BBG1500
in 24 hours
Bun Burner Gold 1500
This is a ride report I wrote back in May 2010. Until
now it has remained up-published, as at the time it caused quite a stir on the
IBA UK forum. There were a couple of reasons for this, first of all I posted a
picture of my Garmin on the forum with my thumb over the speed indicator and
secondly my moving average was 63 mph.
As it happens the ride was verified by the IBA UK
President and this report was just filled away.
Having just updated the format of my Blog I wanted a
BBG1500 ride report in the new drop down list & so here is my 2010 BBG1500
in 24 hours.
Well
that’s the chores are done, The Beast
has been “de-bugged” I’ve got my
Lucozade open & I think that’s about everything so I’ll begin
“Making
Progress” Iron Butt Style or more commonly known as a Bun Burner Gold 1500.
For
those who I bore to death with my Ride Reports here are the facts
Date Monday
24th May 1800 hrs
Duration
24 hours cut off time
Bike Yamaha
FJR 1300A
Rider Well you get the idea
Start
Mileage 15080
End
Mileage 16666
Odometer 1586
Garmin
Miles 1526
Time Start 1752 – Finish 1702
Total of 23 hours & 10 Minutes according to Garmin
Paper
work complete and sat at the side of me ready for posting at 1700 when J
collects Ben from after school club.
The
BBG1500 is one of those rides that had been bugging me for a while simply
because my mate had done it & I hadn't. Well that’s one of the reasons
the other was I was totally hacked off, first of all not getting a start in the
Britt Butt Rally 2010 & then to make me feel 100 times worse (sorry Boss) being given a start.......
just after booking a hotel room in Woodhall Spa so we could attend a family 18th
Birthday on the Saturday night. Gutted was not the word!!!
So
as you can imagine I needed cheering up, Big Time.
So
after planning what I thought were two half decent routes & then having my mate
pull them apart via MSN. We set about fine tuning them to include as much
motorway as possible.
·
The route was Rochdale, M62 to Leeds,
M1, M25, A2 Dover back up M20 to M25 Clackets
·
15 minute break at Clackets as this was
the first quarter mark
·
M25 Clackets, M4, M5 Gordano’s then down
to Penzance back up to Gordano’s
·
15 Minute break at Gordano’s (which
turned into Sedgmoor Services due to fuel consumption)
·
M5, M6 all the way up to Glasgow
·
15 Minute break at Glasgow
·
Then across past Edinburgh to Berwick
upon Tweed then down A1(M) to Leeds
·
M62 home
Route
Done!
I was expecting loads
of road works so opted to do the ride with just my Givi Topbox fitted. This turned
out to be a stroke of genius as I hit both the start of the Birmingham ride to
work mayhem plus the Manchester ride to work rush hour traffic. Being
unrestricted by panniers I rode through both without issue. Give or take a few
dirty looks which is normal when filtering, mind this was more than made up for
by big smiles and waves from all the kids on coach trips.
First off all I needed
to get myself organised and so set about checking the oil, tyres, fitting the
Givi top-box, making the Tuna Mayo Butties x4, rolling the bike out onto the
drive and doing one last “Farkle”. I could not be bothered to carry my
Camel-Pack on my back so I fixed it to the lid of my Givi top-box, it was to work
a treat, allowing me to have a trouble free drink at every stop.
Finally I set up GPS
Tracker and posted on IBA Site that I wa about to attempt a BBG2500.
Then I went to bed for
2 hours.
I was awoken by Jeannie
in hysterics under the bedroom window outside...............
For reasons known only to
herself, she had decided to lay the lounger flat, fasten the clips to hold it
there. Then lay on it with her head where her feet should be to catch that
beautiful sun, only for the lounger to tip forward in very slow motion until
her nose was touching the floor. At which point she went into fits of laughter
as she couldn’t move due to the arms being in the way..............
Un-real..................
should have got a picture. Still at least she wasn't worrying about “yours
truly”.
Up, shower, clobber on,
iPod on and plugged in, Mobile’s GPS tracker switched on and plugged into
charger, good-bye’s all round and off to fill up. Only to realise that setting
off at my usual time but going to my local station as opposed to the Shell
garage on the other end of town (as its 24 hour opening & I usually start
my rides around midnight) meant I was 10 minutes early. I hate that so “faffed”
around zeroing the sat nav of all details, till 1800 on the dot before I set
off. I know 10 minutes wasted but I need to do things just so.. sad Jeannie
calls it!!!
One problem with a mobile phone tracker app is people can call you on the mobile, not good!
Heading down the M1 the
mobile rings.
“Hello, can I speak to
Mr Walton please?”
“You are”
“Can I speak to Mr
Walton?”
“This is Mr Walton”
“This is Sanita from
A**a, is it convenient to speak about your car insurance”
“Not really I’m riding
my bike”
“Oh sorry, shall I call
tomorrow?”
“Yes but make it after
6”
“OK, sorry to have
bothered you”
The ride down to Dover
was a breeze as I’ve done it so often. I break down my routes and number them all
before uploading to the Sat Nav. This time each section was between 40 and 220
miles in length. So 1 Wooley Edge Services, 2
Leicester Services, 3 Shell
Dover, 4 Sh**, 4, 4, OH here we go. Straight line to Clackets, how strange. It
told me how far and arrival time but gave me no directions. Anyway no time to
hang around so off I set. The Garmin had decided not to show me directions at
all, which was bizarre & very un nerving I’d just have to do it from memory.
Just before Clacket Services Eastbound on the M25 the route came back on. I was
25 minutes ahead of my time plan, Great. After a 15 minute break I hit 5 & got the
same thing again a straight line to Gordano’s, not happy.
Riding along the M4 I
remembered I had uploaded the entire route “Start to Start” so I pumped it in,
do you want to navigate to start of route, “the F*** I do” I shouted at it at
the same time pressing the screen. Re-routing, great it’s going to work. Then
the kick in the gut’s 989 miles to go but what was even worse arrival time 1755
hours FIVE MINUTES TOO LATE”
From being nearly 25
minutes ahead of schedule I was not even going to finish on time, I was
GUTTED!!!
The change in my frame
of mind was just unreal; I had taken time to factor in 3 Forced Breaks, because
I had messed up a ride before feeling like I could ride forever. Know the
feeling? To just feeling like I did when I couldn’t finish the National Parks
SS2000.
I switched the Sat Nav
off!
A quick pit stop at
Gordano’s, fuel, loo, drink, snack bar and I was away heading down to Penzance
I switched the Sat Nav back on and it took me straight to the Tesco’s, which
was closed. Pay by card great and unlike Kendal it worked when the station was
closed, strange that anyone reading from Kendal Morrison’s Service Station.
Heading back up from
Penzance I followed a guy in a white Mini Cooper S, needless to say we had a
little fun and games. He knew every camera all the way back to M5. As he peeled
off to the M4 we gave each other a big Thumbs Up.
“Hello, can I speak to
Mr Walton Please?”
“You are”
“Hello Mr Walton, it’s
very noisy”
“That’s because I’m
STILL riding my bike”
“Is that Mr Walton?”
“Yes, call back later!”
“Sorry I can’t hear you
I’ll call back later”
Birmingham was getting
really busy with the morning commute which I just filtered through. I did
realise one thing just past Birmingham, I had just completed an SS1000 in a little under 15 hours.
Manchester was full on
Commute Mode, it was at this moment I was so chuffed I had opted to leave the
panniers off. Bumper to bumper from Kiel Services to just past the M65 junction
“It’s Pete from Astor
Ba****man”
“Hello”
“Can I book to come and
repair your daughters changing table”
“Sorry I haven’t got my diary with me”
“This is a really bad
line”
“I’m on my bike”
“I’ll call back later”
“Make it tomorrow please”
“OK, bye”
Pulling into the
services at Glasgow felt good, I was ready for a break as my eyes were
stinging. I’d been following a tanker and ever since he had braked or something
and a cloud of whatever it was had appeared my eyes had started watering up.
The woman who served me asked if I was OK and said I look like I could do with
a nap.............. Oh how Little did she know!
Checking the mobile I
had to switch the Tracker back on yet again
as every time someone rings you it
switches the damn thing off. (Note to self – BUY A SPOT TRAKER ASAP)
Mooching through
Berwick after filling up I realised what a nice town it was and promised myself
I will go back there one day if just to have a walk around.
I even stopped off and
took a couple of pictures on the way down the coast.
Spilling petrol all
over in the rush to fill up and get the End Receipt didn't help. Then asking
the Assistant in the garage if she would “Sign my end ride form” made her look
as if I’d just said something rude” I’m sure I said “ride form”????? But “all’s
well that ends well”. It’s just a matter of waiting now to see if I've done
enough!!!
All in all I felt it
was a well planned and executed ride with very few problems. The Camel worked a
dream, no need for water bottles in the future. The Mobiles Tracker is OK when
it stays on that is.
Top tip don’t answer
your mobile whilst travelling along the motorway, especially when you don’t
have you diary with you. I can’t help it
I worked on the phone for 12 years, 3 rings & it’s driving me mad. I’ve
even answered the phones in other peoples businesses to stop the damn thing
ringing. You can always take a message!
So that’s a BB1500 to
Soest – Done, SS2000 incorporating E2E Gold – Done, BBG1500 – Done!
“So what’s next?”
Middle Earth Mud Bath
Next weekend
BIKE Safe Course in
Kendal – 13th June
E2E Gold with Dan – 15th
/16th June
RBLR 1000 – 19th / 20th June
RTE Gibraltar BBG2500 there & BB2500 Back- 25th / 26th / 27th June
Then it’s the BIG ONE
The European End to End
– 12th to 19th
2 days ride to NordKapp
3 Days for the EE2E
Then round to Faro for
a couple of nights
Back home having
covered in the region of 8000 miles in 9
days
Finally October RTE
Lithuania for my belated Birthday Ride Out
That’s me DONE! I hope you've enjoyed the read.
As I sit here now in
2013 reading through this report somethings screaming out at me, so much so that I just
have to add this footnote.
Riding over 1500 miles
within 24 hours is a massive feat of dedication and commitment and should not
be taken on lightly, something I now realise this report makes it sound.
Back in 2010 I was on a
roll. Nothing was going to get in my way! I was determined to “make my mark” on
the Long Distance Riding community. This is blatantly clear to me by my “So
what’s next” list at the end of the report.
Amazingly, I did go on
to complete all but one of those rides. The European End to End was just one
ride too far and has remained uncompleted to this day.
The ride to Gibraltar
proved to be more of a test of our friendship than of our ability to ride long distances.
Sadly Ron & I only managed a BB2500KM in the 24 hours from Calais to
Gibraltar & back up to Alicante rather than the BBGold 2500KM which we had
planned. The strain caused us to have a slight disagreement just before our arrival
in Gibraltar. Happily it was resolved before our overnight stay near Alicante
and the return trip passed without incident.
2010 was an amazing
year of riding for Ron & I. We both
racked up no less than 10 Iron Butt Verifiable Rides each earning us
both a 2010 Mile Eater Award something we’re both very proud off. Not every
ride was completed together, like I’ve written recently “We ride alone to be
together” but I personally think we can be proud of our achievements!
IBA UK Mile Eater Award
Add to the above, passing my Institute of Advanced Riders Test in the same year and you will really understand how truly driven I was.
It really does make me realise
now what an understanding & supportive wife I have in Jeannie my very own
personal “Biker Widow”.
Thank you so very much “Jeanesous’s” I do truly appreciate
your support.
………………Love you too, you
are my hero x
