Just thought I would share some of the highlights of my BBG.

T’was the night before the big ride and prep time and organization were gone. Between preparing for an auction, work and my mother coming for a 6 week visit, I did not have the time I wanted to prepare for a grueling ride such as a BBG. But I am a Iron Butt Rider and I can rise to the challenge. (That was me patting myself on the back if you hadn’t noticed)

Friday night brought the normal last minute hair pulling ( I can’t afford to lose anymore) gut wrechening what did I forget routine. Just when I thought I had it all under control, about 7pm my wife comes to me “Honey the new fridge quit working”. Ahhhh Shooot! (language edit) About a hour on the phone with Sears and I had things in order for the wife to handle on Sat.

Ahhh! relax for half an hour ,a shower and then early to bed. (So I thought) The half hour relaxing was good, the shower was good, but just as I crawled into bed “I didn’t print any witness forms”. (Ooooh were having fun now) (Another language edit) The first thing I need in the morning and I forgot them. (So much for early bed) I felt lucky the computer was still working and the printer had ink, I would have found paper in the waste basket if I needed to. With witness forms printed it was off to bed.

4:30 am alarm wasn’t needed because I woke up at 4:29. Wide awake and asking myself “is it time yet” “is it time yet”, then the alarm went off and I knew it was time. The bike was ready I was ready and all was going well.

First stop was the police station for my starting witness. I had made all the arrangements ahead of time so the police officer new I was coming. In Moorhead you have to go to the lobby and pick up the red phone and tell the dispatcher you are in the lobby. I’m the iron butt guy looking for a police officer for a witness to the start of a LD ride. (Don’t forget to tell her which lobby)

Hmm! Nobody told her anything. After a brief chat she sent a police officer to the lobby. The young officer had seen the e-mail that told everybody I was coming but he thought that wasn’t until tomorrow. The first words out of my mouth were “It’s Saturday isn’t it ?“. He reassured me it was but he had no idea what I needed. He asked me if he was supposed to have some paper work or something, I said no and that I had everything, I just needed him to look things over and sign as a witness. As he was signing the paper work he was really looking the bike over and then asked me what that black square thing was on the back. That is a fuel cell I reply. Never seen anything like that before he says. I explained to him it is like race cars use so it can withstand a minor impact and not break apart. Is it like a big battery he asked. (Did I mention this guy was young) Now this question caught me off guard and any other time I would have had a good come back. But I told myself LD riding is not everybody’s cup of tea so not everybody would know all about the things on the bike. I told him what the fuel cell was and why I would have it.

Next stop, gas station for fuel receipt and off I go. Everything at the gas station went smooth and I headed west on the freeway. While heading towards Dickenson ND for my next gas stop, I began thinking about the young officer who was my starting witness. I told myself when I go back to thank him I should work it out so I could visit with him awhile and tell him more about the iron butt stuff and LD riding. Maybe he would be interested.

DICKENSON ND

8:21 291 miles.

I had plugged all my gas stops into the GPS and everything was going smooth. At the gas station a couple people came over to talk to me and asked what I was doing. I told them about the ride and I listened to there usual comments. Yeah you know the ones, your nuts, no way, on a motorcycle, never seen a extra gas tank on a motorcycle before. I finished putting gas in both tanks and that’s when things got a little interesting. About the time I was marking down the mileage and checking the paper work, gas starts running out my vent hose on the fuel cell. OH CRAP what’s that all about. I put my finger over the end of the hose to stop the gas flow and thought the gas must be siphoning for some reason. I take the cap back off and blow the gas back into the tank. (Yuck I hate the taste of gas) Never had this happen before so I am trying to diagnose the problem real fast. I’m getting the wrong kind of attention now. Then I remember I added a roll over valve to the vent and that sticks about 1 inch lower in to the tank so now the end of the valve must be covered in gas causing the gas to siphon out. I remembered noting that when I put the valve in and I needed to change something. (Remember the short prep time) It turned out I was on the right track but it was the heat causing pressure in the fuel cell before I could stand the bike up so the valve wouldn’t be sitting in gas. Never had any problem in my test runs but, maybe I didn’t fill it as full. That cost me a extra 15 minutes at the gas station.

Ok! Back on the road heading for Billings MT. Still bummed abut the gas station incident I began to wonder if I was doomed or not. It took me about a hour to relax and get back into the ride. I was mentally beating myself up for not taking the time to fix the vent problem back home when I noticed it.

I can do that tomorrow attitude isn’t always good. The rest of the trip I just didn’t fill the fuel cell so full and all was fine.

BILLINGS MT

12:51 604 miles

At Billings the GPS did its magic and took me right to the gas station. No excitement at this gas stop. I was going to grab a hot dog or something but all they had was A&W or Blimpe subs. They would both sit good with me except they only had one person to run both departments and there was a line up 20 feet deep. No time for that, candy bar here I come. Bottle of water, candy bar and a quick phone call to the wife to let her know she can’t collect on the life insurance yet. I tell her the temps have been around 81 degrees and all has been going good. (That’s my story and I’m sticking to it) I had bought a Kontour seat a few months back and have not been having very good luck with the comfort. Ron at Kontour seats said he would rework it but not until Sept. He wanted to make sure I gave it a chance to break in. Break in period has not been working. I brought the Sargent seat with that came on the bike as a back up. I needed it now. 10 miles down the road and I felt like I had just started the ride. About 50 miles down the road I noticed I was warming up, so I punch in the weather report on the GPS and sure enough it is heating up. It was now 91 degrees and Moorcroft was reporting 99 degrees. Time to start sucking down more water.

MOORCROFT WY

16:44 860 miles.

Another uneventful gas stop and no problems with the bike. Another weather check and it was still 99 degrees. I remember riding down the freeway and saying to myself . Self (that’s me) somewhere in this country someone is riding down a different road on a Iron Butt Ride and having as much fun as I am. That brought a smile to my face. I was happy my Aerostich was working like it should. I stopped at a wayside rest to get more water and get rid of some. There was a group of bikers standing there looking at me with my stitch on and not sweating while they stood in tee shirts looking like drowned rats.

CASTUS FLATS SD

19:09 1044miles

Badlands Trading Post gas stop was good. They had hot dogs ready to go, except waiting in line was so long I ate the hot dog while I waited. Talk about efficient. Temps still holding at 99 but darkness would soon be upon me and that would bring cooler temps. On the way to Sioux Falls I remember thinking I should have changed the shield on my helmet from tinted to clear so I wouldn’t need to make a extra stop. But by now a short stop was ok to get a little movement in my legs.

SIOUX FALLS SD

00:08 1311 miles

At the Flying J truck stop I had to go inside to get my receipt because the printer didn’t work on the pump, then when I got the receipt from the cashier it didn’t have the time on it. The cashier told me they couldn’t print the time from inside, so she wrote the time on the receipt and signed it. Hopefully that will work.

On the last leg everything was going good until the last 90 miles. I was starting to get hypnotized by the white lines. I wasn’t sleepy at all so I got off the bike and walked around a few minutes. I had to do this a couple of times until I remembered some breath mints I had with. I took a couple of those and it perked up my senses and I had no problem the rest of the way home.

MOORHEAD MN

3:55 1548 miles

Back to the gas station where it all started for my receipt and off to the police station. At the police station it was back to the red phone in the lobby. Hi it’s me the iron butt guy, “weren’t you here yesterday” was the reply. Yep, and I need a witness for the end of my ride. So a different police officer came out who new about iron butt rides. He signed my paper work, some small talk about the ride and a short 1 ½ blocks to the house for some sleep.

Start time 5:27 am Saturday 23

End Time 3:55 am Sunday 24

GPS miles 1548

This was my first iron butt ride on the BMW R1150R. It is a bike worthy of the Worlds Toughest Riders lic plate holder that it will get. I see why they call this a insane ride. A week later I told the wife I wouldn’t mind doing it again. How much more insane can you get. (BBG4500)

Dave