Thanks For clarifying

 

Good Luck, Huge deal on a sportster be safe

 

Hope the seat is comfy. Good luck!

 

I recommend gas and go as much as possible -- get the miles don't stand around at the station -- you have enough stops as it is with a sporster tank.

 

I waved when you went by Mount Vernon.... I hope the fires don't give you any problems.

 

Thanks for all the good wishes, but I didn't make it. I froze my *** off and DNF'd.

Amid all my planning I somehow failed to account for the weather change in the last week from our hot summer to fall weather. I did have on long johns, t-shirt, sweatshirt, leather jacket, my warm gloves and put the Sporty's windshield on, but I still froze my *** off.

Before I even got headed up towards the pass I was shivering so I pulled off for a quick cup of coffee at McD's - I had trouble working the hand controls once I got off the freeway. I saw a temperature sign, 48 degrees, which isn't that cold, of course, but I'd been doing 75mph so the wind chill must have been, um, pretty damn cold. I couldn't get warm in McD's, then I did the math and realized that the temp at the top of the pass would be around 30 before wind chill factor.

Then I thought about freezing my *** off again for the last 6-8 hours of the ride home in the dark and I threw in the towel and RTB'd. I promised my wife I'd be smart about the ride and not press too hard, but it still sucks to have to retreat.

Lessons learned:

• Pay more attention to the temperature part of the forecast

• Go when it's warmer. I don't want to gear up the Sporty or myself for cold weather ops

• Test new gear longer. My radar detector mount arrived two days before the attempt and I only gave it a 5 mile test ride. At the 2 1/2 hour mark this morning it vibrated loose because the installer (me) forgot to loctite the threads

• Get more sleep the night before

• Don't trust the forecast. I didn't pack rain gear because only one section of the ride had any rain in the forecast, but I went out this afternoon for a local ride and, guess what, it rained. Would have sucked to have been trying to make it home in the dark, freezing AND raining. Really, the weather turned out to be significantly worse than forecast so it's just as well I packed it in when I did.

• Friends and family reported that the Spotwalla ride tracker didn't work. The SWConnect app on my iPhone was working, but it reported itself unable to connect to Spotwalla. I was afraid that might happen, and I did not want to spend any time troubleshooting with the ride clock ticking. It had worked well in a test a few weeks before so I don't know what the deal was there.

Just wait 'til next year.

 

Sorry the weather turned sour. Its not fun being cold.

 

Good news there is always next year. Better to pack it in and ride another day.

 

Nice try. It sucks riding in cold weather. I've sworn it off. Hours on road at highway speeds will make you bone cold. Its special when you realize your hands are too numb to feel the throttle isn't it?

One of the lessons of the IBA is never to change or add something to your bike before a ride. I added lights once before a run and a bracket failed early on.

Always travel with your rain gear, you can use it to block the wind too.

I'm the superstitious type and don't tell anyone I'm making a run until it's already done. Don't want to jinx it.

Can you make an interstate run in one direction with a turn-around point and avoid the mountains and passes? (a there and back run). If so, you may yet have another attempt this year.


Oh, and getting more sleep the night before... Forget about it. I've never heard of a rider yet that isn't as wound up as a kid on Christmas Eve the night before a ride. Bank your sleep the week before and do the best you can to get some hours of sleep the night before.

Good luck on your next attempt!!!

 

Sounds like you made the right decision. Good luck next time around.