Dave's home

[bonehead]

Welcome back Dave. Enjoyed following the trip. :2tup:

[dhgeyer]

Thanks Bonehead! And thanks for coming along. It was awesome, and quite the adventure in some places.

I met some really interesting people, and saw some of this amazing country of ours. I missed Easy Rider twice in IL, which is a shame, but definitely met lots of touring riders, including one guy on an RT that routinely does 800 or more miles/day.

I rode over 2000 miles (through the desert mostly) on a plugged tire, and my whole instrument cluster went dead briefly at one point. Other than that no problems with the bike.

The weather was mostly bad, in a couple of cases really bad, but I was pretty well prepared. The only thing that seriously detracted was the strong crosswinds, most notably in Kansas.

But, I wanted an adventure, and I got one.

I'm resting up now, and probably won't have any desire to ride for a few more days. The final distance was 6819 miles in exactly one month. Yes, I know, that's a very slow pace, but that's what I wanted. I'm old enough that sitting all day, day after day, is bad for my health. So I stopped a lot, took walks, talked to people, took pictures, and etc. It got me there and back in one piece.

I'd like to thank bonehead and the others from this forum who took the time to leave messages on the message board on my blog. It was much appreciated. If I ever get to Salida again, I'll take more pictures! This is a great group indeed!

Dave

[music man]

Originally Posted by dhgeyer

I'm resting up now, and probably won't have any desire to ride for a few more days. The final distance was 6819 miles in exactly one month. Yes, I know, that's a very slow pace, but that's what I wanted. I'm old enough that sitting all day, day after day, is bad for my health. So I stopped a lot, took walks, talked to people, took pictures, and etc. It got me there and back in one piece.
Dave

A Slow Pace? That is a 227 mile per day average, there is no way in hell I could do that for a month straight, no matter what kind of bike I was on. If I was on a super comfortable bike, I could do 227 miles in one day and MAYBE get up and do 227 more for the next day or two, but after that I would have to lay up for a week to recover, don't put yourself down my friend, you were doing some serious Iron Butt riding for sure.

I did almost exactly 1000 miles in 4 days about a year and a half ago on a Goldwing (actually 1/4th of that trip I had to do on the GZ), and it about killed me, I didn't look at my bike for a while after that.

Oh and by the way, glad you had fun and made it back safely.

[blaine]

If that's slow,I can only imagine what you call fast.Glad you had a safe and enjoyable trip.

[IceBreaker]

This is Jay from Chicago....if you think that is slow....I don't think I can do that many miles that you did, driving in a car....most of us can only dream of what you just accomplished! I know, I certainly can't do it on a motorcycle.....that too on a solo ride! My hats off for you Mr. Geyer! BTW love all those pics from your adventure!

[dhgeyer]

Thanks guys! You're the best. But, just as a point of information, averaging 227 miles a day is pretty slow by most touring standards, and is nowhere near iron butt riding. Here is a link to the results of the 2009 Iron Butt Rally:

http://www.ironbuttrally.com/IBR/2009/2009IBRfinish.pdf

As you can see, the two top finishers averaged over 1100 miles per day for 11 days.

One of the fellow tourers I spoke to is an iron butt rider. I met him, had breakfast with him in Rock Springs, WY. When we parted company, he was planning to ride 800 miles that day, and I was looking to do 300. He had to do a presentation somewhere on the East coast, and was literally riding across the country in 4 days.

I don't say this to put myself down. I rode a pace that was comfortable and safe for me, at my age, on my bike. But it is a fact that most of the tourers I meet ride more miles per day than I did or do.

I don't know that I condone the iron butt concept - to me it seems like a dangerous stunt, and there was indeed one fatality in the 2009 rally. But for the people that are comfortable doing it, averaging 400 to 500 miles a day doesn't seem unreasonable to me.

[blaine]

When I go on rides I like to see the sights around me.In the last couple of years I have learned to slow down and enjoy every day.

[dhgeyer]

Originally Posted by blaine

When I go on rides I like to see the sights around me.In the last couple of years I have learned to slow down and enjoy every day.

Yes! I couldn't agree more. :2tup: :2tup:

[Water Warrior 2]

Lynda and I just got home a short time ago from an all day ride. A really big 400kms(250 miles). We took our time, took pics and enjoy the scenery. A lot of hours in the saddle so we both hurt a bit here and there. Feels good though, we know we are alive.