FJRocket
Doctor Throckenstein !!!
Just woke up after a nice sound 6 hours of sleep after a very mellow SS1K attempt. Nothing fancy or exciting here, just an out and back from my home in Indiana, all slab, down to Lil Rock and back.
I was surprised at the Saturday traffic. Almost none. Although when I was back on I-40, the other side of the interstate going west on Saturday late afternoon was nothing but bottlnecked semi for miles. My timing coming into town must have been...lucky.
The worst thing that happened was that I hit a bump so hard in downtown LR, my Roady XT launched off it's mount. I got a perfect view in the rear view of it hitting the pavement, bouncing, and just missing the minivan behind me. I said an little "oh ****", immediately knew I wouldn't go back to retrieve it, chuckled a little, then tried to contemplate the rest of the ride without it. I hadn't listened to it for about 4 hours by that time anyway. Oh well, if that's the worst that happened, that's not so bad. Need to check those rims, though...
My saddle is definitely sore. I tend not to want to stop until on vapors, and a couple legs I probably should have stopped, but "get home-itis" was getting the best of me after I hit the halfway point.
The morning was a nice lazy cruise at near the speed limit. The evening was different, and found me being passed in Arkansas by many cars when I was already doing 90. When a minivan goes around me at that speed I just gotta laugh. Of course I found a rabbit to run with, but soon fell back to a sane 80 - 85 out in no mans land as the traffic thinned.
About 200 miles from home I felt more moisture than normal. No, it wasn't bug guts, it was rain. Crap... WTF? None forecast ANYWHERE along the entire route. Then more, then more... lightning all around. No rain gear. WTF? It was already dark, and I was not looking forward to a tired ride through thunderstorms. I stopped for gas, dragged my feet, kept looking skyward. The spitting of rain had stopped and the road tracks there were already drying. I decided to go sit in Arby's for a while and get a good rest and some protein before venturing back out, expecting a VERY tough ride.
For the next 20 miles or so, I could see storms all around. Lightning everywhere.... except where I was! Turns out there was a nice little line of pop up storms in a very narrow band just at that location in southern Illinois. The IBA gods must have been smiling on me because I never got wet.
The rest of the ride, there wasn't a cloud in the sky the entire trip. What a beautiful day. I'm still beat, and my buttbone hurts. But it's a good pain. 17 hours give or take in the saddle. Man, I gotta take my hat off to you guys and gals that do this on a regular basis. It is a LOT of work and concentration, even with a cruise control, especially at the end. The last 6 hours were tough, the last two were quite difficult.
Now I have to determine whether or not to jump back out and do another 500 in the next 11 hours! Where'd I put that ibuprofen? :stunned:
I was surprised at the Saturday traffic. Almost none. Although when I was back on I-40, the other side of the interstate going west on Saturday late afternoon was nothing but bottlnecked semi for miles. My timing coming into town must have been...lucky.
The worst thing that happened was that I hit a bump so hard in downtown LR, my Roady XT launched off it's mount. I got a perfect view in the rear view of it hitting the pavement, bouncing, and just missing the minivan behind me. I said an little "oh ****", immediately knew I wouldn't go back to retrieve it, chuckled a little, then tried to contemplate the rest of the ride without it. I hadn't listened to it for about 4 hours by that time anyway. Oh well, if that's the worst that happened, that's not so bad. Need to check those rims, though...
My saddle is definitely sore. I tend not to want to stop until on vapors, and a couple legs I probably should have stopped, but "get home-itis" was getting the best of me after I hit the halfway point.
The morning was a nice lazy cruise at near the speed limit. The evening was different, and found me being passed in Arkansas by many cars when I was already doing 90. When a minivan goes around me at that speed I just gotta laugh. Of course I found a rabbit to run with, but soon fell back to a sane 80 - 85 out in no mans land as the traffic thinned.
About 200 miles from home I felt more moisture than normal. No, it wasn't bug guts, it was rain. Crap... WTF? None forecast ANYWHERE along the entire route. Then more, then more... lightning all around. No rain gear. WTF? It was already dark, and I was not looking forward to a tired ride through thunderstorms. I stopped for gas, dragged my feet, kept looking skyward. The spitting of rain had stopped and the road tracks there were already drying. I decided to go sit in Arby's for a while and get a good rest and some protein before venturing back out, expecting a VERY tough ride.
For the next 20 miles or so, I could see storms all around. Lightning everywhere.... except where I was! Turns out there was a nice little line of pop up storms in a very narrow band just at that location in southern Illinois. The IBA gods must have been smiling on me because I never got wet.
The rest of the ride, there wasn't a cloud in the sky the entire trip. What a beautiful day. I'm still beat, and my buttbone hurts. But it's a good pain. 17 hours give or take in the saddle. Man, I gotta take my hat off to you guys and gals that do this on a regular basis. It is a LOT of work and concentration, even with a cruise control, especially at the end. The last 6 hours were tough, the last two were quite difficult.
Now I have to determine whether or not to jump back out and do another 500 in the next 11 hours! Where'd I put that ibuprofen? :stunned:
