Sport-Touring.Net - FINALLY doing my first SS1k ride!

Alright. Here's the ride report. I actually wrote it for the front page of a website that all of us are on, so some of the things might (or might not?) be irrelevant.

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Saddle Sore 1000

So for the last 6 months or so, Jason (ApolloCreed) and I have been talking about doing a Saddle Sore 1000 Ride. For those not in the know, The SS1K is a ride in which you must complete in 1,000 miles or more, in 24 hours or less. The Iron Butt Association gives out an award for such an accomplishment if you can do it. It’s a ride I personally have been talking about doing for a couple years now, but for one reason or another, it never happened.

Finally Jason and I had a date we could do it on, so I posted up a thread about it on NCS. Marty (PlayWithGravity) and Justin (FreeRideAce) said they wanted to come along as well. Surprised me as I assumed no one would want to do something so silly. All of us vary in riding experience from 3 months, to 20 some odd years. I was on my SV1000S, modded with Heli Bars, a Suzuki Gel Seat, and a ST windscreen. Marty on his Buell Firebolt with pegs 1 inch lower than stock. Justin on his F4i, stock. Jason on his Ninja 650R with a Corbin Seat. Aside from Jason’s bike, none of these bikes were all that comfortable, and I’m sure the manufacturers didn’t intend any of these bikes for this use. J

Originally, the route was set to be from Raleigh NC, to Daytona Beach Florida. Due to the weather this route changed several times before we left, and we didn’t even know which way we were going to head til the morning of the ride. We decided we would take I40 to I95 to I20, all the way to Alabama, turn around, and come back the exact same way. On paper, this ride sounds easy. Stop every 115 or so miles, get gas and break for 20 minutes, and get back on the road. If we did this, and maintained a 60mph average (including the stops), we’d be back by 10pm…in time for a “late dinner” as the IBA web page said. This ought to be easy….

We all met at the usual Shell Station across from the LCD Sign at 5:45 am. Liz (my wife) was nice enough to meet us there so she could sign all our witness forms, take a picture of all of us, and wish us good luck (From all of us, Thank you Liz). We all gassed up, got her to sign the forms, and out we headed for the longest day of our lives.

The fog was thick when we left at 6am, and I couldn’t see well until around 7:30 when the sun (what of it that actually came out) burned the fog away. I knew then that the day was going to be never ending.

Surprisingly, the first 500 miles went by mostly uneventful. Just a long, boring, interstate ride. Ride for 100 miles, get gas. Back on bike, stand up on pegs after about 60 miles, sit back down, get gas at 100 miles. Repeat…again….and again… Somewhere in there, apply Icy Hot on knees, back, or where ever else we were hurting. Surprisingly, there was no major traffic in Atlanta. Probably wasn’t even as bad as I440 in Raleigh during rush hour.

One thing we did see was a pretty bad accident. We apparently got there just a few minutes after it happened. It was on a section of I20, just 10 miles from the Alabama state line. There was some road construction, and all of the west bound lanes were closed. They moved 1 lane of it to the east bound lane, and separated east from west with a concrete barrier. What probably happened was the driver ran off the road, jerked back on, hit the barrier, and flipped back off to the right side of the road (this is all an assumption….no proof that this is how it happened). Whatever the case, we saw the SUV, a late model Jeep Grand Cherokee, flipped over on top of its roof. There was a lot of smoke and two places where fire was coming off the ugly underbelly, and someone spraying a fire extinguisher on it (see pics). Took us less than 2 minutes to get through the mess. Damn sure glad we weren’t there minutes earlier….or later.

Once we got to the turnaround point, a gas station/”café”, we took a break. A long break. Over an hour. This “café” they had there, well…the food was AWESOME at the time. Now though, just the thought of the food, makes me want to puke. Their “fresh” chicken that Justin and I SAW them put out, wasn’t so fresh….cold in fact. The potato wedges….I’m not even sure if they were potatoes. Oh well. Our bellies were full, and we got a little rest at the place. Time to get back on the road…

Now well rested, and back on the road, we head through the accident scene again. No evidence of anything, aside from the crashed cage on the roll back, just leaving. No more trash on the road, no nothing. All of us were still feeling pretty good though. Tired, yes. Joints hurting? Slightly. Overall though, pretty good. Not nearly as bad as we thought we’d be feeling. More of the boring interstate, and everything is uneventful.

Somewhere around mile 700, we really started feeling the ride. We were all definitely getting tired. Around mile 800, I’m talking to myself inside my helmet…asking myself why in the hell did I start this ride. I was getting extremely fatigued, the night was getting pretty late, and I was getting sleepy. Time for another stop….and another Red Bull. We realized that the pain was actually helping to keep us focused, the pain was fighting the fatigue. Strange. By mile 900, I was seriously thinking about getting a hotel, and giving up. I was really having a hard time staying awake. I think we took 2 breaks to cover the last 100 miles.

100 miles later and the end of the ride, we were back home. Or close enough to call it home. We ended up at a Kangaroo gas station where I called Liz to come sign our end witness forms. This was at about 3:30 am. Liz is a trooper. Who else would come at 5:30 in the morning, and at 3:30 the next morning just to sign witness forms? Thanks again Liz! The ride is finally over, and we all went home to go to sleep. Thank God!

I really think the last 200 miles of the ride, was the absolute worst miles I’ve ever put on a bike. It absolutely sucked. I didn’t want to be on it anymore, I was tired, fatigued, and wanted to be at home in my bed. With that said, I, and I think the other guys as well, would do this ride again in the blink of an eye. I absolutely do not regret it, and can say that overall I had a freaking blast. We’re already thinking about doing a Bun Burner 1500 next spring!

It was definitely a learning experience for all of us as well. We should have kept the breaks much shorter. Had we done this, we would have been home much earlier, and probably not nearly as tired. Next time, the time will be managed much better.

Can’t wait to do it again!

-Will (aka – TRaGiK)

Topic: FINALLY doing my first SS1k ride! (Read 1368 times)