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IBA 50CC April 2011

pauleknight

New member
50 CC ride report
April 9th -April 10th JAX to SAN 2380+ miles, under 50 hours

First let me start by saying that I am a re-entry rider. I rode some back in high school (1983) and was injured in a MC accident that ended my riding career till Dec 2009.

In December 2009 I purchased a used Honda VTX I purchased a 2000 K1200LT 6 months later on a whim and fell in love with the LT and with long distance touring. 6 months later I moved up to a used 2009 K1200LT in Nov 2010.

Well sometime in Feb 2011 after my riding buddy upgraded from his VTX to a 2008 Goldwing we discussed the an IBA ride and a CC50 seemed like something that would be fun.

I will not bore you with the minutia of playing around with the dates, working the wives over to get a 10 day kitchen pass, moving the dates twice because of a last minute business trips, etc. Lets just say that we spent significant time reviewing the route, gas stops, buying heated gear to keep us warm, last minute fluid changes, tire checks, creation of Emergency Contact sheets for our wallets, and vehicle maintenance to assure that my LT and his Wing were up to the trip. We also double checked our Scala Rider headsets and charged them fully and assured that we in full communications.

To start we rode from ORL to JAX Friday afternoon 4/8/11 to stage our departure. We hit the beach, got some water/sand and went over to the local LEO station to get a starting signature. As others have pointed out before we were surprised when we walked in, rang the buzzer, explained what we wanted and the lady laughed and said NO problem, we get you guys in here all the time....

So with Johnny Law's signature on the paper all taken care of we grab a bite and make it over to the Courtyard Marriott to get a good night sleep (ha ha). We went to sleep around 10pm and woke up around 3am, got cleaned up, showered, loaded the bikes, and out the door to hit the 1st of 14 gas stops for our trip at 4:31 am 10,410 miles on my odometer.

Day one gas stops were:
JAX Beach 04:31 10,410
Tallahassee FL 07:10 10,595
Pensacola FL 09:04 10,792
Hammond LA 12:00 10,990
Vinton LA 15:05 11,184
Columbia TX 18:12 11,378
Kerrville TX 21:07 11,566
Bakersfield TX 00:36 11,781
Fort Stockton TX 01:16 11,186


My LT got better range VS the Wing so we had to stop more often then I would like, but it all worked out great. We stopped for under 20 min per stop for every stop for gas. While at each fuel stop I took a single Tylenol and a single Ibuprofen to combat the soreness. This seemed to work for me as I never really got sore for the entire trip. Also we took a pee break while we were fueling to assure that we did not need any unscheduled stops.

During the first day we travelled ~1371 miles per my ODO and in retrospect we should have gone the extra miles to get the 1500 in 24 hours IBA certification.

Overnight at the Budget INN Fort Stockton checking into the hotel at 1:16am, ~21 hours and 45 minutes after departing JAX FL. The Budget Inn was convenient and priced right, single floor parking outside our door, close to the interstate and clean for the most part. This and the hotel in San Diego were the only ones we reserved in advance. The remaining hotel stops for the return trip we planned on getting as necessary along the return route.

We seemed to eat very little the first day and in fact for the entire trip out. I had granola bars and Costco trail mix which contains: Peanuts Raisins Almonds Cashews Plain M&MÔÇÖs as snacks in zip lock bags. Bill shared his home made beef jerky which was wonderful except that some got stuck one of my back tooths and bothered me for several hundred miles. The trail mix was a little hard to eat at HWY speeds but fun none the less. We drank energy drinks which we hear are a no-no, but I am highly caffeinated anyway so this was a normal state for me.

For the first day the only real trouble was getting thru San Antonio at dusk. I would advise that if you plan on traversing any major city at dusk, like San Antonio that you have a planned ÔÇ£escapeÔÇØ route thru the city. As dusk falls the traffic was crazy and after so many hours on the road we could have used a easier route thru San Antonio.

I also added a last minute farkle to my LT to allow for the MP3/GPS to run thru the factory stereo. Unfortunately the gain was too low for that input so the farkle was useless. I should have tested at HWY speeds to confirm that it was going to work.

Neither of us slept well in the hotel in Fort Stockton. I do not think it was the hotel itself but the adrenalin from the quest and the desire to be on the road. We both noted that the hotel shampoo was sub par and we recommend bringing your own soap and shampoo for at least this stop since you are on the clock and the comfort of something familiar would have been nice. Marriott hotel shampoo normally works for me 100 days plus a year.

We departed fort Stockton TX at 7:50 AM local time.

On day two we headed out at for the remaining ~974 miles at 07:50
Van Horn TX 09:25 11,937
Las Cruses NM 11:20 12,114
Wilcox AZ 12:57 12,293
Stanfield AZ 15:32 12,462
El Centro CA 18:48 12,672
San Diego Beach 21:18 12,790


Be careful between Stanfield AZ and El Centro, CA. Fuel seemed limited when we need to refuel.

Coming over the top of Kumeyaay Highway between El Centro and San Diego looked beautiful but it got dark and very cold very fast. Temps dropped to sub freezing and the traffic was more than we expected on a Sunday night. Also the stop at the top for border patrol slowed us down and caused a big delay.

Once we hit the final fuel stop and stopped the clock we toasted with some scotch (a sip really) at the fuel pumps, took pictures, got a bystander to take a few pictures, and off to the hotel. I choose a Comfort Inn across from the San Diego airport since I had stayed there before and I knew that it had a great hot tub to hit when we got to the hotel.

After checking in at the hotel and getting to the room, we grabbed the remaining 24 OZ of our Scotch and some Cigars and headed to a soak in the tub. Without going into too much detail we finished the whole 24oz of scotch and a few cigars and made a few friends while soaking in the hot tub. We finally hit the sack well after midnight local time.

Let me say that 11am checkout came way too soon and we had to go and get our west coast signatures and sand/water from the Pacific Ocean. On the way to the beach we passed a CHiPs station and got LEO to sign for us. We got our water/sand and we had to depart for Los Angeles and our next destinations with our leisurely 7 day 3,400 mile return trip to Orlando FL.

Even though it is only a month since we returned we already have confirmation of our ride certifications from the IBA and look forward to getting our paperwork and making a nice shadowbox with the water/sand to hang in our respective man caves.

We are already planning our next ride. This time maybe Miami to Maine (~1500 miles) in 24 hours? With a return ÔÇ£Ride to EatÔÇØ down the Eastern Seaboard Maine Lobster, Boston Clam Chowder, NY Pizza, Philly Cheese Steak, Baltimore Crab Cakes, etc.


Post ride observations:

We both had radar detectors and saw very few LEO on the route. For the entire trip we were within 5 miles of the posted limits. Speed limit 60MPH we went 65, speed limit 70MPH we went 75.

The Border Patrol stops were a surprise and only slowed us down a little. Not enough to cause any major problems, but none the less a surprise along the route.

Along the way we learned how to stretch out on the bikes in ways that were unnatural. We would play ÔÇ£Motorcycle Rider TwisterÔÇØ, Right foot on the HWY peg, left foot on the rear peg, left hand behind your back. Then we would move to another position to get a different comfortable position.

Riding thru the winds were interesting to say the least. We would come around a truck and lean into the winds. Nothing that would knock us off the bikes, but we both have large rides so it was not too hard on us.

We were fortunate that we hit no adverse weather outside of strong winds and had ZERO construction delays that I can recall.

Lessons Learned
1. Check all farkles to assure that they work before you leave
2. Beef Jerky can get stuck in teeth and cause discomfort
3. Move around frequently while in the saddle to stay limber
4. Stretch while on the bike! It makes all the difference
5. Tylenol and Ibuprofen as a prophylactic to combat soreness
6. Go the extra mile on day one to get the 1500/24 certification if you can
7. If traversing a major city at dusk make sure you plan an easy bypass or route thru the city ahead of time
8. Getting signatures are as easy as they say
9. No need to speed 5 miles over the limit is all you need.
10. Watch for fuel on I8 as we had issues.
11. Make sure you have your warm gear handy as it does get cold
12. A good buddy makes the trip so much easier
13. Thanks your SO when you return for her giving you the kitchen pass to make the trip

PS Texas I-10 is 880+ miles the long way. We laughed at calling Texas three states, East Texas, Central Texas and West Texas, the three states of Texas.
 
Congrats on the ride.

Another BMW rider and I did one of those back in 1996. It was an adventure, but I don't think I want to do it again. ;) 46:10 or so, back then. Check out the IBA listings - JJ and I were the 8th and 9th riders to do it. Neither of us had done an IB ride before then.

In those days, computerized gas receipts were far between, so we had to have police or fire dept. witnesses at each end and half way. Those cops thought we were certifiably insane. It took almost a half hour to get a cop witness in San Diego. Even then, I had to endure a short lecture on abusing police services. :blush

I remember riding down the mountain pass on I-8 after Araz Junction, looking up, and seeing more stars than I had ever seen before.

It's quite a ride; my compliments. What's next?

Jim IBA 3278
 
no photos... didn't happen. Jeez, where are the photos? we all can't read, gotta look at the picturers.
 
no photos... didn't happen. Jeez, where are the photos? we all can't read, gotta look at the picturers.

Who had time to take pictures?

Most of my pictures were done thru facebook.

www.facebook.com/pauleknight

I guess you could look at my mobile uploads and see some of the few photos that I took on the trip.

To be honest, my wife is a professional photographer and she has all the good photo gear (some cost more than my bike) and I did not carry a camera on this trip.

I will get some pictures from my buddy's camera to post later.
 
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