2015 Yooper Madness II Iron Butt

On Saturday I completed my first Iron Butt Saddle Sore 1000!

Three of us from my local club joined what turned out to be about 50 other riders for a 1000+ mile trip central Michigan around the Upper Peninsula (UP) and back to Lansing. We ended up doing it in about 21 hours, including a nap just before our last leg.

On Friday the three of us left from Dearborn and rode to Houghton Lake, MI. Friday evening included a group meeting to go over ride and receipt procedures as well as cover any last-minute questions. There was an experienced Iron Butt Rally rider there to offer his wisdom. My evening could have gone smoother. I got to my hotel and found that they didn't have my reservation. A few minutes of discussion, including me showing my confirmation number netted me a room, but it wasn't ready yet. No worries, we got the other guys checked in and then grabbed some dinner at one of the local restaurants.

On Saturday, we left promptly at 6:00 AM. I was on my FZ1 and the two guys I was riding with were on a BMW R1200R and a Triumph Trophy. It was brisk, but not uncomfortable before the ride started and I made the tactical error of not putting on my electric liner. By the time I corrected the problem I was freezing! We rode across the Macinac Bridge to Sault St. Marie near the Canadian border where we stopped for fuel. There were seven mandatory receipts needed to confirm that you'd actually completed the 1000 miles, and we made our way West across the northern part of the Upper Peninsula to Bergland, then dropped to the southern part of the UP for the eastward trip back to the Big Mack Bridge.

I've done long miles on the FZ1 multiple times, and have a couple of comfort improvements including a Beadrider seat cover on my stock seat (it makes a huge difference)and Satan's highway pegs. This was the longest "endurance" run that I'd done (2nd place is a 650 "race" around Lake Erie earlier this year, but that was on a 1971 Honda CL175), and it went very well. The biggest "pain" was actually the relatively short range of the FZ1 compared to the BMW and the Triumph. It worked out well, though, since we had to get receipts and take a few minutes to rest our rear-ends every time we filled up.

As we were riding the second-to-last leg of the trip, everyone started to notice some fatigue creeping in to our riding. I was having a hard time keeping a consistent speed, and one of the guys simply stopped talking via the Sena intercoms that we use. This led to a short stay at the "Iron Butt Motel" in Clare, MI. We spent about an hour there, then got back on the road refreshed and were able to finish the ride successfully, arriving in St. Johns, MI at about 3:15 AM.

Here's the Spotwalla track. I'm not sure why it didn't get most of the northern part of the route. Something to figure out before the next "big ride" I guess!

Will I do it again? Absolutely. I'm pretty proud of the achievement and am looking forward to getting my IBA number (and my "Worlds Toughest Riders" license plate bracket). It was tough, but definitely do-able for anyone who has spent some long hours in the saddle.

Below are a few pics from the trip (not a whole lot of thought was spent thinking about photographs), and a really raw 360 video of crossing the Mackinac Bridge.

IB_0.jpgIB_5.jpgIB_1.jpgIronButtMotel.jpgIB_Finish.jpg

I haven't spent a whole lot of time editing these 360 videos - it's a little touchy, in my experience. If you're on a PC, then you can drag the video around to see different views. On a hand-held device, it's much more impressive as you pan the video by moving the phone around.

[video=youtube;Jo-PRtMFeaU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jo-PRtMFeaU[/video]
 
Congratulations! That is no easy feat on a FZ1 and I enjoyed your pictures. Rode over the Big Mac about 5 years ago at sunrise going north. Everyone needs to ride over that bridge at least once and on a heavy dew morning I sure was glad the outside lanes were paved.

I did my IB saddle sore years ago on my FJR with a loop in Nevada. Only took 17 hours, made some great time at 125 mph for 20 minutes every now and then. Nevada has some great stretches of road just made for cleaning out the carbon.
 
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