Tag Archives: Iron Butt

My hero!

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Some people question my sanity when I talk about Iron Butt rides, a couple of which have been documented here. (Search on “Iron Butt”) But after an article I read today I humbly recognize someone as more insane than me.

While I see no problem mounting my 1,200 cc motorcycle – A motorcycle with a top speed of 120MPH and a range of 280 miles – And riding 1,000 miles in ~16 hours, there is no way I would saddle up a smallish 50 cc scooter and fight trucks, fatigue and limited fuel mileage for 1,000 miles. I’m just not that crazy.

This morning I took my motorcycle in for service, and while waiting, I spied a Scooter magazine. The headline “IRON BUTT” caught my eye. OK, this might make interesting reading. It was a multi-page article, written as a diary as the author rode his little scooter across the desert. After only one paragraph I understood his challenges and just wanted to know if he made it or not. So I skipped to the end of the story and looked for some indication of time and/or distance. Turns out he made it, but with not a lot of time to spare.

His story ended with him mailing his documentation off to the Iron Butt organization but there was no indication he had been approved. So I went off to the Iron Butt site myself, and there he was, Howard Rains. The funny thing was there were 15 Iron Butt completions that day, and surprise, I was one of them. Coincidence?

You can read his “Epic Post for an Epic Ride” story online.

Golden Gate Round-Trip

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On the surface, this was an easy ride – Down to the Golden Gate and back – The reality was a bit different. As my fifth Iron Butt ride, the challenge was made a bit more difficult by removing 75MPH Nevada highways and substituting two twisty, mountain passes, lots of Bay Area traffic, and the real prize, the Golden Gate bridge!

Departing the Sacramento Airport parking lot at 4AM, my riding companion and I reached Redding and our first fuel stop just after 6AM. The planned gas station was closed for remodeling and the alternate had some kind of water failure (no toilets) – A very troubling start to our ride.

The next three hours of twisty SR299 to Eureka would probably be the most challenging. Best to get them out of the way early. Our efforts were confounded by a CHP officer intent on monitoring our speed, and dense fog and rain approaching the coastline, but we persevered and arrived in Eureka pretty much on schedule.

The next four plus hours down US101 to the Golden Gate bridge brought a mixture of Northern California scenic beauty and Bay Area traffic – Guess which I preferred – And shortly after 2PM we were parked for the obligatory Golden Gate picture. We were barely half-way.

San Francisco wasn’t through with us – Not only was the bridge crossing $6 (highway robbery!), but the 19th Street traffic was stop-and-go for what seemed like an eternity. Into the South Bay we picked up commuter lanes, that when not blocked by self-important Mercedes drivers, provided us with a high-speed passage through otherwise congested roads.

And so, at 3:30PM, we left Morgan Hill fully fueled facing roughly six more hours of freeway south to Paso Robles and back north to Sacramento. At this point we were 30 minutes behind schedule and I proposed simply bypassing two of the rest stops (Paso Robles and Patterson) to prevent this ride from becoming an all-night affair.

Kettleman City fell just before 7PM, the sun set an hour later, but worst of all, my iPod battery was dead. Fatigue was setting in, but with hardly any traffic on IH-5, it wasn’t too much of an issue.

Unfortunately, the traffic count, and bright headlight count, increased dramatically in Stockton, and the last hour was a challenge. When the garage door opened at 10:12PM, it was time to exhale, shower off the road grime, and call it a day. The paperwork could wait until tomorrow.

Five Iron Butts are now in the books, three that crossed state borders, one entirely within Nevada, and now one entirely within California!

Another Adventure

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Not really sure why SaddleSore rides fascinate me – Except for a pin that you have to *pay* for, there’s nothing to show for the effort. And if you tell anyone, the first reaction is that you’re nuts. But after the first ride turned out easier than expected, and the second even easier than the first, it’s just become somewhat of a hobby to collect them.

Last year’s SaddleSore completed entirely within the borders of Nevada inspired me to find a route within California. One friend suggested San Diego for lunch and then back home, but passing through LA twice might be a challenge, but certainly not fun. I thought about up to Yreka, down to San Bernardino and home, but that’s just 16-17 hours of Interstate 5 and interstate trucks. Boring!

Besides, any ride through California should include the Golden Gate bridge. What’s more Californian than the Golden Gate bridge?

And so, the ultimate California SaddleSore 1000 was born. Leaving from Sacramento before dawn, the plan is to reach Redding at sunrise. Sunlight will be important because the next 2.5 hours will be over twisty State Road 299. After that, it’s a couple hours of US101 down the “Avenue of the Giants” and back into civilization north of San Francisco.

The Golden Gate bridge should fall around 1:30PM and the southern reaches of the San Francisco Bay Area should be clear by 3PM when traffic tends to get bad. Then it’s down to Paso Robles, across to Kettleman City, cross the 1,000 mile mark around Patterson, and home by 10PM … Hopefully!

Armchair rider? Want to follow along. Click here, and assuming I turned my gadget on, you should be able to track me. Wish me luck!

Endurance, baby!

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ironbutt_breakThere’s an organization called The IronButt Association, of which I’m a card-carrying member. Number 21233 to be specific. I still remember my brother first telling me about this organization – Membership is open to anyone who rides 1,000 miles or more in a 24 hour period on a motorcycle – I honestly thought that was the stupidest thing I had ever heard. Well, that was then …

Until now, all my IronButt rides had been across state lines, Colorado to California and such. But recently, IBA added in-state rides. Fortunately, out west we have several states that are large enough to contain a full, 1,000 mile circuit, and even better, have liberal 75 MPH speed limits. One such state is Nevada.

So the other day I rode to Sparks and checked into a cheap little hotel just off the freeway. The alarm went off at 3:30AM and by 4AM I was up, dressed and had my paperwork verified by a local. It takes a while to get to full alertness, but fortunately I was on the Reno-Fernley freeway at 4AM – Not a lot of traffic!

ironbutt_nevadaroadsNevada has basically two speed limits, 70/75MPH on the road and 25MPH through towns, and the first such town was the Scherz Indian Reservation which had a casino, a liquor store and at least 12 fireworks booths. All were closed this time of the morning. Hawthorn (6:08AM) and Tonopah (7:43AM) were gas stops, and weren’t a lot busier than Scherz, before heading into the Nevada desert.

There’s a sign leaving Tonopah that says no services for 164 miles – My old VROD couldn’t have made that – But it was enough for the BMW to make the turn at Warm Springs, south along the Extraterrestrial Highway, and all the way to Caliente (10:43AM). Along the way I stopped in Rachel to buy gag gifts and share stories with the owner of the Little A’Le’Inn.

The next fuel stop would be Ely (12:43PM), where the weather was forecast to be rain and thunderstorms. And it was. For almost the entire 140 miles to Wells, it rained and rained and rained. Arriving in Wells (2:49PM), the sky was partially blue and the worst was hopefully behind me. I texted “Pray for warm and dry” to a friend tracking my progress. Her prayer was inadequate as the rain and thunderstorms started right back up and lasted all the way to Elko.

ironbutt_rainAs the clouds disappeared in my rear-view mirror, the temps finally started climbing out of the 50s and low 60s – Normally, in June, an early morning rider will layer up to protect against the cold. Usually by 10AM, the first layer comes off, by noon the second is gone, and by the heat of the afternoon, your jacket vents are completely unzipped for maximum cooling and you’re down to just the armor layer. But today, I was still fully layered at 2PM.

Two observations about IH80 from Wells back to Sparks – It has way too much construction with 55MPH speed limits and slow-moving trucks, and an innumerable number of prisons. Every couple of miles were signs stating you were in a prison area and not to pick up hitchhikers. Duh!

Later, a little behind the original schedule, the fuel warning light came on a couple miles from Lovelock. This was the only portion of my ride that I didn’t worry about fuel. Unlike the Sparks – Caliente – Wells legs where fuel was sometimes 100 (or more) miles apart, along IH80 you can count on fuel every twenty or thirty miles.

ironbutt_1kmilesDeparting Lovelock (6:43PM), the GPS indicated another hour or so of riding. Piece o’ cake! Past Fernley, and nearing the population center of Reno, the speed limit dropped to 70MPH and then 65MPH. And the number of Highway Patrol officers increased dramatically. As much as I wanted to be in the relative comfort of the hotel, this was neither the time nor place to speed.

Finally (and I do mean finally!) my exit came along and I dropped into fifth, fourth, third, second and first gear to a stop. The left turn light took forever to change, but when it did, the hotel parking lot was less than a mile away. Shutting down at 8:08PM, dismounting and removing all my layers, I took a picture of the GPS screen as proof and walked inside for a shower and a drink – Bourbon and water. Tasted oh so good!

1,036 miles in 14 hours and 7 minutes. Maybe it really is the stupidest thing I ever heard of. But it did feel good in the end.

I still need to compile my paperwork and submit it. It takes up to three months to approve these things so it’ll be a bit longer. Maybe I’ll use the time to plot a California in-state ride. Wonder what the best route would be to maximize freeways and minimize traffic centers during rush hours …