I left the Shell gas station at the intersection of Rand and Lake Cook roads in Deer Park, IL at 4:11 am (gas receipt time stamp). I wanted to avoid the Chicago area gridlock and thought an early start time would be a good idea. I also projected 17 to 18 hours of riding to cover the 1000 plus miles for day 1. Starting at 4 am would mean that most of my riding would happen in the daylight hours. It was a brisk 44 degrees out with a slight breeze. I had on my Cycloak gear with the liner in my jacket and my heated grips turned on. I jumped on Route 53, that turns quickly into I-355. I remembered to take my I-Pass (If you don't live in Illinois this is a small electronic device that allows you to drive through the toll lanes at highway speeds. It picks up your billing info and that's it - no stopping and fumbling for change.) These two roads are usually bumper to bumper most times of the day. At 4 am hardly anyone is out, so I'm able to make decent time. I-355 terminates at I-55, so off to St Louis I went. One hour and 17 minutes into the ride and I was really beginning to feel the effects of the 40 degree weather and the morning wind. My bike has a windshield but no fairing. It was time for a quick stop for gas and more importantly to put on my heated vest. Pulling into Gardner, IL I realized I had only travelled 78 miles. My goal was originally to ride for 120 to 150 miles - pretty much the range of my cruiser. I had figured the less stops the better for time reasons, but I also realize the importance of listening to your body, and mine was yelling stop. Having done all that, it was time to get moving.

I never entered St Louis, opting to take I-270 north of the city. My goal for this ride and future rides is to try and stay clear of major citites. I know from living in Chicago how unpredicatble traffic jams in populated areas can destroy time schedules. I also know that one of the reasons we have interstates is to link large citites together. Trying to find citites with bypasses is now part of my planning process. Another of the other "luck" ingredients is road construction. In the future I will try to incorporate this potential hour eater into my planning. I stopped in Florissant, Missouri at a Mobil gas station. I would recommend another stop. The restroom was dirty and the station is one I would probably drive by if I could have seen it from the road. I stopped here because I was low on gas and I needed a time stamp from the St Louis area. Since I was riding a "circular" route the IBA wanted date time stamps from the "corners" of the route. I had a hard time with the terminology - corners of a circle - but I did get the message - a significant change of direction requires a date time stamp.

I then hooked up with I-70 west and headed to Kansas City. It took me awhile, but I eventually realized why there were so many cars on the road and why this group of cars was buzzing along the interstate at such a heady clip. I imagine the tiger tais hanging out of the car trunks should have given me my first clue. Either that or the tiger paw flags flying from many of the cars. It was Saturday and the Missouri Tigers were playing in Columbia. I guess you could say that I rode the Tiger Express to Columbia.

Outside of Kansas City, I took I-435 north around the city. Then it was I-29 with a stop in Platte City, Missouri and a bite of lunch at a KFC that was co-located with a Conoco station. It sure makes life simplier for a long distance rider to have the food and the gas in the same spot. Chicken strips and cole slaw were a nice alternative to a burger and fries. This station did not print a location on the receipt, so one of the cashiers, Melissa, was kind enough to write the location of the station and sign the back of the receipt. The IBA requires that you get additional documetation for information that is lacking on your receipts. If you're not sure, it's probably a good idea to have someone add the information, sign it and print their name on the back of the receipt.

I gassed up at the Bluff View Amoco in Pacific Junction, IA to gas up. Great stop - I treated myself to a generous portion of homemade apple crisp. It was on display right next to the cash register of this combination gas station and small restuarant. Delicious and filing it was worth the fifeteen minutes extra that I spent there. Remaining on I-29 I headed through Dakota Dunes, South Dakota and then onto Sioux Falls.

In Sioux Falls I headed east on I-90. The goal was to stop in Albert Lea, but as mentioned that didn't work out. Austin, Minnesota was a nice place to stop for a quick rest. Unfortunately there wasn't an open restaurant. I had also planned to be on the road by 4 am, but since I was behind my original "close my eyes" time by more than an hour I was okay with adelayed wake up. Sunday morning came quickly - a powerbar and a banana later I was on the road again. This leg home went amazingly well. I headed south in Madison on I-39 and stayed there until I hit I-80, just north of LaSalle-Peru, Illinois. It was all downhill now. I-80 west, then I-355 north to 53 north to the Deer Park Shell station where I started.

Here's a summary of my ride taken directly from my IBA mileage log with some additional statistics that I calculated as I put this journal together. For all IBA rides you are required to keep a log with the date, time, and mileage - you also need to collect gas receipts that show location and have a date-time stamp. At the end of the ride you will need to make a copy of all of these receipts and include it in your ride completion package. The specific requirements are spelled out in detail on the IBA web site for each ride certification. Take the time to read about the ride you are attempting. Bettter to spend a few hours understanding it all now, than at the end of a long ride realizing you didn't cross the t-s and dot the i-s.

Now that I've written down all of the information in this table, I've had some time to reflect on what I did and how I did it. As with most long distance beginners, I'm obsessed with how the really good long distance riders manage to do what they do. It seems to be a combination of planning, skill, gas tank size, bladder control and luck. Armed with a 4 gallon tank and a 50 year old bladder I needed a good plan and a lot of luck to be successful. In retrospect, I'm very happy with my results. I averaged 60.2149 mph for day 1. That includes all gas and food stops. Times are from the date time stamps of gas stations. I would stop for gas, fill up and then hit the restrooms. and drink some water. If I was hungry, I ate. I did force myself to eat lunch both days. This past summer I got into the habit of eating a powerbar for breakfast, skipping lunch and then eating a dinner when I stopped for the day. The only problem was that in many places you can't find dinner after 9 pm. I got burned a few times in Alaska and Canada. If I was going to ride all day, I new I had to eat, so lunch was a priority.

If you ask me what my average speed for day 1 was, I'd rather tell you it was higher than I reported in the previous paragraph. My planned stop for day 1 was Albert Lea, a decent sized town near the intersection of I-35 and I-90. I was pretty sure I'd be able to find a cheap room there, but I had to move on to the next town (Austin) because all the rooms at both inns were full and no campground was in sight - no barn either. My average speed to Albert Lea was 62.8011 mph. Pretty cool!!! That speed doesn't have the time it took for me to gas up and go to two hotels. This was a much better pace than I anticipated. With longer legs on my tank, I think I could do the BunBurner Gold. I would also have to be lucky enough to have the same great weather, the same kow traffic volume, the same minimal road construction and the same good luck with the bike.

On the second day, I was rested and the thought of riding "only" 500 miles helped me buzz along quickly. I guess it was like in my old Navy days - I had liberty turns on. I could see my goal and I wanted to get home! By the time I had stopped riding I had covered 483 miles in 6 hours and 53 minutes for an amzing average of 70.0242 mph. I had averaged 120. 5 miles over the 4 segments of the second day's ride. I had only stopped for gas those 4 times. Iwas surprised to see that my average for day 1, until Albert Lea was 110.1 over 10 stops. With all 11 stops the average fell to 101.909 miles.

My average speed, over both days of riding, was 62.8627 mph. Awesome! I was also very close to the 1500 mile mark in 24 hours. About 90 minutes over, but the last 500 miles were on almost 7 hours of sleep so my average speed would have probably declined and I would have been further off the mark. I need a larger gas tank and more physical endurance! On this ride I never exceeded 90 mph. I usually rode 10 to 15 mph over the posted limit and made sure that I was never the fastest vehicle on the road. A stop by America's finest law enforcement officers would really lower the average speed. I do not own or use a radar detector or a jammer.