Just did my first IBA ride.

[dalan]

Well after talking about it for 2 years, I finally got around to doing my first official Iron Butt ride yesterday.  Just a simple little SS1000 ride; I know it's nothing to the real hard-core LD riders,  but it's something to me.  

1024 miles in 17 hours and 35 minutes overall.  

It was actually easier than I expected it would be, particularly considering that I did it with only 4 hours of sleep the night before.

The mighty ZZR performed flawlessly, turning in an average 40.7 mpg for the trip.  This was with all three of my Givi bags on the bike, maintaining a moving average speed of 72.1 mph over the whole trip.

I can't say enough good things about Russell Day-Long saddles.  17-1/2 straight hours in the saddle and not the slightest hint of butt burn.  This ride was defintely not a "saddle sore" for me!  

Now I can't wait for my next marathon ride.   I think I have the bug.  

[Specter]

Welcome to the Insanity

There is something unexplainably cool about covering big distances and experiencing the variety of terrain and scenery you pass through. (unless you're crossing Texas). What route did you take?

 Now just fill out your paperwork and wait for your cert. Hopefully the pace is picking up, but I'm about 11 months in waiting for my BBG cert.

[BobW]

Congrats!

+1, trip info and the good, bad and the ugly.

Always good to hear another happy ending

Bob

[dalan]

+1, trip info and the good, bad and the ugly.

It was just a simple 512 mile out-and-back circuit from my home in north central MA, almost entirely I-90:  Left home at 3:30am, down to I-90 on 190/290, then the MA Pike from Auburn into NY, then NY Thruway to the PA border, turn around at exit 61.  I have an EZ-Pass on my bike so the toll plazas were a breeze.

The trip was pretty much all good, no bad or ugly.  

No traffic issues.  I hit a downpour at the 350-mile point, but it only lasted for about 15 miles.  Then a bit more light rain for the final 60 miles or so.

I bonked around 730 miles, in the middle of the afternoon.  Was fighting drowziness and highway hypnosis so I took an unscheduled stop.  A bottle of water, a Mounds bar, and can of Red Bull took care of the problem and I was alert and good to go for the rest of the ride.

Got home a little after 9:00 pm, felt great, like I could have kept going.  Now I wait for my cert.  

Not very exciting, huh?  

[BobW]

Actually it is. It's fun to plan and prepare for all rides and when you can come back home and feel good about it, that's about as good as it gets. My simple mind enjoys such things anyways

Again, cheers and safe travels.
Bob

[nmquigley]

Congrats Dalan!  Well done!

There is something unexplainably cool about covering big distances and experiencing the variety of terrain and scenery you pass through. (unless you're crossing Texas). What route did you take?

What route did you take through Texas Specter?  if you can't find good riding in Texas, you just aren't trying.  There is almost every conceivable terrain and the matching sites to go with it.  You just have to be willing to turn down a state highway, rather than an interstate.

[laughingdawg]

So what were some of your longest one day rides prior to this?  Have you been slowly creeping up to this, or did you just do a "you know, 500 miles are easy enough.  I think I'll go ahead and double it."?  I've done a lot of 500-600 mile days, and I'm wondering how many increments between that and the 1000/1500 mile treks I should take.  As it is, I'm already planning an 830 mile trip to visit my uncle in Florida, and I'm wondering if that last 200 miles tends to be really rough, or if it's usually easy enough that I should consider a small detour to Macon to stretch it up to about 1050 miles.

[dalan]

So what were some of your longest one day rides prior to this?  Have you been slowly creeping up to this, or did you just do a "you know, 500 miles are easy enough.  I think I'll go ahead and double it."?  I've done a lot of 500-600 mile days, and I'm wondering how many increments between that and the 1000/1500 mile treks I should take.  As it is, I'm already planning an 830 mile trip to visit my uncle in Florida, and I'm wondering if that last 200 miles tends to be really rough, or if it's usually easy enough that I should consider a small detour to Macon to stretch it up to about 1050 miles.

I had been gradually working up the daily distances.  My previous longest one-day ride was 636 miles, as part of our 2000 mile week-long trip to VA.   The 636 miles was cake, and at that point I knew I could do the SS1000 with no trouble.

I've actually only done a small handful of 500+ mile days.  Most daily rides are more in the 175-300 mile range, but it's nice to know now that I can crank out a 1000-mile day.