Posted: 20 May 2007 at 4:25pm | IP Logged

It was a cold and windy morning....Well it was cool and very windy anyway. 

There were three bikes and their riders, sitting at the gas station at 0430 in the morning.  They were patiently waiting for the fourth in thier group to arrive.  A few minutes later we heard the familiar rumbling of my brother's Road King in the distance.  Once he arrived, we sat there discussing which of the two routes we would take.

A quick look at the weather before leaving the house, revealed that the I-40 was not the best one, as there was snow forecasted through Flagstaff.  Three of us were not fully prepared to ride in that kind of weather.  So, we chose the southern route through Pheonix and Tucson. 

Our target time to leave was 0500, so we all filled up and got our first reciepts and completed the log entry. 

In Las Vegas, 0500 is a great time of day.  The traffic was light and we made it accross the city in great time.  We were hoping that traffic crossing the Hoover Dam would be light, it was.  The most notible thing after crossing the Dam was how cool the high desert gets.  Just because it says desert doesn't mean it's hot all the time.  Also the wind was blowing about 25-30 MPH. 

We continued to Kingman where we fueld up.  We left there in good time.  We got on I-40 and made the turn on US-93 towards Pheonix.  This is where the wind started playing games.  It continued to blow about 30-35, but gusted up to fifty, or so it felt.  The big rigs didn't help much.  If we were not getting hit by a huge headwind, we were constantly adjusting for the substantial crosswinds when passing the rigs.  I definately improved my skills on this ride. 

We stayed on the 93 into Pheonix.  Yep I mean all the way in.  We made a bad decision and went all the way through Sun Valley.  To top it off we caught every single light.  Remember when I said the high desert is much cooler.  Well Pheonix was much warmer and we had dressed for cold.  It got quite warm sitting at all the lights.

We finally made it to I-10 and headed for Tucson. This ride was pretty uneventful, except for the high winds.  Our turn around point was Wilcox Az.  We stopped fueld, completed the paperwork, and grabbed a bite to eat. 

I wish we could have taken a different route for the way back.  Seeing the same scenery was hard to stomach.  We got caught in 2 different accidents on the highway in Tucson.  This made traffic pretty bad. 

We continued back towards Pheonix.  We stopped at got gas, and realized we were about to hit Pheonix at rush hour.     This was unacceptable in my mind.  We asked for directions and were told to go to Gila Bend and make a right.  This would bypass Pheonix and add some extra milage to the trip. 

I'm sure most of you all know that wind is not a friend of gas mileage.  While on the 85 heading in to Suprise, AZ, my buddy and I had our gas lights come on. The was very bad, because we had about 25 miles till Suprise.     We creeped into Suprise and filled up.  My Ultra took 4.9 gallons, I was on fumes.  The BIG guy was lookin out. 

We made it to Wickenberg at about 2200 and headed towards Kingman.  Guess what... it got cold again.  We were mostly prepared for it.  Crossing the Dam was easy, because it was midnight.     We finally made it to our starting point.  We gassed up got reciepts and filled out paperwork. 

It started at 0500 and ended about 0100.  We had completed our first SS1000.  Hopefully the the paperwork cuts the mustard. 

I went home, said hi to my wife and took a shower and passed out. 

I talked to everyone the next day... 2 said they would most definately do it again and 1 said never again.  he said it was too rushed and he didn't like riding like that.  I know this isn't for everyone but he is glad he did it.  The 3 of us or hoping to do a BB1500 soon.  I think I have the bug. Until next time.......

Posted: 20 May 2007 at 5:35pm | IP Logged

congrats all around. 

my guess is that the budd that said he wouldnt do it again will feel much differently in about three days.

here is a hint for riding those out 'n back routes.   just pay attention to the scenery on only one side of the road for the whole trip.   orbetter yet, if the route has a phone pole line that hops from one side of the road to the other every so often, just look at the unobstructed scenery.  the crick in the neck isnt so bad with the later technique.

Posted: 20 May 2007 at 6:18pm | IP Logged

Way to go man! Glad you did it and made it back. Thanks for the report.

I am glad that your buddies all had a good time, even the guy who doesn't plan on another IBA ride. The SS1000 may be the entry ride for the IBA, but it is still a challenge and a great accomplishment!

Welcome to the club!

Posted: 20 May 2007 at 8:49pm | IP Logged

sachiwilson wrote: So I'm a bit confused. Where exactly did you go? It isn't 500 miles from Vegas to Tucson, is it?? You must have added on some miles somewhere by my calculations. Not to crab about it, anyway! Congratulations to all of you!

We went to Wicox, AZ - total miles 1055.