Iron Butt Patches

[Cold Streak]

Last summer I made a ride from Minneapolis, MN to Wendover, UT to get out to Bonneville for Bub's Speed trials.  A buddy runs a double engine Triumph that I wanted to watch and help set up.  Since I had never been there I thought it would be a good ride.  Also decided since it was about 1500 miles I might as well get my Iron Butt SS1000 and BB1500 under my belt at the same time.  I finally got around to sending in the paperwork and getting confirmation that my ride counted.  I have attached a picture of the two patches I'll sew onto my jacket.

The ride was unspectacular in that everything went according to plan.  I started in Mpls at 7 am and rode to Laramie, WY by about 11 pm the first day.  I got rained on in the first 50 miles, which made me wonder if it was going to be one of "those" deals.  The last segment went from Douglas, WY to Laramie via Cheyenne.  I was planning to gas up in Cheyenne but missed any open stations, then suddenly I was heading west towards Laramie.  Yikes.  I was constantly watching my average fuel usage, my miles remaining, the odometer and the miles left to Laramie.  It was about a 175 mile segment, my longest of the trip and I was ready for a motel.  About 1012 miles the first day.  The next day was actually pretty easy comparably as I only had to go 500 miles in 12 hours.  I made it with about 3 hours to spare. 

The ride home with my buddies was far more enjoyable as we rode up through Jackson hole, Teton National Park, Chief Joseph highway, Bear Tooth Pass (in the rain) and east from there.  Fantastic riding!

[MrPepsi]

Call me jealous.
The SS is on my to do list.

[Rhino]

Congrats! I've done ~950 miles in less then 24 hours but never documented it. I go from Monument CO to Austin TX about once a year. Depending on route it comes out to about 950 miles (by Garmin GPS). I think next time I'll look for a 1050 route and do the IBA documentation.

[sherob]

Nice! 

[AZ-ZG]

Yep, that first 1000 miles in 24 hours, I've been led to believe,
is the trickiest part of a BB1500.
I have one SS1K.
At the time that ride was completed I began thinking that another 500 miles was very doable.
I suppose you just can't overdo your rest period?

Congratulations on your LD accomplishments!   

[MikeH]

Congrats. Definitely not an easy task.

[Conrad]

 

So how did your buddy do at Bonneville?

[Cold Streak]

He had mixed success.  The first day got rained out.  I actually got rained on during the stretch from Salt Lake City to Wendover and could see massive rain clouds over the speed trial area.  That turned out to be okay, since his bike wasn't running right.  We had to replace the coil and clean the carbs.  He ran about 120 mph on his first pass.  We then changed the rear sprocket and he tried again the next day.  Unfortunately he missed a shift and only went about 130 mph.  At that point he opted not to buy another pass, so he packed up and went back to CA.  I attached a picture of his bike.  I also attached a picture of the salt in case some of you have never seen the Flats before. 

[connie1]

I've always wondered what the salt surface looked like, thanks for including that pic.
Is it slippery or is there good traction?  How long does it take to dry out after a rain?
It kinda looks like it would rip your leathers right off in a crash.

[Conrad]

That looks like the roads around here! They tend to be VERY heavy handed in the use of salt in my area. 

[Cold Streak]

Is it slippery or is there good traction?  How long does it take to dry out after a rain?

Sorry for the slow reply.  I was in Montana skiing for the last week and didn't have a chance to look at the site.

The salt is not slippery but it sure looks like it would be, especially driving across it.  When we were there it had rained and there were puddles all around.  It looked exactly like driving across a frozen lake when there had been some melting.  I thought it was going to be slick as snot, but it wasn't at all.  The salt, when it's wet, cakes on the bottom of your shoes.  After walking around you end up with about an inch of salt stuck to your shoes.  I don't know how long it takes to dry out.  It rained just before we got there and it was still wet a couple of days later.  But that was a lot of rain and it wasn't real hot those two days.