East Texas Biker: NATIONALS 2022 : Finish the Mission/Iron Butt

Well, it's all planned out. Last two years I pussed out of a FINISH THE MISSION to Nationals for various reasons. This year.. God Willing... Knoxville KY here I come! I had planned to do the Tail of the Dragon on the way there, but apparently there is construction and... a few were questioning the sanity of doing it in the middle of an Iron Butt. So, we'll do it on the way back and take our time.. but... still got to get to Nationals .. sooo.. per my posts on Groups.IO ... old and new stuff below

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Lil' too early for all this planning ... but... hey .. maybe I had a glass of scotch tonight and I'm bored...

Earlier I said 1200 miles... but ... it's a lil less than 1100 from GVL .. so .. lets call it .. 1100.

If we leave at 0300 from the QT in GVL as our kickstands up, it'll flow .. trust me. Every 100-125 miles we'll stop, fuel up, grab a receipt, take a pic of the receipt and your mileage, store the proof, empty the bladder, and as soon as possible.... do it all over again. Once the sun is up and shining... no big deal. It's the first few hours that suck because most likely we'll have slept like shit the night before. But caffeine solves everything. By the time we head south towards Deals Gap ( Tail of the Dragon), it'll still be early. When we get to the bottom, we'll take our first and only 'real' break of the day. Then, we turn around and head north towards our destination.

For those that have never slayed the Dragon... .. it's awesome.. but.. nothing to be worried about. Ride your own speed, don't get cocky when you roll past the photographers in an attempt to look cool ... and .. all good. What is the Dragon? it's about 11 miles of over 300 twisties with NO driveways. Just two lanes .... just don't' forget some moron coming the other direction might cross the center lane. They used to allow big rigs with long trailers... no more. A positive note is we'll be there during the week, not the weekend when the crazies come out. We'll arrive in Knoxville before we run out of steam .. but.. we'll sleep like fat babies that night .. trust me.

I've done 3 of these to date (1000mi within 24 hr Iron Butt) ... my lessons learned? Stay hydrated (I sip as I go so as not to need to hit the pisser at every stop) ... do NOT stop for meals ... nibble on snacks like beef jerky, etc. .. and we'll probably run 5-9 mph over the posted speed limit, but not hauling ass and getting a ticket.... doesn't benefit us meeting the time schedule. I like to think in 100 mile increments... counting down as I go; seems simpler mentally overall for me. I personally believe we'll accomplish this in around 17-18 hours .. .. not as bad as it sounds. What matters most ... IMHO .. we hit our destination before it gets too late. We'll finish up around 2000-2100 hrs. Less BSing we do, the quicker we get this all behind us and all it's bragging rights?

UPDATE

Well, things change. Looks like the backside of the dragon has construction which screws up the original route .......sooooooooooo.... to push this to over 1,000 miles, considering this route. Overall it'll be easier since it's pure Interstate. Pullout mentioned a route something along this .... works for me. So, as we get closer ( 1ust a lil over a month out!), will fine tune the specifics. Me personally, I'm still planning on the similar depart time, etc. One thing I hadn't considered on the previous post/messages, if you fill up with gas near your home as you leave, keep that receipt and log your odometer miles..... that can be your start point (I'm thinking about IBA record, not just LRRP). So, maybe our GVL QT depart can be closer to 0400. Unrelated, on the RETURN leg, Rocky and I are talking about meandering down towards the Tail of the Dragon to do that one and some of the area, and take our time on the way back. So, all is not lost here....