I'm one of those guys who would never read this long of a post, but in case you're a reader, I thought I would share my experience.
Ever since I did my first SS1000 (1000 miles in 24 hours) I thought, what's next? To me, the BBG1500 (1500 miles in 24 hours) seemed like the next logical milestone. One of my inspirations was reading an old post by a member who went by Warchild. His undertaking of multiple, back-to-back BBG1500s on a Blackbird just made me want to try it with my Blackbird all the more.
The Bike
It's an almost stock 1999 Honda CBR1100XX with a Givi Wingrack and cases.
The non-stock items are a throttle lock, a +1 tooth sprocket on the front, and an aux fuel setup to carry an additional 2.5 gallons. The bigger sprocket, in my opinion, should have been the gearing that the bike was sold with, it puts my RPMs at a perfect spot on the highway and it corrects the built-in error of the speedometer. The aux fuel setup has been posted already a few times on here. I also added to the bike a 12V power outlet, mostly for my heated gloves.
The other adjustments to the stock bike that I made are that I changed the windscreen to one that is about 2" higher than stock, and a "choked up" the clip-on handlebars as much as I dared. I'm 6-2 so any adjustment here helps.
Over last winter, in preparation for this, I did every service on the bike I could think of. It had over 50k miles on it anyway, so anything that hadn't been done got done. This includes brake pads all the way around, fork oil change, brake and clutch fluid changes, coolant flush, and a bunch of wiring cleanup for my aux fuel setup as well as the wingrack blinkers and my 12V outlet. I also re-greased the swingarm pivots, and installed Iridium plugs.
The seat, hand-grips, and foot pegs on the bike are 100% stock. On the Blackbird, the fact that your feet are right underneath you is a huge advantage. I probably spent 5% of my time on the bike standing up, and 10% of the time without my hand on the bars at all so that i could lounge a little. Just the fact that I was moving around and doing different things was a big help.
The Route
I live in Jenison, MI, which is a suburb of Grand Rapids. I had never done the extreme South before, and I wanted to go to Key West at some point anyway. Also, I talked to a number of people around here in Michigan who drive to Florida for spring break; they said that they've been able to get to Northern Florida in around 19 hours before if they trade off drivers. This was all I needed to hear.
The route my GPS software came up with was:
Michigan I-196 to Michigan I-94
In Northern Indiana I got on I-65
Took I-65 to Nashville where I got on I-24
Took I-24 to Chattanooga when I grabbed I-75
In Northern Florida I got on the Florida Turnpike and took it all the way to Exit 1, Florida City, Florida.
When I sat down to hammer out the details of the trip I accidentally made some wise decisions about the date and the number of stops I was going to make.
I chose the date (April 30) because it was after all the schools were done with Spring Break and before most schools are out for the summer. Also, I wanted it early enough in the year that it wouldn't be so hot down there. The decision to do it on a Saturday was to avoid workday traffic in some of the towns that I went through.
If you have any interest in doing a BBG1500 of your own, this is the most important thing to take from this: Sitting down and planning out my stops ahead of time was probably the best decision I made. I did all of my SS1000s without this plan, and you use up a lot of mental energy by watching you gas and the exits around you on the fly. Due to fuel range of my bike I might have been able to do this trip in only six legs (5 stops), but I added in one more for safety. So, I did the whole ride in seven three-hour legs with six 10-minute intermediate stops planned. If you think you can stop many times (10+) during a BBG1500, I don't think you'll make it.
If you think about a 10-minute stop, once you drop below cruising speed on the highway, you're on the clock. This isn't 10 minutes of "helmet off" time, this is a splash-and-go situation. Hitting the light red at the end of the off ramp or having to quick check your voicemail kills your time. Some figures to use are: 3 minutes to pump gas, 2 minutes to pee and stuff, and 5 minutes to buy your favorite snack and scarf it down. Add on-ramp and off-ramp traffic lights and your 10 minute break costed you a good 15.
Getting Myself ReadyThis is the part of this report where I'm supposed to tell you how to stay awake and alert for 20+ hours of driving a motorcycle. In reality, there is no way I can tell you what you need, I can only tell you what I did.
I'm one of those guys who shuts down a couple of hours after midnight, however I bounce right out of bed when I hear the alarm in the morning. I used that to my advantage and I set the alarm for 1:30a so that I was rolling by 2. I had spent the week before going to bed an hour early each night to make sure I had a good bank of sleep, and it wasn't really a problem.
A well loaded MP3 player with audio books and your favorite music is definitely a bonus too.
The ExecutionThe weather forecast was an absolute blessing. I didn't hit a drop of rain until I was half-way home. The only down side was that this has been an unusually cold spring in Michigan, and that morning was pretty bad, like mid-40s. This temperature had never stopped me before. I had done my half-hour commute to work many times before in the 30s with no problem, but that wasn't at highway speeds. I though I would drive out of the cold quickly, but it seemed to take way too long. I was nearing Tennessee before the air temp broke 50.
I knew that when I crossed into Georgia, that was about half way. South of Atlanta it seemed like there was a certain sub-set of drivers that went fast. I kept up with some of the faster, but not the fastest driers, and the law really never paid any attention to me.
The EndIn Florida city I got my last splash of gas and the receipt. I got some witness info and signatures that, along with receipts, will be part of my IBA application for certification. Regardless of the certification, though, I know I did it.
