Cross country with the kid June 2015 | Page 2 | GTAMotorcycle.com

Cross country with the kid June 2015

For me, on a bike trip, I like to do ~1000 to 1500 km/day riding roughly 6:00 to 23:00, stopping for breakfast/supper and gas. Use a camel bak for water and snacks during the day. Obviously there isn't a lot of time for sitting. I can see the advantage of taking more time to sit, but it is a very personal decision.

The most painful bike trip I ever went on was with coworkers who liked to do <300 km/day.

That used to be me ! it wasn't a ride unless you did 4 digits worth of mileage each day (e.g. Seattle to Toronto in 3 days) ... I've since mellowed to the 300-500km / day with lots to see in between. I still find it just as enjoyable.
 
I tend to be inbetween in North America....AUstralia a different issue....I count a good day as 200+ but that's mostly the bike ( 100 kph is pushing it on full knobbies, the speed limits ( 100k is tops and you get nailed by speed cameras ) the terrain...most days include some off pavement .

I'm more using Aus for saddletime rather than distance. But given my work schedule of 1 am to 7 am online...getting up early to ride is a chore.

You also cannot ride safely at night outside the city.

Getting excited now some firm distances are in place.

For North America I usually end up 600-700 a day..mix of slab and twists. I figure with long June days we can push that. for the first three days as long as kid will get out of bed :D hehe...likely get a reaction to that.

My biggest concern is erratic weather.
June in the mountains can be chilly tho the west has had a warm winter.
 
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lets have a look

Ok Mac.
Lets see if I can type this out.
Day 1
Leave home and ride to Muskegon
Leave with enough time to catch 4:45pm Ferry.
Its only a 2.5 hour crossing and with time change you will land in MIL about 6:15pm.
Now you have been resting for a couple hours or so on the ferry so you might as well ride once you have landed.
MIL is actually pretty easy to get out of and only takes a few minutes.
If you ride for an hour you will be in Madison WI via I94…spend the night here.
I recommend the Interchange 135B area.
There’s a Super 8 nearby…DON'T GET GAS!.


Day 2
Wake up early….I know you don’t like to get up early but in order to do an Iron Butt you need to.
I’d say be moving by 6am…riding I mean :)

Have hotel staff witness your Iron Butt and get Gas and receipt.
Blaze I90 all day and night.

For me its about 5 full tanks.
Don’t screw around in the Badlands area…plan your gas stops ahead of time.
I’m not gonna lie to you….this will take you about 18 hours to complete.
About midnight you should be rolling into Sheridan WY.
Sheridan is about 1004 miles or 1615 km
Get your last gas stop and receipt for the day and check into motel.

Day 3
This is really up to you.
I was pretty beat after my Iron Butt and didn’t do many miles the next day.
The nice thing is your in Sheridan….great mountain riding is only about 10 mins away.
Sheridan to Cody is only 237km
Sheridan to Red lodge is only 447km so its really up to you.
Cody is a great little town but a little expensive.
I love Red Lodge and you must stay at the Alpine.

Sheridan rest stop


Ride to Red Lodge.








Alpine






Red Lodge
 

I accidentally almost did a bun burner 1500 a few years ago (I did 2300 km in 24 hours) trying to outrun a snow storm on the bike (loop around PEI in the morning, slab home from the confederation bridge starting at noon, home at 03:00). Never bothered documenting it though, I was only planning on doing a normal days ride. That was too long (and cold it was ~5 celsius).
 
Wimp.....you got a fancy seat. You put risers on it.....and a fancy dan windscreen.
Not so different from mine :D

2010_2012-Suzuki-VStrom650ABSg.jpg


I say we go for it and see....start early and point them west and see how far we get......be fun
 
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I accidentally almost did a bun burner 1500 a few years ago (I did 2300 km in 24 hours) trying to outrun a snow storm on the bike (loop around PEI in the morning, slab home from the confederation bridge starting at noon, home at 03:00). Never bothered documenting it though, I was only planning on doing a normal days ride. That was too long (and cold it was ~5 celsius).
Oh hell no! Someone would have been coming to get my ass with a trailer
1000 Miles on this in a day?
2015-Yamaha-FZ8-EU-Midnight-Black-Studio-007.jpg

No way.:violent2:
I agree. No way!
 
Oh hell no! Someone would have been coming to get my *** with a trailer

I agree. No way!

I guess it comes down to how bad you want to complete an Iron Butt
Here is a list of a few bikes that have completed this in 2014
BMW R1200GS
Vespa GTS Super 300 278cc
Suzuki V-Strom DL650
Yamaha FJR1300
Ducati Multistrada
Suzuki Burgman 650
 
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Piece of cake for the Burgman with a decent seat but man ...a LOT of fillups.

Kid could do it if he wanted ....I THINK I could do it ......depends on how my shoulder progresses down here.
Not helping that I don't have a throttle lock on.

Tell us...how fast is traffic across there....and how attentive are cops?

That Vespa owner tho deserves an additional medal. I think it would be fun to try at least....no harm.
Both bikes will cruise at 80 mph

That's 12 hours at 80...so figure 15 in real life
there are easily 15 hours of daylight in June.
 
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Piece of cake for the Burgman with a decent seat but man ...a LOT of fillups.

Kid could do it if he wanted ....I THINK I could do it ......depends on how my shoulder progresses down here.
Not helping that I don't have a throttle lock on.

Tell us...how fast is traffic across there....and how attentive are cops?

That Vespa owner tho deserves an additional medal. I think it would be fun to try at least....no harm.
Both bikes will cruise at 80 mph

That's 12 hours at 80...so figure 15 in real life
there are easily 15 hours of daylight in June.


Pretty sure WI is 65mph
MN is 70mph
And SD is 75mph
Vespa owner is a girl and koodoes to her.
18 hours to do 1000 miles or 1600km is pretty accurate.
i just set the cruise at 120 and put my feet up :)
Very little traffic going across.
Looks a lot like this

 
Any deer / antelope??

That kind of flat begs for early and late riding - unlike the east.

My fade point always comes around 3 pm in the afternoon..then I'm good later.
 
lots of deer and buffalo but they are mostly in the Black Hills
interstate rest areas are plentiful and run about every 60 miles...wifi
I too am in favour of the afternoon siesta
 
Mac - if your boy has better seat and wind screen and risers - He won't have any trouble at all. You know me and that we are near same age. We did 2 days to Colorado - very easy - Then did a ton of riding out to San Diego. Now FJR with stock seat is like sitting on a brick after 400 or 500k. We did the Coast to Coast IBA run in 46 hours. Stopped every 100 miles as my butt was way to sore with that seat. Had solid 500 miles of rain - AZ - NM and part of Texas. If I can do it - he should be able to do the 1000 mile ride.
 
Seeing as you are doing a couple of Hwy days - when you get to Rapid City
Turn south on the 16. - 22 miles south take the 16A - you are now in
custer state park . Just look at the road. I think about 200k of fab roads.
This will give u a change of pace for a day. Then make sure u do the 385 to
Deadwood and either go back up to the 90 or take 85 south to 585 or 16 and then
head to the 90. Is worth the time as u are right there.

If time allows off the 90 at Buffalo get off at the 16 - Just before the 14 you
are planning on going across to Cody. Go south to 26 and then take 26 right up
to Yellow Stone and go through Yellow Stone to Cody - Then head north to Bear Pass.
Its a 453 mile loop.

On your route up to Calgary you are on 22 - about 50 miles south of Calgary
off the 22 is the 40 Called Kananaskis Trail. (search in google)
The end of the trail is on Hwy 1 in the direction you are heading. Roads are so nice and scenery is fab.
22 is so boring and flat from Calgary down.

The 93 north of town of Banff is out of this world. Just to get to Jasper
can take a day even though it is very close. Roads - scenery - and stuff is
out of this world. One road worth taking your time on.

I just noticed u mentioned Kamloops. If you are going from Kamloops north on'
Hwy 5 it is a very nice ride - lots of scenery and good roads. About 30 or so
clicks before Hwy 16 to head over to Jasper make sure you have fuel. Is only
one station on 16 and can be closed. Went through during the week around
4 or 5 pm and was closed. I almost ran out of fuel as I was heading down Hwy
5 and had done just over 400k. As I pulled in to station it died.(Luck on
my side that day)
 
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Mac - if your boy has better seat and wind screen and risers - He won't have any trouble at all. You know me and that we are near same age. We did 2 days to Colorado - very easy - Then did a ton of riding out to San Diego. Now FJR with stock seat is like sitting on a brick after 400 or 500k. We did the Coast to Coast IBA run in 46 hours. Stopped every 100 miles as my butt was way to sore with that seat. Had solid 500 miles of rain - AZ - NM and part of Texas. If I can do it - he should be able to do the 1000 mile ride.

FJR is a whole different bike then mine, you have large fairings to hide behind to break the wind, large seat surface area, softer suspension (I've replaced stock with more aggressive suspension), more weight so wind is less of an issue, access to windscreens that actually do something.

Stock seat on my bike is sitting on a brick after 200km, new seat arrives soon so see how that turns out.

Don't need risers, its an upright seating position.

1000 miles is 8-9 gas tanks for me, and if theres issues with gas fill ups, its probably a bad idea, as I have to fill up nearly twice as often as my dad does.


Seems iffy, but doable.
 
Beleive me there will be no issue on the fillups in that section...it's slab the whole way.

You'll live and if too many whinges from either of us we go as far as we can and call it a day.
 

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