Alright now that I have had a good night's sleep here are some of my thoughts and also some piccies after completing my first SS1000.
1) First off
a big thankyou to everyone for the sage advice I took before heading out - I listened and applied resulting in a safe and successful ride!
Also, thanks to everyone for their kind words and support in this thread. I didn't have time to read and reply on the road - the Blackberry was great for posting progress but I didn't have high speed access.
2) Ensure you get adequate sleep/rest before heading out - this is an endurance run, not a race (at least not yet).
3) Hydration and food are key! I maintained with Gatorade and power bars. Worked well for me.
4) Take your time and don't get frustrated - I must admit I got frustrated on the second to last leg with the amount of holiday traffic on the road. I made one pass in particular which in hindsight was optimistic and stupid - could have been a very bad outcome especially given I was probably in about hour 13 of the trip. Lesson learned.
5) Ride your ride and enjoy it!. There is lots of time to complete so ride within your capabilities and enjoy the scenery (unless its a torrential downpour).
Some other thoughts:
1) I am truly addicted - :yahoo: - this was an absolute blast and I had so much fun. I had no idea it was going to be so enjoyable and rewarding. I am already thinking about the next one and perhaps some day an IBR!!!
2) Before this trip, I had contemplated upgrading my seat to a Russell. In fact I was dreading this ride on the stock seat but I had no choice. However, I am shocked at how good I feel after the 1000 plus miles in the stock seat. I attribute it mostly to moving around a fair bit (using highway pegs, sitting on pillion seat, crouching over tank, etc.) and making more frequent stops. I did not ride maximum mileage tank to tank but rather limited my fuel stops to about 200 miles in between. At each stop, I also got off the bike and walked around so I could provide my "live" Blackberry updates so that also helped. (I think my wife was more shocked at how good I felt!). That being said, I still think I will look at upgrading to a Russell especially if I am going to do more of this.
2) I have a 2730 and in-ear plugs (not custom molded) - I listened to XM radio and had preprogrammed my route so this was one less thing to stress about. Also, the data updates in terms of ETA, etc. was reassuring that I was on pace to be successful. After wearing in-ear plugs (JVC) for nearly 19 hours, my ears were a wee bit tender but not uncomfortably so - but I was sure glad to take them out when I was done!
3) I also have a V-Stream which helped immensely in making for a quiet and fairly effortless ride - this certainly contributed to significantly reducing the fatigue factor. It also helped keeping the wind off when the temps dipped to 5 Celsius south of Valemount in the am (my boys were sure glad I had an 05 heater
).
Okay, enough is enough, here are some pictures. Enjoy!
This is the Blue River Bear which everytime I drive by always has tourists taking a picture so I decided to join them.
This is Mount Robson in... wait for it... Mount Robson Park!
This is Moose Lake, also in Mount Robson Park
Cruising down the Jasper Park highway...
Duh... How do the wildlife know how to read? What school do they go to?
Apparently these guys went to the the right school....
Uhh, yeah that is me...
As Tom Cochrane once said, "Life is a highway..."
The Garmin stats:
And for the metrically challenged:
Once again a big thanks to everyone - this was truly an awesome adventure!
Rich
