My SaddleSore 1000 trip report
Ross Spoonland

After reading of fellow Valkyrie riders reports of the Iron Butt Association’s riding events I was intrigued and logged onto their website (www.ironbutt.com) to see what was required. I thought I would try the easiest one first…the Saddlesore 1000…1000 miles in 24 hrs or less.

I chose a route to Glendive MT with a backup plan of Omaha NE leaving from Park River ND both slightly over the 1000 mile minimum. With about a 30 mile straight shot east to Interstate I could quickly get on the “Slab” and  really honk as I wanted to complete the trip in daylight hours. Being June 21 the longest day of the year my plan was to leave at 5:00 AM and be back  by 10:00 PM giving me 17 hours of daylight driving and roughly a 60 mph
average speed to maintain…should be a piece of cake.

I also figured I could save some time by putting on an auxiliary fuel supply and double my range between pit stops. So 2 days before trip time I tried  to find a suitable tank. (5-6 gal marine would work) to no avail. Day before  departure…I HAVE to HAVE that extra fuel as my Valk gets 27 mpg at regular 65 mph cruising speeds and much lower at higher speeds and I also wanted at minimum a 200 mile range without using the main tank reserve. I ended up taking one of those 5 gal red plastic gas cans (you know the ones – in your garage for your lawnmower) strapping it to the passenger seat, punching a hole in the top and press fitting a 3/8 line in, tie strapping the pump on  the carrying handle, mounting a switch and teeing into the line under the main tank. Real DOT approved setup I’m sure…so I covered it with a large garbage bag and taped it down good…hey it looks like a biker on a camping trip.

OK, I’m off at 5:03 AM with no problems getting the PR Chief of Police witness signature or that often referred to troublesome date/time stamped gas receipt. I throttle up to the “proper” cruising speed (there’s nobody out at 5:00 in the morning on Sunday) that will be required to obtain that estimated 60 mph overall average speed. Everything is going great, my first scheduled stop will be Fargo ND roughly 140 miles, no problem, but all of a sudden at 67 miles into the trip…spit –sputter…WHAT? low on fuel already…that “proper” cruising speed has evidently put a serious dent in my mpg. NO problem, hit the switch for the aux gas…NOTHING! Oh! Oh! This is working out REAL good! Still have my reserve and 2 quart bottles in my saddlebag so I could still limp it into an unscheduled stop just ahead. I pull over on the shoulder, can hear the pump clicking away but not the loaded sound of it pumping fuel…turns out the fuel line got kinked when I wrapped up the tank with that bag and tape. With that fixed and a greatly reduced speed…onward to Fargo.

Upon fueling in Fargo I found out I was only getting slightly over 19 mpg. This was not working out to my plan of trying to get a 200 mile range. With slightly over 4 gals in the main and not much more in the aux tank (couldn’t get a full 5 gals in as I had the filler mounted to the low side while on the kickstand) I maybe had 9 gals to work with. I know, I’ll reduce my speed some more and I can make the next stop at Bismarck 190 miles away. Nope!, with a stiff headwind I had to stop in Jamestown a short 90 miles away and take on 6.3 gals for a dismal 14.3 mpg…ouch!, there has to be a leak?

No leaks were found so I just had to make a couple of more stops than planned. I was making excellent time anyway and without trouble would make it back home well ahead of schedule. The further west I went though the darker the clouds got. Ran into some patchy light showers around Dickinson, so rubber boots and rain pants were required, nothing heavy just the annoying type of rain that gets the pavement just wet enough to spray up on your legs and make you worry a little about traction. There were also several stretches of road construction along the way of course. Once I hit the Montana line I did speed up a little…I “think” the sign said something like SPEED LIMIT - anything safe and prudent : ) NIGHT– 65 TRUCKS –
65.

Well, I made it to Glendive at 11:38 AM their Mountain time - 12:38 real time. Took about a 20-30 min break for lunch and then it was back in the saddle again…BTW the Corbin works great…no SaddleSore for me. I may look into a drivers backrest for long trips though. The trip back was uneventful too although I did pick up a lot better gas mileage going with the wind and a lot less helmet buffeting. I wore a helmet for this trip but don’t otherwise; I’ve never had my head vibrated around like that before going into the wind. And helmet itch, just about through it in the ditch a couple of times. Saw quite a few other bikers (waved to them all) and some nice looking vintage cars later in the afternoon – must have been a show someplace.

I got back to Park River at 8:24 PM well before dark as planned. The old eyes just don’t work in the dark as they once used to. I do have the Cobra lightbar but still prefer riding daylight hours. As far as the extra gas capacity: I didn’t really need it for this trip after all and I think I may also have to change out my #110 main jets. Now I will submit my log and receipts and maybe do a Bun Burner next???

Trip Stats

total miles: Valk odometer 1022.9 calibrated Schwinn bike computer 1046.3
total time: 15 hours 21 minutes
actual riding time: 13 hours 38 minutes
gas used: 53.99 gals

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Ross Spoonland * PO Box 46 * Pisek ND 58273
rspoonla@polar.polarcomm.com    Back