Modern Buddy

Well, it is finished. I rode 1034 miles in 23 hours and 40 minutes. I'll be submitting my paperwork on Monday for an official Iron Butt certificate. Foolks, the Buddy handled it like a champ. 1034 miles at WOT and carrying my 250 lb carcass on it at the same time. What a marvelous machine. We have decided to call it IRON BUDDY.

Man! What a ride! My shoulder hurt a lot more than my butt does. I did a 500 mile out and back route going from Tucson to Pecos, TX. Face headwinds both directions with some gusty conditions this afternoon. The speed limit in west Texas is 80mph, so it's quite an adventure having a semi blow past you at 80mph+. The worst part, hands down, was riding through El Paso. What a nightmare!

I got home, took my wife and support crew out to dinner and mow I'm off to bed. Good night all. I'll most of the adventure and some pics later.

Howard. Whew!

Allow me to be the first to congratulate you. Good job!!!

Awesome!
stories and pictures later?

Well done, and going from your typing, you're at home and more importantly near a bed just in time.

Did you get any souvenirs from that place you went to 500 miles out?

Sounds like one hell of a ride I look forward to hearing more about it once you've had some much deserved rest.

Great job! Glad you made it, and safely. Look forward to pics.

glad you made it through! anxious to see some pics.

my friends who are from El Paso were telling me about the 80 mph speed limits which i thought were crazy because im so used to 55 mph here on the highways in Austin

Congrats! I've always wondered how hard it would be on a Buddy, glad to see that you've tried it!

20 minutes: cutting it close there! Close, but you still did it!! Congrats!
Thanks for whoever in your crew was doing the Twitter updates. I'd be surprised if you sleep for less than 10 hours solid.

THIS IS AWESOME!

glad you made it ok!

Good job Howard! You are the MAN! I can't wait to hear the tales at our next group ride...

Hopefully Genuine gets wind of this great feat and puts something up on their website.

Congratulation, can't wait for the post and pics. Now, Sleep Tite, good ole Buddy Rider.

Wow, that is awesome! Good job and when you have returned to the land of the living we are all looking forward to pics!

-v

pics?

It is very difficult for me to quickly summarize this ride. So, rather than try and risk missing something, I wrote a lengthy blog entry. I broke the ride down in to segments. I rode it that way, so I blogged about it that way. You can see it here:
http://inthedesertscootin.blogspot.com/ ... -ride.html

Pics to follow in my next post.

Howard

Starting miles


Ending miles. So that's 1,146 Buddy miles.


My support vehicle and part of the crew


The corazzo vest lights up nice.


Drizzle near Pecos


Me, at the halfway point


Passing the convoy. You have to read my blog to get the story.


Joining outlaw bikers near El Paso


Shameless plug for my sponsor. Taken in Texas Canyon. Last fuel before heading to the finish!


Pulling in to the start/finish. I made it!


Ghetto extra headlight


I placed this 2inch think foam under the seat cover that my wife made for me. It sure helped.

i love the message on the back windshield of your support vehicle, great pictures btw!

Nicely done!

Wow! That's totally cool! Congratulations! Here's hoping you recover from the pain quickly!

Bravo! An amazing feat. And that photo with the Outlaw Bikers has got to win a prize. Too funny.

Skootz Kabootz wrote:Bravo! An amazing feat. And that photo with the Outlaw Bikers has got to win a prize. Too funny.

As they went by me, I thought about how funny a picture would be. Imagine my surprise when I looked at the photos my kids took and there it was. My youngest son took it. He kind of had the same idea when the bikers went past them.

Howard

Comgrats . I look foward to reading your blog. I am amazed you can even post, i'd be crashed for days.

great job, you're bionic! I probably wouldn't have the endurance to do that in a car. I drove from Pittsburgh to Baltimore this morning (in the in-laws loaner car), and I was drained. I'd probably also be lingering too long on the bowl or in a Starbucks.

i like that 2 inch thick foam! i shall try it sometime on a long trip!

Well done and CONGRATULATIONS!

Make sure the fine folks at Genuine Scooter Company know about your feat, aboard their fine product!

I am interested in the "missing" sensation that you were getting, I get that with my Buddy also, it just seems to happen every so often, no rhyme or reason to it, it has been throughly checked out and nobody can find anything wrong...

I wonder if maybe having a vehicle that could do the chase part show up and pay for the gas for you-or at least do the standing in line part? Is that legal? Maybe if you have witnesses that have been briefed about what is happening that are standing by waiting to sign the receipt and put a time stamp on it or something so that you don't have to stand in line? Just a thought that I had as I was reading about the time of the stops.

I am considering doing this, but I would do it on my Sym because I don't trust my Buddy to be able to do it and because of the speed issue.

Even if you don't get the award it is still extremely cool and to say that you did it on a Buddy is worth even more bragging rights (IMHO) than those who do it on a fully dressed out cruiser that can maintain speeds of 80mph with no problem.

Good job and the write up is great.

-v

The ghetto extra headlight is awesome. I gotta try that. Who needs those expensive LEDs from Twisted Throttle?!

Great pics, great write-up, thanks for sharing. And congrats on the accomplishment.

Good gravy you are my new hero...

FYI, you just replaced Iron Man 2 as my new hero, who replaced the the guy from Big Bang Theory, who replaced Craig Ferguson, who replaced Coco... well you get the idea!!

CONGRATS!!!

Congrats, great write up as well!

Is your wife willing to make more seat covers? I need one so I can to add auxilary padding as I really have NO butt to speak of, riding 25 miles makes mine hurt!!

Here are a couple of short videos taken by my chase vehicle.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnjlsl_tDPA

It part 1 you can see the big rigs cruising by me on I-10 in Texas.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGGs3LLo4gk
Part 2 is just outside Pecos, in the rain.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98wIyTPhgPQ
Part 3 is at the Tucson Truck Stop where the start/finish line is.

totaly Awsome!!!!

As a humble dilettante in the world of scooting I salute you!

Good gravy you are my new hero...
YAMON

CONGRATS!

An awesome and impressive feat. My hat's off to you. I did a mere 230 miles or so on Saturday and was sore and exhausted by Sunday evening.

I look forward to reading the write ups.

Very impressive!

i bow before you

Howard is awesome! We are amazed an proud of him in Tucson! Riding a Buddy on the interstate for 24 hours is neither easy nor fun.

I'm glad you made it safely.

BuddyLicious wrote:Hopefully Genuine gets wind of this great feat and puts something up on their website.

They posted it to their Twitter and Facebook today.

Just found out that my ride has been officially verified by the Iron Butt Association! W00t! There is now a Buddy in the IBA! Look out, the Buddies are here!

Howard

REPRESENT! Awesome!

Very impressive, Howard. Congratulations.

Do you get a patch, or butt pad or anything?

I'm getting a patch, certificate, license plate holder and maybe a sample of "anti-monkey butt powder."

Howard

Awesome. Worth the ride right there, by golly.

Are you going to run in the Cannonball?

I had wanted to do the Cannonball, but the $$ just isn't there this year. Maybe next time. So, I did the Iron Butt instead.

Howard

that is so rad!

truely awesome! congrats and thanks for representing us on the Iron Butt front

Y'know, I'd try this myself if not for the fact that it'd require violating one or two laws of physics on a stock 50cc, and I can't afford to have that on my permanent record.

TVB wrote:Y'know, I'd try this myself if not for the fact that it'd require violating one or two laws of physics on a stock 50cc, and I can't afford to have that on my permanent record.

and I don't know if you could get a modified 50 to run for 1000 miles straight without blowing up One of us really ought to try though.