Lake Okeechobee 1000 - November 18, 2017

I am going to attempt to ride a SS1000 around Lake Okeechobee in Florida starting this Saturday. The route around the lake is 116 miles so it will take 9 laps to complete. We are starting at a Pilot truck stop in South Bay, FL and will be getting a receipt on every lap and using SPOT tracking for ride documentation.

Our route will take us on roads that circle the lake and we will have the lake in view most of the time. The roads we will be riding on include US 27, Florida 78, US441, US 98 and Florida 715. Most of the route will be two lane roads with a good amount of traffic during the daylight hours. This is going to be a tough ride as the speed limits are between 45 MPH and 55 MPH and there are 8 small towns we have to pass through with traffic lights and stop signs. It also gets damn dark at night there and there are a lot of critters around the lake that will force us to be paying attention. It is not unheard off to see an alligator crossing the road during the night.

To make it more fun I invited a few friends along including Dan Thaler and Joe Green. If you want to join us meet us at the Pilot Travel Center, 210 US-27, South Bay, FL 33493 at 12 noon Saturday, ride will start around 12:30 PM. It should be a fun ride.

Here is a link to a webpage with more ride information including route, Spotwalla tracking and downloadable GPX file.

https://www.gregrice.com/rides/lo1000.html

Im surprised a route that repetitive would pass IBA muster. But I know you know more than I on that matter. Just the thought of an alligator in the road got my imagination going. Ive long enjoyed your website.

I am usually a solitary rider. I like going all day long, just me and the bike. Recently, Ive been considering riding, more for support and assistance than anything, SS1Ks with friends who are close to doing their first runs. Gets them more comfortable with their first attempt, and Ill enjoy making their ride easier. Good luck, and ride safe.

We are going to get receipts at both ends of the lake and with our Spotwalla tracking it will be easy to prove we were at each end of the lake 9 times over a 24 hour period.

I recently did my first run using my spot as documentation. I normally use it for safety and check-ins. I really enjoy mine. If I didnt have family coming in his weekend, Id head to the lake.

I have been fascinated with how mentally different a slow route with frequent stops is from an interstate, in-flight-refueling run. Makes me appreciate the IBR more. My 1,000 mike day for Tour of Honor was much more tiring with all the stops than a regular 1,000 mile ride.

Good luck, sir! Looks like you'll have clear weather. Doing this on your new Beemer?

Got medicine to counteract the dizziness you'll get from riding around in circles all day long?

Hmmm…

Uncle Hud said:

Good luck, sir! Looks like you'll have clear weather. Doing this on your new Beemer?
Got medicine to counteract the dizziness you'll get from riding around in circles all day long?

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Yes, on the RT that already has 50,000 miles, it's not new anymore.

travel_man posted: Yes, on the RT that already has 50,000 miles, it's not new anymore.

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.... and I know how she got a lot of those miles.

Again, best of luck, sir!

travel_man said:

I am going to attempt to ride a SS1000 around Lake Okeechobee in Florida starting this Saturday. The route around the lake is 116 miles so it will take 9 laps to complete. We are starting at a Pilot truck stop in South Bay, FL and will be getting a receipt on every lap and using SPOT tracking for ride documentation.

Our route will take us on roads that circle the lake and we will have the lake in view most of the time. The roads we will be riding on include US 27, Florida 78, US441, US 98 and Florida 715. Most of the route will be two lane roads with a good amount of traffic during the daylight hours. This is going to be a tough ride as the speed limits are between 45 MPH and 55 MPH and there are 8 small towns we have to pass through with traffic lights and stop signs. It also gets damn dark at night there and there are a lot of critters around the lake that will force us to be paying attention. It is not unheard off to see an alligator crossing the road during the night.

To make it more fun I invited a few friends along including Dan Thaler and Joe Green. If you want to join us meet us at the Pilot Travel Center, 210 US-27, South Bay, FL 33493 at 12 noon Saturday, ride will start around 12:30 PM. It should be a fun ride.

Here is a link to a webpage with more ride information including route, Spotwalla tracking and downloadable GPX file.

https://www.gregrice.com/rides/lo1000.html

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Man, this is right in my back yard. My office is a couple hundred yards from the Pilot station. My house is right off SR80 in Belle Glade.

I promised my wife I would do some "honey dos" around the house tomorrow. We are still doing hurricane repairs.

However I might just have to sneak off and see you guys off. I don't have my FJR here, but I have a spare bike.

Just so you know. You will not have the lake in view much of the time. There is a dike around the lake. Unless you stop and detour off the main road you will not be seeing much of the lake.

Also, if you get bored Road 720 between Clewiston and Moore Haven actually has some curves. Takes you closer to the lake and wouldn't add much time.

Don't worry about the cane burning. They are pretty careful to burn when the wind takes the smoke away from major roads. It shouldn't be an issue.

I need to check this board more often. I could have planned to have my FJR here an went with you guys.

Oh, and watch your speed in Moore Haven. It's 35 over the bridge and all the way through town.

Often HEAVILY enforced on the weekends.

danh600 said:

Oh, and watch your speed in Moore Haven. It's 35 over the bridge and all the way through town. Often HEAVILY enforced on the weekends.

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Thanks, I been through there a lot and yes they are always there.

I always see LEOs at the curve past Canal Point at the split in the road. Seems like they are always along the canal road to the right.

Greg is looking great with just over 3 laps left. He is right on his projected time (A tab bit ahead)

I count 9 laps and see he's in Ft. Lauderdale. Good job Greg!

Lake Okeechobee 1000 – Done!

Dan Thaler and myself completed the Lake Okeechobee 1000 this morning just before sunrise. We rode 9 laps around the lake and averaged a 2 hour lap time ( 116 miles per lap ). The 9 laps around Lake Okeechobee totaled 1044 miles of which 270 miles was 4 lane ( US 27 ) and 774 miles of two lane road.

I had been wanting to do this ride for a couple years and this weekend it finally came together. I asked a lot of friends if they wanted to ride with me and Dan Thaler was the only one available this weekend. Dan had a lot of conjversations about this ride for a year so I knew Dan really wanted to go.

The weather was perfect, a high of 80 and a low of 58.

I planned the ride where we would be riding most of the miles after dark when there is less traffic. Starting just after noon time on a Saturday allowed us to finish the ride just as the sun was coming up and all of the tournament fisherman and sugar cane haulers hit the road. There must have been a big fishing tournament on the lake as we started seeing vehicles with bass boats around 4:00 AM. It is sugar cane harvest season and the trucks that haul the cane work 7 days a week until it is all harvested. These trucks are big dirty safety hazards I try not to ride behind them when ever I can.

Riding at night around Lake Okeechobee means you are going to have a lot critters in the road way as the road is littered with hundreds of carcasses. I had two small animal strikes and Dan had one with no issues.

You also have to put up with drunk drivers pulling out in front of you from the honky tonk bars which we had two close calls where vehicles pulled out of a bar right in front of us. We knew this was a possibility so were ready when it happened.

Our objective was two hour lap times because that would leave us some buffer and get us off the road before the Sunday traffic.

I also had one gratuitous front wheel lift coming out of a right hand turn and accidently grabbing a handful of throttle and popping the clutch. Dan said it was good for 1 foot off the ground.

Nice job guys. I do a lap around the lake every once in awhile, but I can't imagine doing 9. That's a lot of riding.

At least the weather was nice.

You guys sure didn't waste any time if you were done by sun up.

Nice job!

Was a great ride and glad I could tag along. Greg and I have a lot of miles together and I am proud to be part of this one, too. We met up and rode to the start together. At the Pilot in South Bay, we met up with Joe Green who witnessed us and John, who I met for the first time on Saturday. We were able to do part of the first lap with John before he had to break off for some business in the metroplolis of Okeechobee proper. Look forward to meeting up with John again sometime. First receipt shows 12:12pm and we're rolling. We'd scouted and ridden the route many times over the last couple of years, so we had an idea of the traffic and the enforcement in the different areas we'd pass. Nothing surprising during the afternoon into evening. Gets a little more interesting after dark. Some of the bars and clubs had parking lots completely full & overflow into the shoulders so as it got late and the clubs emptied we dealt with the impaired drivers by focusing hard. The usual forest critters played their suicidal games and lost a few times. We probably both have ZIKA now from all of the mosquitos on our faceshields and windscreens. A trio of lovely young things "twerked" and "dropped it like it's hot" for Greg at zero dark thirty back at the Pilot. We both had all of our charge cards shut off by Pilots processing company for fueling up 9 times within 24hrs. I had 4 shut off and Greg had more than that shut off, I believe. Turns out that it takes longer to prepay with cash! I can now also confirm that an RT will wheelie, even with all of the traction & stability control. Greg went past with his hair on fire and front wheel in the air. I have no further comment on that. We got the nod from Pahokee police at around 2am after seeing us for the 7th time by then. I guess our HiViz Dariens relaxed their suspicions. Sometimes it is easy to underestimate a 1000 mile ride, but i'm glad I didn't this time. A great challenge and another achievement. Looking forward to some of you coming down and enjoying this ride in the future

Thanks for doing this ride, dog-gone, now its on my short list. I end up "having" to ride all Gregs crazy rides.

Wondering how this compares to the Florida Keys SS1000 (?) Greg?

101stpathfinder said:

Thanks for doing this ride, dog-gone, now its on my short list. I end up "having" to ride all Gregs crazy rides.Wondering how this compares to the Florida Keys SS1000 (?) Greg?

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Tony, this ride may be harder than the Florida Keys 1000 but it is easier in some aspects as you have some places to detour around if needed, in the Keys you can't do that.

If you keep pushing for all 9 laps around the lake it is easier than the Florida Keys 1000 but if you back off and lollygag around and take more than 2 1/2 hours for a lap you could get yourself in trouble with the time.

I was not sure how hard the ride would be but once we had a couple laps in the bag I started feeling more confident. I was originally thinking 20+ hours for the ride but Dan and I never backed off and took it easy for the whole ride. The day of the week helped as the couple areas of construction were shutdown for the weekend except one and it shutdown around 4 PM.

We also had perfect weather warm in the afternoon ( 80 ) and cool at night ( 50~ ).