BMW R1200RT/R1250RT Forum

3 of us had planned to do an iron butt challenge on New Year's Day. This has been agreed since May. Chichester to Penrith. Just over 1000 miles. But now due to the latest weather forecast we've had to cancel. Bummer.
We have a good mix of bikes. HD Pan Am, Tri 120 and me on the RT. One of us only passed his test last year and hasn't ridden outside West Sussex.
Now time to rethink. We are going to approach a local kids charity to hopefully raise a little money for them.

Happy New Year everyone

I've done three of the Iron Butt rides and proudly display the artwork for each on my motorcycle.

I did the first one, the "Saddle Sore 1000" (1000 miles in less than 24 hrs) solo.
Temecula, Barstow, Kingman, Flagstaff, Phoenix, and home makes a nice 1000-mile loop! :-)

The other two, I did with riders from church as fundraisers. We used an android app called "Glympse". It can be made to generate a website address ANYONE can look at and see your speed/location in real time. That way, those who pledged money per mile could watch.

Take rain gear! Even in sunny California, I needed that half way through. For me the main concern was heat. I went in April just because the heat in high summer gets up around 38C (100F)!

I left about 03:00 hrs. That put me home by 22:00 hrs. Listening to music is good to help stay awake.
Good luck on your ride.

That reminds me...

In extreme heat, I read once that it's good to bring along a 100% cotton shirt with long sleeves for underneath your mesh coat. (The mesh coats are reasonably affordable, and I carry one with me in addition to a normal riding coat, AND a "frog tog" outer coat for rain.)

You soak the cotton shirt wet and ride with it under your armored mesh until it dries. The water evaporation keeps you cool, and you can just stop at a gas station or rest stop to re-wet the shirt.

I've done that in 114F (45.5C), and it worked well. The shirt drys very quickly, but I stayed mostly cool.
Safe travels!

Strat Tuner wrote: ↑Mon Jan 27, 2025 11:05 pm SS1000_Full_package_400.jpgI've done three of the Iron Butt rides and proudly display the artwork for each on my motorcycle.

I did the first one, the "Saddle Sore 1000" (1000 miles in less than 24 hrs) solo.
Temecula, Barstow, Kingman, Flagstaff, Phoenix, and home makes a nice 1000-mile loop! :-)

The other two, I did with riders from church as fundraisers. We used an android app called "Glympse". It can be made to generate a website address ANYONE can look at and see your speed/location in real time. That way, those who pledged money per mile could watch.

Take rain gear! Even in sunny California, I needed that half way through. For me the main concern was heat. I went in April just because the heat in high summer gets up around 38C (100F)!

I left about 03:00 hrs. That put me home by 22:00 hrs. Listening to music is good to help stay awake.
Good luck on your ride.

Thanks for the encouragement. As I am in the UK I always carry a set of lightweight rain gear.

Yeah, kind of guessed that after I made the post.
It's that green and pleasant land thing... :-) (that's LAND not lad)

Strat Tuner wrote: ↑Tue Jan 28, 2025 5:27 pm Yeah, kind of guessed that after I made the post.
It's that green and pleasant lad thing... :-)

Green and pleasant lad.
Something Doctor T isn't telling us

it's a mis spelling !!!

It's LAND ... L A N D... you comedian.!

Strat Tuner wrote: ↑Tue Jan 28, 2025 7:01 pm it's a mis spelling !!!

It's LAND ... L A N D... you comedian.!

If you sayso

Strat Tuner wrote: ↑Mon Jan 27, 2025 11:13 pm That reminds me... done that in 114F (45.5C)

Not really a porblem we have in the UK!

I did an SS1000 from the northern half of England to the top right hand corner of Scotland and back in the first week of June last year. The tempurature in Scotland got as low a 5c and it hailed on me (I'll tell you, that's noisy when it hits your helmet). It was warmer back at the start/finish at 1.00am when I got back than it was at midday in Scotland.

No, heat not a big problem there. Just wanted to make an informative post.

Cold is something else!
Nice work keeping it upright. :-)

Am not a hot weather bloke. Prefer it around the mid 50/60s. Anything above 70f and am baking, high blood pressure doesn't help.Am sure I was born in Antarctia a previous life. If you believe that sort of thing.

I am the Rallymaster for the IronButt UK's 36 hour BritButt Rally.

I ride all over Scotland, Wales & England checking out bonus locations for the rallies - getting the lat/longs, making sure the location is suitable, getting the photograph etc., then putting them all together in the rallybook and thinking up some twists to make things interesting.

The next BritButt Rally is 26/27th April. We had to move from our usual date this year in order to not clash with the European Rally.

The idea is to congregate at a hotel in a central location in England on the Friday night, where you'll be given the rally book. You have a few hours to look at it, work out a route, then the rally starts at 0600 hrs on Saturday morning, finishing 1800 hrs on Sunday. As you gather each bonus, you email the picture in from your phone to get the points.

If anyone is interested in having a go, let me know & I'll post up some links.

Our ride was just a charity 24hr/1000mile challenge. A person would check our starting and finish mileage. Chichester market cross to Penrith truck stop and return. I've done it many times for local West Sussex charities. My last challenge was the Clarkson sunrise challenge. Lands end to Lowestoft. Start at sunset and reach Lowestoft by the time the sun rises. I did this with 2 minutes to spare.

The people who come in the top 10 finishers in the BritButt Rally tend to ride around 1100 to 1400 miles in the 36 hours available, with a compulsory minimum of 4 hours sleep time, so well within the capabilities of someone who has done the Royal British Legion 1000 mile in 24 hrs run. You just have to plan your own ride, rather than having it done for you.

Something to consider?

We also have a yearly 8 hour and 12 hour rallies if you wanted to practise before the "big one"

If anyone fancies having a chat to some experienced hands (or should that be backsides) about doing an SS1000 the UK Iron Butt group also have events called Ride To Eat. It ain't anything fancy, a member nominates a pub, cafe or similar, usually on a Saturday, arrive for 11.30am, lunch at 12 to 12.30, chew the cud, kick some tyres, put the world to rights, a group photo and gone by 2.00pm. The next one this Saturday (15th March) at The Nook Farm Shop & Cafe (Epiacum Roman Fort) Kirkhaugh nr ALSTON CA9 3BG. The one after that is currently at Shobdon Aerodrome in Herefordshire on the 10th May, but someone may call one somewhere else in the meantime. Then of course there's the biggy of the UK Iron Butt year, the RBLR SS1000 in June to raise money for the Royal British Legion.
Unashamed plug:- https://www.rblr1000.co.uk/

If anyone has any questions about either, just ask and I'll do my best or point you in the right direction.
I'll be riding up from Shropshire, probably getting on the M6 a J15 (Stoke). If anyone wants to ride up with me, I'm happy to meet at a junction further north or one of the services on route. Please PM me if you're interested.

EDIT:- If anyone fancies a read of my write up of my '24 RBLR ride:-
viewtopic.php?p=74981&hilit=rblr#p74981