Randy Kirgiss' Ride Report MTF  50CC/100CCC Iron Butt Association Ride

This is the long version of how I percieved things on the 50cc.  If you don't have about 15-20 minutes you might want to pass on it.

While reading posts on the Intruder 1500LC forum around the December 2001 time frame, I saw someone with a link to the MTF forum (I think it was TonyBear).  Through idle curiosity I decided to swing through and check it out.  Little did I know that at that moment the demon seed had been planted and the urge and desire to do Long Distance riding started to reawaken in me.......I didn't know what that innocent little bit of internet surfing would lead to.

I happened across a post by this seemingly nice, quiet, and reserved individual named Alan Leduc.  He mentioned something about doing a 50cc and riding from Coast to Coast.  Well, I had to read further to realize this wasn't some lunatic thinking about riding a 50cc motorcycle across the country.  Over a period of time he started laying out plans for the ride, and then I noticed in another thread that this seemingly innocuous man was starting out on a BB3000 - IN THE MIDDLE OF WINTER!

Well, I became hooked on the idea of doing a Coast to Coast ride and committed to the group to make an attempt at it.  I had big dreams for myself, thinking about my younger days (20 some years ago) when I used to go out and ride for miles on my little 650 Honda.  I was now riding a 1500 Suzuki big boy of a machine - how hard could this be?  Boy, what an understatement.

Through the discussions on the forum I decided that it was in my best interest to attempt some increasingly longer rides prior to attempting the 50cc.  As I learned later, just because one ride goes well and is successful, it doesn't mean they will all go like that.  In February I decided to head off to Jacksonville to recon the start point for the 50cc and to see what my bike would do in the mpg department.  There are a lot of gas stations along I-10 in Florida, so there was no real planning involved.  I was fortunate to learn a very important lesson on that trip - ALWAYS MAKE SURE WHERE THE HOSE OF THE GAS PUMP HANDLE GOES TO.  I learned the hard way that diesel does not burn real well in my motorcycle.  The trip ended up with me trailering my bike home - thank God for friends that are willing to rescue you even when it isn't convenient.  I learned several other great lessons on that trip as well, but I won't go into them at this time.

In March I headed off on a SaddleSore 1000.  Again, I learned some really good lessons about myself and my bike.  Things are looking good - I think I am going to do just fine on this 50cc thing.  Just a walk in the park.  But just to make sure, I planned on doing a Bun Burner Gold 1500 in April.  Plans were made and I was ready.  As luck would have it, I was interrupted multiple times throughout the night by phone calls and when it came time to execute the ride I felt I was not rested enough to attempt it at that time.  Besides, how hard can this 50cc thing be?  You just follow I-10 and I-8 the whole way.  Pretty easy.  I decided to forgo the BBG1500 and just prepare for the 50cc.

It is starting to get down to crunch time and people are finalizing their trip plans and the ranges they will be using for fuel stops.  I am starting to get just a little nervous about the shortest range plan that Alan Leduc has put together, coming in at 124 mile legs.  I just don't think I will be able to push that far at the higher interstate speeds.  It is well known that the Suzuki Intruder 1500LC has a very small fuel cell, 4.1 gallons, and it isn't overly economical on gas, especially at the faster speeds.  So, I go down to my local Office Max and get a copy of Microsoft Streets and Trips.  I will just put a plan together myself with stops about every 115 miles or less.  Shoot, Alan put together about 10 different plans and it didn't seem to take him that long - I can do this.  This planning stuff is simple.  Well, kind of.

I get all done with my planning and send it over to Alan to post on the website and ask him to look it over - you know, being polite and all.  Well, I get this e-mail a week or so later Alan is asking me if I have confirmed the stops I planned.  Some of the stops included places we as a group hadn't confirmed earlier in our planning.  Well, some of them I was pretty sure of, some I had been to before, but there were a few that I just didn't know about.  Alan recommended that I didn't necessarily trust MSS&T, so we started calling to confirm the stops.  Alan - thanks for keeping me honest.  As it turned out, all of the stops except one were confirmed.  The one that was questionable was replaced with an alternate and the planning was complete.

The morning of the 17th I got up, finished last minute packing, said good-bye to my wife and kids and headed off from Fort Rucker, Alabama to Savannah, GA to visit a friend for a few hours before heading on to Jacksonville later that night.  My anticipated 2 hour visit turned into closer to 4 and I got just a little behind my anticipated schedule.  We were keeping an eye on the weather while visiting, but I figured, WELL HOW BAD CAN IT GET, just a few afternoon thunder-boomers coming through, shouldn't be a big deal.  Well a few hours down the road I found out exactly how bad it can get.  I was just outside of Jacksonville when traffic went down to one lane due to a construction zone.  I didn't think much about being directly behind an 18 wheeler until the sky opened up and started to downpour.  In 38 years on this earth, I have never seen it rain like that before and here I was stuck behind a truck, doing 60 mph, on a motorcycle with the guy behind me tailgating me and no way to get off the road.  Even though I had my rain gear on, I got soaked.  I couldn't see the truck in front of me, couldn't slow down because the guy behind me would just get closer and I can't see.  For about 15 minutes and 15 miles I was just along for the ride and man was I scared.  I have never been through something like that before and never want to go through it again.  The first exit I found, I took and waited out the rain for another 5-10 minutes.  OK - never get behind a truck in a construction zone when it is raining.

I finally get to Jacksonville, find the hotel and go in to register.  As I am leaving, this unassuming guy rides up on a red Goldwing - this must be the infamous winter rider - Alan Leduc.  It is!.  He is out looking for a guy named Yogi who is inbound from San Diego on the first part of a 100ccc.  I mention the bad weather I just went through and figure Yogi is delayed if he is riding in that cell.  Alan heads back out to continue looking for Yogi.  I get settled into my room, put on dry clothes and head down to the lounge for some food.

Upon arrival at the lounge the waitress asks me how many are in my party.  I tell her I really don't know.  I told her I was meeting a bunch of guys riding motorcycles and asked if she had seen any.  She told me that the only people in the place were about 7 guys sitting at a table in the middle of the room.  I looked over there and dismissed them as a bunch of middle-aged guys like myself sitting around eating dinner.  They didn't look like bikers, but then, well maybe, why don't we ask.  The waitress and I walk over and ask if they rode motorcycles and they all kind of laugh and say yes - you must be Randor.  Well now, don't I look like a fool.  Upon closer evaluation of this distinguished group of fellows, I realize that I am the young pup of the group.  I am having a few reservations about actually making it - mainly due to the large number of fuel stops required for my small gas tank - but I am also wondering about my stamina.  I am starting to be impressed by these guys sitting at the table with me.  After talking a while, exchanging stories and the like, I am starting to figure out that maybe this Endurance Riding and Long Distance stuff isn't so much about being physically tough, but more about being mentally tough.  Although you must be physically capable of doing a ride, mentally you have to be prepared to do it or your physical condition just doesn't really matter.  We eat and talk for a while longer, a few more guys come in, Yogi and Alan make it, we exchange some pleasantries and we disperse to our respective rooms to rest up for the morning departure.

Well, the alarm goes off, but it isn't needed since I am awake anyway with anticipation of the upcoming ride just a few short hours away.  I take my time getting ready, packing up, getting loaded, checked out, and I realize that all the other bikes from the night before are gone - The parking lot is empty.  Oh my - did I get the time wrong.  Well Greg Martin comes riding into the parking lot and tells me everyone is at the gas station just waiting on me.  I met Greg the night before, we had talked a few days before, and we decided that we would start out making the ride together.  He figured his VTX would have about the same range as I did on my Intruder so he would ride with me and stop when I did.  I told him I was just about ready and I would meet them at the gas station.  Well, I got off to a great start, turned the wrong way and headed to the wrong station.  Drove up and down the street a few times, went by where I thought they were going to get their sand and water, went back to the gas station I thought they were going to be at, went back to the water and decided I had missed them.  So I figured I would ride down the road the other way since it was on the way, but while I was here I decided to get my Atlantic Coast sand and water just to save some time.  Boy was this turning out nothing like I had imagined it.

After getting my sand and water I headed the other way and about 2 miles down the road I see them all sitting at the OTHER SHELL STATION (there was only one - I thought they said CHEVRON).  Well I pull up, they are all looking at me, I get off my ride and announce that "I get the first DUMBASS Award for the trip" and briefly tell them that I went the wrong way.  Man these guys must thing I am dumb.

We get some pictures taken, I see Jules standing by the door to the store and go over and ask her to validate my information.  I am going to stop here for a second to tell Jules that you do not look like your sig file picture.  I was expecting this biker chick, rough around the edges and all to be there.  Girl, you clean up real nice!  Your sig picture does not do you justice - and man - you smell good too.  I wish we had more time to talk, but since I was the first recipient of the Dumbass Award we didn't have time.

I told Greg I had already been down to the beach and got my sand and water so he headed down to the beach to get his and promptly returned.  We both had concerns as to whether we would make it in the allotted time, so we waited to the absolute last minute before starting our time with filling up and getting our receipts.  We started our synchronized fueling procedure and prepared to depart.  I missed Greg telling me that his gas pump didn't print out a receipt and didn't see him go inside to get one. 

CONFESSION TIME!  For whatever reason, at this time I decided to rest my bike on the kickstand for a second - the only problem was, the kickstand wasn't down.  Yep - you guessed it - I dropped my bike.  After cussing myself under my breath I called for Greg.  Greg, hey, I need a hand here.  GREG - Where are you.  I couldn't see past the pump, but I figured out that Greg wasn't there.  So, with the rush that comes with extreme embarrassment, I quickly picked up my bike, looked around and - whew - nobody else saw it.  Greg comes back out with his receipt, asks if I am ready, and I casually say - Yep, let's go.  Man, am I getting worried.  If the last hour is any indication of how this trip is going to be - I am toast.

We are finally off with an official start time of 0635 Eastern Time.  The others have decided that we will be the first ones out because we all anticipate that it will take us the longest.  I appreciate everyone accommodating us - I was a bit concerned about making it, but nothing ventured nothing gained.  We get through the light Jacksonville traffic, the weather is nice, a little cool but nothing a long sleeved T-Shirt couldn't handle, and we are down the road.  We don't get too far and we are passed by Chad on his Concours.  Not going to try and catch him - going to stay in my comfort zone - slow and steady wins the race, or at least the LD Ride.  The first leg is the longest on my planned route.  I intentionally pushed it and figured I would come up a few miles short, but since I carry extra fuel in my saddle bag it wouldn't be a problem. 

We are at about the 118 mile mark when I look in my mirror and I don't see Greg behind me.  Oh man, the last thing his friend John said to me was, "Greg is a good man, take care of him for me will you?"  We haven't even made it to the first stop and I have lost him.  I am running low on fuel myself and not even sure if I will make it to the planned 123 mile mark for gas.  I can't stop now to go back and look for him, I have to get some gaassss............MAN - I ran out of gas.  OK - this was planned, or at least anticipated, coast off of the road and put your extra fuel in.  It only took me about 3 minutes to get underway again and I had come up only 2 miles short of the planned exit.  I pull off for fuel trying to decide how I am ever going to find Greg.  I'm not sure what happened to him.  If he just pulled over to tighten something or check something he may just drive by with out me seeing him......Man you idiot, you should have given him a copy of your plan before you left so he know where you were planning on stopping.  Chances would have been better of hooking up again and......hey, there's Greg - He's taking the exit.....GREAT - he sees me.  OK. 

As it turns out, Greg had run out of gas too.  Now I am thinking to myself - I thought I had a small tank and got bad mileage, but this is really going to be a long trip with both of us sucking like this.  Well as it turns out, Greg is still getting used to his bike some and he didn't get it into 5th gear.  He had been running for 100 miles or so at 75-80 in 4th which used up a whole lot of gas.  Lesson learned.  I know he is feeling real bad and stupid.  Don't worry I tell him, I have done that several times myself - and I have.  I am thinking to myself, at least you didn't turn the wrong way out of the hotel parking lot and you haven't dumped your bike today.  We decided to take a few minutes and talk about the plan a little better.  I give him the copy of my plan that I had in case we get separated again - I have all the points in my GPS so it shouldn't be a problem. 

I am really starting to have doubts about finishing this ride safely and on time.  We have Dumb following Dumber and the poor guy doesn't even know just how dumb I am.  Maybe we should have done a little more pre-mission planning and talked over the plan a little better.  You know, I am an Army Pilot.  I know better than that.  Why did I think this LD stuff was going to be simple - just throw something together and go.  OK - Time to start acting and thinking like the trained professional I am.  This will not happen again.  At each stop, I start telling Greg what the next leg is like, how far to the next stop, anticipated time enroute, etc.  We decide that if I loose sight of him again and it is further away that 15 miles from the next stop, I will turn around and look for him.  If it is within 15 miles, I will assume he has run out of gas and I missed it - AGAIN - and continue on to the next stop.  Fill up, wait a while and if he doesn't show up, then go looking for him.  OK - we have a plan.

We start off again and the next leg is uneventful.  OK - we are starting to get into the groove.  We are traveling 5-10 mph over the speed limit and making sure there are enough cars passing us that the police will leave us alone.  We make it to the 2nd stop without incident.  It is starting to look a little wet up ahead so we decide to put on our rain gear - good call.  We run into some light rain, but nothing bad - doesn't even slow us down.  We continue down the road encountering only light rain through the rest of the Florida panhandle and Mississippi. 

All goes well and uneventful until we hit San Antonio.  We were advised to take the by-pass around San Antonio, but the road identified looked like a back woods road that lead off to nowhere.  So with my best judgment, I decided to go straight through downtown SA.  Traffic was light at 10:30 pm so it shouldn't be a problem.....And it wasn't until I missed the turn-off where the road split.  We tried to get turned around again and my choice of exits took us into the deep, dark bowls of SA.  Well, not wanting to get overly lost I decided to not be a typical male - I stopped to ask for directions.  Unfortunately the guy I chose to ask was very drunk.  Although his directions ultimately got us back to I-10, they took us right through downtown SA along the river-walk.  Traffic was moving at a snail's pace.  10 miles later and about 30-40 minutes of wasted time, we managed to get back on course and back to business.

Shortly after midnight I started hitting a wall.  Not a big wall, but I was starting to feel tired.  My goal was to make it to Fort Stockton before resting for 6 hours.  We were several hundred miles short of that goal.  I really wanted to knock out a BBG1500 on the first day, but it just wasn't going to happen.  We arrived at Junction, TX and stopped for a planned fuel stop.  We were about 22 miles past the mid-way point.  Greg comes up to me and asks how I am feeling.  I told him I was getting a little tired, but I am doing good enough to continue.  I asked him how he was doing.  He tells me he is getting tired, but he is really getting nervous about all the dear along the road.  I said, "What are you talking about, I haven't seen any dear."  He looks at me with surprise and asks if I am serious.  I tell him yes and he says he has seen 20 to 30 dear so far.  At that point I decided that maybe I was a little more tired than I thought if I hadn't noticed any of the dear.  We made a very wise decision and decided to stay the night in Junction.  We got a room and did some quick planning before heading off to bed.  We were ahead of schedule by about three hours.  We decided that we would stay for 8 hours rather than the planned 6.  We ended up getting about 7 hours rest after figuring the time we took to get checked in and checked out of the hotel.  In the morning as I was going out to start packing up my bike, I saw Kent leaving.  He had holed up at the same place over night.

The second day started off much better than the previous day.  We were in our groove and I found that Greg and I had very similar riding styles - or at least he was good at adapting to my riding style.  We were very compatible and it made the trip more enjoyable just having someone else to travel with.

As we hit New Mexico, the winds started picking up, but I didn't realize just how much.  We were riding a quit a list to the left because of the winds, but the amount of headwind was very deceptive.  My gas mileage was getting worse and worse.  Just prior to hitting the I-10/I-8 junction, we came across a 4-5 mile traffic jam caused by a car burning to the ground.  The highway patrol was directing cars into one lane and moving them down an off-ramp and back onto the interstate on the other side of the accident.  As we were sitting in the traffic my bike was getting very hot.  The temps outside were pushing 100 degrees, if not higher.  I had to get some air moving around me and the bike.  I asked Greg if he wanted to run up the right side of the road on the shoulder and get to the front of the line.  I could tell Greg was a bit nervous about that idea and asked if we would get into trouble.  I told him I didn't think so, and even if we did, what would they do to us - besides my bike was starting to overheat - or at least I was.  So off we went.  We got about 1/10th of a mile from the front when this self-appointed undercover traffic jam traffic monitor in a van sees us coming and decides that we shouldn't be cutting up the side of the road and he pulls out in front of us to block us from getting around him.  Well, as it so happens, the guy behind him left a big gap so I just maneuvered behind the van and up along his left side.  He pulled up real close to the guy in front of him so I couldn't get by him.  I stopped right next to his window.  He is ignoring me, so I gently tap on his window.  He looks at me not knowing what to expect.  I motion for him to role his window down.  He is hesitant, but he complies with my request.  When his window is down I politely asked him if he would mind me slipping in front of him.  I explained that my motorcycle is air-cooled and that unless I get some air flowing across the engine, it is going to overheat - possibly seize up the engine.  OK - I might have been stretching it a little, but it was enough for him to kindly let us pass.  That saved us a good amount of time and we were back up to speed in no time.

As we got to the west side of Arizona, the winds just kept getting stronger.  We filled up in Casa Grande, and the next gas station was about 96 miles away.  It would be close, but we should be able to make it.  Well.....The winds were much stronger than planned (in fact hadn't planned for winds - make mental note for future ride planning).  I managed to make it about 85 miles when I ran out of gas.  We dipped into the reserve fuel Greg was carrying (his was easier to get at than mine) and off we went again.  We filled up at the next stop and I squeezed in every possible drop I could.  I managed to make it about 94 miles on the next leg, but still came up about 8 miles short of the planned stop, so we went through the roadside refueling drill again and rolled into the last planned stop before the finish.

The last leg we figured would be the easiest.  We were pumped to be finishing the ride - and in time - so we were alert and feeling good.  During the early planning phase of this operation, someone on the forum told us that during this time of year it was T-Shirt weather the whole way.  Well, who ever that was - YOU WERE WRONG!!!  We started climbing up the mountain pass just prior to hitting San Diego.  As we climbed the winds became more violent and the temperatures dropped fast.  I am estimating that the temperature dropped to the mid to upper 40's and I was not prepared for it, and neither was Greg.  I finally got to the point that I was just too cold and had to stop.  Greg and I put on all the warmest clothes we had and topped it all off with our rain gear to help cut the wind.  It didn't work 100%, but it did help get us through the pass.  Lesson learned - always plan for the unexpected - gee, I do that all the time at work, why did I think this would be different?

As we victoriously rolled down into San Diego, we know we had plenty of time to spare so we headed down to the beach to collect our sand and water at 0035 am Pacific Time.  We had done it.  We had conquered the 50cc.  We had mastered our machines, bodies and minds for this long yet brief period of time and we were successful in our quest.  It was and is a great feeling to accomplish something like that, not because of yourself, but in spite of yourself.

When the final gas receipt and official ending time were obtained we had completed the ride in 45 hours 15 minutes, 24 fuel stops (not counting running out of gas), with an average speed of 52 mph and an average moving speed of 76.4 mph.  Total miles covered 2378 by the GPS.

It was a pleasure to talk to all of the other riders the next day - everyone was successful.  We all had a story to tell and an experience to share.  We had completed the quest and now the easy part laid ahead - going home.  Greg and his friend John (and now my friends as well) live in Denton, TX.  We decided to travel back to Texas together until we hit the I-10/I-20 split.  We would ride some easy 800-900 mile days getting back.  It should be a piece of cake.......Right!  After the banquet, we departed and got just short of Tucson, AZ and holed up for the night.  As we hit East Arizona the next day, the winds were still kicking up real good, but this time they were to our back and I was getting some great gas mileage.  The only problem was - all this wind was creating a massive sand storm that we had to ride through.  Riding through the sand storm for miles upon miles was worse than anything else on the trip.  I am still finding sand in areas where there just shouldn't be any.  We hit some smaller storms in NM and West TX as well.

It finally came time for me to part company with Greg and John.  I must say it was truly a pleasure to meet all of the great people from this forum, but it was especially great to meet and ride with Greg and John. 

It took me two more days to get home to Alabama.  I stopped off in Killeen, TX to check on a home I own there.  Going down a back road I managed to hit a turkey.  Fortunately she didn't try to fly or it could have been real bad.  Instead, the only damage was to the turkey and a little blood and guts left on my bike.

What a great experience for me.  I love my bike.  I felt very little discomfort on the trip and what discomfort I did feel was in my joints, not my butt.  I have to have one of the most comfortable stock seats ever made - or I just have no feeling in my butt.  I enjoyed the trip and learned a lot about myself, the bike and not taking anything for granted and PLANNING IS A MUST!

I am looking forward to the next ride and the adventure that it will bring.  But I am really looking forward to meeting even more of the great people from this forum during my travels.

I would like to personally thank Alan LeDuc for all the hard work that he put into organizing this trip and making it successful for all of us.  You put in a lot of personal time and effort and it has not gone unnoticed.  Thanks again for everything.

I would also like to thank those that took time out of their schedules to be witnesses for us.  It just made things so much easier having someone there to validate things.  Your efforts and willingness to help is greatly appreciated.

Randor

PS - See what innocent Internet Surfing can do to you.  It is all dangerous - the Internet is EVIL!