American Voyager Association

As some of you know, I had the luxury (not everyone uses that same word!) of taking five days to accomplish three Iron Butt rides: BunBurner Gold 1500, 50CC (Coast to Coast) & SaddleSore 5000 in mid-September. It was a great ride on my '93 XII.

I've posted a link to a PDF version of my (finally completed!) ride report here: http://www.txvoyager.com/IB09.html for those who are interested.

ksawatsky,

I really enjoyed reading your report. I wished I had the nerve, the back, and the butt, to do something like that. My stock seat has me squirming after a few hours.

I was amazed at all the technology you have on your bike. I thought I was doing good when I bought a Ram mount to use my TomTom on the bike.

How did your tires do on the trip? Were they ready for replacement at the end?

Can't wait to read your report, if you do the 48-10.

I remain amazed at how the ride was really not as much a physical challenge as it was a mental one. This was the first Iron Butt trip I've done other than the SaddleSore 1000 miles last summer. For this one, I found I needed to take each segment and wrap my mind around getting to the end of that before worrying about the next one. This was particularly true of the first day (1500 miles) and the overnights. As far as butt goes, the seat re-do was the key and actually my shoulders were the biggest issue, but that was solvable with lots of continued movement!


I run Dunlop Elite III's and had them mounted earler this summer. I typically have been able to get somewhere around 15K miles from a set, but that's been on other bikes (I've had them on a Yamaha Venture, a BMW K1200LT and my Concours). I'm betting I'll be somewhere in that range with these too, though. They performed extremely well in the heat and in the rain on this trip though...

Great Great report, photos, everything. Many thanks.

Kevin,
This is a great report! I have read it twice! It is amazing that you put that many miles on your bike in such a short time. You have inspired me to attempt a 1000 mile ride. I will leave Lafayette, LA and travel up through the Dallas Fort Worth area and on to El Paso. I may include some other excursion at the other end, say the bike rally up in Riudoso(sp?), NM. Anyway, I will be at Dallas Love Field this Thursday, Nov. 12th for a few hours. What does your schedule look like? I would love to meet you in person and especially see your machine with all the electronic goodies. Any chance we could meet?
Charlie from Louisiana.

Looks like tomorrow will work! I sent you an email.

BTW, I got to tell a bit about my trip on the talk show on http://www.sidestandup.com last night. It was a blast! If you’re interested, you can download the archived MP3 here: http://recordings.talkshoe.com/rss64458.xml (episode 119 -- my 30-minute segment starts about 1:25 ). If you haven’t heard the show before it’s a pretty interesting group of riders, industry folks and vendors. I listened to 9 downloaded programs on my trip and enjoyed that time thoroughly...

I enjoyed reading your log about the trip. I have done a couple of IBs when I was younger, don't know if I could accomplish it today. Definitely could not do the 50CC. So congratulations!!!!!!

I really would like to know how you got all the electronics to work together. Music, GPS, Cell phone ETC. through the headset in your helmet?
Maybe you could do a detailed write up of the specifics (Including the Brands, and the hows, where you purchased, ETC)

I have tried a couple of times but could never get them all to work together and making one quiet down for another (music for phone or GPS, GPS for phone, music and GPS for phone.

I would really like all the details on how to accomplish this.

Thanks for the write-up on your trip

Kevin,
Great write up, even printed it for future reference....
were you using the first gen SPOT or the new "improved" version... I'll be making the investment but need some feedback...

Now I have to get with it and finish my trip write up from the AVA rally... and last Mays trip up to Oregon's Rouge River, and last Septs loop up to Washington and back down Hwy 1...........and..............

Thanks for the inspiration I think

Great to connect today! There aren't too many opportunities for many of us to meet other AVA'ers, but they are fun when they happen!

I'll send you the pics as well as the links for the farkles we talked about, but meanwhile, I thought I'd post a pic of two AVA guys, a plane and a bike!

I've actually had a couple of people ask for this, so I will try to get something together about what has worked for me and post it in the next week or two...

Kevin,
Thanks for taking the time to meet me and show me your great bike! I really appreciated our getting together and meeting a fellow AVA'er. I have started my plan to get my bike ready for the road, starting with the absolute necessities like tires, battery and seat. The electronic goodies will come next. You have given me a roadmap and a wish list. Next time I am in Dallas I'll send you an email and we can hook up again. Take care and ride safe,
Charlie.