Bun Burner Gold

Bun Burner Gold

 February 29, 2020

The Iron Butt Association Bun Burner Gold 1500 is a motorcycle ride in which you must ride 1,500 miles in less than 24 hours. This will be a tough ride and will take place on February 29^th “Leap Year.” So, we will have an extra day to ride this year!

My general route description is I-15 to Las Vegas, then east on I-40 to Albuquerque, south on I-25 to Las Cruces, west on I-10 to Phoenix, north on Hwy 93 to Las Vegas, and then back home on I-15.

Iron Butt Association (IBA) rides are always a bit of a challenge. The added pressure of time and distance put that edge on your riding. This ride was no different. In fact, I have read that several riders believe the Butt Burner Gold (BBG) 1500 is one of the harder rides. I know some people who bang them out like nothing though. The next level up is multi-days of 1,000 to 1,500-mile days.

I was waiting on perfect weather to do this ride, then I saw that the IBA was making a special certificate for rides on February 29^th for Leap Year. This put me in gear, so to speak, to do the ride on this date.

The weather was okay, but a little on the cold side. I was debating on wearing the heated pants I have; the heated jacket was guaranteed. I’m glad I took the pants. They were turned on most of the ride, maybe a few hours they were turned off. My grips are heated, but I realized the right grip is about twice as hot as the left one, no matter the setting. One hand is okay, the other burns or one hand is cold and the other is okay; choose wisely grasshopper.

This ride with the planned stops came out to just a few minutes over 24 hours. You must be under 24 hours to be successful. Each planned stop for gas and/or food needs to be less than ten minutes. Soooo, I knew I needed to shave a few minutes off the stops or increase my moving average up a little, and of course probably both. Typically, the moving average for most IBA rides is around 60 mph. I think, in the end, my moving average was 68 mph. I had just over 50 minutes to spare when I finished.

Part of the documentation for IBA rides is a business receipt with time, date, and location on it. On two of my stops, the gas pump didn’t produce a receipt, which is hard enough for me to remember since I never get a receipt except on IBA rides. The first pump that failed was in Deming, NM and a quick walk into the station fixed the problem. The second time, in Surprise, AZ the clerk was doing all she could do but the computer took almost 10 minutes it seemed to print it out. Circle K in case you were wondering.

I listen to books on tape on my phone for the most part. I have XM on the bike radio, well I should, this year's model does not use the previous XM module; that’s on the list to be upgraded. Anyhow, I listened to three books on tape. A John Grisham – Witness to a Trial (the last half), Star Trek – Best Defense, and Neil Peart – The Masked Rider. Many may not know who Neil Peart is, he was the drummer for the group Rush, he died recently, and all his books were free to download; he is a very interesting soul.

To save some time, I took a small cooler in my tour pack with two homemade bacon and tomato sandwiches and other items to snack on. This worked out great and did not take up additional time for eating. Well, maybe a couple of minutes when I wolfed down the sandwiches, next time I need to remember some toothpicks for the bacon and the beef jerky though.

The ride was officially over at Apex, NV which is just north of Las Vegas. Not sure it is an official town, but the summit nearby is Apex Summit. I stopped at the only gas station there, a Pilot. I had about 55 minutes to spare; though I had almost two hours, then I remember I was in Nevada and the time is an hour behind Mountain Time Zone. Then it was an hour and a half ride home.

Now, to start planning the next one…