Ride SaddleSore 1K from ATL to TAMPA or ORLANDO and back?

gunsmoker

gunsmoker

Joined
Oct 16, 2024
Messages
245
Location
Cumming, Georgia USA
Bike
2007 ST-1300
2025 Miles
002725
If the weather is good for the week of March 31 thru April 4th, I'm thinking about riding from the Atlanta, GA area to either Orlando or Tampa, FL,
meet my cousin for a meal, and then ride right back home. Should be near to 1000 miles; I'll do the exact map-work later to make sure I run at least 1050 or something similar to give me a margin of error.

I've done a few 650 mile days on motorcycles before, and a few 950 mile trips in a car. Hundreds of 600-mile days in 18 wheel rigs.
But now I want to join the IBA and the SS1000 looks do-able, and I like the idea of an 'out-and-back' trip that puts me back home and sleeping in my own bed afterward.

Does anybody else want to do this, or part of this route, with me?
 
gunsmoker said:
But now I want to join the IBA and the SS1000 looks do-able,
Click to expand...
It’s very doable, the first one is the hardest because you don’t know what to expect. It will be easier and harder than you think in different ways. Worst vice being advice;

Knowing what I know, “practice“ with the stopping and logging of gas receipts. Using the spotwalla app is encouraged. It will track you and allow the uploading of receipt pictures, making submission a breeze.

Leaving at night so your return journey is in the daytime may add some confidence late in the ride. Taking a nap just after a late small brunch should help with your mental and physical state. Staying hydrated! Small snacks at the gas stops. If you’re on the ST, 200 miles between stops works well. Starting at night lets you “bank” some time, there are less vehicles on the road so you can make better time. It’s not how fast you ride, it’s how fast you stop. 10 minutes is fairly normal.

Stop at planned gas stations (confirm they are open before leaving), fill and empty fluids, fumble with tech to log the receipt while eating a snack. Mount, pull away from pump, stop and look back for the glove you dropped. Back on the highway for another 200. If you average 60mph, 500 miles is 8.5 hours. Two stops your at 9 hours, plenty of time left, very doable. Best of luck.
 
I'm 99% sure both you and the bike can complete a 1,000 mile ride. Probably in under 15 hours easily. The best way to add issues to that is:

1. meet someone for a meal in the middle of your ride. If you're early then you sit and wait instead of just ride. Just go ride.

2. ask someone else to meet up and ride with you. If you're early then you sit and wait instead of just ride. If you've never rode with them you have no idea if they ride the same as you as in they are faster or slower.

If you want to do a 1,000 mile ride my favorite method is to get up an hour or 2 early (I don't stay up all night well) and just go ride until you're done. Pretty easy to ride 1,000 in 15 hours if it's on an interstate without traffic holdups. Near Orlando or Tampa traffic can be pretty bad if you're trying to "just ride".

Shell, 387 Hill St SE, Atlanta, GA 30312 to Exxon, 985 US-80, Calhoun, LA 71225 511 miles, turn around and ride home. 1023 miles under 15 hours per Google. most of my long rides like this are done at 75 mph. 75 mph nowdays on the Intestate will have semi's riding your rear fender all day long. 80 will be more near normal.

Want to join the SS1000 club, just go ride all day on a good interstate.
 
I can possibly meet you for a portion of the SS1000. My free advice is to focus on Orlando or near by as the half way point. Stay away from southwest FL. It's 484 miles from Cumming to Lake Conway FL (sort of middle of Orlando mega metro) so you could easily plan on 500+ out and back. On my SS1K rides I generally leave in the 3-4 AM time. I'm a lark and that's not really getting up too early for me and I get home well before my bed time.

The timing is during prime snowbird return home season from Florida and NB traffic on I-95, I-75 and the Turnpike could get ugly in a moment. The further you are away from south Florida the better in my experience.
 
The time sucks are at stops, as mentioned.
Stop, eat and pee and fuel (same stop when you can), don't dawdle at the fuel stops. Record the miles, put the receipt with all the others like in an envelope or small pouch, pictures are now acceptable too, I think.
If you feel fatiqued later on, not wise to push it. Even in the IBR, safety is paramount.
With the right attitude, and proper planning, you'll likely have success.
My first-ever SS1K was with a close friend and riding buddy, but we were similar riding styles, skill, and personality. We rode it from Birmingham to Daytona and back in 19 hours, due to heavy fog across several miles of I-10 coming home.
The first one is (usually) fun.
If you haven't seen this, here's the collective wisdom of the Iron Butt Association:

IBA 25 Long-Distance Riding Tips

And best of luck! With safety.
 
I could turn around in Florida a little bit north of Orlando and considerably north from Tampa , but then I would have to swing wide (either east or west) for this round trip to equal 1000 miles.

If I turned east at OCALA,

It looks like I could cross over to DAYTONA on a surface road,

and then get on I-95 going north.
Pass thru JACKSONVILLE.

From there go to SAVANNAH, GA
then turn west/ northwest at I-16 and ride back to Atlanta that way.

By the time I get to my home almost an hour north of Atlanta, I'd be at 1000 miles. .IMG_1549.jpeg
 
I've been looking at possibilities and keep bumping into the problem of starting out and ending somewhere north of Atlanta. Is there any chance you have family or friends on the south side or east side of Atlanta that could serve for a starting point?
 
I have a friend who lives near La Grange Georgia (well south of Atlanta's horrible traffic congestion ) who could put me up for the night, though I'm not sure I would want to wake him up if I departed at an ungodly early hour.

However, if I left from his place, which is a good 90 miles further south from where I live, I would have to modify my route to add an extra 180 miles somewhere along the way .
 
gunsmoker said:
I have a friend who lives near La Grange Georgia (well south of Atlanta's horrible traffic congestion ) who could put me up for the night, though I'm not sure I would want to wake him up if I departed at an ungodly early hour.

However, if I left from his place, which is a good 90 miles further south from where I live, I would have to modify my route to add an extra 180 miles somewhere along the way .
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Leave LaGrange at 3:30 hit 85 south to Montgomery, 65 to 165 Mobile, I-10 to Jacksonville, 95 to Savannah, 16 to 75 to Cumming, GA is 1071 miles. Mobile, AL rush hour traffic isn't too bad, you'd be past Jacksonville by 4 PM, maybe some Savannah traffic between 5 & 6, approach south Atlanta metro after 7 PM. Even if ATL metro traffic is a mess.... get a receipt at the Stockbridge 75 north exit for 1000+ miles. You would miss lunch with your cousin unless you can talk him into driving to Jacksonville.
 
dduelin said:
I've been looking at possibilities and keep bumping into the problem of starting out and ending somewhere north of Atlanta. Is there any chance you have family or friends on the south side or east side of Atlanta that could serve for a starting point?
Click to expand...

Leaving to the EAST, bypassing ATL:

Gainesville, GA to I-85 at Pendergrass,
up to Spartanburg, SC,
down to Columbia on I-26,
Get on I-95 south,
Pass by Savannah,
Pass by Jacksonville, FL,

Just north of Daytona Beach get off the interstate onto one of the state roads that goes basically due west to intersect interstate 75 at Ocala,

Then up I-75 towards Atlanta but stopping before I get there because I should reach 1000 miles a good 50 mile short of Atlanta.

So when I get to the bottom edge of Atlanta and I know I've gone a little past the thousand mile mark, I can stop there and get my last fuel receipt.

( sure I'll still have to ride home to sleep in my own bed, which means I'll have to go through Atlanta traffic, but that'll be "off the clock" with the SaddleSore ride already completed.)

IMG_1577.jpeg
 
Looking at traffic congestion on my Phone app over the last few days convinces me that I need to stay away from even central Florida. From Ocala south it seems like all the major north south roads get very heavy congestion.

This weekend, and next week, we not only have spring break but a big airshow in that area as well.


NEW PLAN:
Meet my cousin at a restaurant along the highway about an hour north of where he lives, so I would meet him somewhere near Ocala.

That would be 420 miles from my house,
so 840 round-trip.

If I'm really tired or way behind schedule then I call it quits by going directly home, to bed.

But if I have energy and I want to finish 1000 miles, I'll go right through my hometown then head west to a different town, go up north, turn around near the Tennessee state line when I'm 90 miles past home. So then I come back home by the same route: that should put me at 1020 miles.


TIMING: Atlanta's traffic is horrible every day from 7 AM until 9 PM. So I think my departure from home should be in
the pre-dawn darkness at about 0400,
I pass through Atlanta at 5 AM,

Meet my cousin in FL for lunch by 1 pm,

Head back, starting at 2:30 pm.

I'll get to the southern suburbs of Atlanta around 9 PM so I should miss traffic.
I'd pass by my house at 10.
If I keep going, it'll be midnight when I reach my turnaround point on the Appalachian Highway.
Back home at 2 or 3 AM, With that last stop for gas at the 24 hour gas station that's only about 6 miles from my house (any closer gas stations would be closed then.)
 
Keeping receipts and such is the worst. I always get my first receipt very near the on ramp of interstate I am using. With lunch running 75 to 77 mph..... inside 18 hours will be most likely....I always start early in the morning so the end of the ride is not in the dark.....tired eyes low visibility not my thing.
 
You could ride down and have lunch with your cousin, which would be cool, and sort out the return trip from there. A change of clothes in the saddle bag might be handy.
 
gunsmoker said:
If the weather is good for the week of March 31 thru April 4th, I'm thinking about riding from the Atlanta, GA area to either Orlando or Tampa, FL,
meet my cousin for a meal, and then ride right back home. Should be near to 1000 miles; I'll do the exact map-work later to make sure I run at least 1050 or something similar to give me a margin of error.

I've done a few 650 mile days on motorcycles before, and a few 950 mile trips in a car. Hundreds of 600-mile days in 18 wheel rigs.
But now I want to join the IBA and the SS1000 looks do-able, and I like the idea of an 'out-and-back' trip that puts me back home and sleeping in my own bed afterward.

Does anybody else want to do this, or part of this route, with me?
Click to expand...
Here's my input and I'm a guy whose been around this particular block a few times. First, for your first saddle sore attempt you want to make it as simple as possible. That means staying away from Atlanta, Orlando, and Tampa. You do want to run 4 lane roads with faster speed limits but city traffic can kill your time. Create a schedule and know if you are ahead or behind it. Seek to average 62.5 mph moving average and as close to that for overall average as you can. This means very brief stops. Keeping that schedule should have you done in 16-17 hours so leaving at 5 am would have you home by 10 pm. Always accomplish at least three things during any stop (eat, bio break, gas), never stop for just one thing. Pre-plan your gas stops at a station just off to the right side of the road you're travelling. Exit ramp to exit ramp in 10 minutes. Schedule any food stop at an off-time, like 3 pm. Stay hydrated, drink before you think you need to.

Here's a route that keeps you on interstate all but the stretch from Ocala to Daytona and comes in at 1053 miles. Since your moving speed on the interstates will be greater than 62.5 mph you should be able to maintain a 62.5 avg even factoring in 10 minutes gas stops. Leave from the Marathon station on the east side of ATL at 5 am and get out of the metro asap. If you are lunching with someone let them know your arrival time and how long you can spend eating. Let them help make sure you get back on the bike on schedule. Use Spotwalla.

Screenshot (2).png
 
Thanks!

Well, I made the trip to Orlando on Tuesday and Wednesday there was rain on the way down on Tuesday but I waited long enough to avoid it and the fog that lasted for a few hours after dawn I didn't leave Atlanta till 10 AM.

500 miles later, there were heavy thunderstorms in Orlando when I arrived although I wasn't rained on directly-- I was just a few miles away from the storms and the roads were all wet and I was getting covered in mist and road grime from other vehicles.

So, with my phone giving me emergency alerts for severe thunderstorms all around me in Orlando I decided to stay the night there met some friends for lunch in Orlando then left at 2 PM to head back to Atlanta.

Was a lot of night riding, but if I had gone earlier I would've hit rain storms in the middle of Georgia. Instead I rode on the wet roads about a half hour after the storms passed.

Did hit three major traffic jams all in Georgia: 2 on I-75 around the area of Macon, one in each direction. and then one in Atlanta with a wreck in a construction zone on the south side of ATL.
That probably added a total of 1.5 hours to what otherwise would've been my time on each leg of the trip.

I did stop too much... I found that I was really looking forward to having an excuse to get off the bike after about 90 minutes of constant riding.
 
The advice about staying hydrated was good I thought I was getting a little bit thirsty in between each stop but every time I went to the urinal I was absolutely shocked at the honey colored or even maple syrup colored flow I was discharging... it was not a light shade of pale yellow like it should be.
 
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