eaglefrq
10-12-2010, 01:29 PM
I started gathering info and planning routes about 6 weeks ago. After talking with several members and getting their advice and reading the Iron Butt website I felt I was as prepared as I could be.
I should have made a checklist of the advice to make sure I didn’t forget anything. One of the guys I work with decided he wanted to go. He rides a HD and has several years of riding experience. I forwarded him all the information and links I collected and assumed (mistake 1) he read through everything. We talked a couple of times about the trip, but we never actually sat down and had a formal meeting about specifics (mistake 2).
For the first part of the ride, I planned to ride about 2-3 hours and then stop for gas. I wanted to keep the stops short, about 10-15 min max. I wanted to push hard at the start of the ride while we were fresh because I knew we would be tired in the later part of the ride and we would be able to take longer breaks if necessary.
A Rocky Start
Looking at the weather, I knew it would be chilly at the start and then warm up. The start temp was approx. 55 degrees and I was wearing a Tourmaster Centurion suit (without the liner) and was very comfortable. I need to invest in some better gloves for cooler riding though.
The morning of the ride we were supposed to meet at the Valero (gas station) in King George at 0600, Ron got there about 10-15 min late. He was getting ready to gas up and I reminded him the receipt shows the official start time and he needed to get his witness form filled out. He had no idea what I was talking about, so I asked him if he went to the websites and looked at anything he admitted he hadn't. Luckily, I'm a little OCD about some things so I had extra copies of the paperwork and gave them to him. Then he wanted to grab something to eat and talk. We actually didn’t get rolling until almost 0700. (See mistake 1 & 2)
We took Hwy 3 to Fredericksburg and stopped to get a receipt before heading south on I-95. Ron was taking his time and I mentioned we needed to get rolling because we had 2-3 hours of riding before the next break. Ron told me he wanted to stop every 45 min and take a 15 min break. We compromised on 90 min between stops. (See mistake 2)
We headed on I-95S and then took 295S around Richmond and then picked up 95 again. We stopped in Smithfield, NC for lunch around 1115. The temps had climbed to the mid-70’s, so I changed out of the suit for my jacket.
We stopped about 33 miles from the GA border because something seemed off with my trip meter. I showed we traveled over 500 miles at that point, but that didn’t seem right from what I remembered when planning the route. I used my GPS to calculate driving directions from our current position back to the start point. It showed we had only gone 488 miles. I didn’t look at the route it calculated or I would have noticed it used a different way back to the start point. Based on this info, we continued to Point Wentworth, GA another 38 miles and then stopped for gas and turn around. If I had printed the route and brought it with me then we wouldn’t have gone the extra 76 miles roundtrip. (Mistake 3)
The return trip was the same route back, so it was uneventful. Unfortunately, because we didn’t push it at the start of the trip and take shorter rest breaks, we ended up pushing it really hard on the trip home. The closer we got to the end point, the harder it was to get back on the bike after the fuel stops. We finally got back to King George around 0230, so the trip took approx. 20 hours.
The only problem other that the sore butt, was the pain across the backs of my shoulders. I anticipated the pain in the butt, but not the shoulder blades. I’m not sure what caused this, my bike has pullback risers and I did raise the seat to allow for some additional leg room.
If anyone has suggestions about the cause of the shoulder pain I would appreciate it. Also, I think I may have to change to an aftermarket seat.
Lessons Learned:
1. Make checklists and follow them. Don’t rely on your memory.
2. Always talk with any riding partners before hand on riding time/break times. I had the advice before hand, but because we didn’t sit down and go through specific items this was just assumed. I made several comments about pushing hard at the start, but never discussed times.
3. If your partner can't/won't ride the same lengths/times as you, find a different partner or go solo. Once we started and found this out it was too late. Yes, I could have left him and gone solo, but that’s not the right thing to do.
I should have made a checklist of the advice to make sure I didn’t forget anything. One of the guys I work with decided he wanted to go. He rides a HD and has several years of riding experience. I forwarded him all the information and links I collected and assumed (mistake 1) he read through everything. We talked a couple of times about the trip, but we never actually sat down and had a formal meeting about specifics (mistake 2).
For the first part of the ride, I planned to ride about 2-3 hours and then stop for gas. I wanted to keep the stops short, about 10-15 min max. I wanted to push hard at the start of the ride while we were fresh because I knew we would be tired in the later part of the ride and we would be able to take longer breaks if necessary.
A Rocky Start
Looking at the weather, I knew it would be chilly at the start and then warm up. The start temp was approx. 55 degrees and I was wearing a Tourmaster Centurion suit (without the liner) and was very comfortable. I need to invest in some better gloves for cooler riding though.
The morning of the ride we were supposed to meet at the Valero (gas station) in King George at 0600, Ron got there about 10-15 min late. He was getting ready to gas up and I reminded him the receipt shows the official start time and he needed to get his witness form filled out. He had no idea what I was talking about, so I asked him if he went to the websites and looked at anything he admitted he hadn't. Luckily, I'm a little OCD about some things so I had extra copies of the paperwork and gave them to him. Then he wanted to grab something to eat and talk. We actually didn’t get rolling until almost 0700. (See mistake 1 & 2)
We took Hwy 3 to Fredericksburg and stopped to get a receipt before heading south on I-95. Ron was taking his time and I mentioned we needed to get rolling because we had 2-3 hours of riding before the next break. Ron told me he wanted to stop every 45 min and take a 15 min break. We compromised on 90 min between stops. (See mistake 2)
We headed on I-95S and then took 295S around Richmond and then picked up 95 again. We stopped in Smithfield, NC for lunch around 1115. The temps had climbed to the mid-70’s, so I changed out of the suit for my jacket.
We stopped about 33 miles from the GA border because something seemed off with my trip meter. I showed we traveled over 500 miles at that point, but that didn’t seem right from what I remembered when planning the route. I used my GPS to calculate driving directions from our current position back to the start point. It showed we had only gone 488 miles. I didn’t look at the route it calculated or I would have noticed it used a different way back to the start point. Based on this info, we continued to Point Wentworth, GA another 38 miles and then stopped for gas and turn around. If I had printed the route and brought it with me then we wouldn’t have gone the extra 76 miles roundtrip. (Mistake 3)
The return trip was the same route back, so it was uneventful. Unfortunately, because we didn’t push it at the start of the trip and take shorter rest breaks, we ended up pushing it really hard on the trip home. The closer we got to the end point, the harder it was to get back on the bike after the fuel stops. We finally got back to King George around 0230, so the trip took approx. 20 hours.
The only problem other that the sore butt, was the pain across the backs of my shoulders. I anticipated the pain in the butt, but not the shoulder blades. I’m not sure what caused this, my bike has pullback risers and I did raise the seat to allow for some additional leg room.
If anyone has suggestions about the cause of the shoulder pain I would appreciate it. Also, I think I may have to change to an aftermarket seat.
Lessons Learned:
1. Make checklists and follow them. Don’t rely on your memory.
2. Always talk with any riding partners before hand on riding time/break times. I had the advice before hand, but because we didn’t sit down and go through specific items this was just assumed. I made several comments about pushing hard at the start, but never discussed times.
3. If your partner can't/won't ride the same lengths/times as you, find a different partner or go solo. Once we started and found this out it was too late. Yes, I could have left him and gone solo, but that’s not the right thing to do.