1450 miles in 27 hours, personal best!

[Lamonster]

Had a blast at the Owners Event in Durango but instead of going home to East TN we decided to head for San Diego to see friends and family. Ran into quite a few SpyderLovers on the way down, hope they all made it home safe.

Met this couple at Four Corners


Had to show the tourist the cool way to be in all four states, they were doing the twister thing...not cool!


We stopped for the night just north of Phoenix and rode the rest of the way in the next day. You would think I would have stopped in at my mom's and got some rest but instead I took a ride to Palomar Mountain and then to Julian. I just couldn't pass up a chance to ride some of my old favorite roads.

On the way up to Palomar I ran into a bunch of locus. This sucker was stuck in my helmet.








I didn't stay long in San Diego as both Ron and I had to get back to TN but we both made the most of our time. Got to eat at some of my favorite places and I picked up another Best in show at the El Cajon car show.

Best fast food Burgers in the country








We decided to head back to TN at 4am from San Diego. We really didn't get on the road till 5am but that's another story (BajaRon), just saying.

It was warm but not too bad. The Spyders were running great and they didn't want to stop but about 700 miles into the trip I got a email about some work I had to get done asap so that shut us down right at 800 miles. We wound up staying in the same Ramada in Albuquerque as we had stayed the week before. We ate at the Owl again and while we were there we ran into Dave who was there waiting on his Spyder to be repaired. They were able to hook him up with a loaner that Faran had so that worked out pretty good.

From the hotel to my house mapped out at 1460 miles. For whatever reason I had it in my head I was going to ride all the way in. I told Ron he didn't have to do that if he didn't want to but he said he was game. Now this is on a GS/RS with a stock seat and no backrest. I have no idea how he did it with that setup as it was hard enough on the RT.

When we left Albuquerque it was just under 100 degrees and that felt cool compared to what we had been riding in. Suffice to say this was the hottest trip I can ever remember taking. The wind felt like a blast furnace and my temps were reading 104-106 most of the time and I did see 116 at one point. I can't tell you what state that was in because it was all pretty much a blur by then. I was doing pretty good till we got to about 850 miles or so and then I started having my doubts about making it. From there I went to the one fuel stop at a time state of mind. I knew if I could just make it to the next fuel stop I could decide if I wanted to try and push it all the way or not.

It was a battle of the mind and the body but the Spyder had no problem with the miles or the heat. I must say if there was any hiccup at all I would have used it for an excuse to quit but the Spyder didn't cut me any slack in that regard. I'm not saying I wanted to have a problem but I didn't want to stop just because I personally wimped out.



I did learn a hard lesson on this trip. After about 300 miles I decided to drink one of those 5 hour energy drinks and I timed it when the 5 hours was up before drinking another one. I had not eaten anything and was drinking plenty of water. I'll bet I drank 50 bucks worth of water on this run. The first 5 hour I drank didn't do much for me but the second one made me want to crawl out of my skin. It was not a good feeling at all and I couldn't wait for it to wear off. I was not only feeling freaky but I was having the dry heaves too while going down the road. That went on for about 400 miles. I will never take back to back 5 hour energy drinks again. Bad idea!

I did find a new trick that worked great, when we would get fuel I would go to where they had water for your radiator and I would soak myself before leaving. It would last about 50 miles and that was better than nothing. It really helped cool me down.

As the sun set it did get a little cooler but not much, it was still too darn hot. By time we got into west TN I was feeling pretty stupid and it was all I could do to stay on the road. At one point I fell asleep but in my dream I was driving on the roads in Durango. When I woke up I had no idea where I was and I was doing 50 mph. I had been doing 70+ so I have no idea how long I was out or if I was just sleep driving with my eyes open. It was the strangest thing but I knew it was going to get me killed if I let it happen again. Turns out there was a rest stop about two miles from where I woke up so I pulled in there and told Ron I had to stop or I was going to die. He was a sport and was fine with whatever I wanted to do.

Understand that this place was not setup for taking a nap on the ground. The whole place was dirt with very little grass and the one tree I found to lay next to was full of ants so that woke me up right away. The next place I laid my head was a picnic table and apparently they were have some sort of spider rally of their own there as I was covered with spiders in my ears, mouth and crawling down my neck. I went in the bathroom and it was mostly daddy long legs but it still wasn't cool. That pretty much woke me up to the point where I was ready to roll again. It's funny because Ron never got off of his Spyder, I'm not sure if he couldn't or just didn't want to but I'm sure he got some better rest than I did.

BajaRon ready to roll at 3:52am


This last stop was near Jackson TN and we blasted the rest of the way home from there without issue. As it stands we did 1460 miles +or- in 27 hours. The most I had done before on my RS was 1150 in 19 hours so this was a record for me. This is not one I would recommend trying as it could have got us killed. I think if it wasn't so darn hot it would have been better but that's still a long run in the saddle in good conditions. I will say I wouldn't wanted to do it on any other machine.

Still haven't cleaned it up yet.

[daveinva]

Now THAT'S a hardcore trip.

I'm jealous... In-N-Out burger... I lived in L.A. for a year & a half, I ate waaaay too many of those, dang do I miss them

[SpyderAnn01]

Wow, the 1460 miles in 27 hours by itself is really impressive but add the 800 miles the day before is just crazy.

[Ltownblue]

Cool. I know that the riding while asleep, or at least not cognizant thing was pretty scary. Thanks for sharing.

[spyder3]

That is some scary stuff, glad you guys made it home to write about it....and about those spiders

[MarkLawson]

Glad you're home safe & we're not reading about you in the papers!

[Jeriatric]

to both of ya!

[ARtraveler]

Thanks for sharing the ride pictures and experiences. Glad you made it back safely.

[captblack]

Wow Lamont, what a trip

I'm glad you made it home safe and sound. Thanks for the great pictures and the story that goes with it.

[flamingobabe]

Glad Ron and you are home safe...the heat is a killer...pump that iron and run that mill....see y'all down the road....

[docdoru]

Lamonster and Ron, you're the best

[DynamoBT]

You guys are crazy!!! Quite an accomplishment. But, taking a lot of risk too. Glad you both are home safely.

[NancysToy]

I did that fall-asleep-while-riding thing coming home from Spyderfest. Scares the bejeebers out of you to wake up at 65 mph with a semi in front of you that you haven't seen until just then. Time for a rest stop and a nap. Glad I had a dry, critter-free bench, from what you experienced. Glad you're home safe, glad to achieved your goal...now don't do it again!

[Firefly]

Glad you made the decision to pull off and try and get some rest.... gotta be smart about this kind of thing as it can indeed kill you.

I dealt with the 'dozing off' thing while riding too.. and for me it's like a 'jolt' that 'wakes me back up' as my head starts to drop. Not safe at all. I had to do various tricks to keep myself awake and found standing up on the pegs and leaning forward towards the front of the bike worked quite well. When standing up I think the body is not apt to doze off. I'd stand up for a few minutes at a time.. sure I looked strange... but it kept me awake.

Glad you made it home safe and sound.

[gln2]

Lamont glad you made it back safe, and All is well!! Sometimes it's nice to be back with family I'm sure they missed you. Thanks for the video on the trip.

[YumaJim]

Glad you two made it back ok. Sorry we couldn't meet up while you were in Julian. I certainly understand you wanting to beat the heat and leave early like you did. I've never tried the 5 hour energy drink and after your experience don't plan to ever!

[SethO]

i had furnace air like that too in WY on the way back, had to put my lid back on or I was going to get a bloody nose. It is amazing the challenge I talk to people about when it comes to just riding motorcycle or spyder and when I was on my death run to durango I had to laugh at myself about how much I have changed since I started riding in 04, when i foolishly thought 200 miles in a day was a hard day of riding on my 95 Suzuki RF900.

Glad you made it back.

[Lamonster]

i had furnace air like that too in WY on the way back, had to put my lid back on or I was going to get a bloody nose. It is amazing the challenge I talk to people about when it comes to just riding motorcycle or spyder and when I was on my death run to durango I had to laugh at myself about how much I have changed since I started riding in 04, when i foolishly thought 200 miles in a day was a hard day of riding on my 95 Suzuki RF900.

Glad you made it back.

You Doc and Forest are true hardcore riders, I'm just a want-to-b compared to you guys. I most likely will never do this again but I wanted to see if I could. I already had some guy on Facebook tell me it was no big deal on a Spyder and he does it all the time on a bike.

Ok ,,,,, a day is 24HRS last time I checked and people do 1500 mi in 24 hrs on motorcycles all the time myself included MANY MANY TIMES/ Which btw is ALOT more difficult / SERIOUSLY ryding a Spyder is like riding in car w all the windows down,,,, fatiguing somewhat but NOWHERE NEAR the degree of difficulty of a bike! NOT EVEN CLOSE!

Anyway I too am glad you guys aren't reading about me in the papers and like I said I would not recommend doing this, especially in that heat, that's what really took it out of me.

As far as having more respect for BajaRon, I agree, the guy has 10 years on me and for sure his ride wasn't as comfortable as mine and yet I don't think he complained one time about being hot or wore out. I guess those CDF fire fighters are a tough bunch!

[docdoru]

You Doc and Forest are true hardcore riders, I'm just a want-to-b compared to you guys. I most likely will never do this again but I wanted to see if I could. I already had some guy on Facebook tell me it was no big deal on a Spyder and he does it all the time on a bike.

Invite that guy from FB to the Second Edition Spyder Triangle so he can put the miles where the keyboard is.

[hotglue]

Hey Bro
Glad y'all made it home, and the subject line was NOT......
"1450 miles in 27 hours, personal WORST" LOL

[Lamonster]

Invite that guy from FB to the Second Edition Spyder Triangle so he can put the miles where the keyboard is.

I wasn't competing with anyone but myself, the guy missed that point. I'm not a hardcore rider when compared to some but I have been coast to coast on just about every bike I've owned and I'll take the Spyder over all of them. If I had something to prove I would have done it on a skateboard.

[MickeyFisher]

Amazing, but I think I would have had to go in for some shock therapy after waking up covered in spiders. Yikes!!

[napper39]

too much is just too much,i like to ride but not like that,i go out at 6 am till 10 am in this heat then put it up,you guys are crazy glad you made it alive.

[Peoriafirefighter]

Had a blast at the Owners Event in Durango but instead of going home to East TN we decided to head for San Diego to see friends and family. Ran into quite a few SpyderLovers on the way down, hope they all made it home safe.

Met this couple at Four Corners


Had to show the tourist the cool way to be in all four states, they were doing the twister thing...not cool!


We stopped for the night just north of Phoenix and rode the rest of the way in the next day. You would think I would have stopped in at my mom's and got some rest but instead I took a ride to Palomar Mountain and then to Julian. I just couldn't pass up a chance to ride some of my old favorite roads.

On the way up to Palomar I ran into a bunch of locus. This sucker was stuck in my helmet.








I didn't stay long in San Diego as both Ron and I had to get back to TN but we both made the most of our time. Got to eat at some of my favorite places and I picked up another Best in show at the El Cajon car show.

Best fast food Burgers in the country








We decided to head back to TN at 4am from San Diego. We really didn't get on the road till 5am but that's another story (BajaRon), just saying.

It was warm but not too bad. The Spyders were running great and they didn't want to stop but about 700 miles into the trip I got a email about some work I had to get done asap so that shut us down right at 800 miles. We wound up staying in the same Ramada in Albuquerque as we had stayed the week before. We ate at the Owl again and while we were there we ran into Dave who was there waiting on his Spyder to be repaired. They were able to hook him up with a loaner that Faran had so that worked out pretty good.

From the hotel to my house mapped out at 1460 miles. For whatever reason I had it in my head I was going to ride all the way in. I told Ron he didn't have to do that if he didn't want to but he said he was game. Now this is on a GS/RS with a stock seat and no backrest. I have no idea how he did it with that setup as it was hard enough on the RT.

When we left Albuquerque it was just under 100 degrees and that felt cool compared to what we had been riding in. Suffice to say this was the hottest trip I can ever remember taking. The wind felt like a blast furnace and my temps were reading 104-106 most of the time and I did see 116 at one point. I can't tell you what state that was in because it was all pretty much a blur by then. I was doing pretty good till we got to about 850 miles or so and then I started having my doubts about making it. From there I went to the one fuel stop at a time state of mind. I knew if I could just make it to the next fuel stop I could decide if I wanted to try and push it all the way or not.

It was a battle of the mind and the body but the Spyder had no problem with the miles or the heat. I must say if there was any hiccup at all I would have used it for an excuse to quit but the Spyder didn't cut me any slack in that regard. I'm not saying I wanted to have a problem but I didn't want to stop just because I personally wimped out.



I did learn a hard lesson on this trip. After about 300 miles I decided to drink one of those 5 hour energy drinks and I timed it when the 5 hours was up before drinking another one. I had not eaten anything and was drinking plenty of water. I'll bet I drank 50 bucks worth of water on this run. The first 5 hour I drank didn't do much for me but the second one made me want to crawl out of my skin. It was not a good feeling at all and I couldn't wait for it to wear off. I was not only feeling freaky but I was having the dry heaves too while going down the road. That went on for about 400 miles. I will never take back to back 5 hour energy drinks again. Bad idea!

I did find a new trick that worked great, when we would get fuel I would go to where they had water for your radiator and I would soak myself before leaving. It would last about 50 miles and that was better than nothing. It really helped cool me down.

As the sun set it did get a little cooler but not much, it was still too darn hot. By time we got into west TN I was feeling pretty stupid and it was all I could do to stay on the road. At one point I fell asleep but in my dream I was driving on the roads in Durango. When I woke up I had no idea where I was and I was doing 50 mph. I had been doing 70+ so I have no idea how long I was out or if I was just sleep driving with my eyes open. It was the strangest thing but I knew it was going to get me killed if I let it happen again. Turns out there was a rest stop about two miles from where I woke up so I pulled in there and told Ron I had to stop or I was going to die. He was a sport and was fine with whatever I wanted to do.

Understand that this place was not setup for taking a nap on the ground. The whole place was dirt with very little grass and the one tree I found to lay next to was full of ants so that woke me up right away. The next place I laid my head was a picnic table and apparently they were have some sort of spider rally of their own there as I was covered with spiders in my ears, mouth and crawling down my neck. I went in the bathroom and it was mostly daddy long legs but it still wasn't cool. That pretty much woke me up to the point where I was ready to roll again. It's funny because Ron never got off of his Spyder, I'm not sure if he couldn't or just didn't want to but I'm sure he got some better rest than I did.

BajaRon ready to roll at 3:52am


This last stop was near Jackson TN and we blasted the rest of the way home from there without issue. As it stands we did 1460 miles +or- in 27 hours. The most I had done before on my RS was 1150 in 19 hours so this was a record for me. This is not one I would recommend trying as it could have got us killed. I think if it wasn't so darn hot it would have been better but that's still a long run in the saddle in good conditions. I will say I wouldn't wanted to do it on any other machine.

Still haven't cleaned it up yet.

I'm glad I got to see you and Ron again in Albuquerque, but I hope the next time it's under better circumstance. BRP was GREAT to me. I had my personal best of 1315 miles straight thru to Illinois in 21 hours also on my GS with no back support. I can say that will stay my personal best as I'm so sore I can hardly walk. Take Care Bro. and could you PM me Ron's address so I can return his belt tension gauge. Thanks!

[Lamonster]

I'm glad I got to see you and Ron again in Albuquerque, but I hope the next time it's under better circumstance. BRP was GREAT to me. I had my personal best of 1315 miles straight thru to Illinois in 21 hours also on my GS with no back support. I can say that will stay my personal best as I'm so sore I can hardly walk. Take Care Bro. and could you PM me Ron's address so I can return his belt tension gauge. Thanks!

Just read your last post Bro. Glad you made it home. You fire fighters are a tough bunch.