Quick synopsis/ride report from my Iron Butt ride yesterday:
It was a gameday decision. Still having sleep issues so the whole ride happening depended on getting a good nights sleep.
Planned to sleep until 4AM and be up and on the road by 4:30, but I woke up at 2AM and only half dosed until 3AM at which point I realized trying to force myself to sleep another hour wasn't going to work, so I got up at 3 and was on the road around 3:30 after making a coffee to go, making a few sandwiches for the tank bag, and wolfing down some breakfast.
The trip across Toronto was totally pain free. Honestly the entire stretch all the way to Windsor was totally painless and went perfectly smoothly with just a single fuel stop west of London at the OnRoute. The sun came up about a half hour outside of Windsor.
Arrived just before 8AM at the Ambassador bridge. Quick stop at Duty Free to get some USD just in case, as well as a pee break.
Cleared customs in about 45 seconds (1 car in front on arrival) and was on my way. I'd have probably been through in about 15 seconds based on how fast the previous car cleared, but the customs officer seemed confused on why I planned to ride straight over to Watertown and back into Canada again - I had to explain the whole IBA thing in as simplest terms as possible and he shook his head and sent me on my way.
Straight down to Toledo. Some moderate traffic through Detroit but nothing serious enough to really drag my average speed down much.
Honestly, nothing whatsoever of note all the way across OH, PA, and NY. It was zen time for me, I really enjoyed it. The miles flew by. Earlier thoughts about a "plan B" option of abandoning the ride as I come up to Buffalo had things not been going well (tired, sore, or whatever) and coming home through Niagara left my mind as I came around towards Buffalo as I was feeling good.
My friends wife reached out to me last week when she heard I was planning this ride and gave me a few of his ashes to spread somewhere in his memory. For him, a Saddlesore 1000 was just a warmup ride, this guy literally rode across Canada a few years ago doing a SS1000 in every single province, every day, for 10 days in a row. And did all the big rides like the 4 corners, Alaska to FL, the IBA Rally, Hoka Hey, etc etc etc. So, a Saddlesore was peasant stuff for him, but I'm just not quite as into endurance riding as he was, but regardless, I was honoured to "have him along for the ride". I rode my first ever IBA ride with him, and rode several other LD rides with him as well over the years. He was someone who "got" the long distance riding thing and understood how it was therapeutic in many ways. It's not for everyone, but it is for some of us.
As the ride went on, I kept thinking where too spread his ashes. A rest area didn't seem right. A picnic area, same. There was a thought about stopping on the 1000 Islands Bridge and spreading them over the edge which would have been funny given as how that was the spot where his first ever IBA ride came to an abrupt end when all of his fuel receipts flew out of his saddlebag and into the water (something he still laughed about years later), but safety wise it wasn't a great idea.
In the end, I thought about where he was happiest when on a long distance ride - and the only real answer to that was...on the big open highway, zenning out, pushing big miles. He didn't spend any meaningful time stopped anywhere on a ride, much less a picnic area or a rest area. He rode. He got gas. He ate (on the run most of the time, or at most, something quick and fast in a few minutes, and he slept. Repeat. So, not far outside the Adirondacks I found a scenic spot along the highway where I was really enjoying the fall colours scenery as the miles flew by and it hit me that he'd have been doing the same if he was along with me. So I stopped, said a few words, and committed a little of him into the fall colours along the side of the big open road.
Made one last gas stop just before the bridge (to log my location, to get one last bit of cheap gas, and one last stretch before the rest of the trip home) and onto the border. Only 5 or 6 cars ahead of me at the border and for once I picked the right line which was moving fast. 15 minutes ish and I was on my way.
One pee break somewhere around Kingston and I shot home.
After getting my last receipt I questioned my mileage in my head since my odometer didn't make sense. My trip plan was about 1640km. I know my speedo reads about 5kph fast, so I expected my odometer to read around 1720km, but oddly enough, it read just slightly over 1670km or something like that. I'm now left wondering if the odometer and the speedo have different sensors? It doesn't make sense.
Regardless, it gave me a bit of a panic as I was suddenly afraid I was short miles, but I sat down and plotted my legs using the exact addresses of my "corners" fuel stops, added them all together, and all the legs totalled up to enough miles to make the ride legit IBA certifiable, so that was that. I was prepared to get back on and ride another 40-50km if I had needed to. I'd have lost my sh!t if I was short and didn't notice lol.
Anyhow, that was that. All went well. Another one in the books.
