|
Coast To Coast ( Atlantic To Pacific ) March or April 2020 - Delayed - COVID-19 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Jacksonville Beach To San Diego Beach | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Part Of The "Bad As You Want To Be" Series |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
This ride will honor police officers in the USA! As a former police officer I am honored to support the police, I hope you are too! This ride has been delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. It's that time again to be "bad as you want to be"! It is time for another attempt at a nonstop cannonball coast to coast ride. The Previous Atlantic To Pacific Ride The week of September 20, 2018 I rode two coast to coast rides in a week, Jacksonville Beach To San Diego Beach and San Diego Beach to Jacksonville Beach. On the first ride I rode east to west with a good friend Dan Thaler. We rode very hard and completed the ride in 32 hours and 7 minutes. During that ride we completed a BBG1800 which is riding 1800+ miles in less than 24 hours. That was a pretty good time but I wanted to see what I could do on the ride back as my goal was to complete the ride in less than 30 hours. It ended up that I had to delay my return ride as my company called during the ride to San Diego and wanted me to work all week in San Diego. I flew my wife out to spend the week there with me where she was able to do some sightseeing as she had never been to San Diego. During the week in the evenings we spent some time seeing some of San Diego together and I also was busy with planning my return ride back to Jacksonville Beach hoping to complete the ride in less than 30 hours. I started my second coast to coast ride in a week at the Shell gas station on Voltaire St in San Diego Beach at 7:22 AM EST ( 4:22 AM PST ) and I arrived at the BP gas station in Jacksonville Beach at 12:45 PM EST. I completed the 2,360 miles in 29 hours and 23 minutes beating my goal of 30 hours and all I can say is that it was a hell of a ride. During that ride I rode 1000 miles in 12 hours, 1500 miles in 18 hours, 1800 miles in 22.5 hours and 1940 miles in 24 hours. Here is a link to the ride report, Coast To Coast 29 Hours and 23 Minutes. I have ridden many coast to coast long distance endurance rides over the last 20 years with some starting in New York and ending in San Francisco and others starting in Jacksonville Beach and ending in San Diego or Los Angles. In 2007 I rode from Coney Island to San Francisco beach in 45 hours with a friend participating in a MTF 50CC Gold The Hard Way. We were not really pushing that hard and we took a 6 hour rest stop in the middle of the ride at a Motel 6 in North Platte, NE. Over the last 18 years I have ridden four times coast to coast and back ( 100CCC ) in less than 100 hours so I have a pretty good idea of what is required to ride coast to coast nonstop. The Next Atlantic To Pacific Ride Now that I am 85% recovered from my accident I want to see if I can improve on my time and cut an hour+ off the time of the September 2018 ride. My objective for this ride is to beat the time of 29 hours and 23 minutes that I did in September 2018. There are a couple hopefully good reasons I think I can improve on my time, One is I now have a motorcycle ( 2018 Yamaha FJR ) more suitable for this type of riding and the Yamaha FJR should be able to improve on my overall MPH average. The 2018 Gold Wing I used in the September 2018 ride was speed limited ( 112 MPH ) and had a lower average MPG's than my Yamaha FJR. The second reason I think I can improve on the time is that I made a few mistakes that I hope to learn from and not make them again. One of them was a 30 minute gas stop where I waited 20 minutes to get a hamburger at a Hardy's at a Love's in Texas. I reviewed all of my gas stops from the previous ride and the time I took at each stop and found that I wasted a total of 50 minutes. I don't plan on doing that again and I am making some changes to how I manage my gas stops. I am also increasing the amount of fuel I will be carrying on the FJR. On the September 2018 ride I had a total of 11.2 gallons of fuel on my 2018 Gold Wing with the AUX tank. For this upcoming ride I am having 10 gallon AUX tank made by Boyd Welding which will give me a total 16.6 gallons of fuel on the Yamaha FJR which is 5.4 gallons of fuel more than the previous ride. The Planning This type of ride takes a lot of planning and some good luck as there are many things that I can not control like the weather, highway construction and the amount of police presence along the route. Even planning gas stops can be tricky as the wind can really reduce your gas mileage or even increase your gas mileage. So I will be planning right up to the start of my ride trying to be as prepared as possible. I am reviewing all of the state highway construction projects that are along my route and when I identify construction that includes lane closures I mark those locations in my route planning software as custom POI's and I include a 1 mile proximity alert so when I download the route and custom POI's to my GPS's these construction locations show up and alert me 1 mile before the construction. I am a big weather guy and I know the weather can make or break a ride. I use a lot of weather websites and I am constantly monitoring the weather conditions along my route. I have built a few webpages to make it easier for me to get a quick glance at the weather conditions along my route. The Goal I like to think of myself as a long distance endurance rider and kind of partial to the coast to coast type of record runs including the Cannonball Run. I keep an eye on what others have done including the cannonball run attempts. Some day I would like to try and break the motorcycle Red Bull Garage to Portofino Hotel cannonball run record but for now I am looking at attempting the Atlantic to Pacific run. The current best time for a Atlantic to Pacific run ( Jacksonville Beach to San Diego Beach ) is 26 hours and 19 minutes and that was accomplished in a 2001 BMW 325i with two drivers ( Vic Echeverria, Bill Farmer ). The second best time is 27 hours and 49 minutes in a 2005 Mustang V6 with one driver David Simpson. David did this run solo and holds the record for a solo driver. My time of 29 hours and 23 minutes is the third best time and the fastest for a motorcycle. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
The Ride Logistics We are still working out the exact schedule of the ride but currently we are thinking March or April timeframe in 2020. The exact month or date will only be known to participants and a few support team members. The ride will start at the Gate gas station ( see below ) in Jacksonville Beach, FL. I have started many rides from this gas station including two BBG Trifecta's, three 100CCC's, one BBG 3000 and two BBG1800's. This is a common starting location for riders doing a 50CC or 100CCC when starting in Jacksonville Beach. Currently I am planning on making 5 gas stops along the route but many things could change this. The ride will end at the Shell gas station on Voltaire St in San Diego Beach. This gas station is a very popular start / end point for riders attempting the 50CC / 100CCC. I can't believe how many times I have been at this gas station knowing I live in south Florida. Both the start and end locations are within .5 miles of the beach. There is a lot of good ride planning information below including highway conditions and weather along the planned route. I have identified 8 known speed traps along the route from different sources ( some from what I have observed over the years ) and marked them in my GPS's as a custom POI with 5 mile proximity alerts. The Planned Route |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
This is the current planned ( things can change depending on the winds and my fuel range ) five gas stops on the way to San Diego Beach.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
The Participants There is a select list of riders who are thinking / planning on participating in the coast to coast ride. Some of the riders who are considering doing this ride with me are past or current Cannonball Run ( NYC To LA ) riders. I think we can have up to 6 participants with a staggered start so not to draw to much attention. If you are interested in attempting this ride send me an email to greg@gregrice.com.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
The Motorcycle |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
I will be riding a 2018 Yamaha FJR1300 A model. I have made some changes and added some farkles to make the ride more comfortable and to help give me a better chance of being successful on my attempt. Here is a list of changes and additions that I have done. I will be using my new Sevina Clearwater Lights on this ride that I purchased with a total of 14,000 lumens. It should really light up the road and I am sure they will come in handy in west Texas, New Mexico and Arizona as I will be riding through those areas at night.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
The Riding Gear |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
I wear some of the best riding gear you can buy that keeps me comfortable and protected from all types of weather. It also helps keep me safe in the event of a incident, I know from experience. The first thing I put on before anything else is my LDComfort underwear / base layer as this is what keeps me comfortable in all types of weather from damn hot to freezing cold LDComfort really does a great job of transferring the moisture away and keeping me dry. I have been wearing LDComfort gear for over 13 years and I can't find anything better. I wear Aerostich Darrien Hi-Viz jacket and AD1 pants that will keep me safe and dry through out the ride. This setup works so well and is comfortable enough that I may not take them off for 3 days at a time. I wear TCX Gore-Tex boots that keep my feet dry and protected.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Interactive Maps Below |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Below are two interactive maps, Google Jacksonville Beach to San Diego Beach route map and Spotwalla satellite tracking map. Interactive Maps The Google route map and Spotwalla tracking map allow you to zoom in and out using the + and - buttons in the bottom right of the maps and you can drag the map with a mouse. You can also zoom in and out of the maps with a mouse that has a wheel. They show my planned route ( Google Maps ) and below that map is a map of my current location with the use of a SPOT satellite tracking device and Spotwalla.com ( thanks Jason Jonas ). Weather Maps I like to know the weather all the time and especially when planning a LD endurance ride. I use many sources for weather information to help plan the timing of my rides. I also develop my own weather webpages to consolidate all of the current information on one webpage that I use during my rides. Here is a link to my 50CC / 100CCC weather webpage with weather for 30 cities along the route and 15 different national weather maps. This is a great way to see what the weather is on the route. I will use this weather webpage during the ride on my cell phone to see what the weather is in front of me. Weather Webpage Link: 50CC/100CCC Weather Webpage Other sources of weather information that I use for long range weather forecasting are Weather Trends and Windy.com. There is more weather information below the Google route map and Spotwalla tracking map that include weather averages for 15 cities along the route that provides information on temperature and rain fall averages. This is good information for planning the timing of the ride. Also below is a current national weather radar loop map. Spotwalla Tracking Here is my direct Spotwalla tracking link that will open in a new browser window. Also below is my embedded Spotwalla tracking map. My satellite Spotwalla Tracking Link: https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=5 State DOT Websites I use the following state DOT websites for traffic and construction information during ride planning. If I see any large scale construction zones along my route I will mark them with custom POI's in my GPS's so I get alerted when I am getting close to them. This information helps me understand why traffic may be slow in those areas.
|
