This introduction was originally written for my blog - link in my sig.
Introduction
The premise of this long-distance (LD) ride is rather interesting. The originator of the ride (Brian)...I've done a little bit of riding with. He is another one of the LD motorcycle-riding members of the Iron Butt Association. I'm going to take a bit of liberty and extract a few words from a post he made on a motorcycle forum a while back about the ride that describes it well:
"You may remember that [October 2017] my wife and I established the Atomic 1000 SaddleSore. This was an SS1K that we rode to the site of the very first nuclear detonation in New Mexico. This ride is unique in that it is only available to you twice a year; the first Saturday in April and the first Saturday in October, and you only have a SIX HOUR window in which to be there. In order to qualify for the certificate you must ride at least 1000 miles within 24 hours and your ride must include the Trinity Test Site parking lot as either the starting or ending point, or as a waypoint during your ride."
A brief history of the immediate area can be found at the links below:
White Sands Missile Range Trinity
Trinity New Mexico Nat'l Historic Landmark
Now, when they did the ride that year, it started near their home in the suburbs of the Phoenix metropolitan area. This easily gave them the necessary miles to accomplish the Saddlesore.
After a bit of research and routing effort, I have a good, solid route that actually pads the ride in New Mexico - and keeps me out of Texas. Since the initial ride done by Brian & Brenda, a handful of others have done the ride. I had things interfering with the two opportunities available in 2018, so here's hoping I can do it in 2019.
April 6, 2019
I had done a very quick-and-dirty assessment of what time I wanted to be there at the gate over the last couple of days, then backed into when we should leave. Early...
QT Ina Rd 0306
[location, time ride started]
The first part of the morning will be a blur...like this picture.
Here's hoping it's just because she's still not quite awake...
I'm up early - earlier than normal - and ready to hit the road. With my wife coming along, it's now important that I help her be as comfortable as possible as long as possible. She's only done a single Saddlesore with me; today is the day to take care of her, no matter what.
The weather folks (and me...) figured temps would be in the low 40's to the 80's for the duration of the ride. My wife experiences cold a little quicker than I do, so a couple of minutes spent in packing a bit of heated gear...just in case.
I-10 / I-19 junction - hope to see this again in a bit less than a day!
As soon as we'd gotten east of town, and into the hills, temperatures began to drop. I possibly could have toughed it out...but knew my wife was going to be miserable; time for a gear update...a good stopping point is right here, one I've used in the past.
Shell - Benson 0359 0410 0:11
[location, time stopped, time resumed, stopped time]
First stop...unplanned.
My wife needed a bio-break - and a layer of heated gear. I put my jacket liner on myself, after a few minutes, we're back under way - and a lot warmer than we were. I believe the lowest temperature I saw was about 41 degrees. Another rider from Tucson reported on another motorcycle forum he had a similar stop as the thermometer showed 38 degrees. Normal for early April, I suppose.
Love's - Lordsburg MDT 0635 0641 0:06
Slight error in routing, but I'd totally forgot about the convienence store on the eastbound exit; and had routed to the truck stop located across the highway. Fortunately, no bio-break needed, so a short fuel stop was accomplished.
Hey, I know I can't do every stop like I would if I was by myself. This is one of the things that riders who want to do Iron Butt style rides as a group may not take into consideration. You're only as fast as your slowest person in the group at fuel stop opportunities.
Back to the road...and sunrise in the desert.
Further down the road...I have a bit of a head-ache, since I'd passed on having dinner last night. I need a bite, and my wife is letting me know she's got a small headache to contend with. Okay, we can solve this problem - it's time to eat.
McDonald's - Deming 0732 0759 0:27
This place had quite the crowd of 'old guys', staring at both my wife and I as we walked in, fully geared up. I ordered breakfast for both of us, then took the few minutes after this to disrobe. Yeah, two helmets on the table, along with jackets and heated gear piled into the booth. Quite a load of clothing needed to have fun, now isn't it?
With breakfast consumed, I'm feeling better, and so is my wife. It's time to get moving. We'd left early, but we've consumed a bit of time at both of these unplanned stops. Now, as I wrote at the beginning, I did make an assessment, but I purposely didn't bring it along. I still think I'm doing okay on time. The first corner is ahead, planned to take a moment to tour thru ther northern end of Las Cruces, NM.
PQ Gas - Las Cruces 0849 0858 0:09
A corner, so a gas stop here. Pump didn't give me a receipt (I need this one to be good...), so inside I went. That messed up my head, I pulled away, and hadn't hit the marker for Spotwalla. Once I got that done, another minute was spent in getting the tunes to play. About two hours of riding to go before we're 'there'
Introduction
The premise of this long-distance (LD) ride is rather interesting. The originator of the ride (Brian)...I've done a little bit of riding with. He is another one of the LD motorcycle-riding members of the Iron Butt Association. I'm going to take a bit of liberty and extract a few words from a post he made on a motorcycle forum a while back about the ride that describes it well:
"You may remember that [October 2017] my wife and I established the Atomic 1000 SaddleSore. This was an SS1K that we rode to the site of the very first nuclear detonation in New Mexico. This ride is unique in that it is only available to you twice a year; the first Saturday in April and the first Saturday in October, and you only have a SIX HOUR window in which to be there. In order to qualify for the certificate you must ride at least 1000 miles within 24 hours and your ride must include the Trinity Test Site parking lot as either the starting or ending point, or as a waypoint during your ride."
A brief history of the immediate area can be found at the links below:
White Sands Missile Range Trinity
Trinity New Mexico Nat'l Historic Landmark
Now, when they did the ride that year, it started near their home in the suburbs of the Phoenix metropolitan area. This easily gave them the necessary miles to accomplish the Saddlesore.
After a bit of research and routing effort, I have a good, solid route that actually pads the ride in New Mexico - and keeps me out of Texas. Since the initial ride done by Brian & Brenda, a handful of others have done the ride. I had things interfering with the two opportunities available in 2018, so here's hoping I can do it in 2019.
April 6, 2019
I had done a very quick-and-dirty assessment of what time I wanted to be there at the gate over the last couple of days, then backed into when we should leave. Early...
QT Ina Rd 0306
[location, time ride started]
The first part of the morning will be a blur...like this picture.
Here's hoping it's just because she's still not quite awake...
I'm up early - earlier than normal - and ready to hit the road. With my wife coming along, it's now important that I help her be as comfortable as possible as long as possible. She's only done a single Saddlesore with me; today is the day to take care of her, no matter what.
The weather folks (and me...) figured temps would be in the low 40's to the 80's for the duration of the ride. My wife experiences cold a little quicker than I do, so a couple of minutes spent in packing a bit of heated gear...just in case.
I-10 / I-19 junction - hope to see this again in a bit less than a day!
As soon as we'd gotten east of town, and into the hills, temperatures began to drop. I possibly could have toughed it out...but knew my wife was going to be miserable; time for a gear update...a good stopping point is right here, one I've used in the past.
Shell - Benson 0359 0410 0:11
[location, time stopped, time resumed, stopped time]
First stop...unplanned.
My wife needed a bio-break - and a layer of heated gear. I put my jacket liner on myself, after a few minutes, we're back under way - and a lot warmer than we were. I believe the lowest temperature I saw was about 41 degrees. Another rider from Tucson reported on another motorcycle forum he had a similar stop as the thermometer showed 38 degrees. Normal for early April, I suppose.
Love's - Lordsburg MDT 0635 0641 0:06
Slight error in routing, but I'd totally forgot about the convienence store on the eastbound exit; and had routed to the truck stop located across the highway. Fortunately, no bio-break needed, so a short fuel stop was accomplished.
Hey, I know I can't do every stop like I would if I was by myself. This is one of the things that riders who want to do Iron Butt style rides as a group may not take into consideration. You're only as fast as your slowest person in the group at fuel stop opportunities.
Back to the road...and sunrise in the desert.
Further down the road...I have a bit of a head-ache, since I'd passed on having dinner last night. I need a bite, and my wife is letting me know she's got a small headache to contend with. Okay, we can solve this problem - it's time to eat.
McDonald's - Deming 0732 0759 0:27
This place had quite the crowd of 'old guys', staring at both my wife and I as we walked in, fully geared up. I ordered breakfast for both of us, then took the few minutes after this to disrobe. Yeah, two helmets on the table, along with jackets and heated gear piled into the booth. Quite a load of clothing needed to have fun, now isn't it?
With breakfast consumed, I'm feeling better, and so is my wife. It's time to get moving. We'd left early, but we've consumed a bit of time at both of these unplanned stops. Now, as I wrote at the beginning, I did make an assessment, but I purposely didn't bring it along. I still think I'm doing okay on time. The first corner is ahead, planned to take a moment to tour thru ther northern end of Las Cruces, NM.
PQ Gas - Las Cruces 0849 0858 0:09
A corner, so a gas stop here. Pump didn't give me a receipt (I need this one to be good...), so inside I went. That messed up my head, I pulled away, and hadn't hit the marker for Spotwalla. Once I got that done, another minute was spent in getting the tunes to play. About two hours of riding to go before we're 'there'