Ok, it's been a week and my brain has had enough time to process what I just did and how I managed to do it this time vs all the other attempts that fell short so might as well write up a report on this in case any one else gets the crazy bug and wants to try their hand at this (helllllo run on sentence).
As the above posts show, this took a lot of tries to actually succeed. While in each of those, I "failed" at the BunBurner Gold, I viewed them more as rehearsals and took the opportunity to learn from each ride and improve things to better my chances next time. That paid off in the end.
Forgive me for any repeats, I'm going to use this post as my shareable for others.
This ride started on Saturday, September 5th, 2015. I had my witness form filled out by my dad and my friend/mentor Greg M. The original plan was to have him ride along with me, for moral support, someone to chase, and just company along through the desert. Unfortunately, as he was heading out to my place, a distracted driver in Fernley nearly took him out and he took his big heavy BMW cross country to avoid being run over. The emergency move saved him, but broke his transmission and he lost sixth gear as we rode around town to check on his bike. So, this ride is solo.
As I learned from my first attempt so long ago (top post), I no longer rush into the start. We sat and had a small breakfast of donuts and coffee while sitting and chatting at the gas station. It was cold this morning, so my plan of a 5am start drifted closer to 6 as we watched the sun begin to light up the sky. Enough stalling, time to go.
My routine at a gas station is this:
Pull up, dismount, remove gloves (put on seat), move tank bag to seat, open gas cap, pull payment card from pocket, deal with pump, begin fueling, push SPOT check in button, grab 2-3 cubes of sandwich, bite of jerky, wash it all down with a large gulp of water, top off tank, tell pump I want a receipt, close gas cap, turn bike on (just on, not started), put tank bag back on tank, grab receipt, write down time and odometer, verify all info (address, town, date, time, gallons) on the receipt against my info, put receipt in dedicated pocket, wash visor if needed, gloves back on, mount, and go.
Sounds long, but that all get's done in about 3-5 minutes.
My start receipt showed 5:45am. I gave Greg a final hug before mounting up and heading on down the road.
My bike is mostly stock, though I have done a few changes to make it more comfortable for me or be better at long rides. I have:
Michelin Pilot Streets (110/140) since I get insane mileage out of them
Phillips Xtreme Vision +100 bulbs to help at night
aftermarket 650 mirrors so I can see behind me
a ZeroGravity touring screen to cut through the air better and have room to tuck down
a Koso RX2 gauge with a DeLorme PH-60 GPS and a Casio Gz'One phone for general info and entertainment
Roaring Toyz raisers for my handlebars
knock-off Acerbis hand guards to block the wind from my fingers
Galfer stainless steel brake lines for better braking
two Camelbacks with 2-litre water bladders on either side of the front fairings to save my back.
Cortech Super 2.0 12L Tank Bag for munchies
Cycle Pirates 360° adjustable foot pegs (on one side, I'm weird) to help my knee
15T front sprocket to reduce my high speed RPMs
Cortech Super 2.0 24L Tail Bag for emergency supplies and misc stuff
Two MSL fuel bottles to carry .5 gallons of gas with me at all times.
Plus I switched to LEDs in my turn signals and tail light to gain power for the jacket.
Note - stock seat. I have bought a Corbin, but determined that it's more uncomfortable for me than the original seat is. Going to see about having it customized to make it perfect.
Once on the road, I reviewed my route to ensure I knew where I was going. I've studied this route for two years now so I know it. But I always like reviewing it, just to reinforce where I'm going. The route I used was the route used by the Team Lyle Alamo event each May. It's a looping tour through the smaller highways of central and eastern Nevada with only 180 miles on Interstate. You can see it in the map below:
My bike performed flawlessly. Keeping my speed around 70 for most of the day (varied between 65-75 depending on road and conditions), I was able to 36.28 MPG for the whole day. The longest leg I have to worry about is 177 miles between Fallon and Eureka since I skip Austin in between. The longest stretch with NO gas whatsoever is 165 miles between Ely and Tonopah. Both of those stretches I locked onto 70 mph and managed to make it with about a half gallon to spare.
For myself, I've done a lot of work to keep myself comfortable. My gear involves:
LS2 FF386 modular with a Contour+ 2 and a Sena SMH-5FM mounted on the side.
Turtle Fur - Double-Layer Midweight Micro Fur Fleece Neck Warmer
Alpinestars SMX 2 Air Carbon or Olympia 4355 Ladies All Season Gloves
Lookwell Textile Jacket with an Icon MilSpec (used to be) orange vest
Icon Stryker Vest
Gerbing heated jacket for HEAT
Tourmaster Flex pants
Tour Master Solution 2.0 WP Boots
Volt battery powered heated socks for more HEAT
Plus a base layer of LDComfort Cool Sleeves, Women's Combo Top, and Riding Shorts.
My biggest problem is getting cold. I chose to do this ride in early-September as we are still having high 90's temps and the forecasted El Nino is supposed to be a massive whooper this year. I chose Labor Day weekend just in case something came up that would make me have to call the ride midway and get home late Sunday. Naturally, a cold spell rolled into the Great Basin this weekend and left me glad I had my heated gear with me. Cutting across Highway 50, the temp was mild enough the LDComfort sleeves were all I needed to keep my arms warm and I wore my small mesh gloves the whole way. Things started warming up as I began m southbound leg out of Baker towards Alamo - it was downright hot in Alamo! But swinging north again, the temps started cooling off enough that by nightfall in Battle Mountain I was putting on my cold weather layers and turning the heated gear onto low to keep the edge off. Everything worked beautifully and I stayed warm throughout the ride.
I bring along several types of audio entertainment to keep my focus sharp as wind/engine noise droning on puts me to sleep. My Sena has the option to chose between my phone via bluetooth or listen to any local FM stations. I can usually get around 5 hours out of the battery just listening to music with a phone call or two, then I need to plug it into my external power pack to let it recharge while I continue listening. Between those two power sources, the headset lasted all day. I usually make two phone calls between each gas stop, one to my Dad and the other to Greg. It's nice to be able to hear a human voice in my helmet that is not my own rambling thoughts. I found I need to turn off the mobile data on my phone as something drains the battery faster than the on bike charger can keep up, but with the data off I can listen to whatever via bluetooth all day and keep the phone charged.
Today's entertainment selection had my usual collection of music and several hours worth of podcasts. The new windscreen is high enough that I can tuck behind it to actually hear my audio books (the Audible app is really quiet for some reason) so I was excited to listen to a few of those. On a lark, I downloaded a podcast that was an audio book of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance that I've read before and thought would be a good waste of a few hours. Little did I know at the time that that one audio book would be my main listening choice throughout the ride. Something about the way the speaker read kept my focus on the road with just enough interest in the book that I could let the hours fall away in a weird alert autopilot (NOT saying I zoned out, I was acutely aware of the moment and the road/towns around me, just that time flew by very quickly). The book made over 20 hours just fly by and I was thankful I had chosen to download it.
As I mentioned, my gas stops also involve grabbing some cubes of sandwich as I wait for the fuel to pump. I brought along two hazelnut butter and jelly sandwiches that I frozen overnight and cut into nine little cubes this morning. Putting those in a plastic container covered with aluminum foil to keep them from drying out. I also carry three sticks of jerky broken into small bite sized bits, a snack container of mini cookies, and three or four Clif bars for variety. One the road, it's easy to reach into the tank bag and grab the cookies or jerky without needing to stop riding. For me, the sandwiches and power bars require a stop to deal with. With the four liters of water hanging off the bike, I'm set for keeping hydrated as the tubes are long enough I can just push them up under the helmet to drink throughout the day. I also carried two bottles of Ensure to make sure I keep my vitamin intake up since I knew I'd be missing real meals. I've learned what it's like to let myself become dehydrated or malnourished during a ride, so keeping up on both of those is vital for my success. The resulting longer gas stop every few hours is time lost but health maintained. Safety overrides everything in these rides, and that includes eating and drinking right.
Today's ride was really uneventful. The sun rose as I was coming around the Desatoya Mountains and I cheered as I rolled into the sunlight since the morning had been cool. Traffic was minimal given where I was and I passed the few vehicles I did see easily when I needed to and let them pass when they were in a bigger hurry. I did see three herds of mule deer (one of which was running across the road and leaving a dust cloud behind them), several herds of antelope (one had a baby who lost his mind and ran in wild circles as I rode past since he had no clue where to go), one female elk on the side of the road outside Ely that stared at me, several suicidal rabbits daring me to hit them (one got clipped, I think), silly little kangaroo mice that scurried across the road, a MASSIVE herd of bighorn sheep, surprisingly no cows on the ET Highway though many along the side of the road, and even more surprising no horses at all. Sunset happened as I was coming back into Austin, making the twisty road interesting since I was heading due west. Only once during the night did I have to pull over into a rest stop between Wendover and McGill, where I walked around for a few minutes, jumping up and down and waving around like a goof ball to give my muscles some exercise and actually ate a powerbar vs just grabbing a bite on one. Lots of water, some food in my belly, and blood flowing back in my arms and legs refreshed me and I was ready for the long ride through the night.
The only real "thing" that happened was as I entered Hawthorne, there's a cut around for any trucks carrying hazardous materials for the depot. I turned the corner and my headlights hit a vehicle parked oddly on other side of the road. It was weird enough I was focused on it, trying to see what or why they were parked in such a place. Since my focus was there and not on my speed, the sudden flick of the red and blues told me both who it was, why they were there, and that I should focus my attention elsewhere. I looked down to see I had jumped to about 10 over the limit. Oops, thank you Officer Sir, I'll slow down now. I rode on to the gas station with no issues.
For anyone who's been though Nevada, you know it's remote out there, and I do believe we need to take care of each other if able. So when I came into Warm Springs the first time (only segment of road repeated - once in the afternoon, the second first thing in the morning) I saw a rider on a BMW with knobbies pulled over to the side of the road. I motioned to ask if he was OK and did not get a thumbs up back. Pulled over and found out he was waiting for his Ducati buddy who'd taken off ahead of him but didn't have the gas to get to Tonopah. I said if I saw the Ducati, I'd pass on where the BMW was waiting. Sure enough, five miles later was the Ducati on the side of the road out of gas (45 miles from town). I offered one of my fuel cans but neither of us thought that's be enough to get back to Warm Springs. I turned around, intending to tell the BMW where his friend was. 3 miles later, I passed the BMW who had given up waiting. So flipped around again and continued on since they had found each other. Down side, added 6 miles and lost some time. Upside, tried to help two riders and did get to see that bighorn sheep herd two additional times.
That's pretty much it. Not much on the route itself as it's roads I've covered before and you can see in almost any of my videos. Just this time, I had made enough corrections and improvements to me and my bike that I was able to make the full ride in time and roll into Fallon at 5:31am. Definitely the hardest single ride I've done and one that makes me really really happy to have completed. I sent off my paperwork earlier this week and know that I'll be proud to have that BBG plate backer on the tail of my little Ninja 250. This ride is a huge challenge, tough for anyone on any bike, but to add the challenge of a small bike with no wind protection makes me feel like I can play in the big kids sandbox now.
Time to plan the next big ride.
