This is really the starting point for the IBA rides. You must cover a minimum of 1000 miles in under 24 hours.

This is the sort of distance I have done many times when heading through Europe to get to my holiday destination. Unfortunately, I have still not got around to formalising this and getting my IBA membership.

I am planning to take the following route

Overview

Well I eventually got around to doing the SS1000. The route I picked was intended to cover some nice riding roads rather than just distance on motorways. This added the fun element of riding A roads from Ayr down to Carlisle and south to Kendal, avoiding the a large section of M6 along with the ride from north to south Wales.

I knew that this would make the average mph lower and make for a harder ride in terms of potential hazards and riding conditions. It also meant that I would have to make more receipt stops to validate the "corners" of the route. On a normal ride I wouldn't normally stop until the bike needed fuel, which also works out for food and toilet for me, at around 260 miles. On this ride the average stop was just 122 miles with the lowest being only 33 miles. However, for this ride I was confident in being able to achieve the miles within the time and wanted the fun of some very nice twisties along the way.

Overall the major issue for me was having to make so many stops and loosing time for that. This will definitely influence the routes I take for rides that are closer to the wire in terms of AutoRoute distance/time. I will always try to keep the non-motorway elements in the rides wherever possible. The only time I began to loose concentration was during the motorway sections, through the repetitiveness I think - motorways are for cars!

Date	From	To	Time	Miles	Location (From / To)	Notes
27/2/09	22:21	23:40	1:19	69	Bingham, Notts / Humber Bridge Toll	This is a service station at the junction of the A46/A52 east of Nottingham. From here I headed to Newark, Lincoln and then north to the Humber Bridge
27/2/09	23:40	00:25	0:45	33	Humber Bridge Toll / Bridlington	From the bridge it was just a short ride east to the seaside town of Bridlington along the A165 - great views at half-past midnight. Not. Surprisingly I found myself being in Beverley at midnight (Hee, hee). At Bridlington just found the local 24hr petrol station.
28/2/09	00:25	03:20	2:55	173	Bridlington / Berwick upon Tweed	Took the A171 north up the east coast past Scarborough and up to the A1. The A1 took me all the way north to Berwick. Stopped at a local petrol station, filled the bike and had a drink and bit to eat.
28/2/09	03:20	05:06	1:46	71	Berwick upon Tweed / Livingston		This was the grave yard part of the ride - nothing to see and on boring but practical roads through the darkness. Was planning on stopping close to Edinburgh but over shot a little and stopped at Livingston Services just west of the City on the M8
28/2/09	05:06	06:21	1:15	71	Livingston / Ayr	Another short hop through the night. Stopped at a small service station and bought a bottle of water for the receipt. Couldn't understand a word the attendant spoke - very broad Scottish - but he was friendly enough.
28/2/09	06:21	09:45	3:24	198	Ayr / Charrnock Richard services (M6)	This was the first part of the ride I was looking forward to. It allowed me to ride along some very nice roads in Galloway. Heading south to Dumfries along the A713 and B729 it was great to ride through some great scenery and on good, fun roads. These were relatively empty at this time of day. At Dumfries took the A75, a little of the M6 south before getting on to the A6 just south of Carlisle south through the east edge of Lake District down through Penrith, Shap and on  to Kendal. As always it rained but there's something about this area that you tend to miss the rain if it isn't there. In the interest of collecting receipts I stopped at Charrnock Richard service, north of Wigan, on the M6.
28/2/09	09:45	12:17	2:32	112	Charrnock / Caernarfon	I filled the bike and got a full English breakfast. Even a poor one at a motorway services can taste good after 11 hour riding. The ride to Caernarfon took me along A65 - a good but uninteresting ride, apart from the odd castle that is. Was also very aware of the tight speed enforcement practiced against bikes in north Wales so was a little twitchy.
28/2/09	12:17	16:05	3:48	153	Caernafon / Swansea	Hmm, Great. Down through Wales. Great riding roads, although it had been raining and they were frequently mud covered. From Caernarfon took the A4085, A470 through the Snowdonia National Park and the A487 on to Llanrthstyd before heading in land again, B4337 and A482/B4382/ A476/M4 down to Swansea services for the last fuel and receipt stop.
28/2/09	16:05	19:23	3:18	213	Swansea / Bingham	The last leg was to be primarily motorway riding, M4 to Newport, A449 north to A40, M50 up to M5 and M42 and some A roads back to Bingham. Apart from a couple of idiot drivers - one deciding to turn left off the A42, the only problem was that he stopped first and then turned as if at a junction - oh yes, there wasn't even a junction there... Anyway, all done. Got end receipt, checked miles and home to bed.
Total:	21:02	21:02		1093

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