Doug & I pulled our bikes together for a picture. I will remember these guys, and this ride for the rest of my life. They will be a part of this story as I re-live it when I am old & gray.
I would like to take a moment to say thanks to all the witnesses, ride coordinators, and most of all Alan, who busted their asses and made this ride what it was! What an amazing experience. Who would have thought 70 folks would get together and make a run at this ride. To those that didn’t finish on this attempt, I hope you get the chance to give it another go really soon. With the timing the way it was, there wasn’t a whole lot of time to hang out & BS with everyone, especially the riders from the East coast. I look forward to meeting all of you again and to saddling up and riding together! Y’all are a great bunch of people!
As anyone who LD rides knows, there is a lot of time to think when you are riding, and as you get tired more and more weird stuff pops in to your head. Here are the two major “deep thoughts” I came up with:
I got to thinking about all those crosses that mark the spots on the highway where people have died in accidents. You see some that are weather beaten and lonely, a solemn reminder to an unknown person. Then there are the ones who obviously have someone visiting them regularly, are bright white, have flowers on them, one even had flowers & shrubs planted around it, some have flags, balloons, a very touching memorial to someone who was obviously loved. I started thinking about how much it would suck to crash & die all the way across the country from anyone who would give a crap enough to come put flowers on my cross and keep it up. So I decided that when I crash and die, I am going to be sure and do it close to home!
Speaking of “picking your place,” what is up with the obviously very smart folk working for the Texas DOT?!? They take a lot of time to actually make a real highway sign that warns WARNING: GUARDRAIL DAMAGE AHEAD. Then they put a whole bunch of cones in front of the damaged area. I guess it is good to see that the guardrail is damaged, but I am pretty sure that people don’t intentionally crash in to guard rails, so I am not sure of the purpose of warning of the damage. Do they expect someone to say, “Well crap, I was going to crash my truck in to this guard rail, but someone beat me to it, so I guess I’ll go on up the road a piece.”
OK, they are not great deep thoughts, but they are all I got :o)
Monday morning I got up and headed to Fun Bike Center in San Diego. They are a GREAT shop, and Ian, their service manager was a HUGE help! He got me in and out with a new tire by noon. He even contacted their tire guy, and Dunlop is going to send me a refund for the tire (not sure how much, but something is better than nothing!). If you are from the San Diego area, I highly recommend Fun Bike Center!
My plan had been to do the IBA Border-to-Border Insanity ride (Mexico to Canada in less than 24 hours) to get me back North in a hurry. I had the forms printed, so when I left the bike shop I jumped on I-5 South and headed to the border. Coni Fitch and Jeff Mitchell posted a great tip about doing this ride, on the Mexican border, get in the left side lane and there is a U-Turn lane that takes you right back to the US Customs side, so you don’t have to deal with the Mexican Border Guards. There was a US guy out taking a smoke break, so I got him to sign my witness form and I was off!
US - Mexico Border
To make a long story short, I was dragging ass by 5pm. I stopped and did a quick IB motel stop for almost an hour, but by the time it got dark, I know I had to throw in the towel. I was already hitting the wall 5 hours in to the ride and knew there was no way I was gonna make this one. But don’t congratulate me for being smart just yet, because I wanted to get some miles towards the house knocked out before I quit for the night, so I spent the night hopping from rest stop to rest stop, riding for ½ hour, sleeping for ½ hour. Stop for gas, sleep for ½ in the parking lot. Stop & eat at Denny’s at 0130, catch a nap in the booth. This went on until 0330 when I threw in the towel and got a room. But I did manage to get almost ½ way home. I just knew that the same thing would probably happen the next night and wanted to be home the next day before dark. I guess the fact that I had pushed it hard for the 100CCC and not gotten much sleep in between had taken it’s toll and I didn’t have anything left in the sleep bank and my checks kept bouncing… lol
After paying $13 an hour for a nap, I got up at 0715 and got back on the road. The weather was great for the whole day and I made decent time up Hwy 97 through Oregon and I made it home at 7:30 PM.
Overall MPG 34.99 (High 37.6 / Low 27.8)
I know there are a lot of folk who get much better gas mileage on their GL1800s. I know how you ride it does have a major affect on the mileage you get. I am not sure where I fall compared to other GL1800 riders, and would like to hear from y’all if you think my mileage is way off what I should be getting.
Total Miles (from leaving home to returning home): 8498 “Honda” miles in 9 days
Gas Prices: High: $2.25 (this was the high price during the actual 100CCC ride. I know on the way down I paid $2.49 at a station somewhere in central CA) Low: $1.56 in Hammond LA
Total spent on gas (100CCC): $249.47
o Great pockets
o Comfortable fit
o Didn’t leak a drop!!
o While the silly “backpack” thing looks like it would be uncomfortable to sit against, you don’t even notice it
o Lots of adjustment capability, belts, straps, & “bungee cords” to snug up the fit
o The venting is good, not TOO uncomfortable at 80°, though on the wing, the fairing greatly hampers the ability of wind reaching the vents!
o I’ve got nothing bad to say about this jacket!
o Didn’t leak a drop!!
o Fairly easy to get in and out of
o Get pretty hot above 70°, no venting (I did loosen the Velcro over the zippers which helped a little)
o I got them to wear over other garments (long johns or jeans), but in the heat I just wore them over my LD Comfort shorts. Kind of uncomfortable when I started sweating! Will probably use them when I have to wear “regular” clothes underneath and get some primary riding pants instead of overpants for LD riding.
o Could be a bit longer (I have a 34” inseam)
o I would buy these again; they are great for wearing over clothes to work when the weather requires it.
Click on picture to go to Tourmaster Cortech Pants
o Someone suggested these on the GL1800riders board, and I asked around on the MTF board, to see if anyone thought they were worth the $$. Everyone who replied that owned them had good things to say about them. I thought this to be a pretty good endorsement, since at $39 a pair for the shorts, if someone didn’t like them and thought they were a waste of money, I’m sure they would have spoken up loudly! So I got 2 pairs of the shorts, and one of the long sleeved shirts. (nearly $150!!!)
o They seemed to do a pretty good job of dealing with the broad range of temps (30s – 81°) encountered.
- I never noticed I was sweating too badly, they wicked away sweat very well
- They were decent insulation in the cold
o Dry fairly quickly after washing them in the sink. Shirt does hold quite a bit of water and is heavy when wet! Would be good in the heat to soak it down and wear it under a JR Phoenix jacket!!!
o Do they work better than a $5 pair of bike shorts? I like to think so, but then I have $150 invested in them!! Not sure if I would buy them again, but I will wear the ones I have.
o Vest
- I ordered mine a little small (but then I am a little bigger than I usually am right now, so when I lose a bit of weight it will be fine!) and it is tight in the arm hole/shoulders. Not sure if getting a bigger size would help that or not.
- Heats well, though I didn’t use it much on this trip.
- Would buy again (if a vest was what I was looking for, see arm-chap review)
o Arm Chaps
- These are some odd things! I am still not sure I understand the concept, and why they made these instead of actual arms.
- They do heat well, where they are, but when riding the cold air hits you in the front of the arms, so having the heated arm chaps to the back of your arm doesn’t seem to make much sense.
- They have hook –ups at the end of the arms for the Widder heated gloves, no need for additional wiring, so that is nice.
- Getting them on takes a bit of practice, trying to wrangle the Velcro straps is entertaining.
- They do a decent job, but if I were looking for heat for my arms again, I would probably go with a Gerbing Jacket liner.
o Leg Chaps
- Fairly easy to get on
- Velcro straps make them easy to get on/off without having to remove overpants
- They heat well, though I did install a separate connector to run my pants by themselves. When I had all of the stuff plugged in it just didn’t seem like I was getting good heat distribution, even when I cranked them all the way up on high.
o Gloves
- As the Widder web site warns, these things are much bigger than their size states. I ordered XL gloves, what I normally wear, and they were HUGE! I sold them to someone else with huge hands and ordered mediums, which fit great.
- They are a bit bulky, but then they are winter gloves!
- They ARE NOT waterproof!! (Doug had the Aerostich 3-finger over gloves, which he really likes. I am probably going to order some of these before next winter)
- They do heat well!!
o They are new for 2003, with a Sympatex Waterproof lining, didn’t leak a drop!!
o They come in all leather or a leather/synthetic mix. I went with the all leather since I was buying them for riding.
o Non-slip soles work great
o Comfortable to ride in, as well as walk in. I wanted a boot I could walk all day in, as well as wear riding. They are a great dual-purpose boot.
o Only paid $110 for them
Click on picture to go to Magnum Boots.com
o These things are AWESOME!
o Easy to install
o Low/High temp setting
o Nice for when it isn’t cold enough to plug in the electrics, but you want a little heat on your hands. Also nice when it is raining and you are stuck in your lightweight gloves!
o Only $30!!
o This was my first long ride with these installed, they are very functional
- Effective at blocking cold air/rain
- Great when it is hot and you want to direct air towards your body!
o I was concerned at their ability to grab air and not be torn off when the wind gusts were up around 40 MPH, but they worked great and showed no signs of stress! I was very impressed!
o I was hesitant to put them on the bike, worried about looking like the stereotypical Goldwinger (no offense intended to those stereo-typical Goldwingers out there <g>) and taking away from the sporty look of the bike, but their functionality was well worth putting them on!
§ T-Bag Backseater Bag (www.t-bags.com)
o This bag is great! Very easy to pack full of stuff, and fit perfectly on the backseat allowing room for my backrest (The back seat on the 1800 is a little longer than that on the 1500, I have heard that is you use this bag on the 1500 there is no room for the back rest, but the bag makes a good back rest its self.)
o Outside pockets are handy for quick access items
o Clip on straps are very secure and allow for quick disconnect. Convenient for taking bag off at motel stops to take everything you need into the room easily.
o Appears to be pretty water resistant. I lined the bag with plastic bags, but even after all the rain I hit, there was no water inside the bag at all!!
o Has a pocket in the back, which hide backpack straps so you can convert it to a backpack and carry it that way if you want. That pocket is large and was a great place to secure my notebook with my trip log and receipts in it.
o T-bags has a variety of products for all sorts of bikes. I got lucky and they came up with a new model of this bag, so I got mine on closeout for $70. Retail is $130, and it would be worth it at that price! Has “d-rings” on the sides, a handy place to hook my CamelBak. Then I got the clip to hold the hose and when I was riding I just clipped the hose to my jacket pocket and it was within easy reach.
o I knew a lot of people had these, but I didn’t really find it useful. I pretty much never looked at it and there was no convenient place to put it. Wouldn’t waste my $11 on one again.
o While I rely on my GPS for most of my mapping needs, it was handy to have this in front of me for my close-up maps of San Diego & Jacksonville.
- I am currently looking for a tank bag for my GL1800. I want something I can put my powerbars & road food in, somewhere to put my MP3 player, and all my stuff I would like to have access to while riding (chapstick, sunscreen, dry rags to wipe off rain…). Big Bike Parts sells a Hopnel bag made for the GL1800, but at $150 it seems pretty steep! Any suggestions would be appreciated!
This was an incredible experience, and I met some great people. It was nice to finally put some faces with names, and to shake hands with the folks that got me interested in LD riding & the MTF (Alan & Jason). I look forward to hooking up with y’all real soon and sharing the road again!
I am sure I forgot some things, and as things all blend together I may have not perfectly remembered the facts, but they are true as I remember them. If I screwed them up, sorry… lol
Ride Safe!
Mike Bobbitt
Spokane WA
