Tin Butt 500

Today, Yankee Beemer Mike Andrews ran his Tin Butt 500 ride - 500 miles in 12 hours. The route was a devious one, which took us through seven states. Starting in Ashland, MA, we went to Rhode Island, Connecticut, back to MA, Vermont, New York, VT again, New Hampshire, Maine, and ended in Sherborn, MA.

Aside from Mike and me, there were two other participants that I know of, although I don't know their names.

I was unable to finish. The route was quite heavy on twisty back roads and I was unable to push it hard enough to make the time. Which brings me to...

The weather: This was without question the coldest day I've ever spent in the month of August. There was clouds, rain (not much), mist, and lots of fog. On a sunnier day I might have been able to pull this off, although it still would have been a push. I knew I was in trouble when I was still in Maine with less than 90 minutes to deadline.

Ultimately, I punted. I called Mike and told him I wasn't going to be able to make it, and headed for home, rather than for Sherborn. I didn't quite make the 500 miles, but I probably would have if I'd followed Mike's route to Sherborne. As it stands, I did about 475 in just under 13 hours.

To say that my hat is off to the people riding the Iron Butt rally would be to grossly misrepresent the position of my hat. My hat is off, trampled, and laid at their feet.

So are you going for a SS1K?

Sorry you didn't make it but good on you for recognizing your limits and
riding accordingly.

Ian

BradfordBenn said:

So are you going for a SS1K?

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Not this year.

that ride sounds cool, and like more of an actual challenge than the SS1k. given today's high speed limits and the abundance of interstates, it just isnt that difficult to go ride 1000 miles in 24 hours. there are ways to make it more challenging, and i think one of them is to do it while avoiding interstates, or any road over 65mph in speed limit.

riding 500 in 12 on twisty roads, through real towns? sounds fun and hard. that's a cool ride, and you shouldnt feel down for not making it.

me and a friend have tossed around the idea of a texas ride, a bbq butt 1000 or something, where you ride 1000 miles in 24 hours, and must eat bbq, and must avoid interstates.

where these rides get interesting is, in my mind, with two variables. one is simply endurance. how long can you go on little sleep, or with cat naps. the second one is efficiency. how fast can you get gas, take a whizz, and eat some food? the 500 in 12 hours sounds like the efficiency test, with some good riding thrown in. the 1500/24 ride is a combination of an efficiency test and endurance test.

the iron butt rally adds a third element of good decision making, along with incredible endurance and efficiency requirements. it starts tomorrow right? i'm looking forward to the coverage here!

username said:

riding 500 in 12 on twisty roads, through real towns? sounds fun and hard.

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Yeah, and some of the towns were real time killers. One of the roads was Route 9 through Vermont and New Hampshire. This goes through towns like Bennington, Brattleboro, and Concord. Those towns were some serious time killers. Stop lights every block, traffic, and all that fun stuff.

A similar challenge down south

The BMW Motorcycle Owners of Georgia holds a similar event, called The GA400.

400 miles in 9 hours through some of the finer roads in the area. It's a scavenger hunt format. The locations are published ahead of time so you can plan your route.

This year will be the last year for our event (unless we can talk someone else into planning it...) and there are still a few spots open. If you're interested in participating, check out the GA400 web site.

I, too, enjoy a format more along these lines more than the grand-o-slab endurance formats.

Ian

Ian, that looks like a fun ride. I like the idea of assigning penalty points for mileage over 400 miles, and I also like that you publish GPS data.

I wish that I had been riding when I lived in Georgia. (I lived in Athens for about 6 1/2 years). There are some great roads there, especially up in the mountains.