Coast to Coast (and back?) with an Italian Supermodel

[tcuguy]

I just found this thread three days ago, about the time that it has taken me to get to this final post. Go figure, because I JUST missed you (I live in Fort Worth). Wow, coincidence.

Your going to have to show me around though, I'm moving up to San Francisco over the summer (going there for new years actually) and own a new 796 myself - first Ducati ever and i'm LOVING it (saying 'ever' is not much I admit, i'm only 23).

I actually sort of see an older me in you, we are physically alike and also work from a computer in the digital industry. I know your almost done with the journey but this is something! Somehow, I now feel my two week Continental Divide ride this past summer was crap compared to this, might have to one up it here in the next couple of years I guess.

PS really enjoyed the whole 'fuck it' posts, being young everyone around me is starting to be just as you describe- having many, many, many excuses for nearly everything. And then of course, I seem to get 'lucky' because I am able to afford an R32, the new M769, and now have my own business... guess the harder you work the 'luckier' you get huh

[Sgt93]

Originally Posted by slide

No sense in bluing out the max speed. We've seen your brother's posts showing that.

I'm sure he stopped by a few track days on his trip, no worries

[slide]

Originally Posted by Sgt93

I'm sure he stopped by a few track days on his trip, no worries

I wasn't worried. I used to worry about my Tiger 1050 which has a max speed telltale which never fails to register a speed between tankfuls which would mandate arrest and bike seizure in my state.

After a bit, I figure how would a cop get that info? As to the OP's iPhone, well, one could always argue poor Apple QA.

[flyingz06]

you must clean that bike all the time! It's hardly dirty from all the riding. No bug splats either

Seems odd.

[pumpe3]

Maybe you answerd before, but what size do you have on the Kriega bag?

[AntiHero]

Originally Posted by flyingz06

you must clean that bike all the time! It's hardly dirty from all the riding. No bug splats either

Seems odd.

I've mentioned it before--I use the squeegies when I fill up to scrub the grime off the front. Rest of the bike doesn't seem to get dirty except for the swingarm. And a few times on the trip I've taken it to a self-serve car wash. Trust me--if you saw it in person you would not think it was detailed. Ever!

Kreiga is the 20L.

[Platinumgrit]

Originally Posted by AntiHero

From Nola to Texas:
I've been in Austin for a week now I think. I really love it here, except for the fact that the roads have as much traction as a boulevard paved with Starburst fruit chews (which is actually a lot of fun. With TC set low I can drift at will and slither away from each and every stoplight. Front end tuck is not quite as fun, though).

I'll get to posting pics and a report of Austin soon, but I'm not going to have time before my next leg. Tires finally arrived, which means I'll be leaving to Phoenix on Friday morning. Though my bike will be ready for the trip, 1000 miles in under 24 hours is an oppressive (if not exciting) physical prospect and I am not underestimating the difficulty. I'm not going to bother with registering for the Iron Butt Association (somehow trying to legitimize what I'm doing always seems less legitimate, plus I have a healthy intolerance for indexing, filing, stamping, briefing and debriefing.). I will use a couple of witnesses to silence the trolls and I'll also tweet real-time GPS coordinates using Google Maps.

That my heart is beating 10% faster than it should at rest just thinking about all this, which is a fortuitous indication that this is the right decision.

1000 / 16 = 66.66*
1000 / 14 = 71.43
1000 / 12 = 83.33*
and finally... *grin*
1000 / 8 = 125

Might I suggest that tweeting one's real-time GPS co-ordinates, whilst most certainly entitling one to entry in the Iron Butt club, could also result in membership to the Iron Bar club? Especially when you make the Prosecution's case for them ;-)

[NitroRoo]

Awesome stuff man. I've never done such a long day in the saddle and can't imagine what it felt like on the Ducati! Can't wait to see the rest of the report!

[AntiHero]

Thanks, guys. I saved all my gas receipts if I ever wanted to get into the Ironbutt club officially. That and CC records of when I checked into my hotel (as well as my receipts for dinner in Scottsdale) should be enough. My GPS coordinates, along with time-stamps--are also on my iPhone pics.

But I just wanted to do it to see if I could. I've got the documentation just in case anyone wanted to call BS and claim it was impossible.

Struggling on a slow internet connection--can't even upload pictures. Tomorrow eve I head off to Death Valley, which should be even worse.

As for Austin recommendations--PM me if you don't have a place to stay. Place I was at rocked.

Other recommendations:
Uchi (Tako Pops, make a reservation)
Tacodeli (Cowboy Tacos, breakfast tacos)
Second Bar and Kitchen (downtown) Get the Chorizo / Avo appetizer

There's a few clubs / bars downtown that I went to--all were cool, but I have no idea what any of them were called

Bats @ the Congress Bridge (show up around dusk)

There's lots to do/see on Congress, too!

[AntiHero]

My impressions of what it's like to spend a day in the saddle: not nearly as bad as I expected. Knowing I would be doing very long distances I didn't even sweat the first several hundred miles. Seemed like every time I looked down at the odometer 50 miles had blown by. (Those perceived-distance-intervals shrunk to about 2 miles from glance-to-glance by the end.)

First 200 miles: I was freezing. I didn't put enough clothes on and was too lazy/concerned with moving forward that I just kept waiting for it to get warmer. It didn't, so I stopped and put my arm-warmers (socks with the toes cut off) on.

~300 miles: My neck started to hurt. The radar detector sticks out of the right side of my helmet and catches the wind like a small parachute. Around 400 miles I removed it, but the muscular stress took its toll for the remainder of the day when the speeds got up there.

400-600 miles: Needed to stand up a lot.

820 miles: Tired. Fatigued. Really wanted it to end.

1000 miles: Kicked myself mentally for not picking a hotel EXACTLY 1001 miles away!

1036: "Ahhh, that wasn't so bad!"

When I hit Tucson I was really out of it. Kept asking my sister and her husband to repeat themselves. Felt very zombie-like. It didn't help that I was most likely very dehydrated and had probably consumed 500 calories the whole day. After checking in I walked across the street and had a bowl of hummus and a giant plate of really overcooked lamb (bleh), but I was so hungry I didn't let the barmaid take the food away (instead I asked for a free glass of wine).

Next day I met up with flyinturbo and his gal for breakfast, but that was about the only energy I had. I vegg'd in my hotel room the following day/night recovering. Wasn't that sore, just very, very tired.

Seat heat: not a problem. Air temps were in the 50s and 60s.
Bike: Never missed a beat.

The amazing thing was the day after resting up I jumped on the bike and did another 400 miles (indirect route) to Vegas and felt great. It actually felt better/more comfortable than ever. Met up with a Ducati guy and some of his buddies for a "ghost-rider" like ride. Insane. More to come....

[jesse v]

My last 3 days of what-would-have-been normal forum browsing have been spent reading this RR. I'm only on page 30. I'm considering printing it.

[Mr Head]

Congrats.

Last time I did this in 2009 it was much easier than your slog.
First I was on my aging Adventure.
Second I left OC in the late summer, so warmer. Cold on top of the passes though.
Left the house on the hill, in the OC about 7:00 AM, got to Westminster Colorado, 1059 miles later in time for the 10:00 PM news.
Keys:
1. Camel-bak, 3-liters
2. I only ate some gummybear energy go-beans (cycling food, I happened to have in my backpack.)
3. I stopped for gas, got water and peed.
4. Only stopped to pee and add or subtract gear.

Passes in Colorado are fucking cold, I was wearing mesh, stopped on top of Vail Pass, put my longies on, and rain gear over. I stayed at about 2 mph over the limit.
Got up the next morning rode to a bicycle shop to replace my broken glasses, then 150 miles to my dad's motorhome on BLM land to fish and camp with him.
Very little wind to bother me on the way to Westminster, so less fatigue. Heading back west a week later, not so much. Made it to Cedar City before I crumpled heat, and wind did it. Got a late start from Colorado Springs after a long wedding reception.
I remember grabbing a breakfast of sorts in Evergreen some sort of Starbucks-like place. Very hazy on the exact details.


Don't like interstates

The first time I did it was on a 1974 Norton Interstate. But, I was young then.

And the GPS will lie to you,

[rodr]

Finally caught up. Very enjoyable read! I like your philosophy too.

Asked this in another forum but I guess you didn't see it yet:

How has that telecommuting from the road worked for you? I did that for 2 1/2 weeks last year and found it difficult to get much work done. Small laptop screen, too many distractions, unreliable internet.

[AntiHero]

Mr. Head--you, sir, are fucking crazy! Nearly 24 hours on a motorbike is insane!

Sorry I didn't see your post, Rod....I'm on a full size laptop, which sucks to lug around, but it makes it much easier to work (full size keyboard/screen). The only problem is when I have a shoddy wifi connection. I've got a hotspot on my iPhone, though, which has saved my ass numerous times. I've been working remotely for so long that I find it no different on the road than it was in my home office. If anything, my home office habits (sit in front of PC for 8 hours) have interfered with my 'traveling', not the other way around. Checking in a new place on Sunday, working all week, then leaving on Friday night or Saturday morning isn't exactly the best way to see a new place, but I knew that would be a reality of the trip.

[Mr Head]

Closer to like 15. and the Adventure is a couch compared to a sportbike squish-n-squat.

My wife got me a Verizon Hotspot at Costco uber cheap a while back, basically free. Then our new cell deal means all our phones can be hotspots.
It works quite a bit better than the hotel wifi. Marriott wifi in the room blows BTW. Not enough horsepower to stream much more than Pandora.
When I was in Mukilteo I could work wirelessly from my hotel using my extremely full-sized notebook. That was at a "Staybridge" hotel. The Residence Inn's I've been in the last five months have completely crap wifi. I'd go to Starbuck's and stream MotoGP on my iPad. That worked great, since it was wee hours of the morning nobody cared or bothered me. My work involves CAD tools so I take big bites out of the network.
Funny thing since we moved to W7; my computer won't log onto the wifi at the hotel, but it will log onto my hotspot.

Yeah, like I'm going to pay the company to do work for them.

Twice I've been able to hoodwink them into them into letting me travel by my motorcycle and camp in place of hotels too! All I had to do was pack a damned 17inch Dell tech-notebook.
But, they paid me!

Originally Posted by AntiHero

Mr. Head--you, sir, are fucking crazy! Nearly 24 hours on a motorbike is insane!

Sorry I didn't see your post, Rod....I'm on a full size laptop, which sucks to lug around, but it makes it much easier to work (full size keyboard/screen). The only problem is when I have a shoddy wifi connection. I've got a hotspot on my iPhone, though, which has saved my ass numerous times. I've been working remotely for so long that I find it no different on the road than it was in my home office. If anything, my home office habits (sit in front of PC for 8 hours) have interfered with my 'traveling', not the other way around. Checking in a new place on Sunday, working all week, then leaving on Friday night or Saturday morning isn't exactly the best way to see a new place, but I knew that would be a reality of the trip.