Somebody feel my butt...

... and tell me if it feels like IRON



I had been toying with the idea of trying a Saddlesore 1000 (SS1000) Iron Butt Association sanctioned ride since shortly after I started riding. It was just something I wondered if I would ever be able to do. The verdict is still out as to if I ever want to do one again but on May 27, 2007 me and my friend Bill did a 1000+ in just over 18 hours.

We decided that we would do a run from Kansas City to Sanger, Texas, taking a North/South route so we wouldn’t have to deal with the sun in our eyes at any point in the trip. The weather almost threw a wrench into our plans but we would hit rain no matter what direction we went so we did end up taking the south route. We planned to start at 2am that way be could deal with the parts of the route we were most familiar with in the dark and be back home before our internal clocks were telling us it was time to sleep. On Friday night I stayed up late and then slept for four hours. I probably shouldn’t have slept at all. I went back to bed 5pm Saturday hoping to get 8 hours of sleep before starting the ride but I couldn’t fall asleep. I should have taken something to help me sleep. I did sleep off and on until 1am but it wasn’t very restful.

I left my house at 1:45 am and went about a mile and a half to get gas and the receipt that would mark the start of my ride. I then rode to meet Bill about 20 miles at the gas station that would provide him with his start receipt. After a few minutes of rearranging gear and getting situated we took off.

I had decided to wear jeans with my FXRG nylon pants over the top. I already knew they weren’t completely waterproof (I am going to try treating them with some nikwax) so I wore my rain pants over the top. Up top I wore an underarmor long sleeve top, a flannel shirt, my leather jacket and my rain jacket. I quickly stripped off my flannel shirt because I was hot. I should have left it because I got chilled as soon as we got on the highway and got moving. I eventually also added my Gerbing’s electric jacket liner and was very glad I had it. I started in my leather cool weather gloves but they eventually were drenched and I switched to my rain gloves. By the end of the trip my leather boots were completely soaked through.

We got rained on for a good portion of the trip as we traveled through bands of weather. Some of the rain I would categorize as a deluge. Like Noah’s Ark rain even. Flash flooding was even closing down some roads near Gainesville, TX. Everything on me stayed dry except for my feet. There was quite a bit of road construction that slowed us down as well. And it seemed like everywhere the road construction was, the rain was. We made good time with an average moving time of about 70mph. With stopped time I think it worked out to be in the high 50’s. Rest stops took longer than planned. What took more time was the bathroom breaks, I had multiple layers to get off of me each time I had to go. Plus just the fact that there were two of us added to the time. There was time spent chatting about how we were feeling and how the bikes were doing.

The bike held up well. I did have to add a little oil a couple of times but we were running 75+ with my high speed hitting 90mph. A few times along the way I made sure to shut off my music and just listen to the engine. It sounded really good. I was religious about checking my oil at every gas stop. I may still need to change out something with my handlebars someday but I don’t know exactly what I need to change to make them “perfect” and being so close to the Alaska trip I don’t want to change anything now. In two week Ruth gets 15,000 mile service and new tires for the trip. I got to 141 miles once without hitting reserve and then hit reserve at 143 miles. My gas mileage seems to be improving… still will never be as good as it was when she was stock. I’ve lost a good 30 miles off each tank but she was an 883 and now is running at 1235.

I held up well also. I really didn’t start to have any issues with pain or discomfort until about the 750 mile mark. Sure, I was ready to get off the saddle and shake my butt out at every gas stop but I would feel ok again until we were just about to the next stop. After 900 miles I was ready to stop and crawl into bed. We took the last 2 hours nice and easy getting back.

I am pretty confident now in Ruth’s ability to do the Alaska trip and confident in myself being able to make the trip. Right now a 400 mile day for Alaska sounds like a piece of cake. How will I be after 28 days of them though….. That is the unknown.