Iron Butt Newb

LovinLife

Premier Member
#1
I noticed several IBA #’s in signature lines in several non-IBA forums. Did some research to find out what that actually was. I finally made it to IBA website. Never really knew this existed.

I have read the majority of the Rally reports..still making my way through them. Hmmmm...this is interesting. I had to try it. My 2008 goldwing needed to stretch her 50,000 mi legs. Let’s go, sweetie.

First SS1000: Week before Thanksgiving I had to see what it was all about. Left Jacksonville FL to Miami and back, rest at home in Jacksonville and then continue in to Aberdeen NC. Finished in under 24 hours, submitted the paperwork and now just waiting. The ride was awesome, I felt good, so tried for Key West, but my navigation skills suck (my route took too long) so had to turn around before getting to Key West to head back to Jax. No mods to the Wing, but I learned I needed an AirHawk seat cushion ...I got it for the next ride.

I liked it so let’s try a BBG1500/winter solstice for Christmas vacation..major fail. No BBG, but I did complete the BB1500. Jax to Dothan AL to Birmingham to Dallas to Houston. Since it was going to be cold (well for my flip flop feet anyway) I bought a new/used scorpion riding suit. It came in handy. But holy sh!t was I still cold. Lesson learned...get a heated vest and gloves. The comfort Wing could not keep up with the cold. I really wanted to do Nashville to Memphis to Dallas, but my navigation skills again failed me on the Alabama backroads and it took too long to get to Birmingham...so to Dallas from there. Had to nap under a liquor store security cam somewhere in Tx at a truck stop (getting to tired to continue). That 30 min nap was awesome..did I say it was cold..my leg fell asleep while napping and I did the crazy chicken dance to get it back to normal. Since I cut out Nashville, I was shy on the 1500 miles when I got to Pasadena TX, so I had to head towards Galveston. Final trip total: 1520 miles (odo)!! I will wait till my first SS1000 is certified before submitting this ride.

Now I have to get back home to Jax. Tried the Santa Sore 1000, but failed miserably. It was colder on the 26 Dec ride back to Jax than the 21 Dec trip to Birmingham...like hella cold. It got rely bad when the sun went down. It was so bad, I did not make the 1000 miles before tapping out. My scorpion suit with liner and two other jackets failed to keep me warm. I closed out my trip with 1001.7 miles on the ODO...that is a big fail by GPS miles. Lot of lessons learned. Yeah, I read the reports and recommendations (even read a lot of Greg Rice stuff on his site), but I have to learn the hard way. Did you know not all truck stops carry hand warmers, yeah... well I know now.

Looking forward to the next ride and using my lessons learned. Need some mods done to the Wing. Yep, that Navi sucks!

See ya around.
 
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cacomly

Premier Member
IBR Finisher
#3
I think it's safe to say you got bitten by the LD bug hard! Welcome to the insanity!

I suggest becoming a Premiere member. They get notifications of events first, and some sell out right away such as the banquet in Jacksonville in March.
 
#4
No reason to wait on getting the certs for your ss1000 before you submit for the bb1500. And even though I haven't done it yet--- IF you're going to be doing a bunch of these rides it seems the Premeir membership just might be the ticket!
 

LovinLife

Premier Member
#5
I think it's safe to say you got bitten by the LD bug hard! Welcome to the insanity!

I suggest becoming a Premiere member. They get notifications of events first, and some sell out right away such as the banquet in Jacksonville in March.
Gotta wait till my first ride is certified. I plan on going premier as soon as I qualify.