Gerryk
Member
- Local time
- Today, 00:12
- Joined
- Apr 2, 2022
- Messages
- 52
- Points
- 17
- Age
- 44
- Location
- georgia
- First Name
- Gerry
- My Ride
- 1998 Triumph Trophy 900
I have a ride report from last month.
My 17-year-old daughter is my riding buddy. We’ve done some long rides together, but she really wanted to push the limits and ride an Iron Butt. We live in Atlanta, Georgia and I do a lot of business in Houston, Texas so we started looking at routes between the two cities. If I recall correctly, the shortest route is 820 miles, which wasn’t going to meet the requirements for the Saddle Sore 1000 (1,000 miles in 24 hours). So, I started pulling the route out to further reaches. We ended up with a route that would take us into 8 states; Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Texas.
The bike is my 1998 Triumph Trophy 900. I’ve owned the bike for 19 years and I absolutely love it. I’m trying to get it up to 100,000 miles before I entertain the idea of a new ride. I know… given how long I’ve owned it, I should be there already. Well, this trip took me over the 70,000 mile mark.
Riding started at 5:30AM, a full 30 minutes later than planned. We had packed our bags the night before, but we hadn’t actually packed them on the bike. I was packing for a two week business trip, and my daughter was going to be flying back after three nights. It took a little effort and some compromises to get everything we needed on the bike.
Overall, we couldn’t have had better weather. The first tank of gas was spent at 50 F temperatures. I had forgotten my jacket insert, and had left all my vent zippers open. I was slightly chilled when we stopped outside of Birmingham AL for our first fill up. The bike can typically get 220 miles on a tank, but two-up with luggage, the safe bet was to keep it around 190 miles per tank.
The day kept warming up from there. We cut across northern Mississippi, filling up for the second time just south of Memphis TN. By the time we needed the third fuel stop, temperatures in Little Rock AR were around 90F. We ride with armored jackets, gloves, and helmets regardless of the temperatures. This was the first trip we have used the hydration bags, and boy, what a difference it makes to keep yourself hydrated on the ride. I think we ate our packed lunch here as well.
The fourth fuel stop was in Broken Bow OK. The ride from Little Rock to Broken Bow was the best scenery of the trip, in large part because we were off the interstate and on the state highway. Broken Bow was a fuel stop as well as a receipt to prove our pass through the SE corner of Oklahoma.
The fifth fuel stop was just north of Shreveport LA. It, too, was proof that we wheeled our way through the NW corner of Louisiana. It was also our dinner stop for some fast food.
The suburbs of Houston were supposed to be our final fuel stop for the Iron Butt portion of the ride, but between the lower mileage and our butts (and knees) getting progressively sorer, we broke the last leg up. We stopped somewhere in Texas, en route to Houston.
The last last leg of the trip we experienced our only close call. It had been a very safe ride all day. When I ride with my daughter as pillion, I am acutely aware of the decisions I make on the bike. I was feeling really good about the whole day. Around 10:30PM local time, we were riding south on US-59, about 30 miles from our destination. We were in the passing lane of a four lane divided highway, as I had passed a car minutes before. There were construction barricades along the edge of the highway. I had my throttle lock engaged and was using my throttle hand to have a drink with my drink tube. All of a sudden, a car entered the highway from my left into my lane. My immediate thought was “unbelievable, they didn’t even see me!”. My evasive maneuver was automatic. Using only my left hand, I swerved into the lane to my right before I even had time to think about checking that lane. We were around the car before I even knew what had happened. I looked in the mirrors, and the headlights were small and distant. I spent the rest of the ride cursing at the driver, at myself, throwing up in my mouth, and imagining me and my daughter flying over the hood of that car at 75 mph. I really wished we had an instant replay to see if we were as close to hitting the car as it felt. I can’t explain how we didn’t crash.
When we made it to our final fuel stop, my daughter asked what the crazy lane change was all about. She hadn’t seen the near miss…she only experienced an aggressive lane change. We grabbed our last receipt, gave each other a high five and a hug, and headed to work to park the bike and pick up the company truck before heading to our Airbnb.
All in, the odometer says we rode 1,097 miles (Google maps says 1,082 miles). You can view our route on Spotwalla here…Trip: Iron Butt 2024 2-up
The riding didn’t stop there. I worked the week, and on Friday I rode to Monahans TX to another Airbnb. My goal…to hike Guadalupe Peak in Guadalupe Mountains National Park. This peak is the highest elevation in Texas. My friends scoffed and ridiculed me, saying how high can the tallest elevation in Texas really be?! Actually, it’s a lot higher than you would think. Saturday, I rode the rest of the way to the park, and hiked the 7-hour round trip. It was a 3,000 ft elevation gain over 4.2 miles… the peak is 8,751 ft above sea level. Sunday, I rode back to Houston. That weekend added another 1,350 miles to the odometer.
The following weekend, I rode back to Atlanta over two days. Thursday afternoon, I rode 300 miles to stay with friends in Louisiana. Friday, I rode the remaining 830 miles, spreading it out during the day, working at Starbucks along the way.
When it was all said and done, I put 3,400 miles on the odometer in two weeks ( really, six days of riding). The trip was really about the miles. The interstate is not all that scenic. The highlights were 1) the grueling time spent with my daughter, bonding over shared pain (our Iron Butt application is in, just waiting for their confirmation), 2) the occasional highway that had some nice curves, 3) the motorcycle that ran flawlessly (almost… my radiator fan stopped working in the last 200 miles, I only discovered it when the bike temperature light came on at a traffic standstill…I exited the interstate and rode the back roads to keep speed up and cool the bike), and 4) hiking to the top of Texas.
Would I do it all again…heck ya, tomorrow!
My 17-year-old daughter is my riding buddy. We’ve done some long rides together, but she really wanted to push the limits and ride an Iron Butt. We live in Atlanta, Georgia and I do a lot of business in Houston, Texas so we started looking at routes between the two cities. If I recall correctly, the shortest route is 820 miles, which wasn’t going to meet the requirements for the Saddle Sore 1000 (1,000 miles in 24 hours). So, I started pulling the route out to further reaches. We ended up with a route that would take us into 8 states; Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Texas.
The bike is my 1998 Triumph Trophy 900. I’ve owned the bike for 19 years and I absolutely love it. I’m trying to get it up to 100,000 miles before I entertain the idea of a new ride. I know… given how long I’ve owned it, I should be there already. Well, this trip took me over the 70,000 mile mark.
Riding started at 5:30AM, a full 30 minutes later than planned. We had packed our bags the night before, but we hadn’t actually packed them on the bike. I was packing for a two week business trip, and my daughter was going to be flying back after three nights. It took a little effort and some compromises to get everything we needed on the bike.
Overall, we couldn’t have had better weather. The first tank of gas was spent at 50 F temperatures. I had forgotten my jacket insert, and had left all my vent zippers open. I was slightly chilled when we stopped outside of Birmingham AL for our first fill up. The bike can typically get 220 miles on a tank, but two-up with luggage, the safe bet was to keep it around 190 miles per tank.
The day kept warming up from there. We cut across northern Mississippi, filling up for the second time just south of Memphis TN. By the time we needed the third fuel stop, temperatures in Little Rock AR were around 90F. We ride with armored jackets, gloves, and helmets regardless of the temperatures. This was the first trip we have used the hydration bags, and boy, what a difference it makes to keep yourself hydrated on the ride. I think we ate our packed lunch here as well.
The fourth fuel stop was in Broken Bow OK. The ride from Little Rock to Broken Bow was the best scenery of the trip, in large part because we were off the interstate and on the state highway. Broken Bow was a fuel stop as well as a receipt to prove our pass through the SE corner of Oklahoma.
The fifth fuel stop was just north of Shreveport LA. It, too, was proof that we wheeled our way through the NW corner of Louisiana. It was also our dinner stop for some fast food.
The suburbs of Houston were supposed to be our final fuel stop for the Iron Butt portion of the ride, but between the lower mileage and our butts (and knees) getting progressively sorer, we broke the last leg up. We stopped somewhere in Texas, en route to Houston.
The last last leg of the trip we experienced our only close call. It had been a very safe ride all day. When I ride with my daughter as pillion, I am acutely aware of the decisions I make on the bike. I was feeling really good about the whole day. Around 10:30PM local time, we were riding south on US-59, about 30 miles from our destination. We were in the passing lane of a four lane divided highway, as I had passed a car minutes before. There were construction barricades along the edge of the highway. I had my throttle lock engaged and was using my throttle hand to have a drink with my drink tube. All of a sudden, a car entered the highway from my left into my lane. My immediate thought was “unbelievable, they didn’t even see me!”. My evasive maneuver was automatic. Using only my left hand, I swerved into the lane to my right before I even had time to think about checking that lane. We were around the car before I even knew what had happened. I looked in the mirrors, and the headlights were small and distant. I spent the rest of the ride cursing at the driver, at myself, throwing up in my mouth, and imagining me and my daughter flying over the hood of that car at 75 mph. I really wished we had an instant replay to see if we were as close to hitting the car as it felt. I can’t explain how we didn’t crash.
When we made it to our final fuel stop, my daughter asked what the crazy lane change was all about. She hadn’t seen the near miss…she only experienced an aggressive lane change. We grabbed our last receipt, gave each other a high five and a hug, and headed to work to park the bike and pick up the company truck before heading to our Airbnb.
All in, the odometer says we rode 1,097 miles (Google maps says 1,082 miles). You can view our route on Spotwalla here…Trip: Iron Butt 2024 2-up
The riding didn’t stop there. I worked the week, and on Friday I rode to Monahans TX to another Airbnb. My goal…to hike Guadalupe Peak in Guadalupe Mountains National Park. This peak is the highest elevation in Texas. My friends scoffed and ridiculed me, saying how high can the tallest elevation in Texas really be?! Actually, it’s a lot higher than you would think. Saturday, I rode the rest of the way to the park, and hiked the 7-hour round trip. It was a 3,000 ft elevation gain over 4.2 miles… the peak is 8,751 ft above sea level. Sunday, I rode back to Houston. That weekend added another 1,350 miles to the odometer.
The following weekend, I rode back to Atlanta over two days. Thursday afternoon, I rode 300 miles to stay with friends in Louisiana. Friday, I rode the remaining 830 miles, spreading it out during the day, working at Starbucks along the way.
When it was all said and done, I put 3,400 miles on the odometer in two weeks ( really, six days of riding). The trip was really about the miles. The interstate is not all that scenic. The highlights were 1) the grueling time spent with my daughter, bonding over shared pain (our Iron Butt application is in, just waiting for their confirmation), 2) the occasional highway that had some nice curves, 3) the motorcycle that ran flawlessly (almost… my radiator fan stopped working in the last 200 miles, I only discovered it when the bike temperature light came on at a traffic standstill…I exited the interstate and rode the back roads to keep speed up and cool the bike), and 4) hiking to the top of Texas.
Would I do it all again…heck ya, tomorrow!
