I'm sure this has been hashed over and over and over but I sure can't find anything on it. I wondering what your thoughts are on preparing for the BB and SS rides. And yes I read all the Iron Butt words of wisdom and magazine articles. My bike is prepared and the rout is just about finalized. I'm looking to finish preparing myself. What I've been doing is increasing the distance of my weekend rides. I started off with the summer vacation ride from Goshen, NY to Cape May, NJ took a day off and than did a 200mi ride around NJ than the following day I rode back home. The following weekend I did a Goshen, NY to Binghamton, NY to Scranton, PA to Goshen, NY ride. Than the following weekend I rode from Goshen, NY to Cape May, NJ and back. That was 500mi in 8hr. This weekend I got lazy and ran from Goshen NY to Hartford CT and back. The rides are getting easier but I must say the boredom is HELL and getting worse. Any thoughts or suggestions? If your curious and want to plug it into Google maps to see the rout I'm planning. Start in Goshen, NY than Houlton, ME than back to Goshen, NY. I'll sleep at home and leave the next day for Cape May, NJ and return to Goshen, NY to finish the trip. A Saddle Sores 1000 in 24hr and an additional Bun Burner 1500 in 36hr. At least that's the plan.
My suggestion. Read that sentence several times and then think about it.... Just go ride for the fun of it. Explore, find neat stuff, take cool pictures, eat good food, talk to people, write ride reports. An Iron Butt really isn't the pinnacle of motorcycling..... Several times I have found myself exceeding 1000 miles in a given 24 hour period without even realizing it, cause I was caught up in the ride and having fun.
What you said is so true! I too have had so much fun just riding and diggin' the scenery that I just blasted by a few turn-offs then had turn around and backtrack. It's the journey that's fun - at least for me. Leaving "A" and arriving at "B" if fine, but it's the action in-between. Now for Mr."Bob393", building up the endurance is fine and almost necessary, but at some point I sincerely believe that at some point you'll have to make the transition to just enjoying the ride and mentally challenging yourself on the journey. If you don't the "boredom is HELL" syndrome will get you killed or severely hurt. Best of luck...
Maybe ask yourself why you are doing this. Is it bragging rights ? If so, that's stupid. Some kind of personal challenge ? That may be borderline stupid. Its just me, but I don't get it. Good luck and safe riding.
My first few years of LD riding I rode without any time of music or comm system. You do tend to get to know yourself pretty well spending hour after hour with nothing to listen to except the voices in your head! Having music helps tremendously. If your committed to this, might I suggest a competitive rally. They're much less boring since you solving a puzzle and not just logging miles. At a rally you'll find folks more than willing to help and share and the fellowship of the LD crowd is second to none. The 2013 calendar is not up yet, but I see there's an 8 hour rally in New Jersey next month http://www.facebook.com/TLGardenState An eight hour is a great way to get started and see if you enjoy it before committing to a 24 hour or longer event.
Ride in less than ideal weather. Ride in the same gear as you will ride in for the 24 hours. Allow time in the schedual for things to go wrong. Get some of the cheep safety glasses for night time. Get a tinted (day) and clear (night) shield. Lastly wear riding gear with 100 percent coverage.
I have found that traveling the same road frequently causes me to become bored and then maybe a bit hasty and ever so slightly careless. My wife agrees (HA!) Anyway, I just posted a story of two friends completing a 1000 mile test of physical and mental endurance. you might take 5 minutes to read it at www.twowheelsthreeamericas.com As far as Iron Butt. I dono, maybe some memory foam?
One of my IronButt riding buddies rides with no radio, no entertainment, no CB, no on board cell phone connection. He has easily 300,000 miles of LD riding this way. LD riding, you "get in the groove" and time just flies. I'm a bit of an LD rider myself, and I ride both with and without music. Without music: the music is in your ears... your thoughts are allowed to flow as they must... you carry your own entertainment inside your head.... If LD riding becomes boring, then smell the flowers and don't get bored! There is no reason you MUST do an IronButt ride. If your passion is to do LD riding, then the boredom is your demon that will either prevent you from finishing, or you overcome it to complete a long ride. There are IronButt riders who ride because they simply enjoy long distance riding. They get "in the groove". They are the humble ones whose accomplishments stand on their own, with no internet postings, no "I just did... I'm going to do... or Follow me on my Spot tracker." Then there are other IronButt riders who ride for bragging rights or status. Long distance riding is totally mental. Don't do it for the bragging rights. Like said on another post, try a bonus hunting rally, an 8 hour one or even a 24 hour one, and see if it hooks you. If not, then pursue your motorcycling in a way that feeds your passion.
Couple of energy drinks and a good note pad should do it. I never saw the fascination of IB riding, but I supported a friend and inmate in hers last August. She rode 1085 miles in 21 hours on a mostly stock Honda 750 Shadow Aero with a stop to deliver a housewarming gift to some inmates in Ontario. Plan your route carefully, avoid traffic as much as you can, and realize that you'll be pretty fuzzy at the end of it. Throw the weight of your planning into the last stages. Most IB riders never actually submit their paperwork. If the certificate means much to you, be careful to collect all the receipts and witnesses, and get the stuff sent out as quickly as you can. If you feel you're in over your head, stop and rest. My friend said that she thought the 1500 would actually be easier to accomplish than the 1000, as there is an opportunity for a longer rest period between sections. Good luck.
Thank you everyone, there are some great technical and sole searching ideas in here. A test rally is a great idea especially so close. Nice article, Thank you for sharing, I use a blue tooth headset to my phone for music and yes it does help.
Just remember its only a game. No prizes or whatever so...listen to your body and dont take risks. I've done a few very long rides IBA style and they sort of unfold for themselves. Collecting the dockets and making log entry is sometime just getting in the road. I think a few times now Ive planned a route, started off and at some point just stopped collecting dockets and just done the trip. I use the helmet time to write my book and I don't often listen to music or have phone congestion. I ride to get away and just look around me as I go along. Getting a ride in every couple of weeks is a good build up. 300/400K's is a good day out figure and doesnt take up all weekend to do so other stuff can be done...like mowing the lawn
Most of the time you will not know if you are in over your head. I don't do much LD riding but have done a few 1000 mile+ days. I liked to do simple math while out on the road, calculating how many miles to the next gas stop... how much gas I had versus the distance to the next few towns and an ETA. If I could not easily figure out the math, it was a sign I was on the bike too long and needed to get off.
It is true that it is time intensive and mowing the lawn is a necessity. That's pretty much how I've been doing it 3 or 400 miles at a time.
If you can do 500 miles in 8 hours with no issues, then just go ride it. Boredom is what you make of it, I get in a the zone and solve all of lifes problems on the long stretches. You just need to be able to turn it on or off in a split second. Dont zone out in traffic and dont concentrate with all your ability while droning down a 2 lane slab with out a vehicle in site. Music can help but I spend so much time by my lonesome tooling down the road I rarely listen even if I have a 500 mile drive in the auto.
To all hypocrits judging those who brag about LD accomplishments, you likely did it yourself one day. So let him enjoy it a few times! You know it doesn't last anyway so be proud to have a new fellow LD rider around! I agree LD riding is more a mode of operation. When you saw everything 300 then 400 miles around then you are ready for a 500 miles away trip. That is how I am training anyway. I have not seen everything at 800km from my place, so I still make shorter trips. When I will want to see something new, it will be my motivation to accomplish it. I wanted to see NYC one day. Well I ended up doing 800miles on parways in NY and Connecticut. It was a long but memorable day. I actuall took a 1h30 pause in the middle. Unusual but really changes everything. I am eager to do a bit longer but not immediately an SS because anything less after that will seem like been there done that! All I can say is, progress slowly. It is not because you can do 800 miles easily one day that you can always do it easily. Do a few more like those to ensure you know yourself and how stable you are. I have been thinking about a ss for 3 years now, and I still don't feel the pressure to do it, because I am pretty happy with what I do. But I know one friday I will wake up thinking, ok that is it. Tomorrow is the day. So prep up, eat well, hydrate, sleep early. For boredom, I am typically affected when I look at the odometer too much. So I add plenty of milestones at different unexpected lengths in the gps. Gives a feeling of progress.The opposite also works but in a strange way; I play a game of picking a distant marker, usually from the top of a hill to another, evaluating the distance and then asserting how off I was (using the trip counter). Not that easy to judge 2 or 3 miles without too much error That eats time pretty fast. Or make stupid challenges, like, riding 5 minutes on each butt cheek. Holding the horn for a full minute (when alone of course), finding the handle bar point with least vibration for various rpm, learning the gear you are in given the speed and rpm, find the distance between bars on the dotted line based on the qty on a given length, try to make a beat frequency between your voice and the engine, invent funny lyrics to a christmas song, and sing it out loud (I like the 12 days of christmas, that is so easy!)... Some of these are not going to distract you for long, but how many SS will you do really? They only need to distract you that day. I begin the day in silence and keep it as long as I can before getting a stand up comedy show mp3 on. comedy keeps you awake, any other audio book may just put you to sleep...! When finally tired of listening to words, go back to silence, not music yet... Anyway. I don't have to repeat everything about hydration and food. You seem to have it under control. Link anyway: http://timyow.com/2010/12/tips-for-a-successful-iba-saddlesore-ride/ Oh, and find a partner if you think he/she can help, especially with intercoms.
A few things that paid off for me: Plan your route so that you travel west in the morning and east at night. This means you're rarely looking into the sun low on the horizon. Know your body's natural rhythm. Are you most alert in the mornings or are you a night owl? I tend to get sleepy at dawn, so I rode those hours early in my trip when I was most alert and was in relatively familiar territory. Planning a gas/pit stop around then also helped. Remember darkness will slow you down. I'm always watching for the critters itching for a piece of me and consequently I slow down. Make the most of your daylight hours. Remember, there really is time to rest. Calculate how much rest time you have when you average certain speeds and comfort yourself with this on the road. Rest when you need it. It may sound simple, but plan a route according to the speed limits. You can't average 50mph on 35 mph roads. Throw something quirky into the trip like delivering a large birdfeeder to recent home buying inmates. It gives you something to look forward to and breaks things up. It helps if they meet you with homemade squirrel stew and a 5hour energy drink. Find something that motivates you. Keep in mind, it doesn't matter if you're lost as long as you keep moving. If possible, have a friend meet you at the finish line. A friendly familiar face to witness your mileage and maybe pop the champagne will feel like the end of a perfect day! Happy riding and best of luck!
I ride with a partner often. We do and havve done some huge trips at short notice and for us it works most of the time and I do have a great ride mate. The thing is we did hundreds of miles and plenty o f trips in the lead up to our first big one. We had clicked. Now the thing is Pressure to perform and not "wanting to let the side down" can be a negative problem. If you go the solo thing then If you need to stop then you stop. Two of you has a new dimension. Think it though and dooooooo pleeeenty of miles together to settle in before the big two show trip.
I'm glad Barb chimed in. She's the person that I was talking about in the my post above. Another thing that seemed to work well on her ride was having cell communication (in her helmet). I'd ridden much of the route she used for her 1,000 a few weeks before her attempt. I went much more slowly! I was able to follow along on her ride and act as a sort of "mission control." It can be difficult to fiddle with GPS buttons while one is riding. From time to time she'd report in and ask how far she was from a certain check-point. I could plug the info into my mapping software and give her answers, as well as point out potential difficulties along the way. We found out that it is a bad idea while in Canada to give directions to "The Tim Horton's in Cornwall", for example. It's really necessary to specify which of the eight locations.
On the "boredom" issue... Disclaimer: I've never done an IB ride and I don't really plan on doing one. The boredom topic came up a few years ago with a co-worker who was about to attempt an SS 1000. He specifically said that he planned his route on some superslab that he had not traveled often, if ever at all, so there would be new stuff to see. If he rode the same old interstate highways he felt that it would become tedious, leading to boredom, leading to lack of awareness, etc., etc. I thought it sounded like a good plan. So my advice would be to ride somewhere you haven't been on your IB ride. My highest mileage days have come about by just leaving the house with no idea where I am going. If I ever did an IB I would have to plan some oddball route so that it would be over highways that are new to me. Or something like ride 1000 miles from home and take a few days to explore my way back.
Count the farkles on your bike and add up how much they cost. :eek1 That'll keep you alert for quite awhile.