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ABATE region 4 1000 miles in 24 Hrs

728 views 3 replies 3 participants last post by  Chappy 
#1 ·
Hello All. I thought I would start riding in sanctioned rides this year and let me tell you, That has been an education. I found that sanctioned rides draw a particular clientel, when alcohol and a certain motorcycle brand is envolved. I learned that you have to look for people serving alcahol before you even sign up, and I am talking 10 and 11 0clock in the morning.

Now lets get to the real meat of this post. A 1000 miles in 24 hrs. I showed up at 6:15 am on July 27 with my 650 Burg. And you know what the first question was, Is that a scooter. They were very nice and as I was signing up the questions were basically, do you think you can really go that far?. The breakfast that Wayne had cooked up for everyone was terrific. That man can cook. Steel Horse magazine was there and actually interviewed me. They was a very nice and professional team. One question that stood out was , What do you say to people that say a scooter isn,t big enough for the challenge. I wanted to say people say the darndest things, But I stated that The scooter has full wind protection and the water cooled engine will allow me to run 80 and 90 MPH all day. I told him if your going so fast I cant keep up with you then you are definantly going to fast.

We started at Spykes Harley Davidson at Frankfort In at 8 AM. I went to Indy then headed west on I70 to Kansas City, Kansas. I turned around at 502 miles and headed back. I ran into about 100 miles of construction both ways. I clocked in at 11:12 pm. I came in second by about 12 minutes.

I mentioned earlier that the water cooled engine would allow me to run 80 and 90 MPH and that is exactly what I ended up doing. When I started out I was with a group heading to I70. I thought it would be safer in a group, but what I discovered is that The speed was never steady. We would speed up to 80 then slow to 60. My bladder finally got the best of me at 120 miles and I needed gas so I split from the group. At 90 MPH the Burg only gets v40 MPG according to the onboard computer so every 120 miles it was fuel and potty break time. At 57 my bladder is just not what it used to be. I was glad I set out by myself, I could set my own pace and did not have to worry about where the rest of the group was.

I learned shortly after I bought the burg that you can got to manual shift and 6th gear acts as an overdrive. When I was running 85 the tach was about 5500, Going to manual the indicator would show 5th gear and the rpm would not change. Push the up button and your in 6th running 4500 rpm. That's right 5500 in 6th is an easy and smooth 95. There were some long stretches in Missouri that was a blur.

At the end of the ride I felt pretty good for a 230 lb 57 year old with Real bad knees and Arthritus. I have a Silver wing also. If it had Overdrive like the burg I would take next year.
 
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#2 ·
Congrats! Sounds like fun.
You have now earned the Iron Butt award!
I select my group rides carefully and alcohol is a factor. I avoid most bar/poker runs and stick to PGR missions or police escorted rides for safety sake. Glad your out there having fun on your ride.
 
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