"It's not the destination -- it's the ride."
"Riding a bike doesn't make me a bad person,
Just like going to church doesn't make you a good person."
~ Unknown - but true
Doing an Official Iron Butt Ride was on my Updated Bucket List, added to the List at the time I discovered the Iron Butt Association. I'm not doing this activity during my YEAR 77, but it is one of my favorite memories. On May 24, 2006 I left Monrovia on my Harley at 3:44 am and rode North on I-15 to Meadow, Utah, turned around and rode back to Monrovia, arriving at 9:02 pm - a non-stop ride (except for gas) of 17 hours and 18 minutes, and covering 1,042 miles. Why would anyone do this? This was just one of my "small adventures."
The Iron Butt Association certifies endurance motorcycle riding, and has a specific ride they call the "Saddlesore 1000" that requires a person ride 1,000 miles in less than 24 hours. Significant detail must be submitted to the organization (maps, times, signatures of witnesses, gas receipts, etc.) and after they check everything out, they issue a certificate certifying the ride (See photo below). I guess you would say that this is similar to getting a T-shirt for running a 26.2 mile marathon. You might say this was a "day-ride" but it was a long day. Dale asked why I did it in 17 hours when I could have used 24 hours - I reminded him that you must stay awake while your doing it.
The photos below are at the Monrovia police station getting the night Sargent to witness me leaving, then at the turn-around point in Meadow, Utah, and finally Sean witnessing my arrival back in Monrovia. I was riding a 2006 Harley-Davidson Road King Classic at the time.
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The two photos below are the "rewards" for doing the ride. A license plate holder declaring the Iron Butt Association has the World's Toughest Riders, and the Certificate certifying that I have done the Saddlesore 1000 Ride.
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A Little History: Without listing a lot of detail, below are other miscellaneous Harley rides I have taken. In addition to the rides summarized below, for many years I have gone on an annual week-long summer ride with old high school buddies. We began the ride in 1994, so we have gone 23 summers in a row as of the 2017 ride. Covert, Jon C, Ted and I will do the 24th summer ride in August of this year. These rides are summarized in my blog entitled Annual Summer Scooter Rides published August 9, 2017.
June 1996 - A 4-day trip with Dale to the Utah State HOG Rally in Cedar City.
April 1998 - A 4-day trip with Dale to the Laughlin HOG Rally.
March 2000 - A 5-day solo trip to Ajo, Arizona to visit Uncle Dean & Aunt Arla, then a visit with Warren and Barbara in Phoenix, then a visit (and wedding attendance) with Bevie & Walt in Payson, then lunch with Keith & Mary Brush in Prescott, before returning to California.
March 2003 - A 4-day solo trip to Cedar City to visit Aunt Billye and Mel & Linda, to St. George to visit cousin Nadean, to Beaver Dam to visit Jack & Dee, to Death Valley to scout for a New Year's trip and then on to Deep Springs to visit Ross & Kay.
November 2003 - A 2-day ride with Dale, Dennie and two of Dale's friends that we called the Inland San Diego Ride, visiting Ramona, Cuyamaca Rancho State Park, the Mexico border at Tecate, Descanso, and Julian.
September 2010 - A 2-day ride with Dale and Dennie to follow the final two days of the first Antique Motorcycle Cannonball Cross-Country Race. This is probably the most difficult endurance motorcycle riding there is - riding from the east coast to the west coast on pre-1916 motorcycles. We stayed overnight in Big Bear, and followed the Cannonball riders from Victorville to the finish in Santa Monica.
February 2012 - A 2-day ride with Dennie to Mexicali to visit his son Tyler, returning (without passports) via the border at Tecate.
March 2013 - A 3-day trip with Dale, Dennie & Bob to Lake Havasu to attend a Blue Grass Festival and to visit Chuck & Vanessa, who were vacationing there, and Warren who had driven there from Phoenix.
April 2013 - A 4-day trip up California's Central Coast with Dale, Dennie & Bob, staying three nights in Cambria. Dale had a bad experience with vertigo and didn't do much riding.
June 2013 - A 4-day trip with Bob to attend the Street Vibrations Spring Motorcycle Rally in Reno and to visit Jon & Maridee.
November 2014 - A 4-day trip with Dale to Death Valley.
March 2015 - A 4-day solo trip to Elko and Tuscarora, Nevada to visit the small towns where I had worked on road construction when I was 15 years old.
Photos below from the left: 1st row- The 5 of us on the November 2003 ride; the 3 of us on the 2010 Cannonball ride; 2nd row- on the ride Dennie and I did to Mexicali and Tecate; the 4 of us on the 2013 Lake Havasu ride. 3rd row- The 4 of us on the 2013 Central Coast ride; me on the 2013 Reno ride at the Genoa Bar, billed as the "Oldest Thirst Parlor in Nevada." 4th row- Dale and I at Death Valley in 2014; the 2015 trip with my bike in front of the Hunting Lodge I stayed at when working in Tuscarora.
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