Iron Butt Certification

I sent off my documentation today via priority mail. I was going to
send it regular, but they don't do delivery confirmation on 1st class
standard.

I was hoping to get it back before the Gasoline Rally, but that's in
56 days, and it usually takes 2-3 months to get it done because they
are so thorough and verify everything precisely. According to
Wikipedia:

"The Iron Butt Association (IBA) is a US-based organization dedicated
to safe, long-distance, endurance motorcycle riding with over 30,000
members world-wide. One of its more popular slogans is, "The World Is
Our Playground.""

I will get a certificate, pin, and a licence plate back that says
"IRON BUTT ASSOCIATION" and "WORLDS TOUGHEST RIDERS". That has GOT to
look cool on a scooter!!

The full report of my ride is in pdf format here: http://tinyurl.com/1K-42509

Made it with about an hour to spare

Finished. Start time 7:10am 4/25 at 2906 on the odometer. Finished at 5:59am 4/26 at 4020 on odometer. 1114 total miles (actual miles closer to 1075 I think).

I am in Lexington KY ! I HAVE ABOUT 2 HOURS TO GET TO LOUISVILLE !!!

london, ky gas and run

Knoxville tn gas and drop off dinner. Tired but still alert...

Athens tn cold stop to change jackets and buy gloves

Chatanooga TN where they at least kno how 2 use the toilet paper dispensers!

East Point, GA - suburb of ATL

Oil ok eye itching like mad! took non drowsy allergy med and visene

Cusseta, AL - Supper break and stop because oil indicator blinks. Probably the oil change light but will check 4 low in a minute

Montgomery scary! Can i have some change? Here man take a dollar!

What the hell is up with toilet paper in alabama? People not kno how to use it or humidity or what?

Prattville al has boiled peanuts! Doing ok. eta to Lou @3am

Birmingham, AL

Hanceville alabama

Columbia tennessee

Gas in Bowling Green

Start at Starbux in Louisville

Late start!

Iron Butt Association Saddle Sore 1K attempt tomorrow

I am going to attempt the Iron Butt Association Saddle Sore 1000 ride tomorrow. My route takes me down to Montgomery Alabama and back. Here's the map:


View Larger Map

I hope it works out well, and that I don't end up in a ditch somewhere!

I'm going to (if plan works) be sending check-in messages to this blog on a real-time basis. I'll give the whole report when I get back!

My friend Jeremy told me that Highlands Coffee (my start point) might be hard to get to tomorrow because of the mini-marathon that is going on. I am going to switch to Starbucks at 101 N Hurstbourne Pkwy. They open at 5:30am so I can get an even earlier start!

Some folks have said that it's planning and determination. If there is any luck involved, please wish it for me!

12 volt aux power solved?

I want to take a ride this weekend. I'm either going on a short run
down into Kentucky with some people, or I may go alone on the Iron
Butt Saddle Sore 1000. I haven't decided yet. That will probably
happen Friday night around 8pm.

My Tomtom use on the scooter has been restricted to the battery life
of the unit. This is 1-3 hours, and so I needed to get the problem
with my 12 volt auxillary power plug solved so I can use the Tomtom.
Last weekend, I re-wired the plug (something now I doubt I needed to
do). Yesterday I turned the Tomtom on until it was completely dead.
This morning, I got it out and tried to turn it on, and this confirmed
it was completely out of juice. I turned on the switch located under
my seat, I plugged the 12 volt cigarette lighter outlete in, and then
into that I plugged in the charger. This is not a standard Tomtom
charger made by them. It is a universal USB charger that will power
and charge anything that can be charged or powered by USB. Not only
will this allow me to charge my phone (if needed) but also my MP3
Player or anything else that works on USB. The other good thing is I
don't have to rely on Tomtom to have them in stock. You can get these
in Walmart for like $6 or less.

Rewind: The other thing was the cable. I had a USB cable...like ten
of them lying around. They are the standard USB on the PC end, and
the mini USB on the device end. The only problem is that my Aqua-Box
from Ram Mount (which keeps the Tomtom waterproof) can only accomodate
the L-shaped Tomtom cable! I tried snipping away some of the
insulating rubber on the standard USB cable and ended up destroying
the cable. Since I had this dead-mini-end USB and also two dead
Tomtom chargers, I decided to explore and see what they looked like.
Well the standard USB cable had 4 wires, which makes sense because it
is used to transfer data between the device and the PC, but the Tomtom
power cable only had 3 wires. There was an extra green wire. I cut
it short, stripped all the wires of same color and wired them
together. I plugged it into my PC, and the Tomtom and the green
charging/power light came on. This did NOT trip the device
recognition feature on my PC. I thought this should work ok. I
soldered the ends, insulated with liquid tape to prevent them from
touching, and then I wrapped the whole thing in standard black
electrical tape. I tested using the outlet in my car, it it seemed to
light up, charge, and work. So far so good!

Back to this morning: I plugged in the Tomtom XL*S and push the power
button. IT'S ALIVE!!!!! I rode to work with it on, and it stayed
active the whole time. It also showed about a 1/4 charge when I got
to work. Hopefully this solves my problem, but I might carry a spare
USB universal charger...

Scootering with your windows down... / Using proper gear

This morning, I got to work and was thinking "Man, I should have worn
my leather jacket or put the liner in my armored riding jacket."
That's when I realized I had ridden to work with all the vents in my
jacket open! I would have been fine if not for that. People often
ask about the gear for riding a motorcycle or scooter. Just yesterday
a co-worker said "I bet you rode this weekend because the weather was
perfect. What exactly is the perfect weather for you?" I told him I
was perfectly comfortable day-long from 40 degrees to about 90
degrees, and he seemed to doubt that by the look on his face. I
explained that it was all in the gear. I always wear jeans or khakis,
plus a polo shirt or t-shirt with my boots or doc martens. Over this,
in cold weather I can wear my Colorado Chaps, and you can even wear
thermal underwear if that's not enough. Then on top you can sub a
long sleeved shirt, also I can use either a fleece vest or a hooded
sweatshirt. Then the jacket over top, with liner. On my hands, I
have leather gloves with thinsulate. This is good for being on the
road for about 2 hours. If I intend to do any distance in the winter,
I may need to look into a heated vest. My friend John from Texas uses
chemical heat packs in his boots and gloves. I think this is a good
choice for me also because I don't want to tax my electric system too
much.

If it's warmer, you can start shedding layers and opening vents until
you're comfortable.

That brings us to higher temperatures. For the hottest days, I
sometimes forgo the Colorado Chaps, though if I am going to be out a
while (not just commuting to work) I use them. They are my road-rash
protection, and you should never be without that. The 3-season jacket
gets put away for the Power Trip mesh jacket. This keeps you cooler
than even just a t-shirt. I think it tends to hold in some
moisture--just enough so that it gives you extra cooling when you are
moving. When you are not, you perspire a little, and that helps when
you are moving again. This is as close to air conditioning as it
gets. Am I going to ride in 110 degree weather to a job interview?
No. Will I commute the 20 minutes to work at 90 degrees? Definately.

I have rode short distance in shorts, without jacket or even good
leather shoes. I don't make a habit of it. One thing I never
sacrifice is wearing a full-face helmet. I have a shorty helmet, and
I've only worn it once. The first time I took a grape-sized june bug
full in the face-shield taught me I will not be wearing that half
helmet much.

Sunday: Switzer Covered Bridge

I went out for a short run Sunday. I ran over some good roads on the way out to see Switzer Covered Bridge near Frankfort, KY. There were people on the river kayaking, the weather was really nice, and I got to see some beautiful scenery, both rural (lonely twisty roads, and old rock fence walls) and some populated areas (never knew that Frankfort had an area with a quaint downtown brick paved road, and three bridges stretching over the river).

Weekend End...WKRP Rally

I missed the rest of the group on the way out of Cinci somehow, so I rode home with an impromptu route kinda on the fly. I took US-42 into Kentucky for a while then I just planned the route home using the Tomtom with "shortest distance". That is always interesting because it tries to route you as the crow flies, completely independent of gravel roads, one lane, or interstate. Also, just to see some cool sights, I turned off onto side roads a couple times. I did get to see some really cool stuff. Check out all the weekend pictures...

WKRP Rally - Route was awesome!

The ride today was awesome! Cincinatti has much different architecture
and geography than louisville. Some of the streets were these hellatious
hills that dove straight down and then shot back up again. I thought we
had a corner on the market for Kentuckiana scooter roads, but its cool
to know that no matter where you go awesome rides can be had. The folks
from Metro Scooter and the XYL Scooter Club are all great people.
Everyone is nice and very friendly. There were so many different kinds
of 2 (and some 3) wheel vehicles, and I talked to a lot of the owners.
One common thread about scooterists, we like to have pride in our
machines and like to talk about them.

The grub at the end was pretty good too. We got a little turned around
because some folks had trouble getting up the huge hills and we got
separated from the rest of the group. Louisville Scooter Group took the
lead using Tomtom technology, and Jeremy and I lead about 15 scooterists
to the Northside Tavern where the meeting was at for the cookout. They
had burgers, dogs, and sides. There were pool tables, some video games
(I played Cendipede which I have not done in over 20 years!) and there
was tons of good conversation.

The finale is tonight with the meeting back a the Comet, with live music
and drawings. I bought a few raffle tickets.

I had a small issue with my Tomtom charger. I think it may be dead, but
i'm not sure. I'm going to run off the battery with charging by outlet
tonight so it will be fresh for 3 hours worth tomorrow. I'm following
Jeremy back so should not need the Tomtom too much.

Registration and Meet/Greet

The registration was simple if you had pre registered. They just check
your name off.and give you your rally pack. The pack has some info
about other rallies in it, plus a Kymco hat, WKRP rally tshirt and
patch, stickers and some other minor stuff.

I spoke with several people while I was at that bar waiting on my
burrito, which was very very tasty. The DJ was playing good music. Now
it's midnight and I'm hitting the hay. I uploaded all the pictures but
didn't get to tweak them all with comments and turning them around the
right way.

Cincinatti!

We all made it to Cinci.  We're getting ready to check in for the rally, so no time to go into details or share pictures just yet.

Final preparations

I am making my final preparations for the scooter rally. My wonderful sister is going to feed my dog. I did my laundry that needed done. I'm putting the LSG stickers on my new scoot today if it doesn't rain too much. Besides a couple pr of clothes, I'm taking my electronic gear: mp3 player with charge & sync cable, netbook with power cable and case, cell phone with charger, gps with 12v cable and aquabox, and my digital camera with charger. I'm also taking my copy of Blue Highways, some emergency plastic bags and duct tape, toiletries, and my sunglasses. Scooter gear is fairly minimal: rain gear, mid weight jacket, chaps, and helmet. I'm taking one of my blue microfiber towels, and I will have a cable for locking the scoot, plus the 'screaming mimi' disc lock. The final rally gear is my SPUD-6 box to carry it all in, and some travel snacks: dried banana chips, cheese crackers, and jerky.