Note - the max speed was reset prior to the screen capture, and the total time is about 17 hours, the GPS was off for about 30 minutes while I had lunch.
I'm not sure when it started, but I've had the itch to do an IBA SS1000, http://www.ironbutt.com, for a couple of years. Last year I started really thinking about it, I was riding a K1600GTL, figured it was the perfect bike for it, but one thing led to another and it didn't happen. Once I bought the S10, I pretty much stopped riding the K1600 and I started thinking about selling it. I thought, hmmm, I should do the SS1000 on it before it goes. But it didn't happen, and the K1600 sold quick.
So a month or two goes by and I start thinking about the SS1000 again. I didn't really understand why, but I couldn't stop thinking about it. I decided I was going to do it and started preparing. I'd been tweaking the S10 for all sorts of riding, but was running TKC-80s and the stock shield. For this ride and some other hwy stuff I was planning, I put on a set of Michelin Pilot Road 4's, and I picked up a Parabellum windshield. I'd done a few longer days on my BMWs, but mostly local stuff on the S10. I did a 500 mile shake down run about a month ago and figured I was ready for the right day.
I started thinking about routing, but do to time limitation I wanted something that started and ended close to home and spend one day on this total. I ultimately decided to do an out an back run to the south on I-5. Some googling and I figured Williams, CA and back would be 1030 miles. Perfect. From Portland until Cottage Grove or so it's pretty boring, but the next several hours is very scenic, has some nice sweepers, mountain passes, etc. The scenery continues into CA all the way through to Redding, where it goes back to that straight boring stuff.
My plan was to take a vacation day and do this mid week, but this past Friday I was looking at the weather and figured I'd go for it on Saturday. I planned my gas stops symmetrically, so I'd hit the same town south and north. I thought about carrying food but other than a couple of snacks I figured I'd just top once or twice. I've recently started using a 1 Liter Platypus Hoser, http://www.cascadedesigns.com/platypus/hydration-systems/hoser/product, on my off pavement rides. It works fantastic, I just put it in the left breast pocket of my Darien Jacket. I figured I'd use that, and carry a spare quart that I'd leave in case I ended in an unexpected situation.
The bike was ready for the trip, recently serviced, tires with plenty of miles left, etc. I used my Woflman Blackhawk Tank Bag for paperwork, spare face shield, spare water, and a couple of snacks, glasses, etc. I put my tools, some layering, first aid kit, and other bits in a Wolfman duffle that I put behind me. I recently sold my OEM luggage, and I really missed the top case. It would have been perfect. I had my Sena headset and phone fully charged and ready, and a variety of Spotify playlists downloaded for offline mode.
The forecast for Saturday was overcast until I got to Roseburg or so, then sunny but not too hot the rest of the way south. More of the same on the return. I decided to shoot for a 4:30 AM start, it's practically light by then. I packed the bike, did a bunch of last minute checks and rechecks, and went to bed.
Saturday the alarm went off at 3:45. I made myself breakfast and coaxed my wife to follow me to the nearby gas station to act as my start witness. I ended up with an official start of 4:50AM. I rolled out with my heated jacket liner and gloves, it was 52 and overcast but dry. I had setup the trip with gas stops evenly spaced about 170 miles apart. That made six segments to complete the ride, and the first was the hardest. It was pretty gray, and pretty early. I worried a bit about the rest of the day but once the first segment was done I had my momentum the rest was pretty much easy riding. I stayed with heated gear until Weed, CA, it was 50s most of the way but then jumped to 75 pretty quickly. The sun started shining in Roseburg, OR, and I went to my dark faceshield at a bathroom stop.
The pattern for each segment repeated itself through out the day. One bathroom break about halfway to the gas stops. At the gas stops get gas, verify the receipt was good, buy 1 liter of water to refill the Platypus. Send an OK message to my wife via Inreach and then carry on. Traffic was reasonable the entire trip, much heavier south of Redding. I new my Sena would not last the trip so I planned to do the most scenic parts of the trip sans music. That worked perfectly.
At the turn around point I got my gas & receipt, and hit the Subway next door for lunch. Then it was pack to Portland. The halfway point was a significant mental milestone, and I was really enjoying the weather and the scenery. Things were uneventful on the way back, I switched back to heated gear and clear shield for the last 200 miles. Rolled into the final gas top about 9:50. My witness was waiting and I could check this one off. Another fantastic day riding, just a bit longer than usual. Woke up Sunday and did all my paperwork to send off so the IBA could certify the ride.
Some data:
- Google trip planned miles = 1030, Actual GPS miles = 1031, Actual ODO miles = 1061
- I ended the trip with 10,011 miles on the S10 ::008::
- Total fuel for the trip was 29.613 gallons
- The bike reported 40.2MPG average for the trip, my computed MPG based on GPS miles was 34.8
- The bike ran for just under 15 hours @ about 4K RPM. As one might expect, no drama here, it 'just works.'
Random observations:
- less camper traffic than expected, less traffic overall than I expected
- low temp, per the bike, was 51, high was 89
- not a lot of wind, zero precipitation
- there's a LOT of UPS and Fedex trucks
- bike brand most commonly seen - HD, Honda (Goldwings), BMWs, then everything else
- S10s seen - zero
- Bugs sacrificed in this endeavor, I estimate around 1100
What really worked well...
- My custom seat by Mr. Ed's moto
- changing position, flexing my knees, arms, back very frequently - I woke up today feeling great
- WATER, being able to drink as desired on the fly really helps, six quarts consumed on the bike, plus drinking fountains and another quart at lunch
- The S10 - happy to transport me without complaint, surprise, etc.
- My S10 setup, the bar risers, seat, shield, gadget mounts, tank bag, etc. It's working fantastic.
- My custom ear plugs, really eliminate the fatigue from droning on the freeway
- The Michelin P4s are great tires, thoroughly enjoyed the sweepers
What I wish was better
- I should have had a top box instead of the duffel. Not a huge deal, just a PITA the 2 or three times I needed something
- At 4K, where it was most of the day, the S10 puts off considerable bar vibration. I normally don't notice it, but when you spend the day at that speed it's tiresome.
Ok, so I'll check this one off. I thought it would satisfy the "I want to try an SS1000" itch. It did, somewhat. Now I'm sitting here wondering in the back of my head, "Wouldn't it be cool to do an Oregon rural SS1000, with zero freeway?" Hmmm. "Wait, it would be awesome to do it on the WR250R!" Hmmm. "That's like 10 gas stops!" Hmmm. "Maybe next year!"
Here's the track as captured on my Garmin 590LM and filtered by Spotwalla:
https://spotwalla.com/embed.php?id=a321539dd2c0819af&width=600&height=600&scale=on&zoom=default&refresh=no
And the same captured on my Delorme InReach:
https://spotwalla.com/embed.php?id=a322539dd58e9ed97&width=600&height=600&scale=on&zoom=default&refresh=no
Good times! I think about all the things I've done on this bike, this ride, many others, all the off pavement stuff, the group stuff. And it's just been 8 months and 10k mi.
