I will say this....This is NOT a ride everyone should consider doing.
It is by far the longest mileage day I've ever done on a bike and it's not for everyone.
I know my limits to riding tired. I know what I need to watch out for and when I need to stop and rest (which is why it took me so long to do yesterday), I took lots of little breaks, pull off an exit, stop & stretch for a minute & then take off again.
Was it a wise decision for me to do this on a new to me bike? Probably not, but knowing about the bike what I know, it wasn't a bad decision. The bike is setup for long distance rides and I had already told Brandi (my wife) that if I wasn't comfortable on the bike, or trying to finish the ride the next stop would be a hotel room for the night once I got to that point, I never got to that point.
As stated though, an IBA ride isn't for everyone. I had done my homework, I've logged some long (time-wise) days in the saddle of the SV (10-12 hours and 3-400 miles of backroads), so I knew I could handle the time. The big thing is don't let yourself get fatigued, stay hydrated and rested. Stop more often than you need to, even if it's just to stretch for a minute before taking off again.
For me, hydration was the key (as it is in most everything I do it seems). Hydration is more important to me than food (even though it's important), I never got hungry on this trip and only stopped to eat because, in my mind, I knew I had to, not because I was hungry. The rain in the gulf kept the temperature down and it was fairly cool through Georgia and into SC (where I was when the sun went down) or else I'd have drank more, but I still drank something in the neighborhood of 3 or 4 quarts of water & 2 quarts of Powerade from the camelback. Had I not stayed hydrated I would have never made it through this ride. Even with as much as I drank (including a Vault that I drank in NC) I was still dehydrated when I made it home, but not bad enough for it to affect me, just enough to know I was.
As for my route, I had planned it out in advance (from the time that I knew I was flying down to buy this bike) and had an idea for what I was getting into. The only change to the plan was while doing some maintenance and farkle wiring on the bike, Brian mentioned riding into Slidell for the night and avoiding New Orleans first thing in the morning and I modified the route a bit to accommodate that, it wasn't a wise decision, but it was the better decision in my mind looking back due to all of the rain that I rode through first thing yesterday morning.
Even though I knew it would, I had convinced myself that the rain wouldn't slow me down. In reality, the rain slowed me down quite a bit. I believe I easily lost half an hour due to riding extremely carefully in the rain. Cold tires, in the rain, pre-dawn, in an area you don't know, with high cross-winds is not a confidence inspiring start to a 1000 mile ride. So needless to say, I took it very easy the first few hours (I was in and out of the rain all the way to De Funiak Springs, FL (240 miles roughly), and mostly in...). I also waited another hour for the rain to slack/pass before leaving, I had planned a 5 AM departure, but pushed it out until 6 AM due to the weather, this put me in the easiest part of the rain that was over Slidell & I thought it would put me behind the rain heading east, but it didn't work out that way. I was in the rain for about 15 miles and then it dried up, I was thinking I had timed it right & would be behind it a while...that lasted about 25-30 miles then it was rain almost all the way into De Funiak Springs, FL....Once I made it into Georgia though, I was in the clear and only ran into one quick shower in Greenville, SC.
The only problem other than the rain was simply my hitting the wall a few times (long boring interstate miles), which was remedied with a rest stop. The worst point was easily just after sunset, which has always been my worst time to get tired while riding/driving, so I planned a stop just after sunset to change visors and rest, and another one an hour or so later. Looking back I should have pushed up the second one a bit and not tried to ride the hour or so I had planned, it would have been better! The next time I really hit the wall was around my normal bed time (9-10 PM CST) and I planned another rest stop around then to get off the bike, stretch a bit and get through that rough patch. See what I mean about knowing YOUR limits? The rest of the way home (250ish miles) was just a breeze, stop every 50-100 miles to stretch and get off the bike. The most interesting part was going through "the gorge" between Newport, TN and Ashville, NC at night with little traffic, no cops and a GREAT set of headlights on the bike! The first "twisties" I had gotten to on the bike! :woot:
When you complete your SS1000, Maybe I'll come over on another
