I completed my first IBA ride, a SS1000, earlier in September and posted a ride report here
http://www.sport-touring.net/forums/index.php/topic,66604.0.htmlI will not bore you with some of the finer details since much of the bike and gear specifics were included in that first report but I completed my second IBA ride this weekend. That makes two SS1000 rides in the last month and 3400 miles in that month with one more motorcycle trip left to go next weekend. It has been a busy late summer/early fall for me.
This last Friday afternoon I left home in Middle Tennessee to head toward Knoxville to meet up with a small group of friends from a local forum. I planned on just winding my way over and staying off the interstate as it was a short run of just at 200 miles. I left via Highway 266 running from Smyrna, TN out to Lebanon TN and picked up Highway 70N headed East. Highway 70 is a decent road that has a few nice sections of curves as it winds up onto the plateau of Tennessee and it parallels Interstate 40 for much of the run. It was a pleasant ride with great weather and the 198 miles took me just over 4 hours. I arrived at my friend Kurt's house at about 5pm for my first stop of the trip. Kurt, myself, and 8 other folks were set to start a SS1000 in the morning at 4:30am. We meet up at a restaurant near our start point Friday night to talk over the final route, exchange emergency contact numbers, and just catch up for a bit. No one in the group except for me had ever done an IBA ride and most had not done 1000 miles in a day. Many had done 500 to 600 miles but all were looking forward to the challenge of 1000 in 24 hours. It was a goal for many to see the sun rise and the sun set all from the seat of their motorcycle in one day. We planned on taking it easy with frequent stops so that those not used to long miles could hopefully cope.
As 4:30 am approached we all began to roll into the parking lot of our selected start point of the day. Some shivering was done as our pre arranged witness did some paperwork and we got the first gas receipts. In total we had 10 bikes and 11 people with one couple going two up. This is of course where the 10,300 mile reference in the title comes from so no that was not a typo. The bike variety was set at 3 BMW's, 3 Honda's, 2 Kawasaki 1st gen Connies, 1 Yamaha, and 1 Aprilia Falco. We rolled out at 5:05 am just 5 minutes after or planned kick stands up time.
We headed out I-40 toward Ashville, NC and quickly fell into a nice comfortable pace. We had planned to split up into groups of 3 to 4 riders but at the start at least everyone was pretty much together. It was chilly but those that had the right gear were doing well. I saw temps down to 48 on my display but others saw temps as low as 44 on theirs. I was happy I had hooked up the cables for my heated vest Thursday night while packing the bike. We saw the sun rise as we wound our way thought the Smokey Mountains as we made it to Ashville and and then made the turn from I-40 to I-26 headed to Spartanburg, SC. We made the turn west in Spartanburg from I-26 to I-85 and made a fuel stop. This is where the first major road block was hit and where we cover the second part of my thread title.
The group was sort of buzzing a bit. We were all still in good spirits and the road was treating us pretty well despite the cool temperatures earlier. Since the sun was out and strong the temps were coming up a bit and when we hit the fuel stop every one was chatting at the pumps including me. I was talking to Randy (Aprilla Falco) and apparently did not pay close enough to the pumps to realize it had two nozzles. You guessed it 1.5 gallons of diesel in my tank and I realized it as I hung the nozzle back up. It was fortunate that I did realize this early as I did not start the bike. I did not want to hold up the group so without much contemplation I pushed the bike to a parking spot, ran inside to buy an overpriced but much needed 5 gallon fuel jug, and grabbed the tool kit out of the tail trunk. We did not have much luck finding a suitable siphon hose unfortunately as that would have made things easier. I added one to my tool kit Sunday night. Several of the other riders jumped right in and we had the tank off the bike in just a few minutes. We drained the tank into the fuel jug while two other helpers used my needle nose pliers and a coat hanger to fish the crush washer I stupidly dropped from the fuel line fitting down inside my right fairing. We lost about 30 minutes getting it done but I put 5 fresh gallons of gasoline back in the tank and it fired right up. The VFR never missed a beat after that and no one seemed to mind the slightly long stop. It also earned me the much deserved new nickname of "Diesel Boy" from the group.
Atlanta came and went without much issue as we made our way onto I-20 with sights set on Birmingham, AL. Temps were up in the low 70's at this point and layers were being shed at every fuel stop. The sun was out in force and the weather was gorgeous. We made a brief turn up I-65 just long enough to make the exit to catch what used to be 78, is now Corridor X, and will be I-22. Corridor X was great with little to no traffic and a good road surface. The stress free and traffic free riding along Corridor X allowed the two up passenger to snap a few moving photos.
We made the turn North in Tupelo, MS and headed up Highway 45 toward Jackson, TN. We made good time even though it was not interstate since there were few towns or traffic lights to contend with. Again we made the next fuel stop in Jackson, TN without issue and made the turn back onto I-40 headed West toward Nashville. Let me just say that I live in Nashville and drive I-40 frequently. It was not my choice to use I-40 on this trip but it was convenient for the purpose. I-40 blows, especially the stretch between Memphis and Nashville. The drivers are horrible, traffic never seems to flow well, and there are far too many trucks. I have logged thousands of miles on that stretch of road over the years and it is never a pleasant trip. This was really no exception. Traffic was a bit heavy and not moving smoothly as is often the case. We had slow cars and trucks camped in the left lane along with cars trying to pick their way around at 85+ mph. It made it difficult to stay together as a group so not long after getting on I-40 we broke up into smaller groups to let everyone find their own comfortable pace and deal with the traffic in smaller clusters. We would not all meet up again until we got to the final fuel stop but it was the safe and less stressful thing to do.
The sun set behind us West of Nashville and the temps began to drop again. Every fuel stop saw more layers being added and I plugged the vest back up for a little heat. As we made our way up onto the plateau temps hit the mid to upper 40's again so the last two stops saw a few cups of hot coffee consumed. We made our way back to Knoxville and all members of the group arrived safely at the end point some time around midnight. It was a slower paced SS1000 for sure with everyone taking just at or just over 20 hours. All in all we covered approx 1035 miles each and everyone reported that they enjoyed it. There were no complaints about being tired, sore, or uncomfortable really and just some good natured ribbing about dealing with the cooler temperatures. I would say it was a very successful weekend with one more SS1000 accomplished for me and nine new IBA members submitting their first ride paperwork.
I got back to my friends place just after 1am for a warm bed and some much needed rest. I slept in Sunday morning until 9am and began to pack up the bike again for the ride home. I once again used Highway 70 headed West this time and enjoyed a nice easy 200 mile ride home to Middle Tennessee. My total for the weekend was 1447 miles garage door to garage door from Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon. Not bad for a couple days of riding. Now I have four days to clean up the bike and repack for the trip Friday down to the Barber Vintage Motorcycle Festival. I need to see if I can plan a 1000 mile loop to get me there....
Oh and the group enjoyed the trip enough that a 1500 mile Bun Burners, 50CC, and 100CC events are already in discussion as possibilities. Several members are also becoming interested in participating in their first multi day rally.
