Trip Report - SS1000 - June 16th 2001
Hi there,
Got back from a nice trip last evening. My riding buddy Paul and I decided to do
a "SaddleSore 1000". It's an event endorsed by the "Iron Butt
Association" (
http://www.ironbutt.com/
) where you ride 1000 miles (about 1640 km) in a 24 hour period.
We decided to leave Fredericton at the wonderful hour of three in the morning,
to hopefully be back home before nighfall. The forecast was calling for hot and
humid but no rain happening anywhere along our trip plan. Here's Paul at the
Irving on Regent Street
I actually saw my first deer between my house and the Irving. Riding at night is
usually something I avoid like the Plague, but seeing as this was such an
"important event", sometimes you just have to hope for the best and
try to avoiding "kebab"ing some wildlife. Our plan was to stop and
stretch about every 150 km, lead changes every 50 km or so. In the first hour of
the trip, I saw a deer and a moose, but they were by the side of the road and
just watched us go by. The first signs of daybreak appeared at about 04:30 or
so.
Our course had us going up to Edmundston, in Quebec to Rivière-du-Loup, around
to Quebec City and then up to Lac St-Jean and Chicoutimi. And back. We had
planned one formal stop in Chicoutimi to eat and the rest were to be either for
gas or a quick stretch.
Strangely enough, everything went according to plan. The only snag I had was my
tailpack. I used it a lot on my zx-11 but this was my first time using it on the
12. The anchoring bolts are a bit closer on the 12 so the elastic straps were
less taut, meaning that the bag was going from one side to the other. Not close
to falling off, but looking lopsided. I had a bunch of heavy stuff in there (1
litre of water, apples, carrots, rainsuit, spare shield, gloves...) and it was
really annoying. I guess I'll try to modify it somehow or maybe I'll be forced
to get another one.
Another interesting anecdote is the very poor tank range on my bike. I gassed up
just after the NB - Quebec border. I had been running on reserve for about 40 km
and when I gassed the meter read 18 litres. My tank has a 20 litre capacity so I
figured 2 more litres, I should be able to stretch out reserve more... Silly me.
Anyway, we're about 50 km from Quebec and my reserve comes on. No problem, I'll
gas up in Quebec or maybe even on the highway going up to Chicoutimi. Naw, let's
not taunt the devil, I'll gas up in Quebec City. Got past the bridge, up the
hill, down the hill, got on the exit ramp where I wanted to get off for fuel,
sputter sputter *engine dies*. Try to keep momentum and coast for as long as I
can, while indicating to Paul that I'm out of fuel (he later told me that he
thought I was indicating that I didn't know which way to turn). Get off the bike
and run alongside it to the nearest gas station (luckily it's only a two to
three hundred meter jog). Fill up the tank to the brim, read the meter, 18.6
litres. Hmmmm, where did that other 1.4 litre go ?
We laughed about this but I felt pretty stupid. This carelessness could have put
a severe time dent in our trip had this happened on the bridge (3 or 4 km
earlier) or in the middle of nowhere. Oh well, lighten up, it WAS pretty funny.
The rest of the trip was excellent, except for the rain in Chicoutimi
(thunderstorm) that cleaned off the bugs but otherwise gave the bikes the
"rode in the rain" look. Weather was very hot at times, made me wish
for leathers with better ventilation.
Here's a pic of the bikes about an hour away from Fredericton on our way back.
That white thing you see on the left side of my triple clamp is a little chart
of checkpoints and the km reading it's supposed to be into the ride according to
"Map'n'go", a mapping program.
Iron Butt Association rules say that you must use mapping software to validate
the acutal mileage because bike odometers can be off by quite a bit. I believe
them because after the ride, my trip meter read 1 674 km, Paul's indicated 1 750
or so km and Map'n'go said it should be 1 684 km. This gives 1 024 miles, the 24
thrown in just for the fudge factor.
Not many flies during the trip, look
All in all, a very enjoyable ride. My butt was quite red and tenderised by the
end of our journey (we got back at 8:45 local time), a few lessons learned and a
good idea of how much fun these endurance events can be. I didn't need any
sleeping pills last night. Today I'm feeling well, my bottom doesn't hurt
anymore, no stiffness anywhere.
Back to
Fuel Cell
Main Menu