Thought I’d share my experience of this past weekend since there have been questions about long rides.
This was a long planned well thought out ride with 6 other riders all Gold Wings except for me. The route and all stops were GPS planned. We headed out of Ft Worth, TX westbound towards El Paso at 7 am (Sun to our back both ways). Weather was pretty good with a few clouds and mist early on. My newly reconditioned Mean City seat and a sheep skin cover made a world of difference. Honestly my butt felt the same at the first few miles to the last. At about the 400 mile mark we hit a stretch of freeway with 80 mph speed limit, so I let’er rip. Just about the time I was thinking the King was running great it coughed, and lost power. I had an idea on what happened and look down to see a lot of smoke and oil. The King threw up all over it self and it dawned on me that when I checked the oil it was FULL. This happened once before last year and from this forum I learned that this is sometimes a common problem when you over fill the oil. Really freaked out the Gold Wing guys since they were sure another Harley bit the dust. The only thing I could do was to keep riding and blow the over-flow oil all out. What a mess but once it got to a level it was satisfied the King ran great. We made it to our turn around point at 4 pm. 510 miles in 9 hours. Our gas stops were no more than 20 minutes. After an hour dinner break we headed back. The last 200 miles were probably the toughest. My shoulders and lower back started aching enough to really bother me. We finished the 1020 mile ride in 19 hours. My suggestions:


A Good seat,
Good sounds,
Earplugs to keep the road noise down and tunes more enjoyable.
Credit card for Gas
Good nights sleep
Stop every150 mile or less, obviously we could have stopped more often and for longer times, we had plenty of time. [/ul]
In summary it was a great experience. I now know how I will hold up and at what distances I can tolerate. A 500-600 mile day ride is very doable if need be. I knew I had made the necessary modification to my bike so that it FIT ME. Well maybe I’ll change out the handle bars some day. For all you wondering if you can do a LONG ride, I’d sure you can! Plan well, prepare and have a hell of a good time.

 

Great story Congrats. Just get a seat with memory foam that think works wonders.

 

i'd like to try that.

 

Sounds like a blast. How'd you end up with all the wings? Don't they have many Harleys out there?

 

Jim congrats,
A couple of my friends and I are planning the same thing this spring. We were thinking the same as you, sun at the back and down past the merge of 20 and 10 and then return. How were the roads? Fuel stops? We're planning on leaving earlier to commute thru the metroplexbefore the traffic (leaving the Mckinney area).

 

Congrats to you.........but I see absolutely no reason to take on something like that???? Is it bragging rights??? Is it like standing on one leg for 24 hours??? I give up...someone enlighten me

 

I'm a memeber of CMA and there are just most Wings than Harleys. The trip out of the metroplex was fine, we left on a Saturday, so traffic was very lite, plenty of gas stations and the roads were good old Texas roads, all freeway. Absolutley right, done for the bragging rights, so I'm bragging, I DID 1000 MILES IN ON DAY, HAVE YOU???? LOL. By the way, I'm planning on buying the patch to wear too....lmao.

 

Same reason some run marathons... It is an endurance ride. I rode one and loved the achievement. Would like to do another someday.

 

I agree, it's an accomplishment.

I would love to do a one day 1000 mile ride.

I just can't talk my buddies into doing it.

I think they are afraid their tampon strings will catch on fire or something?

 

Great report... planning an iron butt this summer.