Bike Trip - 2000 miles in less than 48 hours

[Good_Steward]

Thanks for the concern. We are currently about 250 miles from Las Vegas. We are actually in Two Gun, AZ sitting out 50mph crosswinds. Still have plenty of time to make it in less than 48, so we are being cautious. On a side note, we made the first 1k in 16 hrs.

And I don't think I'm stupid ..... ;)

[Good_Steward]

And I'll add that we drove through a mini-monsoon for almost 3 hrs yesterday. That truly sucked.

[glowdotGlock]

I will be driving to Vegas October 4th. I drive a truck usually doing short north and south trips from Michigan to Alabama but the last few years my fiance takes a week off and I request a longer trip. 3rd yeats in a row to Vegas. I've been several times during my driving career. She loves it. We will leave Thursday afyernoon and get there early Saturday afternoon. Usually a little sooner because I still use paper logs lol. Spend 3 days there then go down to San Diego and pick up a good light load of hot tubs and bring back to Spring Hill. I'd love to do it on a bike someday. Ya'll have fun.

[Lumber_Jack]

And I'll add that we drove through a mini-monsoon for almost 3 hrs yesterday. That truly sucked.

Man I thought about this thread yesterday as I was driving from Knoxville to Johnson City and back. That must have sucked on a bike, haha

[Just2Honor]

Iron Butt Squared

[Good_Steward]

Iron Butt Squared

 

Close. We made it to Vegas (by way of needles, CA) at 1:30am EST. We ended up with a total of 2,076 miles in 45.5 hours. I will add a list of items i have learned and saw during this trip. Had quite a few epiphanies regarding my life and life in general. Lot of time for thought on a cruiser bike with no radio or squat over the course of this trip. Thanks for all the well wishes and concern. I wanted to share this with the gun guys as well as the bike guys, especially since you folks are an entertaining group... :)

[pitt2magic]

SInce my Key West trip will be my first 1000+ mile trip I would love to hear about what things you were glad you had with you and also maybe the things you didn't have but wish you did.  Be safe and have fun.

[jgradyc]

Thanks for the concern. We are currently about 250 miles from Las Vegas. We are actually in Two Gun, AZ sitting out 50mph crosswinds. Still have plenty of time to make it in less than 48, so we are being cautious. On a side note, we made the first 1k in 16 hrs.

And I don't think I'm stupid ..... ;)

:up: :up: :up: :up:

 

It's great to hear from you!  I'm sure many of us thought about you several times over the weekend. When I got up to join my friends for a 6am run Saturday morning in the rain, I remember thinking that you would be riding the same strip of I-40 only a few minutes later.

 

A thousand miles in 16 hours... wow!  Iron bladders would be an equally apt moniker for this.

 

Let us hear more about the ride. It was raining here in Nashville at 6am Saturday, so I imagine you had 2-3 hours of rain starting out. Hopefully, you can take your time coming back and see some of the sights.

 

Now, just watch out for those gawking tourists while riding on the strip.  :rofl:

[peejman]

Pics or it didn't happen.  :)

[Good_Steward]

Pics or it didn't happen. :)

As soon as I figure out how to load from an iPhone I will. Not too many pics right now since we did mostly "gas and go" though we did get one in the parking garage of the Hilton we are staying at right after we arrived.

[peejman]

As soon as I figure out how to load from an iPhone I will. Not too many pics right now since we did mostly "gas and go" though we did get one in the parking garage of the Hilton we are staying at right after we arrived.

 

 

Don't you have to take pics of the gas receipts and odometer for IBA? 

[10-Ring]

What games have you made up while riding to pass the miles?  I play license plate A-Z where I go from A-Z with license plate letters.  I play the same game with billboards, or anything goes if there isn't much to see. 

 

I usually listen to music but back in January I was riding back from Savannah, GA after staying with my father in law.  The night before I was to leave I plugged my MP3 player in, the next morning as I was leaving I glanced down at the battery meter to see that it was almost dead.  I had unknowingly plugged it into a socket with a switch and my FIL turned the switch off when he went to bed.  I don't mind no music in nice weather on pretty roads but January on the interstate just sucked without music. 

[Good_Steward]

Don't you have to take pics of the gas receipts and odometer for IBA?

Copies of the gas receipts and 3rd party verification of the odometer.

Vegas, I think, is wasted on me. Not a gambler or big into the night club scene. I am older than my years. :(

[Good_Steward]

What games have you made up while riding to pass the miles? I play license plate A-Z where I go from A-Z with license plate letters. I play the same game with billboards, or anything goes if there isn't much to see.

I usually listen to music but back in January I was riding back from Savannah, GA after staying with my father in law. The night before I was to leave I plugged my MP3 player in, the next morning as I was leaving I glanced down at the battery meter to see that it was almost dead. I had unknowingly plugged it into a socket with a switch and my FIL turned the switch off when he went to bed. I don't mind no music in nice weather on pretty roads but January on the interstate just sucked without music.

I passed the time in thought. Mostly thinking I should have bought a touring bike instead of doing 2k miles each way on a cruiser..... And honestly, I don't mind being able to think without interruption. That was kind of nice for my head even though it was rough on the body.

[Bigiron]

Congrats on your accomplishment, Good Steward.  I did 2700 miles in 6 days on a Texas trip last May, 633 the final day.  Wiped me out, but at 72 yrs old that don't take much.

[LDRider]

Congrats Good Steward!

 

Glad things went well.

 

Jeff

[Good_Steward]

So, leaving to come back home at 7 am local time. I have basically spent about as much time here as it took me to get here. The ride and subsequent demands for my time have been very tiring. I do not think I should have mixed this amount of business with "the ride".

C'est la vie.

It will be a different route going home. We will head up to Denver to go home. We are planning to "only" ride 800 miles each day the first 2 days and finish on the 3rd. Wish me luck. Edited September 25, 2013 by Good_Steward

[Lumber_Jack]

So, leaving to come back home at 7 am local time. I have basically spent about as much time here as it took me to get here. The ride and subsequent demands for my time have been very tiring. I do not think I should have mixed this amount of business with "the ride".

C'est la vie.

It will be a different route going home. We will head up to Denver to go home. We are planning to "only" ride 800 miles each day the first 2 days and finish on the 3rd. Wish me luck.

Drink plenty of water before going over the high altitudes of Colorado. The fast ascents of highway speed can cause altitude sickness (headache, nausea). A couple ibuprofen can be good preventatives too.

Good luck, be safe

[maroonandwhite]

This is just amazing to me. I get iron butt after and hour on mine with a nice mustang seat! Kudo's to you Good Steward. 

 

On a side note: I made the mistake of swinging my leg over a new Goldwing at the dealer Saturday. I WILL have one of those within a few years. I mean it has it all; navigation, radio, heater, cb, bluetooth, plenty of storage, comfortable wide seats for rider and passenger. I could go on and on. The adolescent in me will have to slap some louder pipes on it though.

[Good_Steward]

Long day today with less miles accomplished than I hoped for. 15 hours and 850 miles down. Just stopped in Limon, CO for the night. We spent about 9 hours, mostly in Utah, in an arm of the heavy winds we experienced in Arizona.

[Good_Steward]

This is just amazing to me. I get iron butt after and hour on mine with a nice mustang seat! Kudo's to you Good Steward.

On a side note: I made the mistake of swinging my leg over a new Goldwing at the dealer Saturday. I WILL have one of those within a few years. I mean it has it all; navigation, radio, heater, cb, bluetooth, plenty of storage, comfortable wide seats for rider and passenger. I could go on and on. The adolescent in me will have to slap some louder pipes on it though.

If I ever have a desire for a touring bike after this, it will be a GoldWing.

[Good_Steward]

Just hit my last night on the return trip. I am staying n Fairview, IL. Kansas was more high wind. Apparently, the mid and southwest is not for me. However, once we got Missouri, the terrain was much more like home and the wind died off. It was easily our most productive stretch, knocking out 500+ miles in less than 8 hours. Edited September 27, 2013 by Good_Steward

[Good_Steward]

I just made it home and am very happy for it. 4,103.2 miles. That was a rough stretch and a great accomplishment for me. Now, I don't know that I would ever do it again.... :)

[Good_Steward]

So, a little thread resurrection here. The ride this thread documents was my first "iron butt", and was certainly testing. However, this riding season I plan on doing something a little more enjoyable. I plan to ride through every county in Tennessee during the course of the riding season. For those keeping track at home, that's 95 counties. During this, I have plotted one big ride to hit the 4 extreme points on the Tennessee compass in 1 ride, which will total 1,191 miles. To make that particular ride more challenging, I plan to do it in under 19 hours. So, there will likely be another thread coming regarding this, but would love to get input. If anyone else is on board, let me know and we'll put a ride together. Edited February 9, 2014 by Good_Steward

[Good_Steward]

Duplicate Edited February 9, 2014 by Good_Steward