TriggerT
Mr. Impatient
During the five days (almost to the minute) I was gone for NAFO, I managed to complete 3 IBA rides, so I thought I would toot my own horn a little bit, and share a little of my experiences. Two of the rides are awaiting certification from the IBA staff, but I feel confident that all of my paperwork is in order.
First up was a Bun Burner Gold on the way out to NAFO:
I left Rockford IL (Home) at 8:42 pm on 7/22. From Rockford I headed up to Fargo N.D, and from there down to Omaha, NE, and then finally out to Golden, CO. Despite hitting a ton of traffic and construction during the first two hours of the ride, I was well ahead of schedule by the time I reached Omaha, enough so that I caught TwistedCricket who I was meeting up with for the final leg a little off guard. This actually worked out very well, since while I was waiting for him to get to our meeting spot I was able to have a quick bite to eat. By the time I had reached Omaha, I was about 1K miles into the ride, and was actually feeling WAY better than I thought I would. Things had gone smoothly, the weather had been good, and what construction I had hit had only slowed me ever so slightly. I believe I covered that first thousand miles in about 14 or 14.5 hours.
The remaining 500 or so miles from Omaha to Golden were some of the hardest, hottest, and longest miles I have ever ridden. At one point the temperature hit 102 degrees, we were detoured about 20-30 miles off of the freeway due to construction, it started to rain, and then for the very last section before getting into the Denver area we had massive crosswinds.
By the time we reached NAFO central I was smoked, and needed to get off the bike. Here are the readings from my GPS, and yes, I may have exceeded the posted speed limit just a touch while crossing the barren waste lands of western NE or eastern CO.
I then took it easy on Thursday of NAFO and just road a few hundred miles with TwistedCricket, and got back to the hotel in time to organize a few things for the next days ride, and attend the riders briefing for the NAFO Colorado SS1K.
After Beeroux explained what the difference was between a T-O-W-E-L and a shirt, or flag, or banner, or dirty underwear was, I hot footed it up to my room and put the route into my GPS for the ride. By the time I was done I had about 5 hours in which to try and get some sleep; I had 5 hours, but I only managed to get about 45 minutes of sleep. I was just way too pumped up for the ride.
At 5:00 am Friday morning all of the SS1K riders were lined up in front of the hotel, and after we received a guided tour of the parking lot, we managed to get under way. One of the other riders commented to me later at the banquette about what the cagers on I-70 must have thought when out of nowhere 20 plus bikes came flying, I mean slowly passed them. I would love to know what they thought of the sight.
The route Beeroux put together for this SS1K was nothing short of FOOKING AWESOME. It has been said a lot already, but it was OUTSTANDING. I had started the day with a string of minor mishaps, and even thought about withdrawing, but in the end I ended up riding with a group of 4 riders for most of the day, though we never agreed to stay together it just ended up that way. Just north of Durango, we hit construction, and after sitting at a dead stop for 5 minutes, I figured out that there was a frontage road I could take as a detour. As I was back tracking I yelled to one rider, who turned out to be "FJR Rider", that there was a way around, and I was going. Apparently he decided to do the same thing, since he caught up with me at our next stop in Silverton.
FJR Rider and I played "catch-up, keep-up" the rest of the afternoon, and were together by the time we reached the last stop we needed to document for the route, just North of Naturita. Here is one of only 8 pictures I took during the entire ride.
In the end, FJR Rider and I finished the route in exactly 18 hours. I have no doubt in my mind that that was the absolute best time I could do this kick-*** route in. Actually, if Scott (FJR Rider) hadn't been with me, I know I wouldn't have been as inspired to keep pushing. In the end, we only had 1 hour and 2 minutes of stopped time for the entire day.
IBA ride #2 for this trip was done.
I spent Saturday cleaning my, to me anyway, very dirty bike.
And then running a few errands.
At 4:00 am Sunday morning I met up with Blue Bullet, FJRocket, and Pending in the parking lot of the hotel, to start the 1100 mile grind home. We hoped to beat the heat by getting an early start, which worked out more or less.
The absolute best part of this ride was the GORGIOUS sunrise we were treated to while riding through Eastern CO.
Here is FJRocket leading our charge East into the sun:
The rest of the route was not quite as exciting, as I think this picture of Blue Bullet illustrates:
The 4 of us leap-frogged across the great plains, making good time, and trying to stay cool. Here are Silent and FJRocket:
I peeled off from the other 3 guys when we reached Kansas City, to head up into Iowa. That is when things really got interesting. Just before I reached Des Moines some serious looking clouds began to show up. I pulled off on the Eastern side of Des Moines to get gas, where the gas station clerk told me all of the bad weather was still off to the west, and that I would stay ahead of it. "I doubt you will even get wet." FOOKER!! Luckily, I took a few minutes to close some of my vents, and put on rain covers despite the clerks sagacious advice, because for the next 2.5 hours I rode through some of the worst rain I have ever experienced on 2 wheels. I felt the bike loose traction at least twice. It didn't help that there was a 2 foot wide tar snake that ran between the two lanes for at least 30 miles. Rain and tar snakes do not make for good traction, even if you are running PR2's.
The rain finally stopped by the time I hit the IL border, and from there it was a spirited ride following a few sports cars. I pulled into my driveway 4 days, 23 hours, and 9 minutes from the time I had started out. I had covered 4057 miles according to the odometer on the bike, so probably just over 4K miles in reality. I feel confident I bagged 3 IBA certificates, I had NO encounters with any LEO, and kept the bike upright at all times. All in all, it was a great trip.
The only bad part is that I now am stuck at work for the foreseeable future, with no upcoming plans for a motorcycle trip.
Thanks again to EVERYONE who made both NAFO possible, and helped to make my rides possible. :yahoo:
First up was a Bun Burner Gold on the way out to NAFO:
I left Rockford IL (Home) at 8:42 pm on 7/22. From Rockford I headed up to Fargo N.D, and from there down to Omaha, NE, and then finally out to Golden, CO. Despite hitting a ton of traffic and construction during the first two hours of the ride, I was well ahead of schedule by the time I reached Omaha, enough so that I caught TwistedCricket who I was meeting up with for the final leg a little off guard. This actually worked out very well, since while I was waiting for him to get to our meeting spot I was able to have a quick bite to eat. By the time I had reached Omaha, I was about 1K miles into the ride, and was actually feeling WAY better than I thought I would. Things had gone smoothly, the weather had been good, and what construction I had hit had only slowed me ever so slightly. I believe I covered that first thousand miles in about 14 or 14.5 hours.
The remaining 500 or so miles from Omaha to Golden were some of the hardest, hottest, and longest miles I have ever ridden. At one point the temperature hit 102 degrees, we were detoured about 20-30 miles off of the freeway due to construction, it started to rain, and then for the very last section before getting into the Denver area we had massive crosswinds.
By the time we reached NAFO central I was smoked, and needed to get off the bike. Here are the readings from my GPS, and yes, I may have exceeded the posted speed limit just a touch while crossing the barren waste lands of western NE or eastern CO.
I then took it easy on Thursday of NAFO and just road a few hundred miles with TwistedCricket, and got back to the hotel in time to organize a few things for the next days ride, and attend the riders briefing for the NAFO Colorado SS1K.
After Beeroux explained what the difference was between a T-O-W-E-L and a shirt, or flag, or banner, or dirty underwear was, I hot footed it up to my room and put the route into my GPS for the ride. By the time I was done I had about 5 hours in which to try and get some sleep; I had 5 hours, but I only managed to get about 45 minutes of sleep. I was just way too pumped up for the ride.
At 5:00 am Friday morning all of the SS1K riders were lined up in front of the hotel, and after we received a guided tour of the parking lot, we managed to get under way. One of the other riders commented to me later at the banquette about what the cagers on I-70 must have thought when out of nowhere 20 plus bikes came flying, I mean slowly passed them. I would love to know what they thought of the sight.
The route Beeroux put together for this SS1K was nothing short of FOOKING AWESOME. It has been said a lot already, but it was OUTSTANDING. I had started the day with a string of minor mishaps, and even thought about withdrawing, but in the end I ended up riding with a group of 4 riders for most of the day, though we never agreed to stay together it just ended up that way. Just north of Durango, we hit construction, and after sitting at a dead stop for 5 minutes, I figured out that there was a frontage road I could take as a detour. As I was back tracking I yelled to one rider, who turned out to be "FJR Rider", that there was a way around, and I was going. Apparently he decided to do the same thing, since he caught up with me at our next stop in Silverton.
FJR Rider and I played "catch-up, keep-up" the rest of the afternoon, and were together by the time we reached the last stop we needed to document for the route, just North of Naturita. Here is one of only 8 pictures I took during the entire ride.
In the end, FJR Rider and I finished the route in exactly 18 hours. I have no doubt in my mind that that was the absolute best time I could do this kick-*** route in. Actually, if Scott (FJR Rider) hadn't been with me, I know I wouldn't have been as inspired to keep pushing. In the end, we only had 1 hour and 2 minutes of stopped time for the entire day.
IBA ride #2 for this trip was done.
I spent Saturday cleaning my, to me anyway, very dirty bike.
And then running a few errands.
At 4:00 am Sunday morning I met up with Blue Bullet, FJRocket, and Pending in the parking lot of the hotel, to start the 1100 mile grind home. We hoped to beat the heat by getting an early start, which worked out more or less.
The absolute best part of this ride was the GORGIOUS sunrise we were treated to while riding through Eastern CO.
Here is FJRocket leading our charge East into the sun:
The rest of the route was not quite as exciting, as I think this picture of Blue Bullet illustrates:
The 4 of us leap-frogged across the great plains, making good time, and trying to stay cool. Here are Silent and FJRocket:
I peeled off from the other 3 guys when we reached Kansas City, to head up into Iowa. That is when things really got interesting. Just before I reached Des Moines some serious looking clouds began to show up. I pulled off on the Eastern side of Des Moines to get gas, where the gas station clerk told me all of the bad weather was still off to the west, and that I would stay ahead of it. "I doubt you will even get wet." FOOKER!! Luckily, I took a few minutes to close some of my vents, and put on rain covers despite the clerks sagacious advice, because for the next 2.5 hours I rode through some of the worst rain I have ever experienced on 2 wheels. I felt the bike loose traction at least twice. It didn't help that there was a 2 foot wide tar snake that ran between the two lanes for at least 30 miles. Rain and tar snakes do not make for good traction, even if you are running PR2's.
The rain finally stopped by the time I hit the IL border, and from there it was a spirited ride following a few sports cars. I pulled into my driveway 4 days, 23 hours, and 9 minutes from the time I had started out. I had covered 4057 miles according to the odometer on the bike, so probably just over 4K miles in reality. I feel confident I bagged 3 IBA certificates, I had NO encounters with any LEO, and kept the bike upright at all times. All in all, it was a great trip.
The only bad part is that I now am stuck at work for the foreseeable future, with no upcoming plans for a motorcycle trip.
Thanks again to EVERYONE who made both NAFO possible, and helped to make my rides possible. :yahoo:
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