This is the third of a series of planned rides undertaken as preparation for the 2017 Iron Butt Rally.
The name for this ride was borne of comments on a previous Ride Report, that of my very first SaddleSore 1000 back in 2011. I was discussing the planning of routes for that ride, when I made the remark "Who on Earth wants to ride across Kansas?". There were, apparently, a number of proud Kansans among the readership, and they took exception to my perceived slight of their great state.
Long Distance Riders have a proud, single-fingered salute for that kind of audience abuse, so I wondered how I could annoy them. What I came up with was a Ride Around Kansas that circumnavigated the state without ever entering it. In terms of the Iron Butt Association this ride is a Bun Burner Gold. That is, a ride of over 1500 miles completed in under 24 hours. It's taken me a couple of years, and many terrific rides in between, but this weekend was when I quietly extracted my revenge! Of course, if I failed in the attempt the joke was on me. I figure that with the route I planned, the odds were about even.
Let's take a look at the route:
Start and Finish were just north east of Tulsa, and the route was run counter-clockwise. As planned the route was 1524 miles, and I actually rode around 1540.
It is always my hope that others wishing to follow adventures like this, with those of their own, can learn something about Long Distance Riding from the reports of others ... much as they helped me in the early days, and still do. So rather than posting a series of tedious pictures of gas station receipts what I intend to do is talk about the planning. I'll mention the riding too because that's why we are all here.
For those among our number who have completed a SaddleSore 1000 (1000+ miles in under 24 hours), but not yet tackled the more extreme rides, you all need to pay attention. The Bun Burner Gold is, without doubt, one of the toughest rides offered as a Certificate. While it is true that some rides are longer, most of those have generous time-limits. For the aspiring entrant into "Extreme Rides", this is the big one. The jump from 1000 miles, itself a prodigious feat, to 1500 miles in the same time period is tough. As LD Riders we make no apology for that. It should be tough. It is meant to be tough. "The World's Toughest Riders" is on the plate-backer for that very reason. No excuses are accepted. Bad weather? Ride through it. Heavy traffic? Holiday weekends? Either plan better or ride through them. You get this one when you earn it. Having said all that, this ride, and all the others, can be completed within the posted speed limits on US roads, if you plan it right and ride efficiently.
The Iron Butt Association has over 60 000 members. Each of them has completed an SS1000. Fewer than 5000 unique individuals have successfully ridden a Bun Burner Gold. For the SS1000, most first time attempts are successful, because folk really do prepare for their first one. Around 50% of first BBG attempts end up being a learning experience, and these are riders who already have the 1000 mile ride done.
Common sense would suggest that you pick a nice, fast Interstate. Ride 750 miles out, grab a receipt and ride back. That's almost the exact plan I had for my second, and my first successful, BBG attempt. I-40 from home out to Flagstaff, AZ, then returning to Frionna, TX. Slightly odd but it was part of something else. Only 90 miles of that ride was off-interstate, and it was done in around 22 hours, in March, on a 26-year-old bike. You can do this.
That is what the smart money does. This ride was going to be a little different. My aim of circumnavigating a state meant that I had to ride the roads available and they were not necessarily the ones I would choose. From Tulsa, I-44 takes you to Joplin, then I-49 and I-25 will get you all the way to Council Bluffs, IA. From there pick up I-80 and hammer across Nebraska, cursing the drivers around Lincoln as you go. That takes care of the Interstate. When you turn south into Colorado you are facing hundreds of miles of HWY 385, complete with a speed limit of 65 mph and lots of towns to make life interesting. Once you hit the Oklahoma panhandle the speeds go up to 70 mph, but you still have substantial towns and the occasional combine harvester to negotiate. 400 more miles and you are done.
1500 miles divided by 24 hours gives an overall average speed required of 62.5 mph. That is including your stopped time. 62.5 miles every hour, for 24 hours. In reality it's worse than that. You have to allow a cushion of time, just in case, and you have to go far enough over the distance to ensure the ride can later be verified to at least 1500 miles. That ups the overall average required to around 64 miles per hour. The only number that matters is the "Overall Average" displayed on your GPS. If you can keep that number at or above 64 mph, and keep it there for around 23 1/2 hours, you will make it. It's math, it doesn't lie even when every brain cell you have, and every muscle fiber you have cultivated, are lying to you.
Crucial then, to make hay while on the Interstate. By the time I hit Colorado I would need a substantial cushion, because I knew that the second 750 miles I was going to sit there, despondently watching my overall average fall, just as I had worked so hard to get it high in the first place. I was thinking I needed it up around 70 mph.
I know I said that all these rides could be done within the posted limit, and so they can. My own personal standards of safe riding tell me I am perfectly safe at around the speed limit +5, on an empty Interstate, at night and in clear weather. Speed limits are usually set by politicians rather than road engineers and they rarely are the same thing as a "safe speed for the conditions". However, ride too fast and you need more gas stops, and you will attract the wrong kind of attention. Nothing kills a BBG attempt quicker than too many roadside chats with State Troopers. They have all the time in the world to issue their "Performance Awards". Just watch that overall average plummet. As an aside, it's worth noting that every 5 mph increase in speed gains you 120 miles over 24 hours ... That is a time saving of roughly 1 1/2 hours. It helps to understand how the numbers work when faced with 400 miles of Interstate and your are deciding between 70 and 75 mph. You can sit there watching your GPS estimated time of arrival, run backwards. Indeed, you can save more than enough time to cover efficient gas stops.
You also have to plan all the stops. You don't have the time to be messing around looking for gas on a ride like this. The rules are that you need a receipt every 300 miles maximum, and you have to receipt the "corners", that is anywhere where you could have taken a shorter route. Having to meet both of these requirements slightly compromised my ideal stops. I required eight stops rather than the normal five. We all like to brag about how fast we can make the stops, but the reality is a minimum of five minutes "ramp to ramp", and they usually take at least a couple of minutes longer. If you like to pee at every stop, buy candy, hang out, then you are going to need to make that time up somewhere. The fastest way to cover the ground is to keep the wheels turning, even when your elderly hips, knees and lower back are telling you that the last place you need to be right now, is on a motorcycle. If your butt hurts then you need a better seat. If you have the wrong seat, you will not feel your knee, hip and back pain, because your ass will be on fire!
So that was the plan. Hit the route as hard as reasonably possible. Keep the stops short and hope to build enough cushion for the slow second half ... Oh, and don't forget to enjoy the ride!
I had planned to leave Friday night. Then my darling wife reminded me we had the Owasso High School Band Banquet on Saturday. So, well filled with Balsamic Chicken, I finally got my start receipt at around 11.00 pm on Saturday. I would normally have left a couple of hours early, minus the chicken, in order to finish in daylight. The run up to the first stop was routine. The Will Rogers turnpike is a 75 mph road and get you almost to Joplin, MO. Then the ride north through the night, and through Missouri, stopping for gas in Kansas City before heading up to Council Bluffs, IA. Weather was great and the roads were clear. The lighting on the bike is awesome so little worry about not being able to see. As an aside, I was describing this ride to a friend the day before. He commented that it was "riding through four boring states to avoid a fifth boring state". To all the citizens of those states, if you are offended by that remark, I'll give you Justin Philipson's name later. To be fair though, they are all pretty boring in the dark. I saw nothing of Missouri, but I did see an overall average speed steadily creeping up to 70 mph. When I left I had the entire route plugged in to the Garmin Montana, and was navigating point-to-point with the Garmin 665. The Montana was telling me I would finish at 9.35 pm the following evening and it maintained that prediction all the way to Colorado. That meant that I was clawing back all the stopped time to that point.
I headed into dawn around Lincoln, NE, and because I thought about it in advance, the sun was rising at my back and would later set in the same manner. Riding this route the other way round would have been awful, with many hours riding straight into the sun. Riding across Nebraska was much as I remembered it from last time. I was alternately looking forward to, and dreading the turn south through Colorado. On the one hand I like riding those wild uplands, on the other, it was going to compromise my speed quite a bit. I hit my first of a few minor snags in Council Bluffs. It was the middle of the night, and the gas pump refused to spit out a receipt. The store was closed. There are procedures to deal with this. I got plenty of photos of the numbers on the pump, the bike at the pump and the bike at the gas station. I also dropped a SPOT satellite marker so the verification team can go look at the gas station on StreetView, should they want to do so. The pics are time-stamped, as is the satellite marker. There is little doubt I was where I am claiming to be.
So it turns out that HWY 385 in Colorado is a decent road. It's in the less interesting east side of the state, but you are up around 4000+ feet, and I like those upland landscapes. When I turned south my overall average was 71.5 mph ... not bad at all. 385 reminded me of very similar roads in Texas, another state I enjoy riding. The difference is that the speed limits in Texas are 70 or 75 mph, and in scaredy-cat Colorado they are a measly 65 mph. There really is no reason for this, and I employ the old "if a tree falls in the forest and there is no one there to hear it, does it make a sound" principle. I was to find out that this can be a risky theory. With no one around to object ... well you get the drift. Fast, free, wonderful riding. Let the bike breathe and enjoy.
I spotted a silver/grey car up ahead, and cruised up behind it. I was paying it little attention as I was scanning ahead looking for a safe place to pass. Then it suddenly, and rather rudely I thought, it lit up like a Christmas Tree right there in front of me. Using some un-parliamentary language in the privacy of my crash helmet, I cruised alongside, pulled up and asked the State Trooper if he wanted to speak to me. He told me to park in front ... sigh. This could get expensive, not to mention the overall average. Crash helmet off, sat on the bike we shake hands as he gets to me. "Can you tell me why you were doing 78 in a 65 mph limit?". Busted. There is no good answer. "It's a nice day", was my rather pathetic offering, but what can you say. I was speeding, he caught me. Let's just make this as painless as possible. So he tells me he is writing me up for 13 mph over, and that costs $170 in Colorado. He asked me when I last got a speeding citation, and I replied about three years ago and that I had two in the last 13 years ... and do you have to give me a ticket ... "Yes". came the brief reply. So he wanders off to check my license and insurance. When he comes back he asks "What can I do to get you to slow down a bit?" ... Hmmm ... "Not give me a ticket and I promise I'll behave". He laughed, handed me a Courtesy Warning, shook my hand again and we went on our way. Result! and it only took ten minutes.
I really did proceed at a more modest, if slightly boring pace for a good long way. My overall average was slipping, but nothing disastrous so far. Towns came and went, I receipted the corner and turned into Oklahoma. Boise City is a place I am familiar with. Home is 403 miles east. Just prior to that I had taken a wrong turn. At the same time the bluetooth headset was playing games, and I missed the warnings. When I finally realized I had already ridden 6 miles in the wrong direction, then needed 6 miles back. Add that to the traffic stop and I wasted 25 very valuable minutes. Still, the ETA was predicting that I had at least an hour to spare, so it wasn't time to either panic, or do anything stupid.
That southern area of Colorado, and the entire Oklahoma panhandle, a total distance on nearly 300 miles was windy. Not the light breeze that brings relief from the 85 degree temperature, not even the stiff breeze that is common. This was howling gale territory. This was blow you off the road if you are not careful, wind. This wind spent four hours trying to rip the crash helmet off my head. It's okay. It's doable, but it is very tiring. Just hard work when that is the last thing you need when you have been on the road for 1200 miles already today.
As it always does, the wind dropped past Woodward, OK, and the last 200 miles, riding into the gathering gloom, was peaceful and pleasant when I needed it to be. I was tired and I knew it. Not the "tired" that requires that you stop, but enough to know that easy riding at that point is a bless'd relief. I stopped the clock 2 miles from home, at 10 pm.
Total time was 23 hours. Stopped time was 1 hour 45 minutes. Distance 1540 miles. Overall Average Speed, 67 mph.
The Ride Around Kansas - Gold, was now just a memory.