I finally completed the BBG4500 on my third attempt in the last 8 months! That is almost15000 miles ridden to conquer this one ride. That has to be some kind of record in stubbornness or endurance!

 Nevertheless, I learned a lot along the way and the journey was certainly worth it.

 When I made my first attempt last July, John Ryan was the only rider to have ever successfully completed this ride. Since then, Peter Murray rode it in the late fall and two more riders – Peter Leap and John Tomasovitch – made successful BBG4500 rides that ended at the March 10^th IBA party in Jacksonville, Florida. My hat is off to all of these riders and I look forward to reading Peter’s and John’s ride reports in the near future. I talked briefly with Peter in Jacksonville. Through his glossy 4500 mile stare he told me that he had noted on LDRider where I was looking for witnesses and figured I was going to make another attempt shortly – and that inspired him. Well then, if I am encouraging anyone in any respect to do this ride, it then behooves me to do my best in this ride report to tell you what I have learned and what I did to make this ride successful.

 The biggest differences in why this ride was successful compared to the other attempts were ride start times and daytime temperatures. I had daytime temperatures last summer of up to 37C. The effects of that heat and related dehydration made a huge difference in remaining mental and physical energy late into the 3^rd BBG. That combined with finishing in the dark hours became a ride defeater. One school of thought calls for these rides to be started early in the morning when you normally wake up. That is what I tried on the first two attempts. That left me riding the last 10 hours or so of a 72 hour ride in the dark. Darkness stretches the limits of physical and mental endurance, particularly on a trifecta ride more than I had imagined. There are ways to offset this such as riding with a partner (in communication) as was the case with Peter Murray and David Derrick. However, I concluded that riding alone required a different ride start time. I decided that 7PM was optimum for available daylight during March (on my planned route) and for convenience of the witnesses. The trick then was to do the evening start as rested as possible. I also concluded that I needed to do the ride at a place and time when I could count on daytime temperatures not exceeding my comfort limit of 27C.

 I also researched further as much as I could find about sleep deprivation, nutrition, hydration, maintaining alertness levels, recognizing danger zones, and caffeine use. My little March ride started with a truck and trailer trip to southern Utah out of the snowy cold of Alberta, then a 50CC from San Diego to Savannah along with attending the IBA party in Jacksonville, followed by a SS1000 to San Antonio. I began my BBG4500 ride at 7PM from Boerne, Texas on March 13. My route was west to El Paso, then north to Albuquerque, south to Las Cruces, and west to Wellton, Arizona (near Yuma). 1505 miles by GPS and 1517 by mapping program. I cut the mileage close to purposefully give me as much rest time between BBG’s as possible. The back and forth route was chosen for increased safety and efficiency of knowing the road, construction zones, and other potential hazards and delays. Daytime temperatures were between 13C and 26C and night time lows ran at -11C, 5C, and -5C. The first night near Albuquerque was the coldest and had me watching the road very carefully for slick spots, and all bundled up in my electric vest, gloves and balaclava. All gas stops were just less than 300 miles. I had to keep a close watch at night in western Texas for ever present whitetail deer but other than high desert winds and crosswinds, there were no reportable hazards or delays on the trip. I finished each leg within 21.5 hours which gave me time for sleep before getting the necessary receipts and heading out again. I had terrific witnesses, who gave freely of their time, means and support. They also showed genuine interest, enthusiasm, and even seemed to join me vicariously on the ride. Motel rooms were booked in advance and kept even for the night I would be 1500 miles away. Witnesses were on site before I arrived, had the room ready, cared for my bike, and stayed on site while I slept, ensuring that I was up and gone on time for the next leg.

 As I came south from Albuquerque and headed west towards Tucson just after first light on the final leg, I got emotional and cried a bit. Fogging up my glasses and glad my tears were hidden in my helmet. Comforted by the warming and brightening day and dealing with a flood of feelings about the ride, the effort, the potential for success and the kindness and good that I had received from others.

 Near Tucson, Bob Still was patiently waiting for me. I rode past and gave him the thumbs up. Shortly he passed me and it was pretty wonderful to follow him the rest of the way to the finish.

 Last summer while obsessing about this ride, I had a dream. I was riding along a lonely highway, in the dark, deep in the zone, when a monstrous apparition appeared in front of me. His appearance was kind of a cross between a Genie and a Pirate. His voice was thunderous and he waived a huge sword. He said: “This is my highway! And you are not worthy!!” Then he cut off my head. Happily, on this final attempt, as I pulled off the freeway for my end receipt and with 2 ½ hours to spare in the third BBG, I shook my fist at nothing in particular within the blue desert sky, and said: “I rode your highway, and I was worthy!”

 My heartfelt thanks to Bob and Heidi Still from Yuma, Terry Vandeveer along with Anthony Statz and three firefighter friends from San Antonio, and Daryl Neil from Phoenix, who all went out of their way in acting as my witnesses and support team in this passionate endeavor.

 Food Consumed during ride – jerky, almonds and assorted nuts, energy bars, dried fruit, lemon sour candies

 Liquids consumed during ride – water in camel back, Boost Plus supplement drinks, no carbonated beverages or coffee at all

 Other – Pep Back pills taken sparingly as directed. This is Wallmarts off the shelf offering which has caffeine as the active ingredient.

 Ride was a 2003 Honda ST1300. Farkles are highway pegs, dash shelf, 4 Gallon aux fuel cell, Givi top trunk, Garmin 2710, Passport 8500, PIAA 910 and 510’s,

 Throttlemeister, throttle rocker, and sheepskin.

 Music by way of RCA Lyra MP3 with in ear speakers

 Steve Broadhead

 Calgary, Alberta

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