Heading to Florida for SS1000

[STCPO]

Well I'm off to Florida this Saturday morning to visit mom and qualify for a SS1000 in the process.

I'll be departing DFW at 1:00 A.M. the 25th. Heading down I-20 to State Highway 49 in MS to 98 then onto Mobile where I will pickup I-10 and to 295 and then I-95 down to Palm Coast. If all goes well, I should be in Palm Coast by 9:00 P.M. on the 25th.

I'll be in the Palm Coast area for a few days, so if we have any listers that are nearby, drop me a PM and maybe we can meet for a coffee and tell tall tales.


Pete

[sherob]

Take care and ride safe... maybe you can see that one FL hill while your down there... :D

Good luck!

[Hewhois]

Have to work late Saturday night, if you are going to be over Tampa Bay Area way on Sunday, let me know.

[STCPO]

Well I'm back in Texas. Charlie, thanks for staying up late to witness my departure.

All in all the ride went great. I made it to my ending point in 19 hours. I had sunny weather the whole way until I reached Jacksonville, Florida. Then the weather gods let loose. About this same time, a lens from my glasses popped out and dropped out between my chin and my helmet. Luckily (or not) it lodged itself between the seat and the gas tank. So imagine the sight of me trying to fish the lens out of my lap, the rain coming down in buckets, and then trying to figure out a safe place to put the lens once I had it in my hand. The good thing is I saved the lens and I went on to see again the next day.

I did a SS1000 on the way home also. That one took me 20 hours because I stopped to take a cat nap in Louisiana. The heat was just unbearable. When will Fall be here?

Some of my do and don'ts when it comes to LD riding:

Do read the IBA website and take note of the LD riding tips. There is some great advice there.

Do drink lots and lots of water along the way.

Do not fish for an eye glass lens in the rain. Just let it go. It seemed like a good idea at the time though.

Do not speed. (I had no issues with LEO's, but they were out in full force)

Do any of your night riding at the beginning of your ride. This way, you are not riding at night when your most fatigued (This works for me. Your mileage may vary). It's also a nice break from the heat.

Do not be afraid of the rain. The rain was a nice break from the heat again.

Do make sure you have a comfortable riding gear. My Field Sheer leather / mesh jacket was a little hot for the 100 degree temps yesterday. Remind me to tell Santa I want a Roadcrafter.

Do stop at least every 100 miles and take a quick break. This helped me a lot and kept me focused.

Do have in flight entertainment. XM radio rocks.

DO UPGRADE YOUR SEAT IF YOU OWN AN ST1300. The stock seat SUCKS.

[sherob]

Glad you made it safe! And congrats in advance of your cert! :)

[STCPO]

Just the one going to Florida.

I'd say I'm semi addicted at this point. Doing them in the Summer sucks though.

I will say this, a Wing has got to be the perfect bike for this type of riding.

Pete

[Mellow]

Pete, why do you think the Wing would have done a better job? It sure wouldn't have been any cooler, the seat would have been the main diff.

[Mellow]

Well, they do come with Slurpee machines for the summer. :cool: :04biker:

It's not a slurpee machine... it's a frapacino machine.. .

[Mellow]

The seat is nice, even though there are lots of guys that don't like it.

I almost never use the cruise. I use it like the throttle lock I had on the ST, only for a momentary break. Even on my 2001 wing I never used it much. Maybe I need to try more and take advantage of it.

The range... yeah... I'm getting 210-230 per tank if I'm going 80 the whole time, that extra 50-70 miles would be nice..

[STCPO]

To add what Charlie mentioned, just the extra payload the thing can carry. Every minute I turned around, my mom was trying to get me to take home some stuff that belong to my dad. Needless to say, I have a pile at the house waiting for my next visit in the truck.

I'm not ready for one just year, but I see one in my future in a few years.

Pete