50CC ... the Coast to Coast in less than 50 hours Iron Butt Association Challenge.
Done. Well actually a 43 hour and 46 minute CC to be exact. 2803 miles from Santa Cruz, California to Jacksonville, Florida.
So I have business in Florida and will be here for a month. Some quick math told me that riding over would be cheaper than flying and renting a car for a month ... plus I could do an Iron Butt 50CC that I had considered for a while.
I will start off with this ... I have been asked about how I prepped my bike for this trip. Easy, oil has 1000 miles on it, so I checked it. Tires had 1600 miles on them, so I checked them and put air in them. If you have to do special maintenance on your bike for a trip, you aren't maintaining your motorcycle properly to begin with. The only serious thing I did was pack up my spare final drive unit and all the tools and oil necessary to swap it out on the side for the road ... and I only did that because these things fail and since I am on my third one in 90k miles ... it seemed prudent. Didn't need it to have my neighbor ship it.
Ride Milestones:
1000 Miles in 14.5 hours (receipt will show 1038 in 14 hours 57 minutes) = SS1000
1500 miles in 21.5 hours (receipt will show 1648 in 23 hours 17 minutes) = BBG1500
2000 miles in 29.25 hours (receipt will show 2121 in 31 hours and 5 minutes) = SSG2000
2803 miles - Santa Cruz, CA to Jacksonville FL - in 43 hours and 46 minutes = 50CC
(Had I not farted around eating, worthless power nap attempt, electric gear on and off, and had to find a gas station that actually worked in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere aka Florida Pan Handle, I could have completed this in 41 hours, by starting in San Diego I could easily get this ride to 40 hours or less)
A bit of planning and organization and I was ready (my wife says I have as much fun planning as riding .... sometimes maybe more). 50CC and 100CCC rides need three witnesses or a police or firefighter to sign off. Johnylaw from another forum was gracious enough to be my starting witness and I met him early October 24th to get the papers signed. From there it was off to get gas as far west as I could to start the clock. A quick fill up and I was on the road.
The Route
The Actual Route
https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=81e3525df9117b4a3Missed a few gas stop check ins towards the end
I am pretty meticulous on planning to the point of calling gas stations and confirming hours and if they actually still exist. However, even this cannot be fool proof as I found in Florida where the gas station claimed to have 24 hours pump access, but turned them off. Not good since it was in the middle of BF Nowhere. I do carry an extra gallon of gas just in case. Then there is always the unattended station and no receipt ... ALWAYS carry a camera. A picture of the bike and pump, the close up of the pump readings and a picture of the station helps a lot for confirmation - unless it is your last stop - then you gotta get more creative.
The run from my house to meet with John started poorly ... VERY foggy coming off the mountain, but it cleared up quickly and then I was off and running. Through California was uneventful, gas stops were clock work. I did not wear my heated gear, expecting warm to hot weather ... turns out I could have worn it from the start and saved myself a little time putting it on later. Not a big deal. Gas stops were clock work. Even a quick inspection of tires and the machine each stop took less than 4 minutes. Approaching Benson, AZ I passed the 1000 mile mark. I am not getting a certificate for a SS1000 this run - basically if you HAVE to accomplish a ride to accomplish a bigger ride, you cannot get certified for it anyway. But I do take note of it. I am planning to get certified for a BBG and SSG on this ride, I already have these certs for previous rides, but another set would be nice. There are two schools in the IBA world, those that only get one cert a ride and those that will get multiples if they qualify .... I am a multiple cert guy as long as it is not whorish. All a moot point if you want a Mile Eater or Mile Eater Gold cert (5 qualifying rides in a year - 2 of which need to be "extreme") since those HAVE to be solo certed rides. I am not going to qualify for that this year, so gimme me papers!
SS1000 rides for me are too easy and to the point of boring. If I am not shooting for a 1500 mile day now, it is just a short ride. When PongoUSA and I did our BBG (1500 miles in less than 24 hours) we could have gone for more miles but hit 1590 and decided to stop for a break and food. I wanted to top that and I hit 1649 miles in 23.5 hours. I felt good and knew a SSG (2000 miles in less than 36 hours) was as good as mine as well. I did get my one and only "No receipt/No Attendant" issue on this ride during this section in Balmorhea, TX - a few quick pictures and I was on the road again. BTW, it helps to know if there are other stations around you ... that has to happen at the planning stage. I knew I had no other option in the area or I would have headed over to another place and put in 15 cents in gas just to get a receipt. Been there done that ... it works - especially if that is a turn point or critical stop - like your last one.
This means I had .24 gallons left in the tank. Love those 80 MPH speed limits in Texas,but it makes the girl thirsty.
I also got to experience the southern lightening and rain storms. As I headed into the lightening, at first I was awed by the beauty. Then the stories of that biker that got zapped came into my head. When I stopped for gas I asked the girl there about getting hit, she said I need to stop reading he Internet. LOL ... the truckers that were there told me to stay away from the rigs. If anything is going to get it, they will it and being around that would not be fun for a guy in a funny yellow jacket (no, really, one guy said that) on a motorcycle. Rain is the size of quarters and I now know what part of the country to talk to people about quality rain gear. Ken Phenix is something of an expert and, like Charles Schwab and finances, when Ken speaks (about rain gear) one should listen.
I have said before, the BBG is the hardest ride I have done ... again, I think it was tougher than the 50CC - you just cannot rest or stop to make a BBG. At 1649 miles in 24 hours, I was well over half way to Jacksonville and plenty of time to go. If I maintained the same pace, I would be golden. But I did not have to maintain that pace and could actually rest a bit now.
After I had locked in the BBG, I tried to catch some Zs at a rest stop ... was not happening. Brain was going 1000 miles an hour on what I still had to do. I was able to rejuvenate some and relax - between fielding "California, how long you been on the road?" - 24 hours since I left Santa Cruz - "What? Thats fricking crazy ... you must be flying" - Nope, going the speed limit, just not stopping .... at all. Then I give a remedial 3rd grade math class and usually the people walk away mumbling how I am nuts ... yeah, so ... and? But I always have fun with the people I meet that I talk to and we laugh a lot. That is important to breaking up the ride too.
Ken Phenix wanted to ride a while with me for a bit. So we met in Winnie, TX. When I got there I let him know next gas stop clinches the SSG - lets ride to that and grab lunch there. Maybe the least fun section. Bad traffic (seriously, people in the south change lanes just to pace and block traffic I think ... I SOOOO wanted to split lanes). My music started to freak out and needed a reset, the sun was glaring on the GPS so I could not read it and my lovely Aussie girl that gives me directions was mad and giving me the silent treatment. It was also hot and I was a little groggy and I was hungry.
We got to the next stop, I got my receipt and had the SSG in the bag, then reset all of my electronics which solved my issues it seemed and went and had a nice southern lunch (red beans, dirty rice and sausage and it was really good ... or I was really hungry ... or both.)
Ken left me with a care package that I did not open until I got to the hotel in Jacksonville ... AWESOME brownies from his and his wife's bakery. Would have been INSTANT ENERGY ... but maybe not legal he thinks ... best I waited. :D I left Ken and plan to stop back for the evening on the way home ... when I have a more leisurely pace and time to visit more.
I will take this spot to comment on how timing is EVERYTHING. I enjoy spending my late evenings in normally high traffic zones when possible. AKA ... when the traffic is not here. I hit Phoenix right at the tail end of rush hour, and Houston about 2 hours before ... the rest were late. Passing the border in El Paso at midnight was actually pretty cool to be able to look across that gap/dried river bed/DMZ into Mexico - I wish I had time to stop and take a few pictures ... just me and the border patrol were there.
Saying that, traffic leaving Lafayette Louisiana SUCKED. It was stopped dead due to an accident so I had to improvise a detour that added a lot of time to my trip, but was better than sitting in traffic. I did get paced by a few law enforcement officials of the area. California plates, bright Hi Viz jacket that are even more not normal there than around here, clearly agitated and using every fiber of his sol not to split lanes. But I was good and they were nice. I did have one jackass not like my lights ... so I hit him with my high beams, he backed down. :D
I need to ride I-10 in Florida in the day light. In the evening it was gorgeous. It was also cold as freakin' hell. Gas is not as sparse as I had been led to believe, but not too bad ... if they were open at o'dark 30. One of the gas stations I called to make sure their pumps were 24/7 even when no one was around ... so let me be blunt ... he lied. But I did suit up in the electrics there. Discovered the wire routing to my left electric sock was a wee bit tight and liked to disconnect itself ... I had to adjust that before I lost the toes on my left foot due to them freezing off. I do not have electric pant liners, but my thermo pant liners were more than fine, but I need to figure out how to keep the jacket riding up and not leave my lower back exposed to the cold. Or just get electric pant liners and be done with it.
The rest of the ride was smooth sailing and I cruised on into Jacksonville Beach at 6:04 AM local time (3:04 AM California Time). Got gas ... no receipt. Went in to get a receipt, it only prints the right side. They can't fix it. Whatever, rode down to the 7-11 on the beach, got coffee and a receipt there. From there headed over to watch the sun rise over the ocean. Actually fell asleep leaning against a tree. I guess now that I was done my body said, NOW you can relax.
The last step was to get a final witness. The Local Fire and Police apparently are very familiar with the IBA. The police station was not open. So I headed over to the Fire Department. As I parked and got off and got ready to give my elevator speech on the IBA, one of the guys came out "Hey, are you one of those IRON BUTT guys?" Yeah, actually I am. "On your way to Cali?" No, just got here from Santa Cruz, 43 hours 46 minutes. A few of the other guys heard this and turned to look at me with that incredulous "you crazy bastard" look in their eyes. Got my signatures, a few laughs and then headed off to the hotel.
And the fun doesn't end. I get to the hotel about 9 AM - way before check in, but since I am living here for a month, they were more than accommodating. We talk about the ride, where can I park the bike so it is covered form the silly sudden rain storms here, and luggage carts. "Why do you need a luggage cart, you can't have that much on a motorcycle."
When I rolled this in I made sure they realized both those gargantuan saddle bags were still full, but that stuff could say there.
Got in, sort of unpacked ... took a shower and laid down ... and woke up 8 hours later. My face seems to have a 1/2" line of sunburn ... the area right below my internal sun shield and the bottom of the helmet. My eyes feel like they would feel after being open the better part of 50 hours total.
So now I sit here with my 14 year old Oban Highland Single Malt, writing this, searching for the best deal on tires so I can get them in time for the scheduled tire swap next Sunday at a local IBA'rs house. Called in and checked with the wife and then tried to keep track of all the comments to me on Facebook.
All in all a great couple of days ... will get my paperwork in order and shipped off to the IBA - now ... what to do on my way back home?
