An Iron Butt story

[D-Mac]

Last year I bought my FZ6 (a 'leftover' '07 new). After breaking it in for a few weeks, I did my first Iron Butt ride in August '08 (SS1000 - 1000 miles in under 24h). It was an amazing experience and I learned a lot about the bike and myself. I posted a short ride report on here (a copy of it is here: http://www.600riders.com/forum/touring/12971-ss1000-fz6.html). Others were kind enough to share their thoughts and experiences on these types of rides as well. I then spent some time modding the bike with the goal of doing more long rides (I have several planned this summer). I've also spent a lot of time discussing LD riding tips with various folks who do Iron Butt rides regularly.

With a wife in grad school and young kids, I don't have time for long, multi-day trips right now. As a result, I don't really feel like I'm missing as much by having to stick to the interstate and keep moving. Better to glimpse the countryside than not see it at all - and better to be riding than sitting at home wishing I was on the bike! On the plus side, I'm a college prof and our semester just ended, so I have some flexibility with dates (I can pretty much pick any day and take off - as long as I'm not gone too long).

I'm thinking of trying another Iron Butt within the next week or so.

My next ride? After a LOT of thought and playing around with maps, I'm pretty much set on doing a BB1500 (1500 documented miles in under 36 hours). It's the next logical Iron Butt to try after the 1000, and only one has ever been done on an FZ6 (and no one has done two separate, documented Iron Butt rides on an FZ6). I don't care much about the certificates - I really want to see if I can do it and see a bit of the country! I've just about ruled out the BBG (same as the regular '1500', but done in 24h instead of 36h! ) I think that trying to do 1500 miles in 24h on an FZ6 would make the route choice too restrictive, and I'm not sure I've shaved enough time off my last Iron Butt performance yet to make it (to achieve a BBG on a stock FZ6 riding at legal speeds, I'd pretty much have to do nothing but ride and get gas). A 36h BB1500 will give me a chance to see how much progress I've made since my last big ride, and it should be quite achievable even in bad weather, with traffic problems, and taking breaks for rest. By no means easy, but doable.

I know lots of folks think these rides are stupid/pointless - and that's fine. Please start another thread or PM me if you want to rant about that. In this thread I'm going to try and document the entire process of prep and the ride itself - hopefully with plenty of photos before/during/after. I'll also be posting a link so folks can follow the ride in real-time via my SPOT tracker.

So stay tuned.....or not. My next post will be about route selection.

And yes......I WILL be riding on the stock seat again!

 

[VEGASRIDER]

I'm planning one for this summer, the 1000 miler. And yes, I'm going for the certificate.

 

[ant_mb]

That's cool as hell man! I did a little over 750 miles in 12 hours last year, and really wished I'd done the 1000. Even if it wasn't documented I'd know I did it. I want to do a documented SS this year though.

 

[craig007]

Cool. I'm considering a SS1000 this but want to build up to it. I'm very interested your prep and ride!

 

[lonesoldier84]

who gives these certificates? are they just an online thing or do you get something tangible? how do they verify the miles?

I am very intrigued...

 

[Nick J]

1000 miles? 1500? YOUCH. Man, you ARE talking about having an iron butt. I did about a 150 mile trip with no stops and found out that I certainly do not have an iron butt. How do you guys do it? :spank:

 

[cv_rider]

...I think that trying to do 1500 miles in 24h on an FZ6 would make the route choice too restrictive...

What is the factor that makes specifically the FZ6 limiting for 1500 miles in 24hrs? Is it a question of comfort - how long you can stay in the saddle before needing to get off? Or maybe tank range - how much time wasted at fuel stops?

 

[DefyInertia]

Iron butt for sure! Ouch! Speed safe and good luck.

 

[vdbergj1]

Good luck! Can't wait following you "electronically".

 

[thulst]

Man.

:bow::bow::bow:

Last April I went for a 5200 km (3200 miles) ride to Valencia, Spain. It took me a 1 week and 2 day's. One way is 2000 km (21 hours incl. sleeping)
I went there for the first European SBK race of this year and stayed in a couple of places along the Spanish east coast

I sort of liked to test whether an Iron but could be done. The longest run on one day was about 1200 km (750 miles) those 1200 km took me about 10 hours.

I would like to go for an official Iron but run over here in Europe later this season. But I think 1000 miles is enough, although the FZ6 is the perfect bike as your companion for these long rides.

 

[Fz6Sa]

who gives these certificates? are they just an online thing or do you get something tangible? how do they verify the miles?

I am very intrigued...

Check out the IBA site for rules info etc: IBA - World's Toughest Motorcycle Riders

 

[aggiehiker]

That is very cool!

I bought the crash frame and pegs you recommended from TwistedThrottle.

I am going for a Bun Burner on the 16th. Found a really cool witness on the IBA website that lived only 10 miles from my house. He is even nice enough to meet us at 5:30 in the morning.:rockon:

I am not on a stock seat though. I picked up a top saddlery seat, and it is amazing.

We are going to do the 1000 in 24 then 500 after a break for sleep. Then we will take 17 days to go another 9,500 or so miles.

 

[D-Mac]

I'm planning one for this summer, the 1000 miler. And yes, I'm going for the certificate.

You live in a great part of the country to pile up the miles - although I think I'd die in the heat!

 

[D-Mac]

What is the factor that makes specifically the FZ6 limiting for 1500 miles in 24hrs? Is it a question of comfort - how long you can stay in the saddle before needing to get off? Or maybe tank range - how much time wasted at fuel stops?

I think I can stay in the saddle. Once concern I have there is that I recently lowered the bars to reduce buffetting on my helmet, which now causes me to sit farther forward....where the seat is NOT as comfortable). We'll see how it holds up.

The problem is tank range. On a 1500 miles run, I would need to stop about every 180 miles when loaded down and riding at highway speeds. Figure I'd need 9 stops (assuming a full tank at the start and not counting the end stop, which is needed to comfirm the end of the ride). If you count an average of 10min per stop (it can be done faster sometimes, but in other cases the required receipt is screwed up and you have to go in and wait in line) that's 1.5 hours sitting idle! On a ride that takes about 22 hours of actual riding to complete, losing 1.5 hours to fuel stops leaves a mere 30 min of 'extra' time. A close margin to be sure. Bad weather, traffic, construction, getting lost, and police encounters could all take away more time.

Adding an extra 50-100 miles of fuel range would make a big difference on longer rides. I've looked into getting an auxillary fuel tank, but I can't justify the cost.....yet. I think I'll probably upgrade the seat first.

 

[D-Mac]

That is very cool!

I bought the crash frame and pegs you recommended from TwistedThrottle.

I am going for a Bun Burner on the 16th. Found a really cool witness on the IBA website that lived only 10 miles from my house. He is even nice enough to meet us at 5:30 in the morning.:rockon:

I am not on a stock seat though. I picked up a top saddlery seat, and it is amazing.

We are going to do the 1000 in 24 then 500 after a break for sleep. Then we will take 17 days to go another 9,500 or so miles.

Sound like we have the same plan for the BB - ride 1000 miles, rest, and finish up the 500. I really think that is the best way to do it. It would be much harder to split it equally and wake up knowing you're only 1/2 done. Of course I'm not adding 9500 more miles to my trip afterwards!!! You're amazing! It would also be cool if our rides were done on the same day.....it would leave those IBA scratching their heads for sure.

You've definitely got a set-up that can't be beat. You'd better hope I never spot your bike.......you'll come back and notice the seat missing! (or replaced with a stocker) I'm torn between a Top Saddlery seat and a Rick Meyer seat. If I go with Meyer they need the seat pan, so I'll have to wait for winter. No way I'm going without my bike this summer!

 

[grumpy1luvs2eat]

Yeah, I met the same type of nay-sayers when I used to do a century on my bicycle. Different strokes, etc. Do what you have to do and tell the non-hackers to cafe race to the bars, GRUMPY

 

[D-Mac]

Maps, maps, and more maps!

Route Planning:

There are a lot of considerations that could go into plotting an Iron Butt Route. The first decision to make is to decide on whether or not you plan to return to the start point. Obvious advantages here are that you could end up at home, and it can be easier to coordinate witness if you know where you're going to end up. I decided right away that my ride would start and end in Albion, Michigan. After all, I've only got 1.5 days to do this!

The next decision is to plot a route that avoids arriving in major cities at rush-hour. Sitting in Chicago for two hours could kill a ride and zap my stamina.

I played around with MapSource, Mapquest, and Googlemaps a lot and came up with 5 candidate routes. Let's look at them. (if you want to skip to the bottom - the GREEN ROUTE is the one I'm actually planning to do).

Below if the map of my first three routes. All were eventually rejected. Here's why:

Pink route: From Michigan to Nebraska and back on I-80. This is the quickest route. However, by all accounts, I-80 into Nebraska is pretty boring (no offense to my fellow Flatlanders). In fact, there are places where the interstate (apparently) doesn't deviate by more than one degree for 100s of miles! While it would be new to me, I've got 36 hours to ride 1500 miles, so I decided it would be better to ride longer/further if it meant better scenery. Route REJECTED.

Blue Route: From Michigan straight south and back on the same set of roads. In this case, the route is mostly new to me, so that's good. However, the advantage of returning on a known route seems outweighed by my desire to see something new. The other problem with this route is that a LOT of it is through Ohio (both ways), which has a lower speed limit (65mph) than most other states. Route REJECTED.

Yellow Route: This is a compromise route. Not the fastest set of interstates, but a chance to ride a couple of new interstates for me and see some new states (however briefly). It's also the first route I considered that's a loop rather than straight down and back on the same road. I eventually rejected it because I decided that if I was going to ride a new set of roads, I might as well find something REALLY cool (which I think I did). Ultimately this route was REJECTED.

Still reading? Here are two more routes.....

Red route: This has a lot of appeal to me. It's the Route I did on my first Iron Butt (Saddlesore 1000). This route would take my south to Indiannapolis, Bowling Green KY, and Nashville TN (where I turned around on my last ride). The difference here is that I've added another 250 miles south and back for my 1500 (stopping south of Birmingham AL before turning around). I ultimately decided against this route for the simple reason that I've done most of it already. Route REJECTED.

Green route: Here's the one I'm planning to do!! I'll ride east on I-94 and go south to Toledo OH on US-23 (which is 4-lane). From there it's east to Cleveland on I-80 and then South on I-77 all the way south into Virginia. At that point I'll head northeast on I-81 in PA and stop for a rest. The next day I'll do the remaining miles by heading back west on I-80 and then back up to Michigan via 23 and I-94W. This route is a compromise in time (at least 1.5-2 hours longer than the shortest 1500 mile route and it adds 90 miles to the total). It has the advantages of being (1) new to me (2) less repetitive (except for the first/last parts on I-80) and (3) scenic. The idea of hitting the tunnels on I-77 seems cool, and heading up through the mountains on I-81 also appeals to me. Compared to I-80 through Nebraska, this sounds like paradise! I've read that there are a LOT of trucks on this route, but at least there don't seem to be many major cities to worry about. ROUTE APPROVED!

 

[aggiehiker]

I like the green route:thumbup: I will post our route in the next couple of days.

 

[Wavex]

Awesome! Good luck.

 

[necrotimus]

Yes lots of trucks on 81... I've never ridden it but have driven it several times. It is a great road both in and out of the mountains. You should be able to make some great time assuming your ride does not fall during a Virginia Tech football game or beginning or end of a semester.