E.T.
Well-known member
I have been thinking about trying a SaddleSore 1000 ride, after reading the SS2000 Gold ride that sportrides did, I made my attempt yesterday.
Some rambling...
I have been on vacation since Thanksgiving and babying myself because of my hip hurting, probably from a pinched nerve, that has been bothering me since Thanksgiving. I started doing core exercises and stretches, and each day feeling better, then Friday, I made the decision to go for it. I secretly dreaded making that decision because it meant I needed to put a new tire on the front of the FJR if I were to take it for the 1000 mile ride. But making the decision to ride also brought a solution that I never pondered before, and that was... I have another motorcycle that would be capable of performing this ride that had decent tires... a Hondapotamus! The poor thing had not seen much daylight in the last couple of years since we got the FJR.... Soooo Friday I gave the Hondapotamus a general look-see and after some fresh air in the tires, decided it was good to go.
I had a nice evening with the wife and supper later with her and my brother and sister-in-law at the local Cracker Barrel. I was off to bed about 9 PM with the alarm set to wake me up at 3:30 AM so I would be able to hit the road by about 4 ish. Well, I woke up about 2 AM and decided to go ahead and get up, get ready, and leave since I was feeling okay with the hip.
Earlier in the week I used Google Maps to come up with a route I thought I would be happy with and entered that into my gps. Along with the route, I entered as many of the truck stops I could find along the route, so I would have those icons showing on the gps screen, for if I were to deviate from the “plan”. The route was sort of hour glass shaped with a common path that crossed in the middle of it.
The “plan”...
Basic: Take I-265 around Louisville to I-64 to Lexington, down I-75 to Knoxville and down to Chattanooga, crossing over to I-24 to connect with I-59 to run down to just outside Birmingham, almost halfway by then. Then I-459 and connect to I-20 on the outside of Atlanta and head up I-285 and take I-75 back to Chattanooga and cross back over a part of I-24 that I crossed earlier to continue North to Nashville to pick up I-65 back to Louisville. About 1030 miles.
What happened... some that wasn't part of the “plan”.
I didn't connect up to the bike electrically for the heated gear (that I was wearing) to work when I first left out. The first three hours were difficult as the temperature dropped into the lower 30's a lot (mostly 34) during the first couple hundred miles before reaching the first planned stop. I had looked at the forecast for all the major cities along the route and none of them mentioned 30's... all were I thought were 50's plus for the lows. I didn't think about all the in between locations.... brrrrrr
The first planned stop also brought to my attention that I had planned the route with the FJR in mind, as far as the distance between stops was concerned. That first stop, I pumped over 6 gallons back into the Hondapotamus!
The second gas stop between Chattanooga and Birmingham went just fine.
I had never been on I-59 and was surprised at the quality (or lack thereof) of some of the road surface. The right lane was something to stay away from. Thump, de-thump... de-thump... I rode most the way South on I-59 in the passing lane, moving to the right when another vehicle approached me from behind, and then pull back into the passing lane when possible.
I know now that I should have gotten my gas first before eating, just to get the time stamp at my next stop. As it stands now, I have to use my log entry to document my stopping time for this part of the journey. I stopped at the Cracker Barrel just outside of Birmingham for some breakfast (even tho locally it was closer to lunch time). After getting my receipts, food and then gas, I realized I was in a different time zone and later, (when processing my receipts), found out that the earlier stop up North was also in different time zone. I was able to use some information I had read linked at the Iron Butt site, (25 Tips), for my breakfast selection. Was nice to have a decent break.
Heading East on I-20 to I-285. I stopped on the outside of Atlanta (to document the other corner of my ride) just off of I-285. This brought another lack of detail to my attention. I had failed to research this stop thoroughly because when I pulled into the lane to enter the truck stop, there was a manned shack ahead of me. This place was a gated community! You had to be driving a truck to gain access. I had to turn around and get gas elsewhere... I was just wondering what those truckers were saying.. I got gas next door at a Shell station that looked abandoned. It was at that point I wish I were packing. So all this cost me some time... I guess you can never over research...
Running up towards Nashville from Atlanta brought to my attention that I again failed to throughly go over my route. When I got close to my next to last gas stop just South of Nashville, I checked the gps to see how far I was from the end and realized that if I just stopped 30 miles later for gas (which I had enough gas to do), I could eliminate the next planned gas stop. So I did just that and then called the wife to let her know my planned arrival time and off I go.
I'm on the last leg home! Just South of Nashville and it's getting dark. I remembered to change back to my clear face shield at the last stop, so I didn't need to stop to do that along the way. I also remembered to connect my electrics up! (Remembered my experience on my first leg of this journey) Now I was to experience something I didn't think of. I was getting tired/sleepy! I go to bed early and get up early, have been for years. I am feeling it now. The last part of this leg brought that to my attention.
I arrive at my ending location where my witness works and gas up to get my ending time slip. With most of the known details already filled in, I enter the missing details and get my witness to sign off and I head home.
Start 2:51AM, End 7:24 PM
I came away a changed man.
Some rambling...
I have been on vacation since Thanksgiving and babying myself because of my hip hurting, probably from a pinched nerve, that has been bothering me since Thanksgiving. I started doing core exercises and stretches, and each day feeling better, then Friday, I made the decision to go for it. I secretly dreaded making that decision because it meant I needed to put a new tire on the front of the FJR if I were to take it for the 1000 mile ride. But making the decision to ride also brought a solution that I never pondered before, and that was... I have another motorcycle that would be capable of performing this ride that had decent tires... a Hondapotamus! The poor thing had not seen much daylight in the last couple of years since we got the FJR.... Soooo Friday I gave the Hondapotamus a general look-see and after some fresh air in the tires, decided it was good to go.
I had a nice evening with the wife and supper later with her and my brother and sister-in-law at the local Cracker Barrel. I was off to bed about 9 PM with the alarm set to wake me up at 3:30 AM so I would be able to hit the road by about 4 ish. Well, I woke up about 2 AM and decided to go ahead and get up, get ready, and leave since I was feeling okay with the hip.
Earlier in the week I used Google Maps to come up with a route I thought I would be happy with and entered that into my gps. Along with the route, I entered as many of the truck stops I could find along the route, so I would have those icons showing on the gps screen, for if I were to deviate from the “plan”. The route was sort of hour glass shaped with a common path that crossed in the middle of it.
The “plan”...
Basic: Take I-265 around Louisville to I-64 to Lexington, down I-75 to Knoxville and down to Chattanooga, crossing over to I-24 to connect with I-59 to run down to just outside Birmingham, almost halfway by then. Then I-459 and connect to I-20 on the outside of Atlanta and head up I-285 and take I-75 back to Chattanooga and cross back over a part of I-24 that I crossed earlier to continue North to Nashville to pick up I-65 back to Louisville. About 1030 miles.
What happened... some that wasn't part of the “plan”.
I didn't connect up to the bike electrically for the heated gear (that I was wearing) to work when I first left out. The first three hours were difficult as the temperature dropped into the lower 30's a lot (mostly 34) during the first couple hundred miles before reaching the first planned stop. I had looked at the forecast for all the major cities along the route and none of them mentioned 30's... all were I thought were 50's plus for the lows. I didn't think about all the in between locations.... brrrrrr
The first planned stop also brought to my attention that I had planned the route with the FJR in mind, as far as the distance between stops was concerned. That first stop, I pumped over 6 gallons back into the Hondapotamus!
The second gas stop between Chattanooga and Birmingham went just fine.
I had never been on I-59 and was surprised at the quality (or lack thereof) of some of the road surface. The right lane was something to stay away from. Thump, de-thump... de-thump... I rode most the way South on I-59 in the passing lane, moving to the right when another vehicle approached me from behind, and then pull back into the passing lane when possible.
I know now that I should have gotten my gas first before eating, just to get the time stamp at my next stop. As it stands now, I have to use my log entry to document my stopping time for this part of the journey. I stopped at the Cracker Barrel just outside of Birmingham for some breakfast (even tho locally it was closer to lunch time). After getting my receipts, food and then gas, I realized I was in a different time zone and later, (when processing my receipts), found out that the earlier stop up North was also in different time zone. I was able to use some information I had read linked at the Iron Butt site, (25 Tips), for my breakfast selection. Was nice to have a decent break.
Heading East on I-20 to I-285. I stopped on the outside of Atlanta (to document the other corner of my ride) just off of I-285. This brought another lack of detail to my attention. I had failed to research this stop thoroughly because when I pulled into the lane to enter the truck stop, there was a manned shack ahead of me. This place was a gated community! You had to be driving a truck to gain access. I had to turn around and get gas elsewhere... I was just wondering what those truckers were saying.. I got gas next door at a Shell station that looked abandoned. It was at that point I wish I were packing. So all this cost me some time... I guess you can never over research...
Running up towards Nashville from Atlanta brought to my attention that I again failed to throughly go over my route. When I got close to my next to last gas stop just South of Nashville, I checked the gps to see how far I was from the end and realized that if I just stopped 30 miles later for gas (which I had enough gas to do), I could eliminate the next planned gas stop. So I did just that and then called the wife to let her know my planned arrival time and off I go.
I'm on the last leg home! Just South of Nashville and it's getting dark. I remembered to change back to my clear face shield at the last stop, so I didn't need to stop to do that along the way. I also remembered to connect my electrics up! (Remembered my experience on my first leg of this journey) Now I was to experience something I didn't think of. I was getting tired/sleepy! I go to bed early and get up early, have been for years. I am feeling it now. The last part of this leg brought that to my attention.
I arrive at my ending location where my witness works and gas up to get my ending time slip. With most of the known details already filled in, I enter the missing details and get my witness to sign off and I head home.
Start 2:51AM, End 7:24 PM
I came away a changed man.
