48+
Here is my report on the 48+ just completed.
I had been planning the trip most of the winter. Checking and recalculating best routes with help from Mike Collins (Portland). But at the last minute I had pretty much decided not to do the trip this year. Work was just too busy. So Omaha it was for the convention and perhaps a short visit with my brother in St. Louis. But, I took my 48+ paperwork just in case.
Frustratingly my 2003 ST1300 was not ready at the last minute with a tire issue, so I took my (new to me) 97 Goldwing and headed to Omaha. An interesting note about this Wing. It was ridden in the 98 IBR by Don Moses. I was tickled pink to ride a bike with that kind of history on this ride. It now has 116,000 miles on the odometer. This bike was outfitted with PIAA 910’s, fog lights, Ron Smith aux fuel cell (so sorry to hear about Ron), well worn Russell seat, and GPS. I also had Widder heated gloves and vest.
May 12 – left Calgary, Alberta about noon and rode about 500 miles to Estevan, Saskatchewan enroute to Omaha for the weekend LD Rider convention. Fought a strong crosswind for most of the day. Near Moose Jaw I stopped for supper and had a Goldwing rider spot me, come over and chat me up. Turns out he is this 90 year old fellow from Victoria, B.C. on his annual trip to Americade in New York State. Said he sold his 2002 Goldwing last year as he thought he might stop riding but missed it so much he bought a 2004 again this spring. I was pleased for him and a little dismayed that he looked in better health and physical condition than me. Being only 46 that was a bit humbling. Saskatchewan roads were nearly empty of other vehicles. Saw lots of whitetail deer just north of Estevan. Most of the motel rooms were full. Lots of oilfield work going on apparently. Stayed in the room that was left. $35 only. Tiny room with about 2 feet on either side of the double bed.
May 13 – got hassled at the border crossing. Where you from? Calgary. Where you going? Omaha, Nebraska for a convention Friday and Saturday. When you coming home? Sunday…Border guard has a puzzled look on his face.. Says…That is over a 3000 round trip. What is that weird thing on your back seat. Auxiliary fuel. Ok, buddy… Pull it over and take your paperwork inside. Rode today to Omaha. Another SS1000 in wind, rain, sleet, and some snow. Nasty all day. Stayed pretty warm except for very cold feet. Listened on the radio to reports of heavy snow further south and watched as snow socked in behind me. Just kept ahead of it.
May 13/14 – Omaha Convention. Great time. Enjoyed it immensely. Made some new friends. Learned a few things. Told some lies. Got some serious pressure from Toby and Lisa Stevens to suck it up and do the 48+. Figure out the work thing and just ride it.
May 15 – Decided to not just head home. Really didn’t want to face that still cold north weather again yet. So rode the 450 miles to my brothers in St. Louis and had a nice short overnight visit with him and his family.
May 16 – pulled the 50CC documentation off his computer. Decided that I might as well do a 50CC while I was this far south and that would still let me get home in time to get the work done I needed to and then zip up for Hyderseek. Hyder is only 1000 miles from my home in Calgary.
Rode down along the Mississippi River to Fulton, Kentucky. My planned starting point for the 48+. It was on my way to Jacksonville anyway. The Fulton, Kentucky area is really pretty. Draw a 200 mile circle around there and it really appeals to me. Had the local sheriff in a little hick town in Tennessee(off duty) chat with me in a parking lot while I was getting a few supplies in a mall. Nice fellow. Retiring soon. Had shot his left hand off with a shotgun when he was 18. Gave me his business card and asked me to call or write him with a report when I got home. Once I got to Fulton, I got fired up about the 48+ ride again and had inspiration on how to take care of the work issues. Made the call and committed to myself to do the ride. Overnighted in Fulton. Recently I had put a tall Tulsa windshield on the Wing, mostly for more protection for my spouse who often rides pillion on this bike. After all the rain I endured getting into Omaha and the bugs that were now smashing the shield, it was time to trim the plastic shorter. So I stopped and bought a hacksaw blade and file. Painstakingly cut about 10 inches off the windscreen. That’s better. Now I can see over it when I need to.
Tuesday May 17 – Stopped at the local police station early and got two officers to witness my start documentation.
My planned route had me heading south to the Gulf then east to Florida, then almost at a 45 degree angle on the map to Kittery, Maine. A lot of that route was done at night to avoid heavy traffic, so I didn’t see a lot. I recall big tunnels, large grey battleships (in battleship row) looming in the darkness along the Gulf, more Baptist churches than could be counted, large trees everywhere – lining the road and blocking out visibility. Most of Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, and Georgia were a tunnel of trees. Prolific, large leaved trees with vines. Pretty much a jungle. I recall seeing names like Black River. Driving across the bridge and it was a black river. Muddy and black water. I thought hard about quitting in Atlanta. My arse was complaining (not really used to the Wing) and I was not happy with the bikes suspension. Checked the manual. Said 0 – 6 PSI in the front forks and up to 56 in the rear shock. Ended up putting 20 PSI in each front shock and cranking the rear suspension to 47 in order to get a passable ride. Construction zones in the Carolina’s said $200 fine for speeding and 30 days in jail. 30 days in jail.. Wow.. they are serious. I had taken my Passport 8500 radar detector but after the first day it got stuffed in my gear. I just don’t speed much on this tank of a GL1500 and if I did the gas consumption on a big trip like this becomes a major issue. Beautiful flowers all along the freeway in North Carolina. For hundreds of miles. Come around one sweeper and there is acres of red flowers. Turn the next bend and they are purple and yellow. Great stuff. A few days later in Pennsylvania I had a Harley rider come up and chat with me while I was taking a break. I told him about the flowers and how I just had to stop and find a spot to lay down in them. He laughed and said – feel like a pussy do you? I said ya. He said don’t. We have all done it.
I really liked West Virginia. Green and lush with nice little farms. Beautiful wooded hills (they call mountains) to the east where I rode through the Blue Ridge Parkway. Stopped there for a rest at a small store with a porch on the front. There were 6 wooded rocking chairs there. Felt like a real hick sitting and rocking on the front porch. Beautiful view of the hills out in front of me. Had 7 or 8 locals come and talk me up. Very friendly and genuinely interested in what I was doing. Here is where I got my only rain of the entire trip. About 15 minutes of it. Covered up the GSP with a shower cap.
Early on I decided I hated the handlebar mount for the GPS. Too much vibration. Much prefer the more solid dash shelf mount as set up on my ST. Nevertheless the Garmin 2610 proved invaluable on this trip.
I found out about toll roads. Lots of them. Everywhere. Must breed like rabbits. Being on toll roads made this westerner feel trapped and used and found that riding on toll roads brought out the endurance rider in me. Meaning it required great endurance to have the patience to ride them. The last minute squeezing into the right toll booth lane was always a challenge. Silly me for not having a speed pass.
Got about a day behind by the time I hit Maine as I did not make the daily mileage I had expected through the east coast. Made Kittery, Maine just about dark on Thursday night – May 19.
May 19 – rode in the dark from Kittery, Maine to Fredonia, New York. About 561 miles. This was a very tough part of the ride and I wished I would have done it differently. Lots of trees, deer, got down to 33F, twisty single lane roads for much of the ride, and lots of small towns, wooden bridges and sharp turns with little notice. Should have stayed in Kittery and done this ride in the light. Rode through one small city in up State New York that had full sized statues of bull moose along the main street. Must have been a dozen of them. Though I was seeing things. Pulled over for a motel shortly after that.
May 20 – rode through Chicago about midnight. More toll roads and lots of traffic. Almost got nailed by a speeding van pulling across 4 lanes of traffic to make his offramp. Had to do some panic breaking at 70MPH. Was so happy when I got to Beloit, Illinois. Last toll booth. Yahoooo!!! In Chicago I wasn’t keeping up with the GPS or it with me and missed an off ramp several times. Went through the same toll booth 3 times. $7 please sir…GRRR… Would have helped if I had an earplug attachment to the GPS. Wish I would have. Had to read the vibrating handlebar mounted GPS in the dark, at freeway speeds, while avoiding heavy traffic. Very glad to leave Chicago. Disliked the traffic and roads there more than any other city. New York was a breeze in comparison.
Remember riding past signs that would have easily led me to Elvis’s home, or 911 monuments, or to the Submarine Bases… All things I would have loved to stopped at. Just no time on this trip. Did take time to stop in Palmyra, New York and check out some sights there that have religious importance to me.
Saw a big white yacht in upstate New York sailing NW towards one of the Great Lakes. Checked my map. Came from the Atlantic. Cool..
May 22 – was very careful riding through Boise City, Oklahoma. A lady rider I had met at Omaha (forgot the name) crashed last year here on her 48+ attempt. Tired and went off the road. She said nice things about the locals who helped her.
May 23 – cooked in the desert between Albuquerque and Las Vegas in the 115F heat. Should have ridden at night. Stopped in Vegas at 6PM, grabbed a motel room and stayed until 2AM. Still 90F when I headed north.
Enjoyed the ride up through Idaho on 95, along the river, though I did a lot of it in the dark. Had an electrical problem about 6AM just south of Lewiston. Bike died just as I was about to crest a hill along the river. Some short somewhere had drained the battery. Shut off all my electrics (vest, GPS, aux lights) and sat there for a few minutes pondering the situation. Frustrating and tricky to stop and park a Goldwing on a steep uphill slope. Decided to leave the electrics off, turn the bike around and ride it in neutral down the hill for a bump start. Worked like a charm. Limped into Lewiston and stopped at a Honda dealer that would open in a half hour or so. I checked all my electrics. Problem with aux fog lights. Disconnected them. Bought a new battery and charged it up. Also bought some jumper cables and put the spare battery and cables in the top box for possible emergency use.
Day 9 – May 26 – rode from Cranbrook, BC to Hyder. Almost 1000 miles. Finally met some other LD riders doing the ride just north of Prince George. Leadbetter, Bobbit and one other. Nice to ride the rest of the way into Hyder with them. Got there just before dark with 8 hours to spare in my 10 day challenge.
The ride from Cranbrook to Hyder through the Banff and Jasper parkway is just delightful.
Saw lots of black bears in BC along the road. Mostly from about 100 miles SE of Prince George to Hyder. The little town of Smithers, BC takes my breath away due to the scenery in the area and Hyder/Stewart of course is awesome.
When I pulled up to the Sealaska Inn in Hyder and went inside there were already lots of riders there. I took my helmet off and part of my forehead came off with it. I was burned pretty bad. Everyone laughed. I didn’t care one bit. A little sunscreen next time perhaps.
It was great to see the other 25 riders that had finished the ride as they came in, the other riders that attended the event and the fine people of Hyder and Stewart.
Thanks for the motivation Mike, Brian, Toby and Lisa. Great to party and celebrate with the rest of you. Congratulations to the finishers and frankly to everyone who rode the long distance to Hyder. Hope you all made it home safely.
My total mileage for this trip was just over 11,000 with 8600 of that being the 48+. I managed to stay in a motel every night though I did need to ride 18 or more hours a day, most days. I made close to 1000 miles most days, sometimes just over 800 and one day along the east coast was hard pressed to reach 600. The Dunlop Elite tires on the Wing have at least 15,000 miles on them now and look like they might go another 10,000. No way could I have done that on the ST tires. I changed the oil along the way at about 6000 miles, but not the filter.
Good luck IBR riders for 2005. I am very pleased to call many of you my friends. After completing this ride, I now have a glimpse and appreciation of what you will be going through.
Steve Broadhead
Calgary, Alberta
17212
I had been planning the trip most of the winter. Checking and recalculating best routes with help from Mike Collins (Portland). But at the last minute I had pretty much decided not to do the trip this year. Work was just too busy. So Omaha it was for the convention and perhaps a short visit with my brother in St. Louis. But, I took my 48+ paperwork just in case.
Frustratingly my 2003 ST1300 was not ready at the last minute with a tire issue, so I took my (new to me) 97 Goldwing and headed to Omaha. An interesting note about this Wing. It was ridden in the 98 IBR by Don Moses. I was tickled pink to ride a bike with that kind of history on this ride. It now has 116,000 miles on the odometer. This bike was outfitted with PIAA 910’s, fog lights, Ron Smith aux fuel cell (so sorry to hear about Ron), well worn Russell seat, and GPS. I also had Widder heated gloves and vest.
May 12 – left Calgary, Alberta about noon and rode about 500 miles to Estevan, Saskatchewan enroute to Omaha for the weekend LD Rider convention. Fought a strong crosswind for most of the day. Near Moose Jaw I stopped for supper and had a Goldwing rider spot me, come over and chat me up. Turns out he is this 90 year old fellow from Victoria, B.C. on his annual trip to Americade in New York State. Said he sold his 2002 Goldwing last year as he thought he might stop riding but missed it so much he bought a 2004 again this spring. I was pleased for him and a little dismayed that he looked in better health and physical condition than me. Being only 46 that was a bit humbling. Saskatchewan roads were nearly empty of other vehicles. Saw lots of whitetail deer just north of Estevan. Most of the motel rooms were full. Lots of oilfield work going on apparently. Stayed in the room that was left. $35 only. Tiny room with about 2 feet on either side of the double bed.
May 13 – got hassled at the border crossing. Where you from? Calgary. Where you going? Omaha, Nebraska for a convention Friday and Saturday. When you coming home? Sunday…Border guard has a puzzled look on his face.. Says…That is over a 3000 round trip. What is that weird thing on your back seat. Auxiliary fuel. Ok, buddy… Pull it over and take your paperwork inside. Rode today to Omaha. Another SS1000 in wind, rain, sleet, and some snow. Nasty all day. Stayed pretty warm except for very cold feet. Listened on the radio to reports of heavy snow further south and watched as snow socked in behind me. Just kept ahead of it.
May 13/14 – Omaha Convention. Great time. Enjoyed it immensely. Made some new friends. Learned a few things. Told some lies. Got some serious pressure from Toby and Lisa Stevens to suck it up and do the 48+. Figure out the work thing and just ride it.
May 15 – Decided to not just head home. Really didn’t want to face that still cold north weather again yet. So rode the 450 miles to my brothers in St. Louis and had a nice short overnight visit with him and his family.
May 16 – pulled the 50CC documentation off his computer. Decided that I might as well do a 50CC while I was this far south and that would still let me get home in time to get the work done I needed to and then zip up for Hyderseek. Hyder is only 1000 miles from my home in Calgary.
Rode down along the Mississippi River to Fulton, Kentucky. My planned starting point for the 48+. It was on my way to Jacksonville anyway. The Fulton, Kentucky area is really pretty. Draw a 200 mile circle around there and it really appeals to me. Had the local sheriff in a little hick town in Tennessee(off duty) chat with me in a parking lot while I was getting a few supplies in a mall. Nice fellow. Retiring soon. Had shot his left hand off with a shotgun when he was 18. Gave me his business card and asked me to call or write him with a report when I got home. Once I got to Fulton, I got fired up about the 48+ ride again and had inspiration on how to take care of the work issues. Made the call and committed to myself to do the ride. Overnighted in Fulton. Recently I had put a tall Tulsa windshield on the Wing, mostly for more protection for my spouse who often rides pillion on this bike. After all the rain I endured getting into Omaha and the bugs that were now smashing the shield, it was time to trim the plastic shorter. So I stopped and bought a hacksaw blade and file. Painstakingly cut about 10 inches off the windscreen. That’s better. Now I can see over it when I need to.
Tuesday May 17 – Stopped at the local police station early and got two officers to witness my start documentation.
My planned route had me heading south to the Gulf then east to Florida, then almost at a 45 degree angle on the map to Kittery, Maine. A lot of that route was done at night to avoid heavy traffic, so I didn’t see a lot. I recall big tunnels, large grey battleships (in battleship row) looming in the darkness along the Gulf, more Baptist churches than could be counted, large trees everywhere – lining the road and blocking out visibility. Most of Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, and Georgia were a tunnel of trees. Prolific, large leaved trees with vines. Pretty much a jungle. I recall seeing names like Black River. Driving across the bridge and it was a black river. Muddy and black water. I thought hard about quitting in Atlanta. My arse was complaining (not really used to the Wing) and I was not happy with the bikes suspension. Checked the manual. Said 0 – 6 PSI in the front forks and up to 56 in the rear shock. Ended up putting 20 PSI in each front shock and cranking the rear suspension to 47 in order to get a passable ride. Construction zones in the Carolina’s said $200 fine for speeding and 30 days in jail. 30 days in jail.. Wow.. they are serious. I had taken my Passport 8500 radar detector but after the first day it got stuffed in my gear. I just don’t speed much on this tank of a GL1500 and if I did the gas consumption on a big trip like this becomes a major issue. Beautiful flowers all along the freeway in North Carolina. For hundreds of miles. Come around one sweeper and there is acres of red flowers. Turn the next bend and they are purple and yellow. Great stuff. A few days later in Pennsylvania I had a Harley rider come up and chat with me while I was taking a break. I told him about the flowers and how I just had to stop and find a spot to lay down in them. He laughed and said – feel like a pussy do you? I said ya. He said don’t. We have all done it.
I really liked West Virginia. Green and lush with nice little farms. Beautiful wooded hills (they call mountains) to the east where I rode through the Blue Ridge Parkway. Stopped there for a rest at a small store with a porch on the front. There were 6 wooded rocking chairs there. Felt like a real hick sitting and rocking on the front porch. Beautiful view of the hills out in front of me. Had 7 or 8 locals come and talk me up. Very friendly and genuinely interested in what I was doing. Here is where I got my only rain of the entire trip. About 15 minutes of it. Covered up the GSP with a shower cap.
Early on I decided I hated the handlebar mount for the GPS. Too much vibration. Much prefer the more solid dash shelf mount as set up on my ST. Nevertheless the Garmin 2610 proved invaluable on this trip.
I found out about toll roads. Lots of them. Everywhere. Must breed like rabbits. Being on toll roads made this westerner feel trapped and used and found that riding on toll roads brought out the endurance rider in me. Meaning it required great endurance to have the patience to ride them. The last minute squeezing into the right toll booth lane was always a challenge. Silly me for not having a speed pass.
Got about a day behind by the time I hit Maine as I did not make the daily mileage I had expected through the east coast. Made Kittery, Maine just about dark on Thursday night – May 19.
May 19 – rode in the dark from Kittery, Maine to Fredonia, New York. About 561 miles. This was a very tough part of the ride and I wished I would have done it differently. Lots of trees, deer, got down to 33F, twisty single lane roads for much of the ride, and lots of small towns, wooden bridges and sharp turns with little notice. Should have stayed in Kittery and done this ride in the light. Rode through one small city in up State New York that had full sized statues of bull moose along the main street. Must have been a dozen of them. Though I was seeing things. Pulled over for a motel shortly after that.
May 20 – rode through Chicago about midnight. More toll roads and lots of traffic. Almost got nailed by a speeding van pulling across 4 lanes of traffic to make his offramp. Had to do some panic breaking at 70MPH. Was so happy when I got to Beloit, Illinois. Last toll booth. Yahoooo!!! In Chicago I wasn’t keeping up with the GPS or it with me and missed an off ramp several times. Went through the same toll booth 3 times. $7 please sir…GRRR… Would have helped if I had an earplug attachment to the GPS. Wish I would have. Had to read the vibrating handlebar mounted GPS in the dark, at freeway speeds, while avoiding heavy traffic. Very glad to leave Chicago. Disliked the traffic and roads there more than any other city. New York was a breeze in comparison.
Remember riding past signs that would have easily led me to Elvis’s home, or 911 monuments, or to the Submarine Bases… All things I would have loved to stopped at. Just no time on this trip. Did take time to stop in Palmyra, New York and check out some sights there that have religious importance to me.
Saw a big white yacht in upstate New York sailing NW towards one of the Great Lakes. Checked my map. Came from the Atlantic. Cool..
May 22 – was very careful riding through Boise City, Oklahoma. A lady rider I had met at Omaha (forgot the name) crashed last year here on her 48+ attempt. Tired and went off the road. She said nice things about the locals who helped her.
May 23 – cooked in the desert between Albuquerque and Las Vegas in the 115F heat. Should have ridden at night. Stopped in Vegas at 6PM, grabbed a motel room and stayed until 2AM. Still 90F when I headed north.
Enjoyed the ride up through Idaho on 95, along the river, though I did a lot of it in the dark. Had an electrical problem about 6AM just south of Lewiston. Bike died just as I was about to crest a hill along the river. Some short somewhere had drained the battery. Shut off all my electrics (vest, GPS, aux lights) and sat there for a few minutes pondering the situation. Frustrating and tricky to stop and park a Goldwing on a steep uphill slope. Decided to leave the electrics off, turn the bike around and ride it in neutral down the hill for a bump start. Worked like a charm. Limped into Lewiston and stopped at a Honda dealer that would open in a half hour or so. I checked all my electrics. Problem with aux fog lights. Disconnected them. Bought a new battery and charged it up. Also bought some jumper cables and put the spare battery and cables in the top box for possible emergency use.
Day 9 – May 26 – rode from Cranbrook, BC to Hyder. Almost 1000 miles. Finally met some other LD riders doing the ride just north of Prince George. Leadbetter, Bobbit and one other. Nice to ride the rest of the way into Hyder with them. Got there just before dark with 8 hours to spare in my 10 day challenge.
The ride from Cranbrook to Hyder through the Banff and Jasper parkway is just delightful.
Saw lots of black bears in BC along the road. Mostly from about 100 miles SE of Prince George to Hyder. The little town of Smithers, BC takes my breath away due to the scenery in the area and Hyder/Stewart of course is awesome.
When I pulled up to the Sealaska Inn in Hyder and went inside there were already lots of riders there. I took my helmet off and part of my forehead came off with it. I was burned pretty bad. Everyone laughed. I didn’t care one bit. A little sunscreen next time perhaps.
It was great to see the other 25 riders that had finished the ride as they came in, the other riders that attended the event and the fine people of Hyder and Stewart.
Thanks for the motivation Mike, Brian, Toby and Lisa. Great to party and celebrate with the rest of you. Congratulations to the finishers and frankly to everyone who rode the long distance to Hyder. Hope you all made it home safely.
My total mileage for this trip was just over 11,000 with 8600 of that being the 48+. I managed to stay in a motel every night though I did need to ride 18 or more hours a day, most days. I made close to 1000 miles most days, sometimes just over 800 and one day along the east coast was hard pressed to reach 600. The Dunlop Elite tires on the Wing have at least 15,000 miles on them now and look like they might go another 10,000. No way could I have done that on the ST tires. I changed the oil along the way at about 6000 miles, but not the filter.
Good luck IBR riders for 2005. I am very pleased to call many of you my friends. After completing this ride, I now have a glimpse and appreciation of what you will be going through.
Steve Broadhead
Calgary, Alberta
17212
