Exceeding speed limits

Joe Pasquarello

Premier Member
Just curious. This came up on another forum recently.
Will the IBA certify a Saddle Sore 1000 when it is obvious that, based on the submitted route, the speed limits have been exceeded? i.e.: calculated average speed of 78mph?

Joe
 
Not sure what the "threshold" is, but the general answer is NO. Certs have been pulled from riders that publically bragged about doing stupid stuff//speed. And someone that attempted one on the Tail of the Dragon, which has too low of a speed limit to do it legally had it denied.

In a nutshell, Yes, the verification teams do look at this stuff. Keep in mind that large areas in the Western US have 80 mph speed limits and certain areas in TX have 85 mph limits, so calculated average depends on your route/location.
 
Totally on the Dragon or the Dragon included?
The person that got denied did it totally on the Dragon, as I understand. He is/was a photographer that does his work there. I suspect any ride including that stretch of road would be closely scrutinized, but it's not a large portion of a SS1K ride if you just did one pass through.
 
You will probably never have a issue with a 5 over avg but some stuff I've seen on the roads is crazy . West Texas ( I live in Tx ) is NASCAR
I mean if the limit is 80 everyone is knocking on triple digits out there . It gets pretty dangerous around Houston , Austin , San Antonio , Beaumont , and El Paso is starting to get bad to .
 
Obviously, if it's flagrant it will get denied. That said there is an element of don't ask, don't tell. Also, keep in mind that rallies are different than certificate rides. This conversation is about certificate rides. Riders are often monitored for speed during rallies. If you want to speed and brag about it then seek out the Cannonball folks. They are alive and well...
 
if the limit is 80 everyone is knocking on triple digits out there . It gets pretty dangerous around Houston , Austin , San Antonio , Beaumont , and El Paso is starting to get bad to .

Many moons ago, when the national speed limit was still 55, I was traveling back to Sandy Eggo on I-15 from points north at the end of a three-day weekend. Approaching the LA basin I was in the second lane from the right doing the 3-digit stuff and STILL getting passed on both sides...
 
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There is a well known vendor of motorcycle gear that openly brags about participating in and being part of group that has made numerous attempts of record setting at extreme speeds. For example most miles covered in 24 hours (in excess of 2200 miles) or shortest time to cover 1000 miles. All with triple digit average speeds and all out west in the desert.

He somewhat besmirches SS1000's and IBA rules, well at least his tone is a bit flippant. His general attitude about the common IBA rides seemed to be that they are not very challenging or "extreme".

He was a very opinionated fellow. Somewhat entertaining to listen to but you could tell he thought he was much more entertaining than most of the folks listening to him.



The Yellow Wolf, Tail of the Dragon ride had more issues than speed if I recall. He did that with some outside support if memory serves. Things like having fuel staged at pull offs with a "helper" for refills since there is limited fuel access and the pumps at the store had limited hours. Even when the store was open and the pumps were on they were often crowded or simply out of fuel for the day. The speed limit was 55mph on that road prior to 1993 when Tennessee lowered their side to 40mph. They lowered it again around 2002 or 2003 to 30mph. North Carolina followed a few years later. I have not been in years but was semi local, at least local enough to consider it my local driving/riding area, before the 30mph speed limit.
 
IIRC, two dummies from Motorcyclist (I believe), did a SS1K, got their certifications, then wrote an in-depth article on the idiotic things they did, and then promptly had the IBA pull them.

For me, on my bike, 1K miles was nothing. I took my sweet-ass time and would generally do one around 16 hours, I think. At every fuel stop, after fueling and doing the IBA paperwork, I'd wash up, get the mattes out of my hair, reposition my clothing and junk, have some food and drink, and just relax. Heck, I'd start planning on visiting places, like the Gateway Arch in StL, the USS Alabama, and I even did the full Natchez Trace multiple times. You'd be surprised how much faster you can go if you slowed down.
 
. You'd be surprised how much faster you can go if you slowed down.
On the British RBLR 1,000 I did earlier in the year I got overtaken at least three times by a bright green Kawasaki 900 thingy who was, shall we say, pressing on. He was probably getting 10 or 15 mpg less than me and riding a bike with a lot smaller tank than most so would have had to stop and fill up more often. Me, a boring old fart on a 1250RT, sticking to the speed limits (sort of), overtaking and making progress as necessary, but not pushing it. I wonder which one of us actually had the higher average speed?
 
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<...> You'd be surprised how much faster you can go if you slowed down.
One of the topics in the LD Riding Tips, as I recall...

...and, when one learns these jewels of wisdom, you can do fun rides, like the Atomic 1000, Get to a specific point that's only open six hours twice a year, visit, leave, eat, get gas, get more gas, and sleep in your own bed that same day.

It even works in the car/truck as well.
 
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