Modern Vespa

I admire you all. Specifically because you know when to call it. There will always be another time to attempt the 1000. I honor you all.

Cheers Kitty!!

Thank you for all the great suggestions. I will report back in the morning our HP adventures with breakfast. Hugs!

@froggie, Wegmans? Really? Wegmans?

Thanks for the heads up!

Get some rest gentlemen, you deserve it. I applaud and admire your efforts.

Well done on the Iron Butt effort! Glad each of you made it home safely to try another day!

Having the sense to know when to say when is at least as impressive as the original attempted feat. Well done... you've lived to ride another day.

Regarding HP sauce... When I first saw it discussed here I went out and bought a bottle to see what all the fuss was about.

My conclusion is that it must be an acquired taste. I grew up with A1 sauce, which has some similarities. But the taste of clove is overpowering in HP and it lacks the citrus 'zing' that I've come to love in A1.

Like all things involving taste and smell, there is no argument here... just my subjective opinion.

Of course, I could stir up the Marmite vs Vegemite wasps nest (I much prefer Vegemite... streaked sparingly on buttered toast. I even travel with a small jar of the stuff so I can start my day with it in even the most uncivilized locales.)

Well done the ironbutt Skoks
Very proud of you
Kitty
X

I'm sure you'll all hear the full story in full time but we knew we couldn't continue West any further when the gale force winds gave Noel's steering two mighty shoves while we rode in Wales across the Severn Bridge and then on the way back over my front wheel got dragged to the right by about 6 inches much to Martins amazement and to the surprise of my anus.
The ride over the crest of the Avonmouth Bridge was simply frightening so we pulled over to stop the madness to head in land.

I think Noel and Martin deserve medals for sticking with it for as long as they did.

Bill x

I'd like to say thank you for all the support from everyone here either by text or by sticker.

Cheers all,it means a lot.

I think that my face is "burnt" by running with my visor slightly open during the rainy sections, of which there were a lot.

I don't know how the other two are today but I'm knackered.

Bill x

Yes.. Forrealtea. Where am I supposed to shop? Farmers market for fresh hand squeezed organic... Oh wait... Screw that. I gets what I can gets

You all fought the good fight. Glad you all are well and resting as you should be. I tip my hat to you all.

Thanks.

I knew things were looking dodgy at 8pm when we still had 400 miles to go.

Don't get me wrong I'm really gutted that we didn't finish but proud of all of us for knowing when it was the right time to stop.

Bill x

Really sorry to hear that you couldn't complete the feat. When I got back to Brum airport last night, it looked like the car was covered in mulched lettuce, turns out it was sodden leaves, so it must've been rough in the midlands let alone the wilds of the south west!

It was a noble effort by you all, just thinking about the fact that you were probably still out there when I hit the sack at midnight last night sent a shiver down my spine. If it was easily achieved it wouldn't be named Ironbutt!

In hindsight, would the out and back to Dundee been any more achievable; if nothing else, I suppose gauging progress is easier?

Martin mentioned that fact.

At least with this route we could ride away from the bad weather.

We rode back on the A30/A303 which is an amazing road but not when you're up against that clock.

Bill x

Kudos on the attempt, and more kudos for the wisdom to know when Mother Nature has bested mere mortals.

Your next course should be Paros. Thirty laps around the island.

This!

Too many people have paid a high price by pushing on in the face of danger. It is far harder to know where the line is between difficult and dangerous. Well done to all involved for seeing the line... and for making the wise decision not to cross it.

Well done for the attempt. I am more impressed by all of your attitude to fatigue, something often ignored, even by very experienced riders. Quitting while you're ahead (and alive) is always the best thing to do. It means you'll be able to do it better another day when conditions allow

Well done guys. You all know my own thoughts on the racing long distances against the clock but that doesn't detract from admiring other people that have a go at this challenge.
Rest up, have a relaxing day, you certainly deserve it. Hope to meet up soon to hear the plans for the next one.
Ash

Bad luck, Bill - live to fight another day!

Well done gentlemen, you live to ride another day!

I am sorry you did not make it, but with the weather as you describe I am glad you all made it home!

Neatly put. Bad luck guys, you simply can't organise the weather. Well done nonetheless, top effort, rest up and reflect. If you go for it again in the UK, maybe the group will be bigger

Or smaller

Trepp HP sauce is a love hate thing
My other half loathes it....

I loathe it too... Ketchup for me please!

I enjoy many different sauces except brown. any sauce that has no other distinguishing characteristic than its colour is to be avoided, as far as I'm concerned

to be honest I was a little relieved when I got Birreh's call at 12:30am announcing that they were calling it off. He sounded excited and exhausted at the same time - a combination of 20 hours riding and too many Clif bars

I actually believe that the UK is an inherently frustrating and exhausting place to do an Ironbutt, due to the sheer volume of traffic, the difficulty of plotting a route that doesn't include roadworks, and the unpredictable (or predictably shitty) weather.

You probably all think that I've climbed aboard the Kymco train but I have to admit, even though I was shattered at the end of the ride, my arse and arms were in great condition. I don't know what Kymco put in their seats but it was one of the most comfortable seats I've ever ridden on - never have my buttocks been so delicately caressed. And the screen is brilliant - my helmet and neck weren't even wet.

You would have thought that after building scooters for so many years, Piaggio could have managed to get a detail like the screen right.

Good to hear you're all home safe.

Bill, it seems like the Kymco turned out to be the right choice for you.

It's always difficult when you put a lot of effort into something and are not able to finish, but it's pretty obvious you made the correct call. I'm guessing everybody here is impressed you made it as far as you did...

+1
I thought this from the get-go, but, since I've never been, I shouldn't say.

as the last man home, thanks for the comments, a memorable day - in many respects.
I will though attempt this again, yes I'm mad - but as bill and I said at about 2.30am - we do sometimes have moments of adulthood - when sense see's through.

The VCdM considered a UK Rally. Problem was finding 12 consecutive days of riding weather.

Fixed that for you.

Thank you all for your kind words. I really appreciate your support and interest.

I think if I'm going to attempt this again I doubt I'll do it in the UK.

I've only had 3 hours sleep so if I'm talking crap just say.

Bill x

Well done guys. Yup knowing when to call it a day is the real winner. Can't do any more if you skewered to a tree because of the wind.

You know, Moss always preferred to drive cars from the home land, even if it put him at a disadvantage. Can't blame you for wanting to accomplish this in the UK, either.

I'll let Noel describe what he saw on the Avonmouth Bridge.

Bill x

If you fancy doing something in the UK that's not quite the Butt endurance but which I've heard riders talk highly of, there's the National Road Rally that falls in July each year. Various categories of challenge and distance up to 540miles, plus the option to enter teams. Given it doesn't matter what you ride and its not a scooter or bike skewed event, it'd be great to have a team of Skoks get together. Given some of our classy IAM riders an' all, it should be a cinch. Plus it in the summer on the longest day of the year

I think Alice has done it before, but doing it with the usual Skok suspects could be...well, different?!

2015 anyone?

http://www.nationalroadrally.co.uk/2014/summary.php

Between flooring and decorating I've been ticking off a 9k service on my GTS ahead of Italy, plus a few other maintenance jobs (relaxing weekends are great, aren't they?! ) Both my rear shocks were so seized I couldn't adjust the settings, so I dropped them out today, stripped them and cleaned up so much alloy corrosion on the adjuster that it's no wonder they wouldn't budge. Maybe they'd never been adjusted from new? It was tempting to think about replacing them with some uprated ones but at about £140 the pair, I want some summer riding boots just a bit more

So one satisfying job done, just quite a few more left to do before we go

A quick note on the ride home today. M25 nearly side swiped by a merc B type, who thankfully saw me before hitting me. The best bit, there was a police car behind - who the driver had not seen as well I assume, minutes later on go the blues and the driver was pulled over.

There is justice in this world.

genie posting from Birreh's account as i am too lazy to log out ... 'With your final instructions you will receive a control map in diagrammatic form, setting out all the controls and the permitted links between them, together with official mileages for these links. It is up to you what roads you use to travel between controls, but the official mileages must be used for your calculations.'

I'm guessing a control is some kind of marker point? by 'permitted links', do they mean roads? so you can choose a route but only if it's a permitted route? confused

genie

I think it means, "You are free to do what you want and we will tell you if you ferked up."