Saddle Sore 1000 - 1000 Miles in 24 Hours

PRELUDE

I sold my last bike about 7 or 8 months ago. It was a 1984 Venture Royal touring bike that my wife had bought me when we got married. She and I used to ride everywhere and she decided the back of a "crotch rocket" was just not the way to travel in style. I was not riding it much anymore, it needed a lot of work, had way too many miles on it, and it just didn't motivate me any more. Since the kids, we rode less and less. I had given Nicole a few rides, but Erik was never tall enough to touch the foot pegs. So when I sold it, he had never ridden with dad.

When I decided I was really not happy about something "sporty" to drive/ride I started looking at cars. I could take anyone with me in a sports car and go anywhere any time. But how does one justify a $40k car that only holds 2 people and an over night bag? It slowly dawned on me that I was just trying to replace what I was missing in a motorcycle. You don't just stop riding after 30+ years cold turkey. Plus the racing background and the genetic fact that my grandfather, grandmother, and father were all bikers reached up like the dark side of the force. It culminated when I took a new job and found several other bikers there … I came home and said, "Mary, I'm buying a new bike." And to my surprise, she was not surprised.

I planned to buy a Royal Star Venture. When Mary saw it, she told me that I really didn't need a bike that big, she would ride with me some … maybe, but never like we used too. I had also been looking at Road Stars, but wanted one with spokes, most had mag wheels. I liked the retro cruiser look. Smaller bike, 200ccs bigger motor. But it was a pretty color and Mary approved. It was a 2003, and the 2005s were just ready to come out so I got a great deal and lots of free goodies.

Erik got his first ride very shortly after I got it. It was clear pretty much from the start that the biker gene had transferred to him as well. He was a bike ridin' fool. After several good rides, we were looking at various web sites and I showed him the Iron Butt web site. The Iron Butt Association is an organization that verifies motorcycle rides ridden in accordance with rules that ensures the full mileage is ridden and that people that get certified really did accomplish the task. They also put on an annual IRON BUTT Rally … 11,000 miles in 11 days … and you have no idea where you are going or the route until you get to the starting line. He thought that a Saddle Sore 1000 ride - 1,000 miles in 24 hours - would be a cool thing to do. Not long after that decision, his grand aunt passed away from a disease known as Corticobasal Degeneration. UCSF had taken care of her for many years for free and used their experience with her in their research. Erik and I thought it may be a neat idea to take our idea to ride 1,000 miles in 24 hours and turn it into a fund raiser. We even decided that we would try to plan it so we could ride even further to raise even more money if we were up to it. When I was young, dumb and ... well, young and dumb, I rode many days 1,000 miles or more. Never documented to get recognized, but I was riding long, hard and fast every weekend. I spent a lot of time with Erik making sure he really understood what he was really getting into. This is no trivial ride for lunch, this was a grueling and tiring endurance challenge. He seemed to be hell bent to do it and was ready and able. I hoped he was really ready.

We made a trip plan, we talked about what we would take and how we should dress. We got his rear seat modified with a gel pad for more comfort and bought me a new seat. We went out and shopped for new thermal underwear and we got Erik his own chaps. We made a trial run the week before to make sure our clothing plans were effective. We went out shopping for snacks and last minute necessities. We were ready … we were going to be IRON BUTTS!

By the trip date, we had changed our route 3 times. North to Eugene, OR and back down to Wheeler Ridge, CA for 1,500 miles. The trip plan gave us an out. By the time we hit Stockton, CA coming home, if we decided that we could not do more than 1000 miles, we could head home and just finish up the Saddle Sore 1000 ride. If we wanted, we could head on for the Bun Burner 1500 (1,500 miles in 36 hours - not to be confused with the Bun Burner Gold - 1,500 miles in 24 hours) as well. Then the early, unseasonable rains came which made us decide to head south through the desert to Flagstaff, Arizona. With the proper planning, we could hit 3 states in the ride. Unfortunately, it left our ability for an out at 1,000 miles out of the picture. The southern route would force us to do 1,500 miles no matter what. We were trying to avoid heading north, and this made the route pretty impossible to do. But then the rain changed again the week we were planning to ride and we decided to head back to our original plan. Maybe a colder ride, but based on the weather forecast - a dryer one.