SS1000 (August 2013)
To be able to join the Iron Butt Association (IBA), you have to complete, and have verified by the IBA, one of the entry level rides. The one that I chose was the SaddleSore 1000. It's quite simply really. All I would have to do is ride for at least 1000 miles, in no more than 24 hours. A simple calculation will show you that you only need to keep up an average of just over 40 mph. So avoiding cities and towns was a good idea. So I started off with the premise that I would keep to motorways, probably heading down the M6 and back up the M1 or vice versa. If I could maintain an average of 50 mph, that would only take me about 20 hours to complete, so plenty of leeway. However, that would be boring, so I thought that I could add in some side trips to pick up Round Britain locations to at least add some variety into the trip.
The main way of verifying the trip is through receipts to prove where you’ve been. When your route is being verified, the length is checked using each receipt location, and then using route mapping software to work out the shortest route between these points. So it’s in your best interest to get receipts from the “corners” of your route. You also have to have a receipt for every fuel stop as well.
I’d decided to deviate off the motorway in two places. One was to head into Cumbria, which involved quite a long loop so I needed to make sure that I got a receipt from the furthest point on this loop. The other was to head into North Wales. I use Autoroute for my route planning, so I plugged in the rally locations that I was looking for, along with my start point and another corner in the SE (Reading) and found that I had a route of about 1070 miles and take me 20 hours. I always factor in about 5 minutes per rally location to get off the bike, take a photo and pack things up again, and 10 minutes every time I stop for fuel. With 4 rally stops and a tank range of 180 miles, that would be (4 * 5) + (1070/180 * 10) = 80 minutes. That’s a total of almost 21 ½ hours, so still plenty of leeway. I didn’t want to push my luck and start adding in more stops, especially since this was my first attempt. I wanted to leave time to have an hours kip if needed, or even just extra breaks if I started to tire.
Now here is where an important lesson comes in. Even though I had a mileage and time that would meet the ride requirements, I had to remember that it was the shortest possible route that would be used for verification, no matter what route I actually travelled. So I changed the route calculation setting in the software and recalculated the shortest route…1007 miles! That might seem to be cutting things a little close but I felt that, as long as I didn’t change where I would pick up receipts, combined with submitting the track from my Spot Track device as extra confirmation of the route, I would be safe.
You also have to get witness signatures at the start and end of your ride, to verify the odometer readings, so I asked my partner, Dawn, to do the honours. The weather wasn’t forecast to be too great, but I’d already committed to setting off that day so I left the house at 10:00 to head round the corner to fill up my tank and get the first receipt, at the Asda store at Chesser.
A light rain continued to fall for the next few hours on the way to my first stop at the Viking Cross (13:07). I’d also planned to get a receipt near here as it was on the outside of the “Cumbria loop” and a packet of chewing gum later, I had one. I always feel a bit embarrassed to ask for a receipt for something so small but needs must.
My first fuel stop, at Millom (13:41, 184 miles), produced another receipt, then it was on to my next rally location at a War
memorial in Wales (16:33). I picked up my second fuel receipt in Abergele (17:00, 365 miles), then it was a short trip to pick up my third rally location, The Girl, in Llansannan (17:21). From here it was a nice ride down through Wales to my final rally location, Twyn Clock Tower (20:16).
The main way of verifying the trip is through receipts to prove where you’ve been. When your route is being verified, the length is checked using each receipt location, and then using route mapping software to work out the shortest route between these points. So it’s in your best interest to get receipts from the “corners” of your route. You also have to have a receipt for every fuel stop as well.
I’d decided to deviate off the motorway in two places. One was to head into Cumbria, which involved quite a long loop so I needed to make sure that I got a receipt from the furthest point on this loop. The other was to head into North Wales. I use Autoroute for my route planning, so I plugged in the rally locations that I was looking for, along with my start point and another corner in the SE (Reading) and found that I had a route of about 1070 miles and take me 20 hours. I always factor in about 5 minutes per rally location to get off the bike, take a photo and pack things up again, and 10 minutes every time I stop for fuel. With 4 rally stops and a tank range of 180 miles, that would be (4 * 5) + (1070/180 * 10) = 80 minutes. That’s a total of almost 21 ½ hours, so still plenty of leeway. I didn’t want to push my luck and start adding in more stops, especially since this was my first attempt. I wanted to leave time to have an hours kip if needed, or even just extra breaks if I started to tire.
Now here is where an important lesson comes in. Even though I had a mileage and time that would meet the ride requirements, I had to remember that it was the shortest possible route that would be used for verification, no matter what route I actually travelled. So I changed the route calculation setting in the software and recalculated the shortest route…1007 miles! That might seem to be cutting things a little close but I felt that, as long as I didn’t change where I would pick up receipts, combined with submitting the track from my Spot Track device as extra confirmation of the route, I would be safe.
You also have to get witness signatures at the start and end of your ride, to verify the odometer readings, so I asked my partner, Dawn, to do the honours. The weather wasn’t forecast to be too great, but I’d already committed to setting off that day so I left the house at 10:00 to head round the corner to fill up my tank and get the first receipt, at the Asda store at Chesser.
A light rain continued to fall for the next few hours on the way to my first stop at the Viking Cross (13:07). I’d also planned to get a receipt near here as it was on the outside of the “Cumbria loop” and a packet of chewing gum later, I had one. I always feel a bit embarrassed to ask for a receipt for something so small but needs must.
My first fuel stop, at Millom (13:41, 184 miles), produced another receipt, then it was on to my next rally location at a War
memorial in Wales (16:33). I picked up my second fuel receipt in Abergele (17:00, 365 miles), then it was a short trip to pick up my third rally location, The Girl, in Llansannan (17:21). From here it was a nice ride down through Wales to my final rally location, Twyn Clock Tower (20:16).
Another fuel receipt at Magor (20:38, 551 miles) and I had completed by Southward leg of the journey. I was about halfway into my journey, both in terms of time and distance, so all was looking well. However, by this time it was absolutely chucking it down, to the point that I’d slowed to 40 mph on the motorway, just so that I could see. I need a respite from the rain so decided to stop off at Membury services for something to eat and a rest (and to pick up another receipt while I was there of course.)
It was now time to head North and the on to the next fuel stop at Rushden (00:08, 717 miles), but at least it had stopped raining at about 9 o’clock. I only had fuel stops planned but I was starting to tire now. I got to the next stop at Beverley (02:38, 852 miles) without too much difficulty, but on the way to the last planned stop before the finish I really started to tire. It was time to grab some shut eye, so after filling up at Belford (06:15, 1013 miles), I took 30 minutes to get my head down.
The more observant amongst you might have realised that I’d already ridden over the 1000 mile mark, so why didn’t I get a witness signature here and finish the ride? Remember, it’s the shortest route that is used, and although my odometer showed 1013 miles, I had no way of knowing how many miles I would lose once the corners were cut off my route. Always remember the mantra of “Plan the
ride, Ride the plan”. So I headed off up the A1, stopping a lot more often that I normally would, and got my last fuel receipt back at the start point at Asda (08:06, 1120 miles).
I completed all of the paperwork in the house and, after triple checking it all, sent it off for verification. Happily everything was well, and I’m now a fully-fledged member of the IBA.
The full track of the route can be found here.
It was now time to head North and the on to the next fuel stop at Rushden (00:08, 717 miles), but at least it had stopped raining at about 9 o’clock. I only had fuel stops planned but I was starting to tire now. I got to the next stop at Beverley (02:38, 852 miles) without too much difficulty, but on the way to the last planned stop before the finish I really started to tire. It was time to grab some shut eye, so after filling up at Belford (06:15, 1013 miles), I took 30 minutes to get my head down.
The more observant amongst you might have realised that I’d already ridden over the 1000 mile mark, so why didn’t I get a witness signature here and finish the ride? Remember, it’s the shortest route that is used, and although my odometer showed 1013 miles, I had no way of knowing how many miles I would lose once the corners were cut off my route. Always remember the mantra of “Plan the
ride, Ride the plan”. So I headed off up the A1, stopping a lot more often that I normally would, and got my last fuel receipt back at the start point at Asda (08:06, 1120 miles).
I completed all of the paperwork in the house and, after triple checking it all, sent it off for verification. Happily everything was well, and I’m now a fully-fledged member of the IBA.
The full track of the route can be found here.