TOH SS1000 and BB1500 Attempt

Becca

Premier Member
#1
Hubby and I are headed off in the morning to attempt a combined IBA and Tour Of Honor (TOH) SS1000 and BB1500.

Our housemate will be our start and end witness, and will be tracking us via Spotwalla and Facebook.

15 stops overall in the first 1,000 miles (1,038 really) 4 of which are TOH locations. 10 stops overall in the last 500 miles (512 really), 3 of which are the final TOH locations.

We're doing this In-State in Colorado so we'll have plains and mountains, interstate straights and mountain twisties. The route is a little bit more complex than many, but also much less complicated than others I've seen. I routed to be in the mountains areas in the daylight hours, and hope to avoid all flatland wild animals in the dark hours (ok, in the daylight hours and in the mountains too.)

This trip is not quite spur of the moment, but not long planned either. We decided on the way home from the South Dakota Badlands on Monday that it's time for another nice long ride.

I whipped the route together, we've done all our packing and prepping, and everything's ready to go. Hubby's sleeping peacefully and I'm wide awake despite knowing the alarm is set for less than 6 hours from now.

I want to go NOW, but of course that would mess up my carefully laid plan. If learned anything during a prior failed attempt at a SS1000 it's "stick with the plan." Hmm. Also that deer hold tete-a-tetes in the road at midnight in Wyoming and that my trike handles hard-braking quite well. I can still picture the two deer perfectly. But I digress.

My question: over the next day and a half, hubby and I will be spending some great quality time together, yet apart, on our separate bikes. Do you think that will change if I kick him awake so that I'm not the only one not asleep?
 

Becca

Premier Member
#2
(Whooops. I meant this to be in the general discussion forum not the q&a one.) Thanks Ira, for moving it!
 
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Becca

Premier Member
#5
Hoooome.

Pretty sure we got the miles, documentation, and Tour of Honor photos for the combined in-state IBA / TOH Saddle Sore 1000.

We might have gotten the Bun Burner 1500 under our tires as well, and if we did hubby's should also be the combined TOH one as well. I, however, lost my flag after #6 so no #7 for me. Ah well. I'm considering fun ways to secure the next flag so I don't lose it again. :p

Overall a rather nice ride. No motorcycle isues, no wildlife encounters, and we saw parts of Colorado we've never seen before in under 100-degree weather. Did you know Cortez, CO sometimes actually has green stuff?! We sure didn't. ;0)

My biggest complaint about the whole ride is nothing new - the gps unit taking us off planned route by recalculating on the fly versus following the downloaded path. This is where I need to get better about remembering the route I planned versus blindly following the technology.

Time for another ride?
 

cacomly

Premier Member
IBR Finisher
#6
Congrats on the ride, no small feat with that many stops

For future reference, if you lose your flag in the ToH you can create a facsimile and use for a week. Check the FAQs in their rules:

What happens if I lose my rally flag?
You will be allowed credit for memorials with a facsimile of your flag (your rider number on a piece of paper will do) for up to one week after we hear of the loss.
 

Becca

Premier Member
#7
Congrats on the ride, no small feat with that many stops

For future reference, if you lose your flag in the ToH you can create a facsimile and use for a week. Check the FAQs in their rules:

What happens if I lose my rally flag?
You will be allowed credit for memorials with a facsimile of your flag (your rider number on a piece of paper will do) for up to one week after we hear of the loss.
Thanks! We're planning another combined SS1000/In State/TOH and BB1500/TOH attempt this fall (I'd do it today, but work and other plans conflict, darnit), probably with the KS stops this time. Lessons learned will help on that one. At first consideration, it seems easier because it's flat and straight (relative to CO mountainous twisties) and the TOH stops are all near easy IBA documentation procuring locations, but it's still going to be a challenge time-wise because there will be little to no freeway involved (and because we prefer to limit night driving, and we like to eat, and sleep, etc., so we impose our own extra wrinkles in there to complicate things.) Also, one of the stops has a requirement to go inside a museum, during business hours, of course, to get the required photo so that adds another layer of planning for me as I've gotten very used to the "access 24/7" stops.

The TOH folks are great! Their rules actually state that if you lose your flag you have to ask them for a facsimile, which they send in a digital form and you can print out, but which of course takes time (which we didn't have at that point) but then their FAQs state, as you've copied/pasted, you can indeed write your number on a piece of paper and that can be accepted in some circumstances. I only had the rules with me at the time and didn't remember the tip in the FAQs so I thought I was just out of the running for the TOH portion of the BB1500. Anyhoot, the TOH folks did accept my last stop as documented by other means - timing, and photos of my bike and hubby's bike together at multiple points - so we're good there. I now also have the official temporary facsimile to use until my replacement flag arrives. Hubby and I even both earned a 3rd place trophy for Colorado finishers! :0)
 

cacomly

Premier Member
IBR Finisher
#8
I lost a flag a few years ago. I typically order a second to keep in my other bike. I would be sad if I rode 1,000 miles and then realized the flag was in the other bike ...