Any Iron Butt Association riders here? | GTAMotorcycle.com

Any Iron Butt Association riders here?

PrivatePilot

Ironus Butticus
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An Iron Butt been on my to-do list for a long time - I'd planned to do the around the lakes run last summer to finally make it official, but when my shoulder started to go downhill as the season wore on I decided it wasn't viable anymore without risking being in major pain half or three quarters of the way through.

My shoulder is now fixed, and I'm itching to go - got about 1300K on the bike already this season, but now the fun begins.

Anyhow, it's a long story, but a buddy and I are riding up to about the midway point in Lake Superior Provincial Park tomorrow for a photo (that's the long story part, LOL), and then we turn and burn home.

When I mapped it out I soon realized that at 1800KM, this was my Iron Butt qualifier ride staring me in the face.

So, that's the plan - we are leaving at around 4AM (possibly a bit later if the rain drags on) and we are aiming to be back for around midnight. I've rode with the buddy I'm going with and we are much alike when it comes to long distance riding - go, go, go...stop for gas when the tanks are empty, refill gas and coffee mugs, and go go go. We ride tank to tank, basically.

We did some 1200+KM days with each other last summer, but this one trumps that by a fairly large margin. I'm mostly excited (that stretch of road north of the Sault is spectacular, can't wait to ride it again) and just a little apprehensive. But I'm looking forward to it.

Any other IBA members here interested in sharing their stories?
 
You should ride right out of the rain soon enough....good luck....I did half of that last year looping Superior - 975 km on a single stretch .....can't really comprehend doing double that on a single go.

This is Sault Forcast
z7FUeKW6cdmsdvgBQyzL8Cmz8jEmYox-ceko49oon3x_oiJOywuMRLbCkA3PnhaRg0UX8cGMh3iTagymra3tZrMaiEe_RUeRzTAl_6_eVj6lVm55zvMJdHldPiR77bS-B7dExM9sXTadYI-wkISkg8u9Zcyf3tkOf0Onbpdm5qJyGdyI7gpWyTvD7IxmbFsQSyhSKj1XwKkI4uCEtxIeqkSHpgTTUctttppdYclUvDvwra1tYUpag_bXuhjpUDIqVaaUzrZW0dLeoITfxHz03I3ZvJn1i97ffcBgMRydj1YjJqb_GBwS1o2y06Ra3AWzWQymBUc-gbLDiteUBPyvKDvjyUDizwA7xZ5kvLrH1VxFMu9ohtMi0aIPHsc7uiCu78PnH_OjZkQXN--QzUK6V19jxUOqCLz07IY66KwVtK3Y952rEB7S6hDS0W9ukVuk7Lm3GoIDNkODiBntq2j8hgyj9MadMzuF2BmZ7lbsdgxK9CDzSd83t9ZD8lWkJk2XtEX8aBjZFzy2A3ZH7BVJdFVi3UMe4-eKwDYzvb-X_uJY5bCWUMllpvCzP_CRsBlJqiOFRr58IhFYPCzTO7ayILOE-ZJef_GC71LSIXG8=w1228-h842-no
 
Hmm I am thinking I might give this a shot sometime this summer. @PrivatePilot you have a route in mind?
 
Nice route for the first one up to Rouyn Noranda but starting and ending in Huntsville is simply a pain for GTA riders - adding 4-5 hours covering the same ground -
What possible sense is that.?

Not worth it for a sticker IMNSHO.

Any check point should be a valid start point.....Especially with GPS these days.
 
When we did ours a few years ago we started in North Bay and ended there...going clockwise around Huron. The organiser said it was fine. They started and ended in Michigan...going counterclockwise. I'm sure the same applies to these rides.
 
When we did ours a few years ago we started in North Bay and ended there...going clockwise around Huron. The organiser said it was fine. They started and ended in Michigan...going counterclockwise. I'm sure the same applies to these rides.

Excellent as I can make Huntsville from Sauga in two hours just in time to fillup - get there at 6 am - then two fillups to Rouyn Noranda.


I didn't look closely but I assume its the transCanada,....be careful those with short fuel ranges..some long stretches with no fuel...the other concern it cottage traffic near Ottawa but I'd guess on Saturday not so bad as Sunday. Hmmmmmm

Small problem ...I'll be in Australia. Oh well....
 
I did my first SS1000 last July and really enjoyed it. I was sufficiently sore from doing it on my Bandit and found myself trading it for an ST1300 less than 2 months later! The main thing is to read the rules, read them again, and then read them again. The IBA is very particular about their paperwork. Start/end witness, dated business receipts, ride log, and if there is a way to take a short cut make sure one of your stops proves you didn't especially in the "corners" of your ride. If you don't have all of their paperwork done to their liking chances are your ride won't be approved.

I'm looking to do the Lower Great Lakes ride this coming summer. I see someone posted the Lower Great Lakes event but I probably won't be joining in on it. I like to plan my stops my way and I will be starting/ending in Peterborough.

Good luck Pilot, I look forward to reading about your ride! It is a great sense of accomplishment when you finish one!
 
So, I knocked it off yesterday with another friend who also enjoys long days in the saddle.

1910 total KM in just a 21 Hours and 16 Minutes.

ironbuttfinal.jpg


The day got started a few minutes late (we'd planned KSU for 4AM) as my riding buddy had a snafu involving his alarm clock LOL - no biggie, I was running slightly behind as well. I didn't sleep worth a crap despite going to bed at 7:30 - I always sleep fitfully and not restfully before anything big/exciting the next day.

Hit the 401 around 4:30AM. Murphy's law struck almost immediately - just as the light at the onramp turned green and we roared off, I was reaching for the volume control on my radio..and it fell off, surely never to be seen again. And my volume was sitting at ZERO. Wonderful...5 minutes into a 21 hour Iron Butt and I have no music. Freakin awesome. But not to worry, 15 minutes later the volume decided to change on it's own - straight from zero to 10000. So, now I'm on the 401 with my speakers blasting (somewhat distorting and crackling) music, but at least I had music. I'm torn whether to turn it off, or just let it rip (since we were basically the only cars on the highway anyways) and decide the latter is preferable - at least I could just turn it off when passing through towns or at gas stations etc. 20 minutes after that the radio starts to lose it's **** and is turning on and off completely on it's own and flipping from Sirius Satellite to AM, FM, Input...etc. WTF. Now I'm at the point where I have to decide if I need to just cut the power to it at the first stop, or what. Thankfully I found the issue at the next fuel stop (we had to stop at the 400/401 to get a fuel receipt to show the "corner" of my trip for logging purposes) and the radio was behaving again - I also got the volume adjusted (using the tips my finger nails in lieu of the volume knob) to a more reasonable level..where it stayed for the rest of the trip.

Whew. I have my satellite radio back, and can properly change the channel (and hear it) at least.

So, off we went. Not less than an hour later my iPhone (which I was using for GPS position logging the trip for the purpose of the Iron Butt), as well as for navigation..decides that it's not charging anymore. I helplessly watch the battery start to die - between the cold (it was all of 6c or so) and the GPS tracker as well as Waze running it was killing it fast. I'm wearing my thick gloves and I can barely grasp the charger cord to wiggle it, and there was certainly nothing else I could do while we are roaring up the 400.

We hit fog somewhere north of Barrie. Not so thick that we couldn't ride in it, but thick enough that it started to wet the bikes...and us. I had dressed what I thought was exceptionally well - T-Maxx long thermal underwear under my jeans, my heavy insulated rain-proof riding gloves, thermal socks in my heavy leather boots laced tight, a long sleeved shirt with a sweatshirt over that as well as my jacket liner (which is thick) and then my massive and super heavy leather riding jacket itself..but none of that was a match for unexpected moist wet air without having our rain gear on.

Rode through it eventually, but then hit a huge thick bank of clouds for about 2 hours that never let the sun appear to really dry us out.

At our next fuel stop I swapped out the phone cable (thankfully I'd planned for this possibility and brought spares!) and all was good again. Whew.

Onwards. Sun finally comes out and it starts to feel sorta-kinda comfortable. Our stops every 250KM or so consist of gas, a quick piss if we needed to, wolf down a snack or whatever from my tank bag, refill coffee mug if they had coffee..and go. Most were under 5 minutes total, and we ride nonstop to the next fuel stop.

The miles flew past. I really love insane long distance riding...I get into a total zen state and 100KM can fly by in the blink of an eye.

We hit Sault St Marie in good time, made an exceptionally long (15 minute) stop at Timmies for a coffee and a quick snack, and then turned north. Temperature dropped about 8-10c when we hit the east shore of Lake Superior, which considering it had only reached 16-18c at the days peak, felt pretty chilly again. There was still ice on the shorelines and the wind felt like someone had turned on the AC. No leafs on the trees yet. Stopped about 1 hour north of the soo for fuel (last fuel for nearly 200KM from that particular station) and then headed for the next hour to our destination...which in itself, was a long story I won't go into here.

Mission accomplished, we turned around - time to head home!

The trip back was mostly the same, even so far as the fuel stops. The wind shifted from the NW to the S on our return as we rounded the soo, so unfortunately we were now getting the north wind off Lake Huron vs the east wind off Superior. Kept it cool again until we got to around Espanola. At our fuel stop in Parry Sound I ate my last sandwich and some snacks from my tank bag, filled up with a (crappy) coffee from the gas station coffee pot, and put on my rain gear as an extra wind break...as well as the fact we'd be in the dark anyways inside an hour or so and reflective gear at night is never a bad idea. I was actually quite warm and cosy for the next few hours with the extra layer of wind break the rain gear afforded, but as night set in even that wore off - temperatures were down to 3-4C at a few points down the 400 in the Barrie area and south. Our fuel stop north of Midland involved 20 minutes in the McDonalds to absorb some heat and wolf down a few McDoubles.

Onwards. Cold. Not "I'm shivering uncontrollably" type cold, but it was at that point where I really could have used another layer - I wasn't super comfortable, lets put it that way, but I also wasn't unsafe to ride or anything. Had my visor down but it kept fogging up, had to leave it open a crack (which, the way the air moves around my bike, was kind of like someone was directing an AC vent in my face) but it was OK.

Traffic was virtually non existent for 90% of the ride - the Sunday of a long weekend turned out to be an exceptionally good choice of days as for the most part we hit very little traffic whatsoever for the entire trip.

The weather on the other hand...well. It didn't rain. It didn't snow. It also only got to the forecasted high for maybe 2 hours of the entire day, and I don't think either of us had anticipated the temperature drops from the wind coming off the lakes..and the temperatures last night were WAY lower than what had originally been in the forecast at our "Go/No-Go" decision time Saturday morning.

But all in all, despite my snafu's in the first hour or so of the trip (neither of which were major things in the grand scheme of things) the trip went off well - no mechanical issues, no near misses, nothing. The most exciting thing that happened was my buddy discovered that putting a carbonated beverage in his coffee mug with a tight fitting lid was a bad idea...when the lid blew off like a firework somewhere on Highway 69, like my Volume knob from my radio, never to be seen again. ;)

As I was nearing my exit from the 401 on the last stretch I realized I was just under 90KM from qualifying for the Saddle Sore 2000 vs the 1600. For a few minutes I considered just keeping going, running out to Port Hope or Cobourg for a coffee, and then turning back...but the cold was starting to grate on me. I wasn't sore, I wasn't even that tired (surprisingly, although the cold was probably a double edged sword there, keeping me alert and awake), but I opted to just call it a ride, and got off the highway. It is what it is.

I got home and jumped in our hot tub for a 15 minute soak (just what the doctor ordered!), and hit the bed. Felt great this morning which I was surprised about, actually.

Mission accomplished. The next time I do an Iron Butt, I'll wait for some warmer weather though. ;)
 
Any check point should be a valid start point.....Especially with GPS these days.

You don't have to do a prescribed ride...you can do whatever you want, as long as you carefully log it with adequate documentation (read the IBA website VERY, VERY well) to prove you actually rode the route and distance you claim.

You can do a loop of something (a lot of people in the GTA do the loop around the lower great lakes - Ganonoque, Syracuse, Toledo, Windsor, and home works well) or you can drive a straight line somewhere and then turn around and backtrack again. It does't matter. What matters is you follow the rules carefully so you can prove you did it. Myself I stopped for some strategic fuel stops at critical junctions of the trip to prove I didn't cut any corners) and I also took a photo of each fuel receipt with my odometer in the photo (see the photo in my last post for an example of 2 of them). On top of that I also logged the trip using an app called SWConnect on my iPhone (connected to Spotwalla) as an extra level of insurance - it takes a GPS position every 5 minutes and logs it giving you another method to prove your route, and it's sanctioned by the IBA.

I didn't look closely but I assume its the transCanada,....be careful those with short fuel ranges..some long stretches with no fuel...the other concern it cottage traffic near Ottawa but I'd guess on Saturday not so bad as Sunday. Hmmmmmm

I always carry a jerry-can with 15L of emergency fuel in it when travelling long distances, especially some of the isolated areas up north. I did the same on the trip yesterday but didn't need it. Glad I didn't as it would have screwed up my fuel logging/receipt photos - you do NOT want to give the IBA admins any reason to question the legitimacy of a trip. It was for emergencies only.
 
what a story!

I'd totally do it again. If the forecast was for nothing less than a solid 15c or more for the duration of the trip. ;)
 
I did mine back in 2013
IBA# 56452
You can read about it here.
http://www.gtamotorcycle.com/vbforu...turgis-and-Montana-Me-and-my-new-girl-go-West

I prolly did one of the easiest IB that you can do.
Great weather and mostly straight as an arrow.
I started mine around 6am in Portage IN and finished in Sundace WY…around 18hrs
I was pretty sore after I finished and I didn’t eat the whole time I was doing it.
Needless to say I filled my face when I was finished.
This was a great sense of accomplishment for me and I really needed it.
I don’t know if I will do it again…if I did I would do the same route or similar.
Congrats man…people that haven’t done this just don’t understand.

IMG_20180505_142402.jpg
 

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