Shoganai
New member
I had to wait until my story was publish in the Iron Butt Magazine before I could post openly about this ride. It came out in the 2013 Winter Edition.
Please consider supporting the Iron Butt Association and all the while reading wonderful stories, product reviews and tech articles.
Without the community support I received from them I would have never discovered my passion for Long Distance riding.
http://www.ironbutt.com/ibmagazine/
In 2007, while riding with Hoagy?s Heroes on a 50CC, I fell asleep at over 70 mph. The short version is I totaled a 2005 BMW R1200ST, got a chopper ride I don?t recall, lost nine days memory, fractured my left clavicle, sternoclavicular dislocation, cardiac contusion, burst fractures of T6 and T7, broke all the spinus processes left of T5 through T10, and a fractured few ribs. It wasn?t like I was a noob either. At the time of the event I had over 300,000 miles and a solo 2.5 month Alaska trip under my belt. As it turned out, I had undiagnosed sleep apnea and in 2008 I started on a CPAP. I can't tell you what a difference it?s made.
I love me some Hoagy.
Although I was riding a K12R before I was out of the turtle shell, it took me over a year to be mostly pain free. I went through a deep depression punctuated with ill-defined flashbacks, sudden panic attacks while riding and waking up crying at night for no reason. The depression associated with narcotic withdrawal didn't help either.
In 2011 I planned a ride to visit my friend Drake Smith on Marrowstone Island for a tiny Classic K gathering and chose to re-attempt my failed 50CC. I believed it was within me to succeed and I wanted to shake off the ghost of failure. My friend Larry Meeker signed as my Jacksonville Beach witness and gave me an escort out of town. I finished the ride in 45 hours including a BBG. My friend Garry Springgay rode to San Diego from Arizona to sign my paperwork and deliver a great hug. The ride went very smoothly and I had such an awesome time at Drake's, I told him would return in two years.
It was at this time that I 'met' Bill Watt on the LDRiders List. If he had not strongly and insistently pushed me to send in the 50cc/BBG paperwork, I never would have. I only did the ride so that crash didn't beat me and to satisfy myself. It was never about or for recognition or acceptance because I have never felt the need to prove anything to anyone but myself.
At some point in 2012, I mentioned to Bill Watt that I would like to meet him in 2013 because I was heading west to see my friend Drake again. Bill said, ?why don?t you do a Sunrise to Sunset Insanity?? I?ll say this about that; Bill knows how to set a hook so softly you?ll never feel it. Having never heard of it, I wanted to know more about the IBA ride I was about to attempt but it has been very difficult to get details. The IBA records show Bob St. George was the first to do this ride in 08/02, followed by Bill Watt 06/04. Bob and Bill shared a special connection in that they both were honored to have Ron Smith sign their La Push paperwork. The next riders were from the Motorcycle Tourer's Forum on 07/08. Then it lay dormant for 5 years, until Bill Watt and I crossed internet paths. Beyond that, I could find very little about this ride.
I loved how Watt described it, "The idea behind the ride was to ride from when the sun's rays first kiss the shores of the United States to where it whispers to the west shore goodnight'"
.
Long before I have ever hear of the Iron Butt association and many years before I ever rode with another rider or even went to a gathering of riders, I was already living the life. And not unlike the cowboys who slept by their horses on their long journeys across the prairie, I too would slept by my steed.
.
If you are inclined, please listen to the songs because they are as much of this story as the words themselves.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djpnsqdNabM
.
Please consider supporting the Iron Butt Association and all the while reading wonderful stories, product reviews and tech articles.
Without the community support I received from them I would have never discovered my passion for Long Distance riding.
http://www.ironbutt.com/ibmagazine/
In 2007, while riding with Hoagy?s Heroes on a 50CC, I fell asleep at over 70 mph. The short version is I totaled a 2005 BMW R1200ST, got a chopper ride I don?t recall, lost nine days memory, fractured my left clavicle, sternoclavicular dislocation, cardiac contusion, burst fractures of T6 and T7, broke all the spinus processes left of T5 through T10, and a fractured few ribs. It wasn?t like I was a noob either. At the time of the event I had over 300,000 miles and a solo 2.5 month Alaska trip under my belt. As it turned out, I had undiagnosed sleep apnea and in 2008 I started on a CPAP. I can't tell you what a difference it?s made.
I love me some Hoagy.
Although I was riding a K12R before I was out of the turtle shell, it took me over a year to be mostly pain free. I went through a deep depression punctuated with ill-defined flashbacks, sudden panic attacks while riding and waking up crying at night for no reason. The depression associated with narcotic withdrawal didn't help either.
In 2011 I planned a ride to visit my friend Drake Smith on Marrowstone Island for a tiny Classic K gathering and chose to re-attempt my failed 50CC. I believed it was within me to succeed and I wanted to shake off the ghost of failure. My friend Larry Meeker signed as my Jacksonville Beach witness and gave me an escort out of town. I finished the ride in 45 hours including a BBG. My friend Garry Springgay rode to San Diego from Arizona to sign my paperwork and deliver a great hug. The ride went very smoothly and I had such an awesome time at Drake's, I told him would return in two years.
It was at this time that I 'met' Bill Watt on the LDRiders List. If he had not strongly and insistently pushed me to send in the 50cc/BBG paperwork, I never would have. I only did the ride so that crash didn't beat me and to satisfy myself. It was never about or for recognition or acceptance because I have never felt the need to prove anything to anyone but myself.
At some point in 2012, I mentioned to Bill Watt that I would like to meet him in 2013 because I was heading west to see my friend Drake again. Bill said, ?why don?t you do a Sunrise to Sunset Insanity?? I?ll say this about that; Bill knows how to set a hook so softly you?ll never feel it. Having never heard of it, I wanted to know more about the IBA ride I was about to attempt but it has been very difficult to get details. The IBA records show Bob St. George was the first to do this ride in 08/02, followed by Bill Watt 06/04. Bob and Bill shared a special connection in that they both were honored to have Ron Smith sign their La Push paperwork. The next riders were from the Motorcycle Tourer's Forum on 07/08. Then it lay dormant for 5 years, until Bill Watt and I crossed internet paths. Beyond that, I could find very little about this ride.
I loved how Watt described it, "The idea behind the ride was to ride from when the sun's rays first kiss the shores of the United States to where it whispers to the west shore goodnight'"
.
Long before I have ever hear of the Iron Butt association and many years before I ever rode with another rider or even went to a gathering of riders, I was already living the life. And not unlike the cowboys who slept by their horses on their long journeys across the prairie, I too would slept by my steed.
.
If you are inclined, please listen to the songs because they are as much of this story as the words themselves.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djpnsqdNabM
.