BBG Attempt (?) May 2018
I say attempt because, at this time I have not, even submitted my documentation to the IBA. Partly due to procrastination, partly due to a family trip right after this ride and partly due to my primary computer taking a dirt nap after the latest Windows 10 update. But, at least all my info and pictures are backed up and my paper receipts are safely sitting in a plastic bag.
First let me say a Bun Burner Gold was a big step up from a Saddle Sore1000 for me. Not to belittle the SS. As an indication of my respect for the SS 1000, I'll note that in my former, working, life, I was an engineer. My loving wife had my diploma and Professional Engineer License beautifully framed. Nice. Those are on a shelf in the garage. The two IBA certs I currently own are both SS 1000's and they are on the wall of my den.
Of course I read the Iron Butt Rally reports, or the ride reports of guys that do other INSANE things like the SS 40/40 and can't even wrap my head around them. Like watching Olympic gymnasts I see it, I recognize we are the same specie, but …. can't even imagine.
Still, as Clint Eastwood says, “A man's got to know his limitations”. So, considering all the limitations of this 66 year old man, I'm proud of accomplishing the BBG (presumptuously assuming I pass muster with the IBA powers that be). I've read numerous reports of others that have finished this ride. They over came obstacles like weather, construction zones, traffic accidents causing delays and other hurtles.
I was lucky. The construction zones were free flowing even if signed for a slower speed. The weather was good absent a brief rain and the concern about dark clouds and lightning in the distance. The only bad accident I saw that delayed traffic was in the other direction. And I even breezed through the urban areas without substantial congestion due to the hours I chose to ride.
[As a side note I was aided by high speeds in Arkansas. Though signed for 70, if I hadn't cranked it up substantially I'd have been road kill. I can only assume lots of Arkansas Momma cooked Sunday dinner and the cars contained hungry kids flying towards home.]
I only had one major obstacle to overcome. That was me. Decisions made on the fly nearly sunk me. And I had a few other problems pop up. But, this time, luck won out over stupid.
So, what did I do/what went wrong?
Time for gas stops:
I'm in awe of the guys with 12 second stops. I've read the reports. You know, the guys that don't slow for the ramps or turns into the stations, slide sideways to the pumps, tires smoking and kickstand showering sparks as it is extended on the fly, stopping with less than an inch to spare. They have opened the gas tank before the bike comes to a stop. Credit card in hand they somersault over the bars and insert the card in a single motion, simultaneously grasping the nozzle with the other hand.... well, you get the point.
Not me. Nope, nope, nope. I come up to the pump slow and steady (OK, at the 22 hour mark, make that much slower and really unsteady). Searching the ground for evidence of diesel fuel or kitty litter – I have old, embarrassing stories about these.
I always park a couple of feet from the pumps and dismount. My old hamstrings thank me for this little courtesy.
On this ride I think I averaged about 12 -15 minutes per stop. But that included some not-the-way-I'd-hoped-this-would-go stops including:
Credit card canceled. Luckily I carried more than one. But I tried the card two or three times before it was sent to the dugout.
At one stop all pumps had 2 or more vehicles waiting except pumps on the far side. I scooted over there, dismounted, removed my helmet and.....they were Out Of Order. Mount back up and off I go to the station across street.
There were no receipts at pump on two occasions. One with no one behind counter. I called out a bunch of times. A woman, obviously irritated, came out of the back room. I requested a receipt and told her I was heading to the restroom. When I returned she was gone and no receipt in sight. I call out again. She returns even more obviously upset. "It's on the counter", she snarled. Oh, I see it now. On the counter, behind and mostly under the rack of butane lighters cleverly styled to look like fishing rods. Thanks, thanks a lot.
Another station had the only counter person chatting with what must have been her best friend. They had a LOT to catch up on.
At my turn around point I exited to a mall on the frontage road. Backtracked a bit to the WalMart gas station. Only 87 octane available! Back track some more and find a Phillips 66 station (I think) at the prior interchange. A few miles rolled off my documented distance, a few more minutes lost.
And one where some old, fat guy in motorcycle gear chased a wind blown receipt across the parking lot. Quite humorour, I'm sure, to those watching me.
Pic a little, pic some more:
Another, cumulatively substantial, delay was because several where my receipt photos took multiple tries (more on – as in moron – follows).
I'm a premier member. Good stuff. Even without the benefits I think I'd pay up because I get a lot from the IBA and I like to carry my share of the load. But couple Premier with electronic submission and SHAZAM, welcome to the World of Tomorrow. That means taking pics of the receipts. I have an X mount on my left handlebar set up where the cell phone is aimed at the odometer. That way all I have to do is hold the receipt steady and punch the phone. Easy Peasy. Except just before the ride I thought to myself that at SOME of the stops I'll be using the rest room and I'd hate to leave my camera so exposed.
That leads me to brilliant decision number one. I decided to keep the phone on a charger in the top box. Hey, how long can it take to pop the lid, pull out the camera, take the pic. Place the camera back on the charger and close the lid? Actually not too much. But what DID take time was trying to hold the paper receipt in place by the odometer while the other hand held the camera steady (yeah right) and hit the take-the-picture spot on the screen. I think I took, reviewed and rejected 3 or 4 pictures at each stop before I was happy. It was well into the return ride when I had that d'oh moment when I started putting the phone in the X cradle (about 3 seconds), snapping the picture with the now steady phone camera and pulling the phone from the mount. Be honest, only 90-95 percent of you would have thought of that immediately, right?
I say attempt because, at this time I have not, even submitted my documentation to the IBA. Partly due to procrastination, partly due to a family trip right after this ride and partly due to my primary computer taking a dirt nap after the latest Windows 10 update. But, at least all my info and pictures are backed up and my paper receipts are safely sitting in a plastic bag.
First let me say a Bun Burner Gold was a big step up from a Saddle Sore1000 for me. Not to belittle the SS. As an indication of my respect for the SS 1000, I'll note that in my former, working, life, I was an engineer. My loving wife had my diploma and Professional Engineer License beautifully framed. Nice. Those are on a shelf in the garage. The two IBA certs I currently own are both SS 1000's and they are on the wall of my den.
Of course I read the Iron Butt Rally reports, or the ride reports of guys that do other INSANE things like the SS 40/40 and can't even wrap my head around them. Like watching Olympic gymnasts I see it, I recognize we are the same specie, but …. can't even imagine.
Still, as Clint Eastwood says, “A man's got to know his limitations”. So, considering all the limitations of this 66 year old man, I'm proud of accomplishing the BBG (presumptuously assuming I pass muster with the IBA powers that be). I've read numerous reports of others that have finished this ride. They over came obstacles like weather, construction zones, traffic accidents causing delays and other hurtles.
I was lucky. The construction zones were free flowing even if signed for a slower speed. The weather was good absent a brief rain and the concern about dark clouds and lightning in the distance. The only bad accident I saw that delayed traffic was in the other direction. And I even breezed through the urban areas without substantial congestion due to the hours I chose to ride.
[As a side note I was aided by high speeds in Arkansas. Though signed for 70, if I hadn't cranked it up substantially I'd have been road kill. I can only assume lots of Arkansas Momma cooked Sunday dinner and the cars contained hungry kids flying towards home.]
I only had one major obstacle to overcome. That was me. Decisions made on the fly nearly sunk me. And I had a few other problems pop up. But, this time, luck won out over stupid.
So, what did I do/what went wrong?
Time for gas stops:
I'm in awe of the guys with 12 second stops. I've read the reports. You know, the guys that don't slow for the ramps or turns into the stations, slide sideways to the pumps, tires smoking and kickstand showering sparks as it is extended on the fly, stopping with less than an inch to spare. They have opened the gas tank before the bike comes to a stop. Credit card in hand they somersault over the bars and insert the card in a single motion, simultaneously grasping the nozzle with the other hand.... well, you get the point.
Not me. Nope, nope, nope. I come up to the pump slow and steady (OK, at the 22 hour mark, make that much slower and really unsteady). Searching the ground for evidence of diesel fuel or kitty litter – I have old, embarrassing stories about these.
I always park a couple of feet from the pumps and dismount. My old hamstrings thank me for this little courtesy.
On this ride I think I averaged about 12 -15 minutes per stop. But that included some not-the-way-I'd-hoped-this-would-go stops including:
Credit card canceled. Luckily I carried more than one. But I tried the card two or three times before it was sent to the dugout.
At one stop all pumps had 2 or more vehicles waiting except pumps on the far side. I scooted over there, dismounted, removed my helmet and.....they were Out Of Order. Mount back up and off I go to the station across street.
There were no receipts at pump on two occasions. One with no one behind counter. I called out a bunch of times. A woman, obviously irritated, came out of the back room. I requested a receipt and told her I was heading to the restroom. When I returned she was gone and no receipt in sight. I call out again. She returns even more obviously upset. "It's on the counter", she snarled. Oh, I see it now. On the counter, behind and mostly under the rack of butane lighters cleverly styled to look like fishing rods. Thanks, thanks a lot.
Another station had the only counter person chatting with what must have been her best friend. They had a LOT to catch up on.
At my turn around point I exited to a mall on the frontage road. Backtracked a bit to the WalMart gas station. Only 87 octane available! Back track some more and find a Phillips 66 station (I think) at the prior interchange. A few miles rolled off my documented distance, a few more minutes lost.
And one where some old, fat guy in motorcycle gear chased a wind blown receipt across the parking lot. Quite humorour, I'm sure, to those watching me.
Pic a little, pic some more:
Another, cumulatively substantial, delay was because several where my receipt photos took multiple tries (more on – as in moron – follows).
I'm a premier member. Good stuff. Even without the benefits I think I'd pay up because I get a lot from the IBA and I like to carry my share of the load. But couple Premier with electronic submission and SHAZAM, welcome to the World of Tomorrow. That means taking pics of the receipts. I have an X mount on my left handlebar set up where the cell phone is aimed at the odometer. That way all I have to do is hold the receipt steady and punch the phone. Easy Peasy. Except just before the ride I thought to myself that at SOME of the stops I'll be using the rest room and I'd hate to leave my camera so exposed.
That leads me to brilliant decision number one. I decided to keep the phone on a charger in the top box. Hey, how long can it take to pop the lid, pull out the camera, take the pic. Place the camera back on the charger and close the lid? Actually not too much. But what DID take time was trying to hold the paper receipt in place by the odometer while the other hand held the camera steady (yeah right) and hit the take-the-picture spot on the screen. I think I took, reviewed and rejected 3 or 4 pictures at each stop before I was happy. It was well into the return ride when I had that d'oh moment when I started putting the phone in the X cradle (about 3 seconds), snapping the picture with the now steady phone camera and pulling the phone from the mount. Be honest, only 90-95 percent of you would have thought of that immediately, right?
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