IBA 50CC

[Bubba1]

When work announced a shut down between the 24th and the 3rd I thought "nice", then Ms.Bubba informed me that she was working most of those days and suggested that I go ride somewhere (gotta love that woman). I've wanted to do a 50CC for several years but because of the time to do the ride plus positioning time I have not been able to fit it in. Well, now I have the time.....not the best time of the year, WX may be a killer, most of the ride will be at night and cold but if the WX looks even half way decent I will ride to San Diego on the 24th, spend the night and then on the 25th head to Jacksonville and hope to be there 50 hours later.

While I enjoy long distance rides, I find a good part of the pleasure of a IBA sanctioned ride is in the planning and preparation. I've been buying and testing gear for the last couple of weeks and have just about settled on my ridding gear; Motoport mesh pants and jacket with rain liners, Gerbing's heated glove liners, jacket liner and pant liner, Aerostich three finger rain covers over my everyday Kangaroo gloves, an AntiFreeze balaclava under the Shoei Multitec, and Sidi On-Road Gore-Tex boots. The testing is important, something that is a minor irritant over a 200 mile ride can drive you bat sh*t crazy after 400 miles, whatever I use must be comfortable for a little over 2300 miles, not an easy task.

The time line is planned, hotels are set up at each end so now it is just watch the WX, and call AmEx the day before to make sure they know my AmEx card will be making a x-country trip with stops every couple of hundred miles . Then on the 25th strap the Wing to my a** and do what I enjoy more than life itself....see what is over the next hill or bend in the road.

[county]

Good luck.

[Tony T]

Might want to bring a 2nd CC along just in case Amex screws up.  

Good luck, ride far, ride safe.  

[MK96xj]

Good Luck Bubba.

Looking forward to the update of your sucess

[r77toy]

A question of a personal nature; Have you ridden long with the Motoport, rain liner, Gerbing combo? What are using as a base layer? When I get that many layers, I get alot of friction.

[squeezer]

Got a few quick tips:

Call the credit card companies ahead of time and let them know what you're doing. A lot of small purchases in several states over a short time period kicks off their fraud prevention squads and they'll stop the card. Amex is especially sensitive to that (you can guess how I know). If they know ahead of time, they'll put a note in the file and let it slide. Amex is especially good about that.

You gotta get through the mountains. That'll be the most important weather to check. And be freakin' careful because the weather there can change in a hurry.

Allow yourself to stop. Our mantra was, "This is fun, but it's not worth dying." We had a bad start, ran into nasty weather, and in the second day decided it was unsafe to continue. We checked into a motel to get three hours of sleep and then reevaluate. It made all the difference. We still finished in 48.5 hours. Be good to yourself.

The cops in Jacksonville Beach were well aware of the 50cc and were very cool about witnessing the start. Call 'em ahead of time and they'll tell you where to go.

Good luck! Sounds like an epic winter ride. Can't wait to hear the story.  

[Bubba1]

A question of a personal nature; Have you ridden long with the Motoport, rain liner, Gerbing combo? What are using as a base layer? When I get that many layers, I get alot of friction.

Yep, it's tight.  I use Patagonia, Under Armor, or ExOffico long sleeve shirt and long johns.  I can't tell any difference between the brands so I just grab what is on the top of the pile.  I only use the rain liner when it is raining and the Gerbing's below about 65.  The biggest problem when you have it all on is taking a p** :-), takes forever to dig through all the layers.  That said the present combo gives the most flexibility and comfort with the least amount of storage space of any I've used.  

[Bubba1]

Got a few quick tips:

Call the credit card companies ahead of time and let them know what you're doing. A lot of small purchases in several states over a short time period kicks off their fraud prevention squads and they'll stop the card. Amex is especially sensitive to that (you can guess how I know). If they know ahead of time, they'll put a note in the file and let it slide. Amex is especially good about that.

You gotta get through the mountains. That'll be the most important weather to check. And be freakin' careful because the weather there can change in a hurry.

Allow yourself to stop. Our mantra was, "This is fun, but it's not worth dying." We had a bad start, ran into nasty weather, and in the second day decided it was unsafe to continue. We checked into a motel to get three hours of sleep and then reevaluate. It made all the difference. We still finished in 48.5 hours. Be good to yourself.

The cops in Jacksonville Beach were well aware of the 50cc and were very cool about witnessing the start. Call 'em ahead of time and they'll tell you where to go.

Good luck! Sounds like an epic winter ride. Can't wait to hear the story.  

Yep, same here....that's the reason I always call before leaving, it's a pain to go inside when you are trying to make time.

I'm not pushing it....with a winter ride who knows what the WX will bring.  If it turns bad Texas is my bail out, I'll call a couple of buddies and have them meet me in Laredo.  A night or two in the La Posada Hotel eating and drinking in the Cadillac Bar is a great consolation prize :-).

It's good to know about the Jacksonville cops, thanks.

[Mastros2]

I agree with the second credit card and a debit card just in case.  With Gerbings, you can limit your layers to a minimal.  This will remove more factors of an irritation forming.  Are you riding with a gps?  If so, does it receive traffic updates?  How about a mp3 player just in case you don't have any reception in the isolated areas (or don't like country music!). Just thinking of potential problems you may occur.

Make sure you can take pictures!  Maybe mount a camera to the handlebars if you haven't done/thought of this already. The GL will be a nice bike to use.  Good luck and keep us updated.

[squeezer]

It's good to know about the Jacksonville cops, thanks.

Oops, sorry Bubba. I better clarify: Jacksonville Beach. It's a suburb right on the coast with its own PD.    

[Bubba1]

Oops, sorry Bubba. I better clarify: Jacksonville Beach. It's a suburb right on the coast with its own PD.    

Thanks....understand

[sagerat]

Good luck, I'd think the Wing will make it much easier, relatively speaking.  Stay safe.

[Explorer]

Good luck Remember to watch out for, Forest rat's Remember to check your gas some station may be closed.

[JamesG]

I thought this was going to be about a new IBA 50cc catagory.  

[Lawn Dart]

If you're tired, PULL OVER.  Seriously, don't screw with it.  Pull over and grab a 20 minute cat nap.  Works great.

You will find things about your gear you never new possible.  For me, ER6i cords hurt after 8 hours...and getting the collar on the jacket "just right" is actually more important than it seemed at first.  And the knee armor in my Rally 2 Pro hurts after 16 hours in the saddle.  Yep...strange how you discover things like that.

It's NOT a race.  I did it in 44 hours, 41 minutes with 6.5 hours of sleep.  I had over 5 hours of slush time if you will.

Reserve a hotel room in Texas ahead of time.  Trying to find one at 3am local time isn't easy...

Get a cheap watch with a countdown timer.  Set it for 50 hours.  Start it when you leave.  You can't believe just how hard it is to figure out how many hours remaining on the 50cc at 1am having gone through 3 time changes.

Take it easy.  Enjoy the ride.  Take pictures.  One of my fondest memories was of the Battleship moored in the harbor in Lousianna (or some other Suthen' state) all lit up at night.  Truly beautiful.

And I repeat:  IT'S NOT A RACE.  

[HipGnosis]

I thought this was going to be about a new IBA 50cc catagory.  

I did too.  So I looked it up...
IBA 50CC is  coast to coast (those are the 'C's) across the United States in 50 hours or less.

[Orson]

.....not the best time of the year

It sounds like they're predicting an El Niño year, which can mean a whole lotta rain  

[ksann]

Take it from me, post a write-up immediately after you return, so you don't get angry pm's  


Enjoy it. I did.



ken