July 3rd I attempted my first Saddle Sore 1000, using my 1989 Yamaha FJ1200. I am familiar with riding long distances over the years. I just never hit the 1000 mile mark in a day.
My first long distance trip was way back in 1986. I was 19 years old and had a brand new 1986 Honda Interceptor 500. I left Orange County California headed for Akron, Ohio. Spent 2 days there. Continued on the Beaufort, South Carolina and then up the coast to Jacksonville, North Carolina. Total travel time was 7 days.
For the Saddle Sore 1000, it was a Coordinated event. My starting point was Wichita, Kansas and a good friend was starting from Tooele, Utah. Another friend who lives in the Denver area suggested we all meet up at a restaurant a few blocks from Coors Field. Distance for me was 525 miles and my friend from Utah was 550.
I left Wichita at 6:00am Central time and headed north to Salina. Only a 90 mile leg, but per the rules a direction change needs to have a stop. Now that I was on I-70, clear sailing all the way to Denver. The bike was running well and eating up miles. Gas stops in Oakley, KS and Limon, CO were uneventful. I pulled into Biker Jim's Gourmet Dogs at 12:38 Mountain time. 7 hours and 38 minutes. I was pretty stoked at my travel time. I ended up about 1.5 hours ahead of my friend Kurt on his 2015 Yamaha FJ-09. I-70, west of Denver has a lot of construction going on this year and held him up.
While I was waiting for Kurt to arrive, our friend who lives in Denver showed up. We spent an hour talking bikes and that we had enjoyed ourselves 3 weeks prior at the Central FJ Rally in Ouray, CO. Kurt showed up and was frustrated with all the construction on I-70. We ate and relaxed for another 2 hours or so before we decided to head out for the completion of our rides. Kurt decided to ride up to Fort Collins and on to Laramie to pick up I-80 and miss the dreaded construction for his ride back to the Salt Lake City area. I returned, using the same route I had got to Denver on. Stops again were in Limon, CO, Oakley, KS an added stop in Russell, KS. It had gotten dark and I was getting cold with my mesh jacket. Topped off with gas, put the jacket liner in and back up on the road. Next stop, is the direction stop in Salina, Ks. A quick 90 mile run back to Wichita should have been all I need, but.....
Google maps shows from my starting point in Wichita to the restaurant in Denver at being 525 miles. I figured that to be a safe distance to take into account any odometer error. I have an aftermarket GPS speedometer and odometer. During the ride, I noticed that the mileage seemed a bit on the short side. When I got to Denver, it showed that I had not even reached 500 miles.
So, I decided to pad my ride with a few extra miles. I blew through Wichita and got on I-35 (Kansas Turnpike) and headed for Wellington, KS. I knew it was 25 miles to the Wellington exit. I paid my toll, got my receipt. I turned around and repeated the distance back to Wichita.
When I got to my end point and topped off with fuel to get my time and dated receipt. My mileage was still short on my odometer. Total distance on the odometer was 996 miles. Total distance per Google maps and Map Quest is 1094 miles.
Total seat time was about 17 hours and total distance time was roughly 21.5 hours
I am mailing may certification package today and will have to wait and see if it all turns out well.
In the end, the old FJ ran like a champ, eagerly wanted to run at 90 MPH, of which I was perfectly content to do, but.... There were LEO's seen throughout the day and I knew getting stopped for a Performance Award would reduce my time margin, so the speeds were kept down just a wee bit.
Fred
I am on the left.
