I set out at 07:00 in the morning, reaching Jacksonville at 08:30. After an hour to rest, I started the Iron Butt Ride - Coast to Coast in less than 50 hours (The second half was more interesting than the first, feel free to read from wherever).
The first 12 hours weren’t too bad. I didn’t stop in New Orleans to visit Mo and Erika (didn’t have enough time with NOLA traffic), but I rested for an hour nearby, which was enough for me.
Along the way, I stopped at a gas station that a bike group happened to be filling up at. I asked to join them and rode near the rear of the group for a couple hours (between Jacksonville and somewhere near Pensacola).
The first night I mostly rode, stopping to sleep a few hours before sunrise at a rest stop near San Antonio, Texas.
I kept riding from there to El Paso, Texas. I was alittle drowsy with only a total of 3.5 hours of sleep (I had taken 15 - 20 minute naps at a few gas stations on top of the rest stop nap), but once the scenery changed, I woke up and found myself with enough energy to ride another 7 hours with no desire to sleep.
The ride was relatively uneventful, El Paso seemed a bit dull. I ended up calling a few friends andpurchasing some more supplies, but it was little more than a quick stop. This was close to sunset.
It was a few miles into New Mexico that it started to get dark. I also started to get tired. I woke up when I started to see multiple warnings for dust storms. The first sign I saw woke me up, and I was rather alert for large dark clouds rolling across the ground. But eventually it became so dark I settled for hoping that I wouldn’t get caught in one and kept riding. The alarming affect had worn off though, and I soon found myself extremely tired again. I stopped just after the border of Arizona for a little over an hour, only sleeping for 20 - 25 minutes, but they helped fight the fatigue I was feeling.
This is where I was probably at the most risk for crashing. There were long stretches from 02:00 -04:00 where I was alone of the highway (besidesthe occasional semi going the opposite direction). When I checked the time, I realized I had hoursmore to go - this discouraged me. I was extremely tired, and the 20 minute naps I was taking at some gas stations could only help so much. At certain points, my eyes would pull shut. At others, Iwould think I was seeing strange things. My mind was making strange connections to the audio books I was reading, and a few times I would think I saw something like a character or scene from a book. Signs would become props and trees looked like characters. Other portions looked like horribly disfigured sets. What worried me was that I was so tired, I didn’t realize how ridiculous they were until 10 seconds later. At one point, I drifted from my lane (right) to another, without even realizing it. This bothered me far more than anything else, and it helped me realize I needed to pull over and try to rest.
Keep in mind, gas stations are sometimes sparse, especially in those uninhabited areas. I wanted to stop, but I didn’t feel comfortable stopping along the side of the road (especially since I had just passed a very large dead animal - if it was real - it looked like a black bear).
I stopped at a station and allotted myself 35 minutes. I still had about 6 hours of riding left, and they weren’t going to be fun. After 25 minutes of much needed sleep, I chugged two black coffees (a small sign said these had 30% more caffeine, so I was hoping that would help me stay awake).
The coffee definitely helped. I don’t usually drink it, but I found doing so made it easier to convince myself I could finish the ride without more sleep. Crossing the border into Arizona also woke me up again. I really found myself with more energy when I hit Devils Canyon (or something like that). It was the first curvy portion of road I’d seen for 1000s of miles, and it forced me to focus on proper riding techniques.
I enjoyed the winding road, but it it also went up in elevation over 3,000 feet. The cold prompted me to use my heated gear on high settings for the first time (low settings were great for the night and occasional mild rain).
Once I was an hour away from San Diego, my fatigue seemed to wear off. I’d been riding for nearly 2 hours (not to mention the previous +30 from the past two days), and the prospect of stopping the clock sounded nice.
I reached San Deigo about 47 hours and 38 minutes after starting in Jacksonville. The roads are horrible there though. There are far too many one way streets, no road is straight for more than 500 feet, and everything (and I really do mean absolutely everything) is on a slant. San Diego is essentially a horribly sloped city with confusing roads and poor road maintenance. Those probably don’t sound like a big deal, but after riding for sibling, I didn’t want to deal with bad infrastructure and planning. By the time I found a gas station (my GPS has started having a hard time here), it was 48 hours and 4 minutes from when I had started.
It was quite the experience, and after spending an hour at the gas station, I rode to the beach and walked into the water to say I had stood in both the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean within a 50 hourtime period.
P.S. - I’m typing this before bed on the 3rd day, I’ll be able to post it (and pictures) when I have cell service. Videos should happen when I get toLexington or Boston (though they may have to wait until I’m back in Gainesville).
