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We recently completed (awaiting verification) a Saddlesore 1000, 1000 miles in about 22 hours, with total distance covered of 1357 miles in 28.5 hours.
I took my Concours, and my co-rider took the GS550 we'd fixed up over the winter. Several of you had helped out with hints & tips over the winter specifically with the carbs, and a last minute question about pod filters in the rain so thanks to you !
The ride was perfect. Left Norcal at 8:00 on Friday night, and rode up to the Portland Or area, arriving at 7:00 on Sat morning. A quick coffee at a friends house, then off towards Bend, Oregon.
For those of you who hear advice not to drink coffee on long rides, its true !!! You get a quick high, but then end up lower than without the coffee. While riding I had a "long blink" at 70mph !! I quickly pulled over, and took several deep breaths. I also got out my iPod and decided that it was time to add some music to my brain. For those of you interested in adding music to your brain buckets, I highly recommend the Apple iPod. With capacity for 2000+ songs and a battery charge life of 10 hours it is a great way to listen to music without constantly changing stations or CDs..
We checked the Suzuki along the way, little to no oil loss, but somewhere in the night we lost the right side cover !
The roads were absolutely perfect as we passed Crater Lake and made our way into Northeast California.. forests, clear pavement, and the steady buzz of the 550 as I followed behind. Perfect sunny weather.
We hit the town of Canby, CA around 5:00pm on Saturday. This was 1000 miles by the Suzuki odometer, and a little more by mine. I had installed a Sigma bicycle computer on the Suzuki and according to it the Suzuki odometer was dead accurate. This is notable given that the speedometer on the 550 swings though a 30-40mph range at anything above 30 mph.. Shades of Lucas . Maybe its time to rebuild the speedo..
Following behind the Suzuki we rode a little further east to McArthur, CA just to make sure we really covered 1000 miles. We came across a couple of friendly CHP officers and they witnessed the forms with the ending odometer reading.
As we continued east to Redding, I noticed that the Suzuki was backfiring occasionally at WOT... but everything else seemed to be ok.
As darkness fell we were heading south on I5 when my co-rider suddenly pulled onto the shoulder, and cut her speed to 40mph. When my fatigued brain finally clued in I noticed that the headlight was out. This was the 3rd bulb in about 2 month to blow, and we had cleaned all the connections prior to the trip..
As we headed at this speed to the next exit, she suddenly swerved to into my lane. At the last minute she'd noticed a tire carcass on the shoulder and almost managed to swerve around it... almost. She hit it and the GS550 was instantly reborn as a motocross bike ! Fortunately she regained control, we hit the exit and after checking for soiled pants changed the bulb with about 10 millions bugs keeping us company. Always carry spare bulbs
After that it was pretty much superslab riding until safely arriving home at 12:30 Sunday morning. Final odometer reading on the GS550 was 1357 miles, in roughly 28.5 hours of riding.
Not to bad for a 25 yr old bike !! and damn fine riding for a 20 yr old rider.
A couple of days later I checked the points, and sure enough the gap was way way off. Resetting it, the bike now pulls smoothly up to redline.
I took my Concours, and my co-rider took the GS550 we'd fixed up over the winter. Several of you had helped out with hints & tips over the winter specifically with the carbs, and a last minute question about pod filters in the rain so thanks to you !
The ride was perfect. Left Norcal at 8:00 on Friday night, and rode up to the Portland Or area, arriving at 7:00 on Sat morning. A quick coffee at a friends house, then off towards Bend, Oregon.
For those of you who hear advice not to drink coffee on long rides, its true !!! You get a quick high, but then end up lower than without the coffee. While riding I had a "long blink" at 70mph !! I quickly pulled over, and took several deep breaths. I also got out my iPod and decided that it was time to add some music to my brain. For those of you interested in adding music to your brain buckets, I highly recommend the Apple iPod. With capacity for 2000+ songs and a battery charge life of 10 hours it is a great way to listen to music without constantly changing stations or CDs..
We checked the Suzuki along the way, little to no oil loss, but somewhere in the night we lost the right side cover !
The roads were absolutely perfect as we passed Crater Lake and made our way into Northeast California.. forests, clear pavement, and the steady buzz of the 550 as I followed behind. Perfect sunny weather.
We hit the town of Canby, CA around 5:00pm on Saturday. This was 1000 miles by the Suzuki odometer, and a little more by mine. I had installed a Sigma bicycle computer on the Suzuki and according to it the Suzuki odometer was dead accurate. This is notable given that the speedometer on the 550 swings though a 30-40mph range at anything above 30 mph.. Shades of Lucas . Maybe its time to rebuild the speedo..
Following behind the Suzuki we rode a little further east to McArthur, CA just to make sure we really covered 1000 miles. We came across a couple of friendly CHP officers and they witnessed the forms with the ending odometer reading.
As we continued east to Redding, I noticed that the Suzuki was backfiring occasionally at WOT... but everything else seemed to be ok.
As darkness fell we were heading south on I5 when my co-rider suddenly pulled onto the shoulder, and cut her speed to 40mph. When my fatigued brain finally clued in I noticed that the headlight was out. This was the 3rd bulb in about 2 month to blow, and we had cleaned all the connections prior to the trip..
As we headed at this speed to the next exit, she suddenly swerved to into my lane. At the last minute she'd noticed a tire carcass on the shoulder and almost managed to swerve around it... almost. She hit it and the GS550 was instantly reborn as a motocross bike ! Fortunately she regained control, we hit the exit and after checking for soiled pants changed the bulb with about 10 millions bugs keeping us company. Always carry spare bulbs
After that it was pretty much superslab riding until safely arriving home at 12:30 Sunday morning. Final odometer reading on the GS550 was 1357 miles, in roughly 28.5 hours of riding.
Not to bad for a 25 yr old bike !! and damn fine riding for a 20 yr old rider.
A couple of days later I checked the points, and sure enough the gap was way way off. Resetting it, the bike now pulls smoothly up to redline.
Congrats on that
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