Wolfhound
Wildman
If it was not for this forum I would not have had the success I enjoy while riding. So many people with such a great wealth of knowledge & talent. Many Thanks !
Actually 14 tanks and a fill up at the end.....
I made it Home last night after a 5500 mile Journey that led me from Arizona to San Diego, CA & on to Florida then back to AZ. The centerpiece for this ride was the IBA 50CC & Party in Jacksonville. Once I decided to go for the 50CC I broke out the bicycle & started riding 4 to 5 miles a day at a fairly fast pace along with hand & arm excercises to improve my stamina. Since getting my bike back from YES middle gear replacement the second week of December '07 I have put on over 12000 miles ! I did a lot of riding prior to leaving for the 50CC in order to get some "muscle memory" for the ride.
At a young almost 58 years old & after surviving a head on truck/truck crash & combat disabilities (internal/mental) I just don't have the brain I use to. I rode over to SD the day before the start in spite of being prodded to not go since I was having a tough time with the flu, general aches & pain, lack of strength & serious loss of voice. I felt bad not being able to talk to those at the Dinner & tire kickin' plus not wanting to shake hands & pass along my germs. Recieved the pre ride instructions and finished dinner & headed back to the room for some rest. Getting rest the night before any event is tough as most of you know.
I had my alarm go off at 3:30, had the bike all packed the night before, Put on my ATGATT for the ride. Put on my LD Comfort underlayer, Warm N Safe liner, Leather Jacket, pants & boots & headed out the door. Uncovered the bike and headed next door for the starting witness form to be signed & mileage noted then off to the Shell station by the beach. I scouted the location the night before so I could easily find it. Of course the pump didn't spit out a reciept & I moved to another pump. As I took my heated gloves off to quickly I pulled the liners out ! Damn the luck anyway! So I stashed them & went to one of my other set of backup gloves for the rest of the tip, not wanting to waste time fixing the gloves. Reciept for 5:01 am & I was off !
As I headed into the mountains past SD the temps dropped & I was really thinking about the heated gloves but the liner kept my arms warm which helped keep my hands warm. Made it to Yuma for my first "splash n Dash" stop. My head was still spinnin' & throat sore as hell but I knew then I would finish barring a mechanical failure. The weather was excellent with enough overcast to keep the Sun at bay. The RD, Sirius sat. radio, & phone were all working perfect & did for the whole trip. I use custom made earbuds to help with the noise & bring in the all important RD signal along with radio/phone for the trip. I use hand lotion to keep my ears from becoming sore from earbuds, applied when I take the helmet off.
I made my way across AZ & into NM where I had a quick ARBY sandwich at a gas stop & proceeded into TX. Just before reaching El Paso there is a road (375) that takes you over the mountain & dumps you back onto I-10 past El Paso so I took it not wanting to deal with traffic there. Not long after heading down I-10 I punched up a gas stop on the GPS & made into my reserve about 10 miles before missing the off ramp & started looking for another but none ahead ! I made it many miles to a turn around & headed back to the last station. On the way East I waved at Mike Relph then Smitty much to their dismay ! Topped off & headed out again. Pretty uneventful until dark in deer country. Also saw the most cops on the whole ride in this section. Luckily there were plenty of places to use the HID lights. Talk about seeing deer! Couldn't see many but when I turned them on you could see plenty ! Caught up with Smitty again at a gas stop near Pecos exit.
I recieved weather reports from my Wife via telephone & saw rain predicted around San Antonio. I chose to make it past there to Seguin for my only sleep stop. The rain was spotty on the way there but figured it would be better to be East of the City in the morning to beat traffic & the possibility of water falling from the sky. Layed down for about 5 1/2 hrs & awoke to a bit of rain leftover from the night before. Quick top off of gas acoss the street & down the highway again.
Made it onto the outskirts of Houston & remembered some advice about toll roads around town or HOV lane. I chose to go thru town & use the HOV as much as possible. Worked out pretty well taking them everytime offered until downtown. I saw the sign "HOV LANE" with downtown under it. Looked like the other signs so I took it & a bit later was downtown on city streets ! GPS didn't update fast enough around the tall buildings so I wound up wasting a bunch of time & filling up with gas before getting on the right freeway again. Did I mention the wind ? A lot of major wind and a few spots of rain.
Finally made it out of TX and into LA. All was going well until I took I-12 across instead of going thru New Orleans on I-10. Caught up with Doug5551 and a couple of others He was riding with. I pulled up along side & waved then proceeded down the road. Not long after I came up on a stopped highway ! Bumper to bumper, stop n go for at least 5 miles. I decided to put lane sharing into effect & picked my way to the front. Turned out to be a semi with a few cop cars on the side of the road ! Damn looky lues anyway. Now back up to speed and on towards the east side of Pensacola for gas splash. I think this is where I came across Smitty again. He had stopped for an aspirin to fight off a headache & I had to stop for gas. IT WOULD'VE BEEN NICE TO HAVE AUX FUEL but I had to do with stops averaging abt 175 miles. I'm going to get a fuel cell soon, just hope I can get rid of the one I've been waiting well over a year for unless it comes first.
Once I hit Florida it was a piece of cake. A fitting finish with a bit of rain for the ride & lots of roadwork heading for the finish station. Once I filled with gas I went inside & had a diet coke to celebrate before heading to the Hotel for the night. Total time = 43 hrs 50 min
The MTF did a great job organizing the start/finish, many Thanks to those that volunteer. I finished up my paperwork Saturday morning & had a bite to eat.
The IBA Party was awesome. Meeting/seeing some of the BIG DOGS of the LD & hearing stories was inspiring.
Mental & physical preparation made it a lot easier. Also having your bike prepped & tested long before the start is essential, don't need the stress leading up to a start. Having a good rainsuit is also a good plan. I didn't get wet at all despite some tough weather along with severe wind in spots. The right ergonomics is also what makes the LD rides doable, I can't imagine what the stock seat would've done to assure monkey butt. I had no problems physically except for being tired before starting so it was about the same at the finish. My hands suffered the most with the use of 4 pairs of gloves but still didn't get a blister.
Actually 14 tanks and a fill up at the end.....
I made it Home last night after a 5500 mile Journey that led me from Arizona to San Diego, CA & on to Florida then back to AZ. The centerpiece for this ride was the IBA 50CC & Party in Jacksonville. Once I decided to go for the 50CC I broke out the bicycle & started riding 4 to 5 miles a day at a fairly fast pace along with hand & arm excercises to improve my stamina. Since getting my bike back from YES middle gear replacement the second week of December '07 I have put on over 12000 miles ! I did a lot of riding prior to leaving for the 50CC in order to get some "muscle memory" for the ride.
At a young almost 58 years old & after surviving a head on truck/truck crash & combat disabilities (internal/mental) I just don't have the brain I use to. I rode over to SD the day before the start in spite of being prodded to not go since I was having a tough time with the flu, general aches & pain, lack of strength & serious loss of voice. I felt bad not being able to talk to those at the Dinner & tire kickin' plus not wanting to shake hands & pass along my germs. Recieved the pre ride instructions and finished dinner & headed back to the room for some rest. Getting rest the night before any event is tough as most of you know.
I had my alarm go off at 3:30, had the bike all packed the night before, Put on my ATGATT for the ride. Put on my LD Comfort underlayer, Warm N Safe liner, Leather Jacket, pants & boots & headed out the door. Uncovered the bike and headed next door for the starting witness form to be signed & mileage noted then off to the Shell station by the beach. I scouted the location the night before so I could easily find it. Of course the pump didn't spit out a reciept & I moved to another pump. As I took my heated gloves off to quickly I pulled the liners out ! Damn the luck anyway! So I stashed them & went to one of my other set of backup gloves for the rest of the tip, not wanting to waste time fixing the gloves. Reciept for 5:01 am & I was off !
As I headed into the mountains past SD the temps dropped & I was really thinking about the heated gloves but the liner kept my arms warm which helped keep my hands warm. Made it to Yuma for my first "splash n Dash" stop. My head was still spinnin' & throat sore as hell but I knew then I would finish barring a mechanical failure. The weather was excellent with enough overcast to keep the Sun at bay. The RD, Sirius sat. radio, & phone were all working perfect & did for the whole trip. I use custom made earbuds to help with the noise & bring in the all important RD signal along with radio/phone for the trip. I use hand lotion to keep my ears from becoming sore from earbuds, applied when I take the helmet off.
I made my way across AZ & into NM where I had a quick ARBY sandwich at a gas stop & proceeded into TX. Just before reaching El Paso there is a road (375) that takes you over the mountain & dumps you back onto I-10 past El Paso so I took it not wanting to deal with traffic there. Not long after heading down I-10 I punched up a gas stop on the GPS & made into my reserve about 10 miles before missing the off ramp & started looking for another but none ahead ! I made it many miles to a turn around & headed back to the last station. On the way East I waved at Mike Relph then Smitty much to their dismay ! Topped off & headed out again. Pretty uneventful until dark in deer country. Also saw the most cops on the whole ride in this section. Luckily there were plenty of places to use the HID lights. Talk about seeing deer! Couldn't see many but when I turned them on you could see plenty ! Caught up with Smitty again at a gas stop near Pecos exit.
I recieved weather reports from my Wife via telephone & saw rain predicted around San Antonio. I chose to make it past there to Seguin for my only sleep stop. The rain was spotty on the way there but figured it would be better to be East of the City in the morning to beat traffic & the possibility of water falling from the sky. Layed down for about 5 1/2 hrs & awoke to a bit of rain leftover from the night before. Quick top off of gas acoss the street & down the highway again.
Made it onto the outskirts of Houston & remembered some advice about toll roads around town or HOV lane. I chose to go thru town & use the HOV as much as possible. Worked out pretty well taking them everytime offered until downtown. I saw the sign "HOV LANE" with downtown under it. Looked like the other signs so I took it & a bit later was downtown on city streets ! GPS didn't update fast enough around the tall buildings so I wound up wasting a bunch of time & filling up with gas before getting on the right freeway again. Did I mention the wind ? A lot of major wind and a few spots of rain.
Finally made it out of TX and into LA. All was going well until I took I-12 across instead of going thru New Orleans on I-10. Caught up with Doug5551 and a couple of others He was riding with. I pulled up along side & waved then proceeded down the road. Not long after I came up on a stopped highway ! Bumper to bumper, stop n go for at least 5 miles. I decided to put lane sharing into effect & picked my way to the front. Turned out to be a semi with a few cop cars on the side of the road ! Damn looky lues anyway. Now back up to speed and on towards the east side of Pensacola for gas splash. I think this is where I came across Smitty again. He had stopped for an aspirin to fight off a headache & I had to stop for gas. IT WOULD'VE BEEN NICE TO HAVE AUX FUEL but I had to do with stops averaging abt 175 miles. I'm going to get a fuel cell soon, just hope I can get rid of the one I've been waiting well over a year for unless it comes first.
Once I hit Florida it was a piece of cake. A fitting finish with a bit of rain for the ride & lots of roadwork heading for the finish station. Once I filled with gas I went inside & had a diet coke to celebrate before heading to the Hotel for the night. Total time = 43 hrs 50 min
The MTF did a great job organizing the start/finish, many Thanks to those that volunteer. I finished up my paperwork Saturday morning & had a bite to eat.
The IBA Party was awesome. Meeting/seeing some of the BIG DOGS of the LD & hearing stories was inspiring.
Mental & physical preparation made it a lot easier. Also having your bike prepped & tested long before the start is essential, don't need the stress leading up to a start. Having a good rainsuit is also a good plan. I didn't get wet at all despite some tough weather along with severe wind in spots. The right ergonomics is also what makes the LD rides doable, I can't imagine what the stock seat would've done to assure monkey butt. I had no problems physically except for being tired before starting so it was about the same at the finish. My hands suffered the most with the use of 4 pairs of gloves but still didn't get a blister.
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