jocko87
Well-known member
After 9 days of watching, routing and jonesing I finally couldn't take it anymore, I had to go someplace. Naturally while I was doing my fantasy IBR legs I kept thinking of rides I wanted to do and it hit me that everything was lining up perfectly to be able to go, so I went. I wanted to finally knock out an IB certification and I was out of excuses.
From Wichita it's easy to find a ride in any direction that can be certified but not much in the way of specialty (50cc or B2B type) available. I have concocted a ride that would be a border to border and an SS3k, for a little extra challenge it could be done as a B2B insanity with a BBG on top. With the heat being what is was, I wanted to scout the northern leg and decided to head for Canada on Canada Day.
One of the things working in my favor was my recent work schedule, up at 4am and early to bed for the last few weeks had my clock set well. I just went straight to be after work Thursday and was extremely well rested when I left the house just after 5am on Friday. I figured the earlier I left the better in order to beat the heat.
It was a pretty uneventful ride overall. The northern route was Hwy 81 to I80 to I29. I hit a snag in Omaha with large sections of I29 being closed for flooding. The detour was around an hour and 45 miles having to run east on I80 to pick up I680 west again. I mis-interpreted the small detour sign and ended up at the closure and having to go back around to pick up I80. The rest of the way I had a nice ride in the cold edge of a thunderstorm, I put on the raingear for one tank and saw rain for about an hour. Nothing exciting happened and I got to the border around 8pm.
Being Canada day I figured would grab dinner somewhere in Emerson but I couldn't find a single restaurant in the town or anywhere nearby. There was a party going on in the park put no place to get a receipt so I headed back south. I finally hung it up and grabbed a motel in Sisseton, SD at 1 am, after about 1250 miles. I felt like a BBG was in reach but I hadn't set out to do one and the lost time from detours and farting around at the border made it a more difficult task than it needed to be so I shut it down.
I slept for a good seven hours and got back on the road about 8:45 to head home. I stayed with 81 this time and had a much slower time with all the holiday traffic but it's a decent road was fine. I stopped for a receipt and witness in Concordia, KS (1650 miles) at the end of the 36 hour period to document the Bunburner before heading the rest of the way home.
I do think one of my next LD rides will be to Bill Meyer saddles for an adjustment though. I felt like it was the only thing holding me back, obviously better than a stocker but I was never really settled in and developed a very tight, tingly nerve in my right upper back that I am sure comes from the seat. The least comfortable leg was the second tank of gas, after that it was pretty numb the rest of the way. If I can get that fixed I could really cover some miles, it will be mandatory before any SS3k or anything like that. I also lost bulbs in both of my PIAA 1100x's on the second day. Other then that the bike was flawless as usual.
Total for the ride was 1881 miles in 38 hours, including detours. I made good and sure to get a few extra miles on each leg since I couldn't document detours so it shouldn't be a problem to certify an SS1k and a BB 1500. I'm also pretty sure a B2B the long way is very doable. I was in great shape when I got home and went straight to a BBQ after a shower and shave.
It was alot of fun explaining where I went to a bunch of non-LD riders...
"You went where?"
"Canada."
"Why?"
"Bored."
"What did you do there?"
"Turned around."
"Weird."
"Yup."
From Wichita it's easy to find a ride in any direction that can be certified but not much in the way of specialty (50cc or B2B type) available. I have concocted a ride that would be a border to border and an SS3k, for a little extra challenge it could be done as a B2B insanity with a BBG on top. With the heat being what is was, I wanted to scout the northern leg and decided to head for Canada on Canada Day.
One of the things working in my favor was my recent work schedule, up at 4am and early to bed for the last few weeks had my clock set well. I just went straight to be after work Thursday and was extremely well rested when I left the house just after 5am on Friday. I figured the earlier I left the better in order to beat the heat.
It was a pretty uneventful ride overall. The northern route was Hwy 81 to I80 to I29. I hit a snag in Omaha with large sections of I29 being closed for flooding. The detour was around an hour and 45 miles having to run east on I80 to pick up I680 west again. I mis-interpreted the small detour sign and ended up at the closure and having to go back around to pick up I80. The rest of the way I had a nice ride in the cold edge of a thunderstorm, I put on the raingear for one tank and saw rain for about an hour. Nothing exciting happened and I got to the border around 8pm.
Being Canada day I figured would grab dinner somewhere in Emerson but I couldn't find a single restaurant in the town or anywhere nearby. There was a party going on in the park put no place to get a receipt so I headed back south. I finally hung it up and grabbed a motel in Sisseton, SD at 1 am, after about 1250 miles. I felt like a BBG was in reach but I hadn't set out to do one and the lost time from detours and farting around at the border made it a more difficult task than it needed to be so I shut it down.
I slept for a good seven hours and got back on the road about 8:45 to head home. I stayed with 81 this time and had a much slower time with all the holiday traffic but it's a decent road was fine. I stopped for a receipt and witness in Concordia, KS (1650 miles) at the end of the 36 hour period to document the Bunburner before heading the rest of the way home.
I do think one of my next LD rides will be to Bill Meyer saddles for an adjustment though. I felt like it was the only thing holding me back, obviously better than a stocker but I was never really settled in and developed a very tight, tingly nerve in my right upper back that I am sure comes from the seat. The least comfortable leg was the second tank of gas, after that it was pretty numb the rest of the way. If I can get that fixed I could really cover some miles, it will be mandatory before any SS3k or anything like that. I also lost bulbs in both of my PIAA 1100x's on the second day. Other then that the bike was flawless as usual.
Total for the ride was 1881 miles in 38 hours, including detours. I made good and sure to get a few extra miles on each leg since I couldn't document detours so it shouldn't be a problem to certify an SS1k and a BB 1500. I'm also pretty sure a B2B the long way is very doable. I was in great shape when I got home and went straight to a BBQ after a shower and shave.
It was alot of fun explaining where I went to a bunch of non-LD riders...
"You went where?"
"Canada."
"Why?"
"Bored."
"What did you do there?"
"Turned around."
"Weird."
"Yup."
