Lessons from failure

[napper]

I have been planning a trip to Reno to celebrate my 50th birthday the second weekend in November.  As the planning progressed, of course, I thought of riding to Reno and later, the idea of making my first SS1000 out the trip popped into my head.  With a little bit of planning, I came up with two route options:

Plan A:

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And Plan B:


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Route A is my first choice.  I’ve ridden most of that route within the last three years and I rode a large part of it just a month and a half ago.  Route B would be my back-up in case bad weather made Route A a poor choice.  

To get to Reno, I ended taking the direct route through Nevada (723 miles) to beat a winter storm.  





I decided I would try the SS1000 on the way home.  I chose Route B, reversed, because I was worried about the cold in northern Nevada and wanted to take the route that headed south quickest (mistake).  I didn’t complete the SS1000.  At 24 hours I only had about 750 miles.  The entire ride home was 914 miles (when I knew I wasn’t going to make it in time, I cut some of my route) and took 26 and a half hours.  I make quite a few decisions that lead to not completing the ride in time.  

First, attempting this ride in November made it a lot harder than it had to be.  The days in November are too short, I find riding after dark much more fatiguing than riding during the day.  It was also cold.  I ditched my preferred route to avoid riding in temperatures in the 30’s and 40’s for an extended period but I still saw temperatures in the 30’s on the section between Reno and Auburn and low 40’s after dark in the California high desert.  I used up some time I wouldn’t have in warmer months between changing layers with temperature changes and the extra time to get geared up after a stop.

The route I chose was terrible.  Descending the mountains from Donner Pass, there was an accident that slowed traffic down.  California Route 99 had pretty heavy traffic, especially semi traffic, from the north side of Sacramento all the way to Bakersfield.  The truck traffic slowed me down some but just dealing with traffic is fatiguing.  On the up side, I did get good gas mileage on this leg due to an average moving speed close to 60 mph.

I left too late in the morning.  I was awake and well rested before 7:00 on the day of the ride.  It took me a while to load the bike out of the casino I was staying in as I had to take the elevator down to the lobby and then traipse over to the parking garage for each load I carried out.  I wanted to avoid colder early-morning temperatures between Reno and Auburn, so I had some breakfast with my mom and didn’t get on the road until 9:30 local time.  So I wasted a couple of hours while my body was awake and I could have been moving.  When I was preparing to leave from home, I had my bike all packed the night before and only needed to load my Camelback, some ice in my cooler and myself.

I wasted a lot of time trying to get a little sleep.  I tried to sleep at a rest stop, but it was too cold and uncomfortable.  I tried to get a few winks along the side of the road, but that was too noisy with semis rumbling past every few minutes.  I finally pulled onto a deserted spur road where I could get some sleep.  It was so cold, though, that I couldn’t get to sleep for over an hour and then didn’t want to get out of my sleeping bag when I did wake up.  This took over four hours to cover about 150 miles before I got to the spot where I finally got some sleep.  



If it wasn’t so damn cold, I could have caught an hour or two of sleep and been on merry way.  I also shouldn’t have wasted my time trying to nap where I should have known I wouldn’t get any productive sleep.

So, I tried my first SS1000 and failed.  It only caused me to add 175 miles to my ride home but I did enjoy riding though Sacramento as I lived there for a few months in ’90-’91 and haven’t been back since.  It also forced me to sleep in the desert outside of Needles instead of the warm bed I had paid for ($40 non-refundable) at the D Casino in Vegas Monday night.  I was going to make the ride anyway, so I got my mom to witness my start and kept a log of my stops.  Good practice for next time.  I have been working on making my stopped times shorter and more productive and I am doing better in that area than I was on my trip this summer.  I will try again.

I’ve learned from reading other folks’ accounts of successful Iron Butt rides but thought maybe stories of failure could be helpful too.  So, anyone else ever try and not make it?

[miles]

Lawn Dart and I did an SS1K using much the same roads as your first option.  We started in Vegas, went north to Ely then west to Carson City and back down 395 to SoCal for our 1000.  The scenery was far more beautiful than either of us expected.  I would ride that loop again, but pick a time when the temps would be  bit more moderate.

[napper]

Lawn Dart and I did an SS1K using much the same roads as your first option.  We started in Vegas, went north to Ely then west to Carson City and back down 395 to SoCal for our 1000.  The scenery was far more beautiful than either of us expected.  I would ride that loop again, but pick a time when the temps would be  bit more moderate.

Absolutely.  Low temps and shortened daylight hours killed me.  In this case, the time kind of picked me, so I went for it.

[Justin]

I haven't had any failed attempts yet, but I've done a few rides that took way longer than expected for a ss1k in cold weather. Cold wears you down quick, especially when you are from a place like AZ and not used to it  .

Have you considered signing up for the Big Money Rally? Great opportunity to get some iron butt practice in, such as managing stopped time, route planning etc - and it's a ton of fun!

[DNA]

BTDT -  a couple of good tips I learned from failure -

1) 2 lane roads during day light  - 4 lane highway at night as much as possible.  Cover the big ground when you can't see much anyway.
2) I have to stop between 12-2AM just never been able tor ide through this zone without making stupid mistakes
3) Start early - a 5:00 am start even if you are not an AM guy means you can put 19 hours straight before I hit my 12:00 wall - and often I am done by then.  If I start at 7:00 I almost have to stop and then it is close.
4) heater gear is awesome  

Good reason to try again!

[Justin]

2) I have to stop between 12-2AM just never been able tor ide through this zone without making stupid mistakes

My crash time is 4-6 AM or so. My body decides it should be sleeping, and starts to lower my temperature and I get cold and tired quick. For me, I can work around this with "exercise" breaks during that time. I've found that getting off the bike and doing some activities like push ups and jumping jacks can get the body thinking it should be awake again lol

[miles]

BTDT -  a couple of good tips I learned from failure -

1) 2 lane roads during day light  - 4 lane highway at night as much as possible.  Cover the big ground when you can't see much anyway.

For me, I would rather be on two-lane roads late in the game than four-laners.  I find myself zoning out if I don't have road stimuli to keep me focused.

[Cablebandit]

Don't all the glowing eyeballs on the nighttime 2-lane freak you out?

[Justin]

Don't all the glowing eyeballs on the nighttime 2-lane freak you out?

Not as bad out here in the west

In Nevada is 99% suicide rabbits  

[Cablebandit]

Ah, well you don't even feel rabbits.  

[DNA]

For me, I would rather be on two-lane roads late in the game than four-laners.  I find myself zoning out if I don't have road stimuli to keep me focused.

Yea - I had way too many deer encounters in the eastern hills after midnight.

Cresting a hill at speed and seeing 200 dual red spots moving around in a field just of the road is terrifying.

Give me weaving big rigs any day

[miles]

Don't all the glowing eyeballs on the nighttime 2-lane freak you out?

Nope.

[napper]

I haven't had any failed attempts yet, but I've done a few rides that took way longer than expected for a ss1k in cold weather. Cold wears you down quick, especially when you are from a place like AZ and not used to it  .

Have you considered signing up for the Big Money Rally? Great opportunity to get some iron butt practice in, such as managing stopped time, route planning etc - and it's a ton of fun!

Yeah, I'm used to sweating balls from the time I put my helmet on until I shower at the end of the day.  Cold is not in my repertoire.  I saw the BMR thread here and am considering it.

BTDT -  a couple of good tips I learned from failure -

1) 2 lane roads during day light  - 4 lane highway at night as much as possible.  Cover the big ground when you can't see much anyway.
2) I have to stop between 12-2AM just never been able tor ide through this zone without making stupid mistakes
3) Start early - a 5:00 am start even if you are not an AM guy means you can put 19 hours straight before I hit my 12:00 wall - and often I am done by then.  If I start at 7:00 I almost have to stop and then it is close.
4) heater gear is awesome  

Good reason to try again!

I had heated gloves.  I wouldn't have made it without them.  I was able to layer thick enough for the cold I encountered but having a heated jacket liner would have saved a bunch of time.  Twisting a dial is much quicker than stopping to layer up or down.

My crash time is 4-6 AM or so. My body decides it should be sleeping, and starts to lower my temperature and I get cold and tired quick. For me, I can work around this with "exercise" breaks during that time. I've found that getting off the bike and doing some activities like push ups and jumping jacks can get the body thinking it should be awake again lol

I'll have to keep the exercise advice in mind.  Maybe some calisthenics when I couldn't get any shut-eye would have kept me going.

[miles]

Another thing that works well for me is to front-end the dark hours.  If I estimate the ride will take 18 hours and I know there is 13 hours of useable daylight (for example) I'll start my ride at midnight (or 2 AM, or whatever the math works out to be) to get the dark riding done before fatigue sets in.

[Cablebandit]

Yup. It's much nicer finishing with a little light left.

[napper]

Another thing that works well for me is to front-end the dark hours.  If I estimate the ride will take 18 hours and I know there is 13 hours of useable daylight (for example) I'll start my ride at midnight (or 2 AM, or whatever the math works out to be) to get the dark riding done before fatigue sets in.

That was exactly my original plan for leaving from Phoenix.  Leave here close to midnight and finish around 8:00 pm.  That would have worked better with my sleep habits.

[DNA]

Another goal - ride west in the AM - east in the PM.

Sadly, I always seem to be on a straight southwesterly route at sundown and hate the blinding glare after a 14 hour day with lots to go.

[R Doug]

Thanks for sharing your experience. I plan on completing my first IB ride soon. There's food info here.

[Skee]

+1. Stories like this mke me want to give it a try.

[sickticket]

Wow, this thread is really wetting my thirst for a new type of adventure.  I live in SE Pa and we have plenty of concrete to do several 1k warm ups to a four corners trek.

Thank you for all your experienced observations.  A lot of great lessons learned and shared.