Kudo's & respect to you Rog, that's some hardcore riding for sure!

 

Job well done and a speedy recovery!

 

Ok, let me try this. Ill start with explaining my earlier statement above.
This was by far the most boring, dull, un-fun ride Ive ever taken. All but about 15 miles were on interstate or interstate type (4 lanes) roads. In 1000 miles I saw nothing, did nothing, and talked to a grand total of 2 people (excluding my stop at DK Custom). The only time I ever made use of my bars to do anything else but hold on were at the stops that I made. Ill never understand the atraction people have with "eating up" miles on the interstate. If thats the only type of riding there was I wouldnt ride..........its pointless. My only point on this ride was to complete the challenge. I did........and will never do anything like it again. The saying "Its not the destination its the ride" holds true for me, I dont see how it can be true for interstate riders. Ok, off that soap box.


First off let me say I took very few pics, nothing to take pics of unless your into interstate gas stations. I do wish I snapped a few of my road side repair......but oh well.

I was pretty nervous the night before, I thought I would go to sleep early.......that didnt happen. Woke up several times during the night to check the clock, 2:30, 3:00, 4:15.....finally got out of bed at 5:30. Got to the gas station, witness form signed, gas receipt shows 6:33 AM.



When I put my wallet away I noticed I had a grand total of 2 bucks in it.....not good. Starting to wonder about the trip after a not so good nights sleep and now having to make a stop before I even start. So, head to the ATM to get some just in case money.

Make my way through town, its only a few miles to the interstate, Get on and finally tooling along. Go over a few large bumps and each time the bike makes a nasty chirping sound. A few more times and I decide to pull over and investigate. So, 15 miles into the trip this is what I find.




Its worse than the pic shows. This is what happened. The tail bag I got is held on with a base pad that goes under the passenger seat. That pad raises the seat and makes it so the rear seat attach screw is not long enough. So I made a spacer and put in a longer screw. Now, I REMEMBER peeking under the fender after I did that to make sure the screw wasnt too long.........I must have been looking at something different cause it was sticking through a good 1/4 inch and eating up the tire. I backed off the screw until it was flush with the captive nut. I new I couldnt leave it like that cause it would back out and tail bag flying in no time. Tried searching for something to use to take up the space on the side of the on ramp. Couldnt find anything but there were a **** ton of coke cans. Took the open tabs off the can, put them in between the seat tab and my spacer. It worked but they were squishing out.

Sat there and looked at my McGyver fix.......the huge gouge in my back tire...........15 miles into the trip a little over an hour from when I started................what the hell am I thinking? Dude.......go home, give up......try some other time if you want. I kept going Just out of Atlanta I stopped for my first fuel at a Loves, they had no washers but had nut and bolt packs, I used one of the nuts to take up the extra space.




From there on out, not a whole lot to say, endless miles of mind numbing interstate and impersonal interstate gas stations. Was a little chilly but not too bad. Semis sucked with their turbulence, noticed even things as small as a perius can cause turbulence if your in the right spot. Did I say how much this ride sucked?

Get all the way to Memphis when I notice Kevin from DK had called. He was supposed to have a few routine medical tests at the hospital but said he should be back to his shop by noon. So I called him back, he was still there, they wanted to keep him there for observation. Ill let him elaborate if he wants. I was bummed.....the high point of the trip, the only part I was looking forward to (besides its end) was getting to meet Kevin. He did say the guys will be there, he will let them know what to do. I pull up to DK about 3:30 or so. I was greeted by a lovely young lady.....Kevins wife (Im so embarrassed I cant remember her name). She immediately gave me a big hug, probably cause Im such a meat cake . Devin, the D in DK, was the next to come out. We chatted bikes for a bit, did the mascot thing, then I got a tour of the shop. Wish I had a bag with me, could have went home with several thousand dollars worth of tank lift kits A really neat mom n pop operation they have going there.



Back on the road. Get to Meridian right after dark. Just before Birmingham I really started to get cold. Looking at the low temps in the area it didnt really get that cold.....but I was freezing, I think the fatigue was really starting to set in. I put everything I had on. Put on my rain suit, chaps over the rain suit, rain suit jacket over my lined riding jacket, rain covers over my big guanlet gloves. At a rest stop on the GA AL boarder I tried to warm up walking briskly in big circles, jumping jacks.........didnt work, I couldnt warm up. Screw it.......only had a couple hours to go.

Another thing I hated about this trip..........riding at night. Dead dear are common on the sides of interstates around here and I was waiting for one to jump out at me. I dont like riding at night. About 30 miles outside of Atlanta I had been up for about 22 hours, super fatigued. Was cruising at about 75MPH, saw a cop car in the right side grass with its side facing me. I clearly saw the reflective stripes down its side, the silhouette of the wheel wells, even the silhouette of the light bars on top. I immediately chop the throttle. As I roll by I see its only a guard rail with reflective tape on it. Holy ****.........Im starting to hallucinate! About 45 minutes later I pull into the same gas station I started from. Finally.........the best part...........Im done! And I can say I did it........but never again.

 

Well you only need one day to do the ride Im probably going to need a half a week to recover though. My girlfriend says shes coming over with some deep heating rub and going to cook dinner for me

And amazingly? My butt is one of the few things that dont hurt. Ive got the mustang seat, put a sheepskin cover on it and I bought some padded bicycle riding shorts...........no pain what so ever.

Close, 13 stops for gas. Almost as many for smokes Not bad for a show bike eh?

Too old? ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,yeah your probably right

For me........thats the only reason to do it..........so I can say I did it.

 

Not bad at all. I just moved back up to MI in february and the roads here are straight for the most parts. I do know some decent curving roads close to home but nothing like NC was. Other than the roads though, I dont miss NC. I will ride in 10F temps more comfortable than when it was 100+ and thick humidity. Hunting is better up here too.

You going to replace that tire or ride it out?

 

Rog, can't tell you how much I regret missing you yesterday.

Congrats on the meeting the challenge...especially after such a frustrating start.

Gotta tell you, as boring as your ride was, you wouldn't want to trade places with me yesterday at the hospital. Routine test turned into anaphylactic shock and they almost lost me.

I have always wanted to do an Iron Butt Challenge...just to say I did it...but for all the reasons you listed, I have just never screwed up the motivation to wear my *** out for a long boring ride. Give me country roads anytime.

Mary just told me "yeah when she saw you she had to hug you cause your a hunk".

Here's a few pics heading back out for some more boring interstate riding-







I was really hoping to be there...wanted to ride a hundred miles or so with you.

We're planning on being out your direction later this year, will let you know when.

Again, Congrats on making it, and avoiding all the critters!

 

Wow! I am also majorly impressed! You may have hated it, but you can always say you did it now and be proud of it. Glad you made it home safely.

 

Yeah Kevin that would have been cool riding with ya. We still got a lot of years left Im sure well find another day. Mary was snapping quite a few pics, some of me taking a tour of your shop with Devin. You suppose she can send me some?


Tires are going in the trash. Gonna go with a regular MC tire in back and back to coker/beck on the front.



Yeah, the trip sucked but it is nice to have the bragging rights.

 

You know that tail bag dont look great but it offerd quite a bit of back support.

 

I agree with you about interstates, just mind numbing boring. Haven't done an iron butt, but did 700 miles in 10 hours back in '78 (speed limits were 55...). Close to half of it was 2 lane through Utah and Arizona, was a fun ride off the interstates, the open desert 2 lanes were where I really opened it up and had fun. Haven't ridden like that in a long time, probably won't ever again; I want to keep my relatively cheap insurance... That trip was all in daylight, made it a lot easier than hours in dark, like yours.

Thanks for the writeup and pics, good read.