2015 IBA Memorial Saddle Sore ride.
Yesterday I rode the IBA Memorial Ride, originally in memory of Jack Shoalmire, R.I.P 2011, who was a national figure for the Iron Butt Association riders. The original Memorial Ride was the IBA honoring him and his contributions to the Organization. Since then it has developed so the riders can Memorialize anyone, ride multiple time for multiple people, etc. I had my own reasons for riding this year.
The ride has to be completed within the borders of a single state. Completely off topic, I want to meet the riders that completed it in Rhode Island, if it's ever been done. Its 55 miles from Charlestown to Woonsocket. You'd have to make 19 trips back and forth. Anyway, that would be heroic.
The Ride -
The cast and crew was a team of 11 starters and 9 finishers. Bikes were mostly big road bikes - Harley Road Kings, Goldwings, an ST1300, and the like, a couple of BMW 1200 GS adventure bikes - only one of which finished, a "cool" Harley with a string of letters for a name that means something to Harley riders but not me - whose rider turned out to be as cool as his bike, and of course my NC700, by far the smallest bike at 670cc in a group where 1500cc was the mean - almost a statistical outlier. However, when those big bikes were gasping in to refuel, I'd drop $3 into the top half of my tank and we'd be off to the next stop. On the other hand, when we were riding uphill into fierce headwinds outside of Kennewick, I was near redlining in 5th gear to maintain the 70 mph pace.
We started in Lynnwood. WA at 2 AM, headed south to Dupont, then north to Blaine on the Canadian border, back to Lynnwood, south on I-405 to I-90, east on I-90 to the Idaho border, dipped south to Kennewick, north to Yakima then picked picked up I-90 home to wrap up around 9 PM.
Some Highights -
At 7:30 AM, we were literally back at our starting point and the thought of quitting was real. AND we hit the first bad weather of the day. We got soaked from Lynnwood to North Bend around 9 AM. I discovered that I need new winter riding gear. Once we got over the pass and into Eastern Washington the clouds broke and the sun and the wind dried us out.
When we headed south to Kennewick, we got hammered with wind. I haven't been pushed around like that since I was the new kid in 7th grade.
Once we got through Kennewick, the highway was blocked by a grass fire so we had to detour. More wind.
We only thought we had wind before. The rider ahead of me was leaning his bike at least 12 or 15 degrees into the cross wind, then I realized that I was too. That only lasted about 2 hours. When we refueled that was the only time I saw my reserve light flash the whole ride.
Coming back through Snoqualmie Pass, we got soaked again but at night and in the mountains. It was the kind of rain where you consider pulling over, building a hut in the bush and waiting for spring. Of our two ride leaders: One had the philosophy of: ride safe, get everyone home. The other: Get my *** off this mountain. You know who I followed the last leg.
Take-aways-
Speaking of our ride leaders, they are friends with tens of thousands of highway miles together. It was awesome to watch them ride. What I learned about team riding yesterday was worth the all the bad weather and the cost of gas was a bargain. I hope I have a ride partner like that someday. Maybe one of my kids will put that many miles on with me that we can team like that...who knows?
I really need a new front tire.
I really need new winter riding gear.
A Goldwing has never seemed like such a good idea.
**Can an admin please change the year in the thread name to 2015. I haven't ridden the 2016 Memorial ride yet.***
P.S. I did some mpg analysis on the ride. On one leg from Ritzville to Liberty Lake, our turn around in Eastern Washington, running at 80 with the wind at our back I got 76 mpg. Turn around, same road, running at 80 into the wind back to Ritzville I got 36 mpg. My overall mpg was 46 mpg, which given the speeds, roads and wind conditions wasn't bad at all.
Yesterday I rode the IBA Memorial Ride, originally in memory of Jack Shoalmire, R.I.P 2011, who was a national figure for the Iron Butt Association riders. The original Memorial Ride was the IBA honoring him and his contributions to the Organization. Since then it has developed so the riders can Memorialize anyone, ride multiple time for multiple people, etc. I had my own reasons for riding this year.
The ride has to be completed within the borders of a single state. Completely off topic, I want to meet the riders that completed it in Rhode Island, if it's ever been done. Its 55 miles from Charlestown to Woonsocket. You'd have to make 19 trips back and forth. Anyway, that would be heroic.
The Ride -
The cast and crew was a team of 11 starters and 9 finishers. Bikes were mostly big road bikes - Harley Road Kings, Goldwings, an ST1300, and the like, a couple of BMW 1200 GS adventure bikes - only one of which finished, a "cool" Harley with a string of letters for a name that means something to Harley riders but not me - whose rider turned out to be as cool as his bike, and of course my NC700, by far the smallest bike at 670cc in a group where 1500cc was the mean - almost a statistical outlier. However, when those big bikes were gasping in to refuel, I'd drop $3 into the top half of my tank and we'd be off to the next stop. On the other hand, when we were riding uphill into fierce headwinds outside of Kennewick, I was near redlining in 5th gear to maintain the 70 mph pace.
We started in Lynnwood. WA at 2 AM, headed south to Dupont, then north to Blaine on the Canadian border, back to Lynnwood, south on I-405 to I-90, east on I-90 to the Idaho border, dipped south to Kennewick, north to Yakima then picked picked up I-90 home to wrap up around 9 PM.
Some Highights -
At 7:30 AM, we were literally back at our starting point and the thought of quitting was real. AND we hit the first bad weather of the day. We got soaked from Lynnwood to North Bend around 9 AM. I discovered that I need new winter riding gear. Once we got over the pass and into Eastern Washington the clouds broke and the sun and the wind dried us out.
When we headed south to Kennewick, we got hammered with wind. I haven't been pushed around like that since I was the new kid in 7th grade.
Once we got through Kennewick, the highway was blocked by a grass fire so we had to detour. More wind.
We only thought we had wind before. The rider ahead of me was leaning his bike at least 12 or 15 degrees into the cross wind, then I realized that I was too. That only lasted about 2 hours. When we refueled that was the only time I saw my reserve light flash the whole ride.
Coming back through Snoqualmie Pass, we got soaked again but at night and in the mountains. It was the kind of rain where you consider pulling over, building a hut in the bush and waiting for spring. Of our two ride leaders: One had the philosophy of: ride safe, get everyone home. The other: Get my *** off this mountain. You know who I followed the last leg.
Take-aways-
Speaking of our ride leaders, they are friends with tens of thousands of highway miles together. It was awesome to watch them ride. What I learned about team riding yesterday was worth the all the bad weather and the cost of gas was a bargain. I hope I have a ride partner like that someday. Maybe one of my kids will put that many miles on with me that we can team like that...who knows?
I really need a new front tire.
I really need new winter riding gear.
A Goldwing has never seemed like such a good idea.
**Can an admin please change the year in the thread name to 2015. I haven't ridden the 2016 Memorial ride yet.***
P.S. I did some mpg analysis on the ride. On one leg from Ritzville to Liberty Lake, our turn around in Eastern Washington, running at 80 with the wind at our back I got 76 mpg. Turn around, same road, running at 80 into the wind back to Ritzville I got 36 mpg. My overall mpg was 46 mpg, which given the speeds, roads and wind conditions wasn't bad at all.
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