Ultimate Coast to Coast to Coast

[101stpathfinder]

blah...blah....blah......fun Alaska trip......blah......blah......blah

I can't believe you went without me you fecking bastard!

Skooter,

To avoid any "Problems" with you...

You are officially INVITED to join up on this ride.

But... I doubt I'll be able to keep up with your speeds.

 

[user 213]

That's a nice looking bike Tony. And an aggressive trip plan. The SO has a F650GS twin and loaded up, it can be a bit much to ask it do do 80 in less than perfect conditions. I have my doubts that you will being doing back to back steady days like that w/o issues. Get a really good chain oiler and set it up carefully. Take an extra chain, chain tool, master links and plenty of lube with you. Some form of throttle lock, consider some add on wings at the handguards to actually give you some weather protection in the rain for your hands and maybe a front fender so a bit less crap gets tossed up on you and the bike. You might need to take it off if the mud gets really nasty, but you'll be a lot happier if it's just a little wet.

Mapquest says 86 hours from Key West to Fairbanks. You'd be giving yourself 10 hours to off the bike in 4 days. That's considering you actually make the Mapquest time on the little GS packed for the trip. That's a stupid timeline. Especially on a little bike, for a ride that they give you 30 days to complete one way. Take a really hard look at what you are attempting to do and why. You may succeed in the one way run and getting back to Fairbanks, but by that time you will be in serious sleep deprivation and just bone tired from getting beat up on the little bike. If your sole reason for the tight time line is your lack of vacation time, park your ambition for another year and do a shorter ride on the GS to see how it and you handle long days together with a full load. Throw in some nice long gravel stretches in the middle of a week of back to back 1200 mile days and see how you feel. Or knock out a weekend BBG with a couple of hundred miles of gravel and see how that screws with your time line. Shit it takes most of a day to just get out of FL from KW. I rode from KW to Sidney, NE in 54 hours, but that was strait thru w/o sleep or any stops except for gas, with a 450 mile range. That's a bit over half way on your route, putting you into the edge of the Dakotas on day three, likely with another 50 hours of riding and the unpredictable construction zones on the AlCan and unpredictable conditions of the Haul Road.

Can it be done? Sure, but why? Leave stuff like that to the jobless freaks. Have some fun and a ride to remember, not just "every state looks the same in the dark" for your UCC.

 

[SkooterG]

blah...blah....blah......fun Alaska trip......blah......blah......blah

I can't believe you went without me you fecking bastard!

Skooter,

To avoid any "Problems" with you...

You are officially INVITED to join up on this ride.

But... I doubt I'll be able to keep up with your speeds.

Me? I am a slowpoke. That's how I get those big miles on tires.

 

[beemerdons]

blah...blah....blah......fun Alaska trip......blah......blah......blah

I can't believe you went without me you fecking bastard!

Skooter,

To avoid any "Problems" with you...

You are officially INVITED to join up on this ride.

But... I doubt I'll be able to keep up with your speeds.

Me? I am a slowpoke. That's how I get those big miles on tires.

Whatever you say, Pinocchio!

 

[JimNtexas]

I have two friends, Billy and Tracy, who just finished a multi-year riding goal of riding to all fifty states.

Normally Billy rode a Honda VFR and Tracy rode a Busa. They've made a series of videos over the last few years on their rides they call 'By Way of Motorcycle'.

Last summer they completed their last ride, from Omaha Nebraska to Purdoe Bay and back via Seattle, in 22 days. Instead of riding their normal ST bikes they bought and rode KLRs.

I should mention that Tracy is an accomplished motorcycle mechanic, and for this ride he took the bikes completely apart and rebuilt them. And when I say 'completely apart', I mean exactly that (

- 6 minute point).
Anyway, they made the ride. Billy had some comments on this experience that may be relevant to your ride in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQMXlumPYcs

He's discussing why he didn't capture as much video as he had hoped, but the part relevant to your question is roughly between 3 minutes and 7 minutes on this video.

Billy and Tracy are friendly guys, if you want to contact them you can do so via youtube, or PM me.

Billy is a terrific video editor, as this trailer for his 'coming soon' Alaska videos shows:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXrj0pbrAV8

 

[101stpathfinder]

That's a nice looking bike Tony. And an aggressive trip plan. The SO has a F650GS twin and loaded up, it can be a bit much to ask it do do 80 in less than perfect conditions. I have my doubts that you will being doing back to back steady days like that w/o issues. Get a really good chain oiler and set it up carefully. Take an extra chain, chain tool, master links and plenty of lube with you. Some form of throttle lock, consider some add on wings at the handguards to actually give you some weather protection in the rain for your hands and maybe a front fender so a bit less crap gets tossed up on you and the bike. You might need to take it off if the mud gets really nasty, but you'll be a lot happier if it's just a little wet.

Mapquest says 86 hours from Key West to Fairbanks. You'd be giving yourself 10 hours to off the bike in 4 days. That's considering you actually make the Mapquest time on the little GS packed for the trip. That's a stupid timeline. Especially on a little bike, for a ride that they give you 30 days to complete one way. Take a really hard look at what you are attempting to do and why. You may succeed in the one way run and getting back to Fairbanks, but by that time you will be in serious sleep deprivation and just bone tired from getting beat up on the little bike. If your sole reason for the tight time line is your lack of vacation time, park your ambition for another year and do a shorter ride on the GS to see how it and you handle long days together with a full load. Throw in some nice long gravel stretches in the middle of a week of back to back 1200 mile days and see how you feel. Or knock out a weekend BBG with a couple of hundred miles of gravel and see how that screws with your time line. Shit it takes most of a day to just get out of FL from KW. I rode from KW to Sidney, NE in 54 hours, but that was strait thru w/o sleep or any stops except for gas, with a 450 mile range. That's a bit over half way on your route, putting you into the edge of the Dakotas on day three, likely with another 50 hours of riding and the unpredictable construction zones on the AlCan and unpredictable conditions of the Haul Road.

Can it be done? Sure, but why? Leave stuff like that to the jobless freaks. Have some fun and a ride to remember, not just "every state looks the same in the dark" for your UCC.

Thanks Eric, I was hoping for your advice with the chain issues you (She) had in the IBR, I knew that topic

would be a major concern. This ride is a must for me. If I don't do it in June- I won't do it ever. My wife and

I will tour Alaska at a later time, so this is a cert. ride for me. I want to be recovered and ready to start learning

how to rally by late summer.

After a conversation I had with Smitty, I have ALMOST decided to take the FJR. I am reconsidering the bike

that I will be taking. As far as the route "At night" and not seeing much... The first 1750 miles of that ride are

VERY familiar to me. I have done that ride/drive about 50 times round-trip. IF I take the FJR, my route and plans

may change alot. I may take advantage of the higher speeds and slab it west on I-90 before makinga right.

I rode this bike from Phoenix, and despite the stock seat and off-road tires, the bike handled great. So I will

continue to prep both bikes and keep an open mind.

Thanks for the info.

 

[101stpathfinder]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXrj0pbrAV8

Great clip !

I am actually considering doing a web cast of the stretch fron Fairbanks to Deadhorse.

I would have to find someone willing to set it up for me though, as my skills with computers

are lacking.

Thanks for posting

 

[user 213]

Be careful about your time line Tony. You've done enough of this to understand, (hopefully), what amount of sleep you can function on while riding. 3-4 hours a night is minimum for me to sustain long days on the bike. You're not doing bonus hunting, so that does help, but you're still talking about sustaining a 1200+ mile per day pace for 4 days, then an equally long day to do the ~500 miles from Fairbanks to Prudhoe, 400+ of which is gravel and can have weather any time of year. Then turning around and repeating that pace on the way back. Some sites suggest the 500 mile run from Fairbanks to Prudhoe as taking 17+ hours. Other blogs had perfect conditions and went up and back in a day. What if you don't get lucky? Bike issues, weather issues, construction issues, etc. What is your back up plan? You're leaving yourself no time to recover if shit happens.

On big roads where you can sustain 80 mph, you're still pushing 18 hour days with stops every 400 miles for the cert requirements. 4am to 10 pm gives you minimal darkness riding. You're going places that do have critters. The 'short' route up to Winnipeg keeps to big roads, but goes through several good sized cities where you may loose time. Once in Canada though your speed is going to drop and making the 1275 mile average to make it to Fairbanks in 4 days is going to be harder. The reality here is to make your time line work, you need to ride 20 hour days in the lower 48 to absorb the slower miles in Canada and Alaska.

96 hours to Fairbanks, to cover 5100 miles or more. If you average 65 mph for the full ride, which I think you know is tough, that's 78.5 hours, leaving you 17.5 hours of sleep in the 4 days before you head out from Fairbanks. That's 4.375 hours each night. That beats the Mapquest time of 85 hours of travel time significantly. If you just match the Mapquest travel time, you're down to 2.75 hours of sleep each night. Not enough. And those "sleep" times are actually just time not on the bike and moving. Start accounting for check in time and a shower, etc. and you're losing more sleep. Not sure where you think you have the time to do web casts.

 

[101stpathfinder]

Be careful about your time line Tony. You've done enough of this to understand, (hopefully), what amount of sleep you can function on while riding. 3-4 hours a night is minimum for me to sustain long days on the bike. You're not doing bonus hunting, so that does help, but you're still talking about sustaining a 1200+ mile per day pace for 4 days, then an equally long day to do the ~500 miles from Fairbanks to Prudhoe, 400+ of which is gravel and can have weather any time of year. Then turning around and repeating that pace on the way back. Some sites suggest the 500 mile run from Fairbanks to Prudhoe as taking 17+ hours. Other blogs had perfect conditions and went up and back in a day. What if you don't get lucky? Bike issues, weather issues, construction issues, etc. What is your back up plan? You're leaving yourself no time to recover if shit happens.

On big roads where you can sustain 80 mph, you're still pushing 18 hour days with stops every 400 miles for the cert requirements. 4am to 10 pm gives you minimal darkness riding. You're going places that do have critters. The 'short' route up to Winnipeg keeps to big roads, but goes through several good sized cities where you may loose time. Once in Canada though your speed is going to drop and making the 1275 mile average to make it to Fairbanks in 4 days is going to be harder. The reality here is to make your time line work, you need to ride 20 hour days in the lower 48 to absorb the slower miles in Canada and Alaska.

96 hours to Fairbanks, to cover 5100 miles or more. If you average 65 mph for the full ride, which I think you know is tough, that's 78.5 hours, leaving you 17.5 hours of sleep in the 4 days before you head out from Fairbanks. That's 4.375 hours each night. That beats the Mapquest time of 85 hours of travel time significantly. If you just match the Mapquest travel time, you're down to 2.75 hours of sleep each night. Not enough. And those "sleep" times are actually just time not on the bike and moving. Start accounting for check in time and a shower, etc. and you're losing more sleep. Not sure where you think you have the time to do web casts.

Eric,

Your line of thought is my thinking also. I was able to tack on an additional week of vacation. This will give me

16 days off work if needed. Your thinking is exactly what I am planning. In addition, the group that is going up on

the UCC ride said I could still be listed as riding "with" them and use their witnesses IF I do it in their time frame.

This means I could ride to Key West and obtain a start witness and start time, ride back to West Palm Beach and

keep working for 1 week, then depart at my desired time- meeting them in Fairbanks at their required time and

ride to Deadhorse for an UCC finish sig and start the return UCCC to Key West. Then obtain a witness from the

Key West police station for a end of ride witness.

Now I still have to decide on the bike I will take (????) :lol:

 

[user 213]

I was able to tack on an additional week of vacation. This will give me

16 days off work if needed. Your thinking is exactly what I am planning. In addition, the group that is going up on

the UCC ride said I could still be listed as riding "with" them and use their witnesses IF I do it in their time frame.

This means I could ride to Key West and obtain a start witness and start time, ride back to West Palm Beach and

keep working for 1 week, then depart at my desired time- meeting them in Fairbanks at their required time and

ride to Deadhorse for an UCC finish sig and start the return UCCC to Key West. Then obtain a witness from the

Key West police station for a end of ride witness.

Now I still have to decide on the bike I will take (????) :lol:

That sounds like a much more do-able scenario Tony. Glad you were able to line up the additional days and it does sound like the witness plan would work well for you. The loss of a week of "official time" won't hurt you at all with your plans and capabilities. Good luck making the bike decision, both have merit, just for different parts of the ride. Perhaps a fully loaded long weekend ride on the GS will tell you what you need to know.

 

[TripperMike]

< watching this thread with keen interest >

Out of curiousity though, is it possible to do a UCCC without having to start at either Keywest or Deadhorse? What I am getting at is it possible Tony could just start at WPB as long as he got proof of going to KW on his trip back? The reason I ask is because I have thought of attempting this ride with a start/finish in Minnesota.

It'll be fun keeping track of your trip Tony.

 

[user 213]

Out of curiousity though, is it possible to do a UCCC without having to start at either Keywest or Deadhorse?

No. This has come up before. You have to document the start at KW or Deadhorse and the end of the ride at the opposite end, then ride back all the way to the other end in order to qualify for the Certificate. If you don't want to submit for the cert, you can do what you want, but it won't really be a UCCC ride.

You could however, start your ride in MN, ride to one end, document the start of a UCC, ride to the other end and document the finish of a UCC and ride home, giving you a legitimate UCC cert ride.

If you started in MN, rode to KW, then to Deadhorse, then to KW, it would be a UCCC.

MN to KW to Deadhorse to MN would only be a UCC because you never returned to KW.

Hope that helps.

 

[TripperMike]

Out of curiousity though, is it possible to do a UCCC without having to start at either Keywest or Deadhorse?

No. This has come up before. You have to document the start at KW or Deadhorse and the end of the ride at the opposite end, then ride back all the way to the other end in order to qualify for the Certificate. If you don't want to submit for the cert, you can do what you want, but it won't really be a UCCC ride.

You could however, start your ride in MN, ride to one end, document the start of a UCC, ride to the other end and document the finish of a UCC and ride home, giving you a legitimate UCC cert ride.

If you started in MN, rode to KW, then to Deadhorse, then to KW, it would be a UCCC.

MN to KW to Deadhorse to MN would only be a UCC because you never returned to KW.

Hope that helps.

Thanks, that is helpful. Geez that adds on a pile of extra miles for those of us who don't live near either of those two pts. But da rules are da rules.

 

[smitty141]

I did see this on the Dalton, strange... never thought I see a STOP Light in the middle of the Haul road..

Smitty

 

[rickcorwn]

Out of curiousity though, is it possible to do a UCCC without having to start at either Keywest or Deadhorse?

No. This has come up before. You have to document the start at KW or Deadhorse and the end of the ride at the opposite end, then ride back all the way to the other end in order to qualify for the Certificate. If you don't want to submit for the cert, you can do what you want, but it won't really be a UCCC ride.

You could however, start your ride in MN, ride to one end, document the start of a UCC, ride to the other end and document the finish of a UCC and ride home, giving you a legitimate UCC cert ride.

If you started in MN, rode to KW, then to Deadhorse, then to KW, it would be a UCCC.

MN to KW to Deadhorse to MN would only be a UCC because you never returned to KW.

Hope that helps.

Thanks, that is helpful. Geez that adds on a pile of extra miles for those of us who don't live near either of those two pts. But da rules are da rules.

Yes but we here in Minnesota are closer to the start of a Pines to Palms or several Great Lakes rides.

 

[TriggerT]

I did see this on the Dalton, strange... never thought I see a STOP Light in the middle of the Haul road..

Smitty

OK, I really want to know if you waited for the light to turn green, or just proceeded with the appropriate amount of caution.

 

[fljab]

This ride is a must for me. If I don't do it in June- I won't do it ever. My wife and

I will tour Alaska at a later time, so this is a cert. ride for me. I want to be recovered and ready to start learning

how to rally by late summer. <snip>

T, I'm gonna be the devils advocate here: this is your decision and you'll do what you're gonna do, but I say - bullshit - you can do this ride anytime and on your own terms vs having to do it with the MTF bunch. For that matter they'll probably do that again in a couple three yrs or so. You can always change/modify plans according to need or info you didn't have when you made them.

I mean, my gawd, do you really have to have this on your LD resume in addition to all the other big certs you've done in the last couple of yrs? If doing rallys is important to you, then start looking at those all next yr. Who knows, that may just pay off for you in a way that pure LD riding won't. I mean, you've already proved you can stay in the saddle, yes?

I mean, think about doing something FUN! Enjoy the ride, even when going to Prudoe bay and back, ya know?

Regardless, bring that thing up to Mims and lets do some maintenance!

 

[doug5551]

Geez you guys. I really don't think you have anything to be concerned with. He is a great rider who is very capable of doing this safely. He recently came out to have a hamburger with me on a Ride to Eat and he was as fresh as if he had just ridden up to the local Starbucks after 2.250 in 34 hours....

Getting gas:

"I am really glad I came out to California for a hamburger, but gas prices are high so I'm ready to head back now"

Does this guy look tired to you?? He was ready to do it again, only this time in hundreds of miles of horrific thunderstorms that caused jackKnifed big rigs and road closures, all safely accomplished.

 

[beemerdons]

Geez you guys. I really don't think you have anything to be concerned with. He is a great rider who is very capable of doing this safely. He recently came out to have a hamburger with me on a Ride to Eat and he was as fresh as if he had just ridden up to the local Starbucks after 2.250 in 34 hours....

Getting gas:

"I am really glad I came out to California for a hamburger, but gas prices are high so I'm ready to head back now"

Does this guy look tired to you?? He was ready to do it again, only this time in hundreds of miles of horrific thunderstorms that caused jackKnifed big rigs and road closures, all safely accomplished.

+1, Gunny; I'm fully with Douglas on this one, if there's anybody who can do this without even breaking a sweat or breathing hard it's our Tony! jes' sayin' and nuff' said!

 

[fljab]

Geez you guys. I really don't think you have anything to be concerned with. He is a great rider who is very capable of doing this safely. He recently came out to have a hamburger with me on a Ride to Eat and he was as fresh as if he had just ridden up to the local Starbucks after 2.250 in 34 hours....

You're right about that; Tony's a hellofa rider, no argument there.

However, what good is this forum if there aren't dissenting opinions??

LOL it's all good!

Of course, as always, YMMV, IMNSHO, etc...........