jangell said:
I will leave about 5pm on Friday....to Mississippi...about 1,100 miles. My plan is to do this non-stop. When I get there I will have been up for at least 34 hours.
Are you doing this on that 750 of yours? That's not the most comfortable of bikes for long haul essentially nonstop riding.
Just a few things to consider:
A 5pm departure for 24hrs will trash your circadian rhythm if you work days. You're going to start zoning out a lot sooner than if you depart at 5am. The ride starts at 5pm at a safety disadvantage at mile #0.
When was the last time you were up for 24hrs straight AND coherent enough to safely do a dozen touch and go's by yourself when the clock started to repeat itself? Have you been up 34hrs straight before? It's rough and that's coming from someone who use to work 48+hrs straight regularly with nothing more than a few naps under a desk in a reasonably safe environment. You've ridden enough to know that you have to be as coherent on the last 100 miles as the first 100 miles..it just takes one pothole or 2x4 laying in the road under the right conditions to take you down.
How far have you ridden in a day and has that distance been recently? I've talked to a few IBA riders and they don't just hop on and go. They work up their endurance for the big one. Most of them recommended that if you try, you should ride 2up so you can switch out pilots until you're experienced enough to go solo. (I've done ≈500-550 miles in one day on my 650 and it was rough but doable. There's no way I could have done 700 at the safety level I require without riding long distance more often. 800 miles solo in the car is rough enough)
Is there any consideration that this is a national mindless crazed psychotic drunk driving, um, holiday weekend? I won't even drive at all on holidays anymore much less at night on 2 wheels when the opposition is all snockered.
jangell said:
If you think I've done something stupid in an airplane...this doesn't even compare
No argument there. I know my limits and tend to wimp out before I get into the stupid pilot tricks zone.
Speaking of safety, the IBA seems to be a bit like aviation communities...very safety oriented and frown intensely on unsafe operations:
http://www.ironbutt.com/ridecerts/getdocument.cfm?DocID=1
"Motorcycling comes with risk and riding a 1,000 miles or more increases your risk substantially."
"Please remember that the Iron Butt Association is dedicated to the sport of safe, long-distance motorcycle riding. It does not condone nor will it tolerate unsafe activities such as excessive speed, reckless motorcycle operation, riding while fatigued or otherwise impaired, the use of stimulants to maintain alertness, or any other activity that results in riders exceeding their personal limits. Any rider found to have engaged in these or other unsafe activities, as determined in the sole discretion of the IBA, will have their certification refused. If the certification is already issued and we find out about these infractions after the fact, the certification will be revoked. For these purposes, the IBA will consider as an admission of violating this policy any public statements made by the participant that describe participation in unsafe activities during a ride subject to certification."
Based on that and the few riders I've talked to, if you pull into a rally point looking dazed and hallucinating, they'll likely slap you clean off your bike and tell you to leave.
Unless you've done long distance riding recently to build up to the 1000 miles, I'd either forget about it or make the run in 2 days. But that's just me.
Everyone: ride, fly and drive safe this weekend...it's a warzone out there.
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