Congrats to rjmorel on the Ironbutt!

[rjmorel]

You should come with us , they said, It will be fun, they said.....................

Thank you everyone for the arse condolences and the congrates on this little venture. And congratulations to DSchic for your accomplishing an IB. I do feel your pain. Does this make us fox hole buddies?
At 59 years old I think the warrantee has expired on this body of mine. The worse pain I have is in my neck and shoulder area. Felt like ice picks going into my neck and back from the degenerative disks I have. I took a couple of ibuprofen every couple of hours to keep the pain down. But like DSchic said it's not the ride that hurts so much as the next few days after your body tells you "What where you thinking"
I wanted to do this IB for 2 reasons 1) to see if the RX3 could do it and 2) to see if I could do it. I have a Honda NC700x that would of done it just fine. but where's the challenge in that?
We left Walla Walla, Wa at 4 AM in the dark with 6 other guys and 1 girl all riding Harley, Victories, Indian and I think a Yamaha. You can see a pic of us here
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rider...48653721944905

I told them I understood that I wouldn't be able to keep up with them once we got to Oregon and Idaho where the speeds were 75 and 80 on I84 and we all just needed to ride our own ride to survive this. We chose this weekend because it has the longest daylight of the summer and wanted to take advantage of that.
Within an hour we were headed up Cabbage Hill and low 30 deg temps. My fingers were so cold I couldn't operate the switches cause of numbness. I had the heated grips and jacket liner on for hours on end and I was so thankful CSC had given us 300 watt alternators which never failed to deliver enough juice. At first fuel stop I bought a pair of thinsulate gloves and they kept my hands warm but were thick and caused my hands to tire easily cause they just weren't ment for cycle riding. The heated grips kept the inside of my hands warm but the cold air going over the back of hands froze them.
We came down into La Grand were the temps were rising and the sun was coming up. Overall perfect weather for the ride other then the 30 deg temps early on.
From then on it was a game of cat and mouse riding where the group would disappear down the highway and pull over for gas break , then I would catch up with them , we would take off , they would disappear till next gas stop.
I'll post this now and keep writing short posts till we get back home to Walla Walla.

[Weldangrind]

Way to go, Rob!

[BlackBike]

Good grief rob, you did a good part of this alone, one stubborn son...

If we need someone to go get help, your it.

[rjmorel]

Our route took us through Baker City, Boise, to American Falls ,Pocatello with our turn around destination of Idaho Falls about 530 miles from Walla Walla. I lost track of the others and when I got to Idaho Falls to gas up for the return trip home. I figured they had been here already and were on their way back. Since time wise I was ahead of schedule I thought I'd take a little nap before starting the second half of journey home. I didn't take many pics. Joe has them on the CSC blog you can see them here
http://californiascooterco.com/blog/
While I was trying to get some shut eye ,I heard the familiar rumble of big bikes coming down the off ramp and I was surprised it was my group. They had stopped for 45min lunch break and I had passed them up with out knowing it. I jumped up and was waving and grinning at them very thankful to see them all together ,safe and sound. They had wondered if I had given up and turned back home hours ago. That was one highlight of the trip. Getting there first w/o knowing it. Not that this was a race, just surprised us all the slowest bike got to the half way point ahead of the others. They told me where they planned to stop for fuel on the way back so I made a mental note of it and off we went.
You know how they say a horse knows when it's time to go home you just let them go and they'll find their way? That's kinda like what the group did. The closer they got to home the less messing around and stopping they did. Or so I was told. I saw them at several gas stops and pretty much was by myself after the sun went down. They were beating it for home. That was the least fun part going alone in the dark at 65-70mph for 4-5 hours, keeping an eye out for deer, trying to stay awake.
I kept hearing Donkey on my front fender singing "I feel so all alone, There's no one here beside me............"

[BlackBike]

Yep, on the other hand, there was no way but home at the half way piont. You knew you had it at that point, (couldn't quit) all roads lead to home, just had to keep up the pace.

That was a real turtle and the hare story at the mid point.


That nite ride, oh my God I bet it was tempting to click that blinker and hit that exit and head for that nice Hampton inn.

[rjmorel]

So the return trip was uneventful and a lot warmer when coming over the Cabbage Hill area. Riding at night is a different world. I didn't seem to get tired and just focused on not hitting anything and staying on the highway. I can't tell you how much of a relief it was when coming down the last hill and seeing the lights of Walla Walla of in the distance some 19 hours after starting that morning. My thoughts were " you've made it this far , don't crash or hit a deer or get run over by a semi".
I had wondered if anyone would be at the last stop, our starting point where we fuel up for the last time to get the "official" end time printed receipt from the gas pump at around 12:30 am. I had visions of the whole town turning out ,throwing down flowers before me and waving flags as I made my way through town to the Cenex station we started from.
To my surprise the whole group was still there filling out their paper work , having witness sign their forms. They had arrived about 15 min head of me and gave a clapping ovation when I pulled in.
The rest of the town never showed. Vermin.

[BlackBike]

https://goo.gl/maps/SRhvN7yo92m

[rjmorel]

So you want to do an iron Butt do you...................
Heres some summation on the experience.
Go to the iron butt website and read all you can.
http://ironbutt.com/about/default.cf...TOKEN=59834847

It tells you all the witness forms and receipts you'll need to be certified that you actually did it.
It will tell you what is best to eat and not to eat so you don't get groggy. That's important.
Above all they want it to be a fun, safe event for any who participate. So if you excessively speed ,they will see it when they review your paperwork and if the times you took getting between cities are in excess of speed limits. They will not certify your ride. It can all be done at the posted speed limits as long as you don't spend hours in the coffee shop or dinking around sight seeing. We were just under 20 hours I believe.
It's a lot better to have partners to ride with the whole trip. I was solo for 80-90% of the time.
It's good to have a home team you can text too to let them know your on the move and OK.
My bike/ride was equipped with heated grips, heated jacket liner, 14x46 sprockets, Stock sprockets would of been fine , hand guards, 20-50 CSC premium syn oil, CSC accessary gel seat. Shinko 244 tires, water bottle, trail mix, granola bars, tire repair kit, tool kit.
Hi-Viz helmet and jacket cause it's better to see me coming from a ways off, then to smell me coming up close I always say.
GPS an important accurate witness to the miles you've traveled. We all know that the speedo and odometer are optimistic on the RX3. The last thing you want is to think you've gone 1000 miles by your odometer only to find yourself disqualified because you only really went 968 miles. Write the total miles on your bike at start incase the trip meter gets reset by mistake and you loose how many miles you've gone.
In 1055 miles I had no break downs, close calls with deer or cars, Every one I met was courteous at the gas/break stops.
I rode wide open throttle for hours on end to maintain the 65-70 mph getting up and down hills. The RX3 motor, cooling, charging ,FI all seemed to work flawlessly.
Mid grade fuel gained me 2-3 mph and more oomph going up hills.
Took 23.11 gallons of gas costing $57.90 for 1055 miles equals 45.65 MPG!!!!!
Would I do it again? Yes but on a bigger bike. The Rx3 proved that it could do it and that's what I wanted to accomplish this trip. I'm confident it could go across the US, coast to coast.
So there you have it . Going to bed now.
Any questions I'll be glad to answer as best I can.
It was kinda fun, kinda scarry at night , kinda uber cool coming in finishing and seeing the group all there safe and sound.
rj

[rjmorel]

Originally Posted by BlackBike

https://goo.gl/maps/SRhvN7yo92m

yuppers that was our route, thanks BB, rj

[AZRider]

Way to go Rob, you certainly are the trooper. You were lucky to have donkey pointing the way and keeping you safe from the cagers. It proves to me that deer whistles are useless and donkeys are the best deer deterrent.

[dpl096]

great write up RJ and a fantastic adventure - thanx for sharing some of it

[BlackBike]

So now that the iron but is done on a 250cc sub $4000 motorcycle, remember what they were saying on the eve of their sales in North america.

December 2014 ,some were worried...

Good concept, the dealership experience is going to be pretty lacking, though. Get ready to do most (if not all) the maintenance yourself if you want one. Never mind the issue of parts availability unless they set up a factory-direct system of some sort.
This is the biggest problem of buying a vehicle from the LingKingWangKingDongKing Motor Company.
(And yes, I know, Oh but real riders do all their own mainetenance. The fact of the matter is that most riders don't. So the business model, I'm afraid, is quite unsatisfactory.)

This was generally a kind assessment .

[rjmorel]

Originally Posted by AZRider

Way to go Rob, you certainly are the trooper. You were lucky to have donkey pointing the way and keeping you safe from the cagers. It proves to me that deer whistles are useless and donkeys are the best deer deterrent.

I'm thinking it was his smell . Ever follow behind a cattle truck going down the highway? Same thing, rj

[Dualsport Chic]

Good on ya Rob! Those last 5 hours after the sun went down were utter hell for me - the cramp in my throttle hand, the ache in both knees and the degraded vision due to eye strain with wind and sun really made the last leg of the journey treacherous.

Many have asked me if I'd do another or go for the Bun Burner Gold (1500 miles in 24 hours). Never say never but I'm pretty sure I'm 'One and Done' for the IBA. Glad we both were able to have safe and successful IBA challenges!

[rjmorel]

I tell them they should be glad we didn't do the 50cc iron butt. "What?? they say "do it on a 50cc motorbike?" Sounds harmless doesn't it? Nope , its a 50 hour........coast to coast....... iron butt ride, That's hard core. Maybe when I was a youngen, rj

ps DSchic, cramped throttle hand. I used a throttle lock cruise control thingy from Atlas throttle lock which saved my hand. Anything that allows you to keep throttle on when you take your hand off to flex muscles or scratch your nose is a great help.
http://www.atlasthrottlelock.com/