Happy Sunday afternoon everyone! Close, but no ceegar she said. Three minutes late and in the eyes of the IBA I did not finish within the allotted seventy-eight hours. Yep, seventy-eight hours and three minutes completion time. My departure time was on 11/1/2022 at 05:12 EST and ending time was 11/4/2022 at 11:15 EST. Disappointed, oh heck yeah but not defeated. Going to regain my three minutes in mid March 2023. Many lessons learned and will be put to good use in March. Set cruise control to 75mph during the first leg instead of 70mph. Drink more water. Yes, yes I have a water blader mounted directly in front of me on my tank bag-just never felt thirsty the entire ride. If possible, start and end the ride in Key West, Fl. in order to start at night and return at night in hopes of not dealing with heavy and slow traffic. Note: the entire 127 miles is heavily patrolled, maximum posted speed limit is 55MPH with a large portion posted at 40-45 MPH, limited opportunities to legally pass. In IBA parlance; Key West, Fl. is a huge Time Suck>I knew that prior to starting the ride.
A lettle about me and my preparation so as to let fellow members know what I did to prepare for a successful ride. Before I begin, to the best of my knowledge there hasn't been anyone to do a certified 78 hour ride yet. However, there are two idividuals that have done the 65 hour version-they have my utmost respect, had to have been traveling at mach II ! Okay, here goes: retired from work on Friday May 30, 2022 and on Monday June 3, 2022 started going to our local YMCA every Monday Wednesday and Friday for a vigirous two hour workout consisting of cardio, streaching, resistance training and jogging-2 miles/day. I live about 2.5 miles from our YMCA and rode my bicycle to and from the Y each day. Three weeks prior to the start of the ride I voluntarily stopped drinking beer, coffee and reduced my intake of bread. In the whole process I lost a whopping 4 pounds. From 172 to 168. But I felt good about myself and my prospects. My bike is a '2020 BMW R1250 GS and is in perfect condition and it showed during the entire ride-not a single problem whatsoever. I bought it new and it's never been to a dealership since purchase. I do all of my own maintenance. Having a Handy lift, Dereck Weaver pneumatic tire changer and a GS-911 tool makes some tasks easier. Plus, I enjoy the work. New tripple A batteries were installed in all electrical devices requiring same, i.e. flashlights, Spot Gen3, Heat troller for heated liner. In a nutshell and to the best of my ability I tried to 'blue print' all of my equipment and myself. In spite of all the effort I was still three minutes past due. Such is the IBA and I love it. For me and I'd like to think others as well, the IBA requires one to "Try their Best to do their Best" all of the time.
Lastly, I'm seventy-years old, have successfully done seven prior IBA certificate rides and have hopes to do four more. Thanks again for following along with me. I appreciate it all...