What Happened After I Bought My Concours (Long)

[rabbott5]

I had read about riders doing an IBA ride for years.  I had thought many times what a cool challenge.  I had never owned a bike that I thought would be enjoyable enough to ride for that long.  I owned many that could do it, but could I.
That ended a couple of years ago when I bought a used Kawasaki Concours.  A well maintained 1998 with low mileage.  For a while, I forgot about the challenge and just enjoyed being able to ride longer than I had before.  Even in the wind this “sport touring bike” was heavy enough that she tracked well.  It wasn’t long before I was enjoying two hundred plus mile rides.  Then I hit a wall.
The bike was fine.  It was me.  An old injury from my younger days was starting to bother me.  I had broken my right wrist when I was twenty.  Yes, in a motorcycle accident.  It never really was a problem before.  Now doing these longer rides it would start to cramp.  I tried the cramp buster, one of those pieces that allow you relax your grip and use your palm.  I just couldn’t find a spot on the grip where it felt comfortable to use.  Probably just years of riding without one.  Then I tried a throttle lock.  It was ok and I road with it for about a year.  Then on the COG forum I read about cruise control.  I found my answer.
With the cruise installed I spent the next riding season building my distance.  Two hundred mile days back to back were nothing.  I started doing three and four hundred mile days.  I really enjoyed riding longer distances.  The idea of riding an IBA ride came out of the memory bank.
Last year was going to be the year.  Over the prior off season I had the seat modified and installed a gps.  I looked into several routes.  I picked a route that I thought would be the easiest for the first attempt.  After all I live in rural Illinois almost on I80.  Just find a turn around point to the west five hundred miles away.  Spring time was out.  The weather along my chosen route is just too unpredictable in the spring.  Our summers are just too hot and humid.  That left the fall.  Perfect, I could work on building mileage over the summer.  Which I did.
On one of my many long rides over the summer months my season came to an unexpected end.  I was comfortable with all aspects of the bike.  She was sound and comfortable.  My ability to ride all day was getting better.  I was able to do back to back five hundred plus days with no problems.  Then on an easy ride in the middle of no where Illinois it happened.  On a road I had been on once or twice before I crashed.  I was on the return side of the ride all was going well.  Up ahead was a nice corner that I could easily take at the posted limit.  Sure enough, with the bike leaned over and almost in the middle of the turn out from the corn field runs a large dog.  In the span of a second the decision right or wrong was made.  I couldn’t hit the dog leaned over.  No one in the other lane, I’ll adjust the corner and go behind the mutt.  NO, he decided to turn around.  Had I kept my original path I would have been fine.  Now, I’m still leaned over and I have no more road.  I get the bike up, on the brakes hard and head for the softer ditch.  With most of the speed is scrubbed off I take the ditch.  My first thought is to just ride it out.  Then I see what looks like a culvert and I don‘t want to go over the bars.  I lay it down and hope for the best.  I’m unhurt, the bike looks bad.
I call 911 just to file a report.  I get a fire truck, an ambulance and two squad cars.  Thank you everyone.  I’m a fireman and I can’t thank everyone that showed up to make sure I was ok.  I know after reading the crash events many are going to second guess my actions.  I replayed the crash in my head over and over again.  From start to finish the wreck lasted all of five to ten seconds.  Think of how long it took me to tell you the short version.  I made several choices in that time and I can‘t go back.  Plastic wise the bike was totaled.  Over the winter months I rebuilt my girl.
Over the winter I also finalized my plans for my SS1000 attempt.  Grand Island, Nebraska and back.  The bike was once again ready and so was I.  I planned out the fuel stops.  Talked to my start and end witnesses and located a fellow COG member to meet me in Grand Island for a witness there.
My plan was still the same, a late summer or early fall ride.  I had done a two day ride around Lake Michigan in the spring with my riding buddy.  I even did a six hundred mile day followed by a three hundred mile day.  All I had to do was wait for the weather.
The perfect day came along and I finalized all my plans.  I would leave around 4am.  I would maximize my daylight riding time that way.  It would also put me into all my fuel stops at good times for the areas I was in.  It would also make my Grand Island turn around at a time that worked for my witness.
Now for the ride.  Paperwork ready, bike ready, weather good.  August 25th 2009 was the day.  Went to my local gas station for my official start.  I felt really good.  I hit I80 and as expected little to no traffic.  Only a few construction areas between home and my turn around.  I planned my fuel stops between 200 and 220 miles.  My first stop came and went without a problem.  I still felt good.  Now onto my second stop, Lincoln Nebraska.  This was planned so I could call my witness with an arrival time.  I hit my stop and realize I’m ahead of schedule.  Perfect.  Fuel the bike, eat, walk around and then call my witness.  Everything is working out.  As I ride the last hour into Grand Island I can see a front moving in.  It’s ok.  I’ll make a quick turn and stay ahead of it.  Again all goes well.  I fuel up at the halfway point and have my witness and a fellow riding buddy of his sign my paperwork and verify my mileage and time.  I call the wife and tell her the good news that I’m heading home.
Here is the part I didn’t plan on.  Sometime around the seven hundred mile mark I got bored.  What I didn’t and couldn’t plan on was mental boredom.  While this physically was the easiest route, it wasn’t the easiest mentally.  I was so eager to “Get one under my belt” I left out the mental factor.  I have to tell you that from 700 miles to about 900 miles were very hard.  All of this for a piece of paper.  What was I thinking?  My last on the road fuel stop was around 100 miles from home.  I took a longer break to get my head back in the game.  Back on the bike.  Only an hour and a half till I’m home.  About halfway between that stop and home, my gps clicked the 1000 mile mark.  A new sense of energy came over me.  I did it.  Even if I pull over now I did it.  YES!!!  Well with only 15 miles before I got home, I had my first mechanical problem.  My low beam burnt out.  I could upset a few drivers on the road or pull off in the dark and change the bulb (I carry a spare).  At this time I would like to apologize to those drivers I upset with my high beam.  I road home.
That wonderful day was on a Tuesday, the last week of August 2009.  I sent my paperwork in that Friday.  At this time I’m still waiting for verification.  I will never do another ride like this again.  I now know that I can do an SS1000 (official or unofficial).  My next one will be more mentally challenging.  

[blackbeltrider]

Good on you.

It's nice to see someone else on here who enjoys the same ride I do (2001 C10 with 124 km on the clock). I have found it fits me well and I can go long distances without great distress. So far the longest day for me has been 1039 miles in just under 18 hrs, which I don't plan, at this time,  to do again, as toward the end I was fatigued and not riding well.

Similar to you, I just wanted to see if I could do it. Having done so, I don't feel the challenge strongly anymore.

Congratulations.

[kendenton]

Congrats!  The mental part of long distance riding is definitely more of a challenge than the physical ones.  When I did my first (and so far only) SS1000 earlier this year I made sure to choose a route that included a lot of areas I'd never ridden before, and didn't backtrack too much.  Once it gets dark though, not much difference about any route - nothing to look at in the dark.

[Specter]

Congratulations - glad you stuck with it and achieved the goal.  While you might never go for another "official" distance ride, you've reset the measuring stick for your own abilities and expanded the envelope significantly.

The boredom you experienced is often the result of the route plan and the timing.  Slabbing away in the wee hours at the end of a long ride can really suck, and seeing the backside of the same route makes it worse.  I like to plan trips that are loops, and include a variety of roads and scenery.

[rabbott5]

Congratulations - glad you stuck with it and achieved the goal.  While you might never go for another "official" distance ride, you've reset the measuring stick for your own abilities and expanded the envelope significantly.

The boredom you experienced is often the result of the route plan and the timing.  Slabbing away in the wee hours at the end of a long ride can really suck, and seeing the backside of the same route makes it worse.  I like to plan trips that are loops, and include a variety of roads and scenery.

I won't do another ride like my first one.  No slab out and back.  Next year I'm going to attempt a ride around Lake Michigan.  I did it in a two day trip earlier this year.  I found several nice two lane roads in Michigan that offer much more than I80 in Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska.

[dietDrThunder]

I'm new around here (see post count), so I don't know if there is a community opinion on this or not, but did you have music to listen to while you were riding? I pretty much always listen to music (Er6i Etymolic buds...awesome, and I'm certain they're discussed somewhere on this forum) when I ride any distance, but if I'm going to be slabbing it, sometimes I wait until that boredom sets in and then get the music going. This seems to give me a couple hundred extra miles of enjoyable riding.

In any case, nice job on the ride! I haven't yet done an IBA ride, but I plan to this coming spring. Good on ya!

[meanstrk]

Good on ya and thanks for the story! Really made me feel like I was along for the ride as well. I have done numerous 1000 plus days and have found that having an ending point other than the start point made a difference for me. On my most recent effort, the Bung Burner Gold, it was fatigue that kicked my ass and I very nearly did NOT make it in time. I am glad I did the ride, and glad they certified it though, because I don't want to do it again!

Congrats!

[kyzrex]

did a ss1000 on my connie about 5 years ago, and like you, i don't care if I do another one.  Was fun, ment the challenge, and know i could do it again if i needed to.  ( I did it in a car a few mths ago when I needed to get home from florida. because i knew that I could.)  Big key for me...after doing 1000 miles in a day, I'm not intimidated by the thought of doing several 400-500 mile days in a row.  So I plan on doing a 11 day ride out to Taos, NM this summer for a MSTA rally, using back roads the whole way out and back.  You will never again feel that a 200-300 mile day is a long way.

patrick