ROLL Call Saturday June 20th Solstice Ride

[A DRAGON]

Yo fellas and Ladies.  Just putting this out there.  Who plans on riding our Solstice ride this year.  Going to Ft. Bragg and then doing HWY 1 to Leggett.  Then back home.  Last year we logged just over 700 miles.  22slow suggested we just add the extra 280 miles and make it an Iron Butt.  What an Idea.  I'm up for that.  But Green Machine suggests we leave at 2a.m.


As long as we ride l'm good.  But lets see what's the opinions out there if you wanna go.  I'm up for either one.   

[GreenMachine]

Looks like Jimjoe's going to T-hill that weekend -- Track days 6/20/2020 Willow, CA Thunderhill raceway

A 700 solstice ride is accomplishment enough for most people.  You won't have a piece of paper that nobody but you will ever see, but that last 150 miles of an IBA ride is the separator where concentration becomes a problem, if you're not acclimated to normally doing 400 mile/day rides with minimal breaks.  Train hard and the ride will be easy.  Ask the athletes.  Don't train, plan, prepare yourself mentally and by the end of the ride don't kid yourself.  Pull over before something bad happens.

You know where my vote is.  I'll try to help keep anyone on schedule, but I cannot do 501 highway miles on straight roads, turn around and head back.  For that, you could ride fast and not have to get up much before dawn.  However, with hwy 1, as proposed, if you add in such curvy roads to help keep the rider awake, sportbike riders can ride further than they otherwise could. 18.25 - 22 hours door-to-door. You can add an hour plus for prep before and post prep as to how long you will be awake, riding focused for hazards and alert.

Stops over 20 minutes during all three of my IBA rides = zero.
Bathroom breaks are taken in conjunction with planned fuel stops.  Food and water breaks are much the same, but do add one or two scenic stops to make the ride memorable.  Fuel stops are kept to an absolute minimum to increase average speed over distance.  In my case, if I can do 240 miles between fuel-ups that's what I'll fit into a route that the IBA would approve of.  My last one had two legs that were over 224 miles each.  The 224 was nonstop, the second was ~40 miles longer with one stop that I only took because I was required to get a receipt to prove my route.  With a high average speed, that ride was only 18.25 hours.  My first, with many more stops, was ~22 hours.  So what I'm saying is that you want to match your bike to the route you plan on accomplishing.  If you're planning on 50% more stops that are longer than the ones I did, to keep your average speed up, you're going to have to ride 35 - 40 MPH over the speed limit, when I'm doing 15 - 25 over.  Or you will want to plan on a 24 hour borderline ride.  My average speed over time is always approximately 50 MPH.

I suggest, if you want to do one of these safely, we see what kind of average speed you can hold over 400 - 500 miles and use that as a gauge.  Be realistic with the results.  On each of my rides, the weekend before my ride I clicked off a 500 miler.  It opens your eyes to what you can expect.  You're either in the ballpark or you're not and you need to plan accordingly.

Wanna try a timed 500 miler at IBA pace?

[22SLOW]

I'm in as long as your SV makes it this weekend @ Thunder Hill.
That little thing is going to probably need a rear tire before the Soltice ride.....I plan on buring the rear up this weekend

[GreenMachine]

T minus 8.5 hours and counting. 

Not your usual Solstice ride.  This one is a test for something bigger. 

2019


Follow our progress.

Dest.   Google   50 MPH
Reno   06:00 AM   06:00 AM
Grass Valley   07:40 AM   07:43 AM
Marysville   08:15 AM   08:30 AM
Colusa   09:00 AM   09:02 AM
Clear Lake Oaks   09:40 AM   10:00 AM
Willits   11:00 AM   11:08 AM
Fort Bragg   11:45 AM   11:45 AM
Leggett   01:00 PM   12:37 PM
      
Fort Bragg   02:10 PM   01:30 PM
Willits   03:05 PM   02:10 PM
Clear Lake Oaks   04:10 PM   03:18 PM
Colusa   05:04 PM   04:16 PM
Marysville   05:39 PM   04:45 PM
Grass Valley   06:18 PM   05:23 PM
Reno   07:48 PM   07:07 PM

Not the greatest table, but second column is our time at that destination according to Google Maps.  The third column is time to that destination if we average 50 MPH.  The break is to show our return route, same as going out, only in reverse.

Our goal is the 50 MPH average, but are willing to accept the Google Maps time if we're running behind, at a slower pace.

Our results upon return to Reno will tell us if we have what it takes for that bigger ride.

[GreenMachine]

 

Tires kicked.  Time to light the fires.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGJV0P_r1Rs

[GreenMachine]

3 out of 4 of us made the whole trip.  No clam chowder this year.  We brown-bagged it at the cliffs below the Emerald Dolphin.  Cool and pleasant over on the coast today.  Quite hot in the valley, but especially hot between Clearlake and the valley near Williams.

Details to follow, I'm sure.  6:00 AM - 9:30 PM R/T  We took Navarro home, so it matches exactly our 2015 route, just in reverse order.  684 miles.

No citations, because there was no need to speed, plus there were a lot of construction speed limits on hwy 20.