So I’m back from my Ironbutt. We rode the Lower Lakes 1000, which has to be run around both Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, with both the starting and starting point being at the same spot. Four of us went, and for all of us, this was our first Ironbutt. The bikes were as follows:

Me – 2009 Street Glide
Gary H – 1998 Ultra 95th anniversary edition
Mike H – 1987 Tour Glide
John – 2002 Triumph

Our ride started in Toledo, Ohio where we stayed in a hotel for the night in the Perrysburg area. We are all from the Columbus area and that would have added about 250 miles to the trip. The plan was to meet our starting witness at 4:15am, and be on the road at 4:30am. Unfortunately for all of us, depending on who you ask we got anywhere from 1.5 – 3 hours of sleep the night before, so when I called Mike H at 4:16 to see where they were and he said “oh ****” in a tired voice, I knew we were getting a late start. (he actually was awake, but just a bit behind schedule) We made it over to the rendezvous point, got everything signed and were on the road around 4:50am. Not much traffic at this time of day so it was smooth riding into Detroit where we were going to take the Ambassador Bridge over to Canada, except for the exit was closed due to construction. Not wanting to figure out where we are going, we just head to the tunnel. So we are driving on the highway about 60MPH when we come up on the exit, which is another tunnel by the Joe Lewis Arena. (note, no speed limit reduction postings) We get through the tunnel and to my surprise it’s a red light and cross-traffic in front of me. (in other words OH ****!) We slam on the brakes, and I’m pretty happy I got the ABS option on my bike. It very likely saved me from something bad. Everyone is in one piece and nobody **** themselves, so we head to the tunnel to Canada, The guard turned us around, and said no motorcycles in the tunnel, take the bridge. I told him the exit was closed, and he gave me directions. We make it to the bridge through the war zone of a construction job and get over into Canada. The border guard was the normal “Friendly” character that they usually have at the crossing. At least this time they didn’t pull me over, put me up against the wall and frisk me as they go through all my stuff.

All right. We are in Canada and only running 60 mins behind schedule. We find our way (accidentally) to 401 E. We’d been watching the weather all week and it looked great. Highs in the mid 70’s and high 60’s, with a 40% chance of rain for about 35% of the trip in the NW corner of our route. After about two hours of our ride on the 401, it starts to drizzle, then rain. I had my gear already on, as did John, but Mike and Gary had to put theirs on at a gas stop. Riding in the rain seems like a bad thing, but if you have a bike with a faring, it’s not so horrible as long as you are moving, and behind the faring/windshield. The rain slowed, then stopped, and was off and on for the next 12 hours. I’m glad I brought my full face helmet for this trip.

Nothing too eventful happened until we hit Toronto, ON. I would like to know WTF is everyone in that city doing out before noon on a Saturday that would cause a complete traffic jam, and the traffic flow to stop multiple times. It was like Chicago during rush hour. We get through Toronto, and now we are two hours behind schedule. (about 4 hours later I meet some dude in NY on an older Goldwing who is from Toronto, and he said the traffic is like that every day, and that the city is commonly joked about being the Canadian National Parking Lot)

Mike H, (guy with the Tour Glide) likes to ride fast. I think his bike idles at 70MPH. I’m not so interested in speeding in shitty weather in another country. But I’m going with the flow. The only problem is he likes to ride fast and has no idea where we are going. He leads the entire group except for me, past the exit to the U.S. I make it through customs, pull into the welcome center, and make a call. They are on their way back over. Holy ****, another hour lost. What we thought was going to be a 19 hour trip is shaping up to possibly not qualify.

We regroup in NY. The sky looks BAD. The Triumph only has about a 145mi range before reserve, and 100 miles already on the trip meter. It’s 5:00pm at this point, (12 hour mark) and we have 520 miles to go. We head out on I-81 south, and the sky opens up. F*** it, it’s a straight road, we cruise about 85MPH to the fuel stop. Gas, coffee, water, documentation, bathroom, on the road in 10 minutes. Still raining, hop onto I-90 headed East, and we are in and out of construction for a good part of the highway. By the next gas stop it’s starting to dry up, and everyone is hungry, we figure we will grab a quick bite to eat. It’s about 8:00 and we have about 350 miles go to. By 11:00 pm, the lack of sleep is starting to wear on us. Pretty much the rest of the route was uneventful. Lots of construction, no more rain. We pulled into the gas station where we began our trek at 3:30ish.

‎1060 miles, 22.5 hours, 4 states and two country's later and we made our goal of 1000 miles by motorcycle in less than 24 hours. And we did this on about 2.5 hours of sleep.

A GPS track of our trek......



Some observations:

The ride itself was really wasn’t that difficult. What was hard was the lack of sleep. The 2.5 hours I got was really starting to show itself to me about 9:00. Come 1:00AM, I was questioning myself on continuing. In hindsight I probably shouldn’t have. I was having difficulty towards the end of the trip focusing, or keeping a good line. – Sleep is your friend.

I wore some compression underwear from LDcomfort. These were awesome. No hint of Monkeybutt.

Corbin seats – If you don’t have one, get one. 22.5 hours straight in the saddle and I was not sore.

Canada Highway 401 – Craptastic. I didn’t think there was a worse road than I-70 through Kansas as far as scenery goes. I was wrong. This road is remarkably unremarkable, and should be avoided if you are looking to see anything interesting on a ride through Canada from Windsor to upstate New York.

If/when I decide to do another Ironbutt I will have a GPS of some type mounted. I’ll also have a Tour Pak. The guy with the Tour Glide had one, and it was just much easier for him to have all his documentation, snacks, atlas etc handy on the road instead of having to dig through his bags with everything else.

My knuckles hurt, especially on my left hand, and my left fingers are somewhat swollen. We’ll see what that’s all about, and my ears are ringing. Other than that and being tired (only got about 4 hours of sleep after the ride) I feel pretty good today.

mikebaby

 

Sounds like a great (ok, not really) ride. I bet you had a really good time and one you won't soon forget. I'm trying to get some friends together to do one over the 4th weekend, but may have to wait until Labor Day weekend. I'd like the extra day to recoup before heading back to the grind.

 

I did my first on a VTX 1300 last July. We did 1024 in 18.5 hrs and it was significantly less eventful, but we didn't change countries. Not having cruise control SUCKED!!!!! I couldn't even make it the 3 hrs home in one sitting.

You will do another IB in time and it will be better.

 

Nice story, glad you made it back home okay. Been considering doing the one that goes around Lake Michigan, my buddy has already done one of the iron butt rides, so he has an idea of how to do one time managment wise. On his iron butt, one of the riders, a female, did it on Bergman scooter. Figured if she could do it, I should be able to.

 

Congrats on you you IronButt run, something I haven't done yet but want to. I know my bike can do it, just not sure about my 54 year old ars.

I beleive my bike is pretty well set up for it. It taken me two years to get it to lazy boy comfortable. And yes it has a Corbin Seat, Cruse Control, Stereo and GPS when I need it.

And yes it's a Road King!!!

 

Congrats on the ironbutt. I don't think you were bored with the rain and going in and out of Canada.Sounds like a good time with friends and something to talk about this winter. I did my SS1000 in March of this year. Norman Oklahoma to Tallahassee Florida on the way to Daytona.It was 24 degrees when started and did not get above freezing i got to Louisiana .

 

Congrats on your first IB!! What a great write up and I flashed back to my Iron Butt in May. All except that my issues were tword the end of the 1K not at the begining. Our goal was CT to TN in 19 hours. Well all went great till hitting the great state of NC. Between traffic, construction and hailstorms we finially got to Gatlinburg TN 1055 miles later and 21 hours and 38 min.

You are right. The ride itself was not bad the fatigue factor and mental strain was what got us.

Congrats again on your first. I am already planning my BB1500.

 

Congrats on a successful ride and completing the IB. That is something I would like to get done one day, just so I can say I did it.

 

Thanks for the Congratulations. For me at least I don't even think it was mental strain. It was just plain tiresome. And I think most of that was due to the lack of sleep the night before.

mikebaby

 

I have never done one but I can certainly relate to your description of Hwy 401 in Toronto. I once drove from Montreal to the outskirts of Toronto in 5.5 hrs and then it took me 3 hrs to get across town. It's commonly referred to as Canada's largest parking lot. Good write-up on your adventure - motivates me to start training for an IB1000. Thanks and safe riding.