Ever ride a thousand miles in 24 hours or less? Not too long ago, I would've thought that was insane. Then I happened into the Iron Butt Association's web page. It seems that there are quite a few people who have done this, and rides that make 1000 miles seem like a walk in the park. Check out the IBA website for more background, since I'm too lazy toexplain it myself.

Hmmm, I can do that, why not give it a shot. After some persuasion, I managed to convince my friend John that he needed to go too. Below is a report that I wrote a couple of days after finishing. We did the ride on August 28, 1998.

Here are a few pictures:
John and I showing off the latest in corny looking boots after we finished the ride
John's 1997 DR 650, a formidable long distance weapon in disguise.
My 1992 CBR600F2, another super secret long distance cruiser.
Tyler Wood (left) and Steve White, our official witnesses, both employees at Honda East Yamaha in Bear, DE.

For your troubles, if you complete the ride successfully, you get a certificate,a pin and a license plate frame. Click on each to see what they look like. John has the same stuff, but I have the scanner and he's not here, so... you get to see my stuff. ;-)

Well, here's the report that I posted to an internet mailing list that I was reading/posting to at the time...

Bonnie, Bonnie, Bonnie... that's all I heard in the few days before my Saddle Sore 1000 attempt. I kept a close eye on the weather channel, planned a few alternate routes and crossed my fingers. By 2:00 Friday, I knew the original route would be the one to take, I'd head south from DE to SC, since Hurricane Bonnie was now off the coast of Maryland/Delaware.

I was going to do the ride on my CBR600 F2, and my friend John was going to do it on his DR650SE. Neither bike is what I'd call a touring bike, but we figured they'd do just fine, and they were the best we each had for the ride. We were going 500 miles out and turning back, since we didn't have the time off work to spare for a one way trip.

With the saddlebags and tankbag packed full of raingear, food, and every 'just in case' item under the sun, I parked on the couch to try to get some rest before leaving. Shortly before leaving, my local dealer calls to tell me that my new boots are in. This came as quite a surprise, considering that the supplier (Acerbis) insisted that the size I ordered didn't exist. I had ordered the on-road Sympatex boot by Sidi from Acerbis, more than a week earlier. I had paid for 3 day shipping to have them on the Monday prior to my ride. The first pair that came was a European size 45, which was too big. I had ordered a size 10, these were 10.5. The next pair that came was a size 43, or a 9. These were too small. Acerbis insisted that these would fit, even though I had tried them on and confirmed that they didn't... Acerbis also claimed that a 44 didn't exist. In disgust I told them to cancel the order... then I get the call that the 44's are in. I headed over to the dealer, since I was going to have them sign my witness form for the start anyway.

I tried on the new boots and they felt good, a little snug at the widest point of my foot, but otherwise good. I decided to take a risk and wear them on the ride. I know this was stupid, but other than some discomfort about an hour into the ride, they felt great. 20 hours of wear and no blisters, no pain, nothing. I really like these boots, I just hate to recommend them since you have to deal with Acerbis to get them.

So finally we've got the signatures and we're off to get gas receipts. The receipts are in hand and we're on the road. About an hour and a half into the ride, we hit our first and only traffic jam. After a bit of stop and go between Baltimore and DC, we were moving again. Minutes ticked away, miles rolled by, and before I knew it we were 250 miles in. I had been a bit uncomfortable earlier on, but by now I was fine, and feeling great. We stopped for gas every 115 or so miles for John's DR, and while this slowed the average down, the added rest breaks were nice.

We reached the half way point sometime in the middle of the night, found a gas station with working pay at the pump, grabbed the receipts, had a sandwich and a rest, and headed north. Just before dawn, we took our only non-gas stop, so I could close my eyes for 10 minutes or so. I was starting to feel a bit tired, and figured it would be a good idea to rest before it got bad. I couldn't sleep, but it did me good to rest anyway.

We motored along into the early afternoon, and sometime around DC (950)miles, my butt started to hurt. Not terrible, but it did hurt a bit. I figured it was in my head, since I was ~100 miles from home and nearly finished. Those last 100 miles were the longest of the ride. At the end, I had the only trouble that we encountered on the entire trip. I popped my credit card in the pump, and when I hit the 'receipt yes' button, nothing happened. The button was broken and the default is no receipt. No big deal I thought, I'll just use another pump. Well, apparently you can't use the same card within some time limit at this station, 'cause my card wouldn't work in another pump. No big deal yet, I just paid a buck cash and got a receipt... damn, no location. The employee at the station refused to sign anything, and when I asked him about the card, his reply was "I ain't no credit card expert, the pumps take cards, so it must be your card." Fine, I asked John to lend me his card so I could get a receipt. Now it wouldn't take his card either, since he had just gotten gas. Fortunately John carries an extra card, and I got $.03 of gas and got a receipt. My only concern now is that the receipt has John's name on it, not mine. I'm not too worried though, 'cause I have that receipt and a cash receipt, hopefully the IBA will accept it.

We cruised over to the dealership where we started to get the ending witness forms signed. It was pretty neat to see how exited everyone was at our accomplishment, I didn't expect it. It took just over 20 hours, and we weren't really sore at all. I really think I could have done it on almost anything. In fact, I have a few YSR's in the garage... I have a YZ80 motor, maybe a bun-burner on a YSR?

So all in all, it was remarkably uneventful. I almost wish something would've happened to make it exciting, but I had a great time anyway. The bikes performed flawlessly. At about 900 miles, John had to lube his chain, but that's it. Not a drop of oil, nothing. We used Collett helmet communicators, and the ni-cad batteries that Collett sells. The batteries lasted all 20 hours of constant use. I highly recommend the Collett communicator if you're in the market for something like this.

Will I do more? I dunno, I kinda like to take some time to look around when I'm riding, so we'll see. I've been riding a long time, but 'til now, a long day was anything over 200 miles. This really changes my perspective on how far I can comfortably go in a day, and should open up a bunch of riding opportunities. I'm in the market for something a bit more touring oriented, now that I realize how much more riding I can do. The CBR wasn't too uncomfortable, but it's no good for me and the girlfriend to take along weekend trip on. I think I will try a rally next year, and see how I like that.

If you feel the need, Email me.