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U.S. Biker Sets 'Iron-Butt' Record Across Continent
Reuters ^ | 6-23-2004

Posted on 06/23/2004 12:40:33 PM PDT by Cagey

MIAMI (Reuters) - A U.S. motorcyclist made the 5,632-mile trek from the northernmost road in Alaska to the southernmost tip of Florida in 100 hours and set a transcontinental record certified by the "Iron Butt Association" of bike enthusiasts.

"I'm a little tired ... a little bit bruised," biker Gary Eagan said by phone from Key West, Florida, on Tuesday, a day after finishing the journey on his Ducati Multistrada.

He bested the old transcontinental "Iron Butt" record of 114 hours and 49 minutes, set last year by a BMW rider from Maryland.

A few hours after starting his solo journey on a gravel road in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, a truck forced Eagan off the road and his motorcycle flipped over into the tundra, breaking his windshield, one rearview mirror, auxiliary fuel tank and shearing off the saddlebag containing his spare clothes.

"I think I broke my big toe and dislocated my finger and elbow a little bit," said Eagan, 56, of Salt Lake City, Utah.

He patched the bike together with zip ties and drove on through Alaska, Canada and the continental United States, making a pit stop in Kansas City to change tires, and stopping occasionally to nap or refuel.

Eagan said he endured suspicious border patrol agents, traffic snarls and torrential thunderstorms but completed the trek without any speeding tickets.

"You don't have to really ride that fast to do a record like that. You just have to stay on the bike and be efficient," he said.


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: bunsofsteel; motorcycles
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1 posted on 06/23/2004 12:40:34 PM PDT by Cagey
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To: Cagey

An average speed close to 55 mph and no tickets. It had to be 100 hours with no breaks.


2 posted on 06/23/2004 12:45:04 PM PDT by R. Scott (Humanity i love you because when you're hard up you pawn your Intelligence to buy a drink.)
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To: R. Scott

He did not say he did not speed, he just said he did not get any tickers. There is a difference.


3 posted on 06/23/2004 12:51:01 PM PDT by TXBSAFH (Power corrupts..... Absolute power can be fun.)
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To: newgeezer

ping. WOW!


4 posted on 06/23/2004 12:51:11 PM PDT by biblewonk (WELL I SPEAK LOUD, AND I CARRY A BIGGER STICK...AND I USE IT TOO.)
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To: Stillwaters

Iron Butt...hahaha. This sounds like one you might want to take on.


5 posted on 06/23/2004 12:52:08 PM PDT by lonevoice (Some things have to be believed to be seen)
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To: Cagey; martin_fierro

Hooligan Ping . . .


6 posted on 06/23/2004 12:52:12 PM PDT by BraveMan
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To: martin_fierro

ping


7 posted on 06/23/2004 12:52:41 PM PDT by Willie Green (Go Pat Go!!!)
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To: Cagey
"You don't have to really ride that fast to do a record like that. You just have to stay on the bike and be efficient," he said.

Yeah right. Simple math shows that his average speed was 56MPH over 100 hours. If you assume that he slept 4 hours a day (unsafe, but a reasonable minimum), spent a combined 30 minutes daily eating & fueling up, a & answering bodily functions, an hour at the border checkpoint, an hour patching himself and his bike up after the accident, and an hour getting his tires changed (yeah right), that's a total of 21 hours out of 100 that he should have been off the bike. That gives us an average speed of 71MPH across the ENTIRE CONTINENT. You can't tell me that he maintained 71MPH as he was winding through the Rockies, so he must have made that time up somewhere (I'm betting the long flat stretches in the midwest).

I respect what the guy did, but it's laughable to think that he did it legally.
8 posted on 06/23/2004 12:53:58 PM PDT by Arthalion
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To: Arthalion
He was sleeping in the back of a Semi. I ride, no way does his story compute. unless there were synthetics stimulants involved, do you think? naaaa
9 posted on 06/23/2004 1:02:42 PM PDT by Lowell (The voice from beyond the edge!)
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To: Lowell; Arthalion

Was it one hundred hours from when he started, or one hundred hours on the bike, with sleep/bathroom stops not counted?


10 posted on 06/23/2004 1:10:05 PM PDT by fourdeuce82d
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To: R. Scott
An average speed close to 55 mph and no tickets. It had to be 100 hours with no breaks.

Or would that be 'no brakes'. LOL

11 posted on 06/23/2004 1:17:20 PM PDT by yhwhsman ("Never give in--never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small..." -Sir Winston Churchill)
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To: Cagey
"You don't have to really ride that fast to do a record like that. You just have to stay on the bike and be efficient,"

Wow. And to think we just drove from Apple Valley, CA to San Antonio Texas in about the same amount of time with a LOT of breaks and four stayovers in Motels... Kinda gives ya the shivvvers to think of 5600 miles in 100 hours!

12 posted on 06/23/2004 1:20:52 PM PDT by EUPHORIC (Right? Left? Read Ecclesiastes 10:2 for a definition. The Bible knows all about it!)
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To: Cagey

An old boss of mine was an Iron-Butt guy. Great boss, wierd hobby.


13 posted on 06/23/2004 1:20:54 PM PDT by discostu (Brick urgently required, must be thick and well kept)
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To: Lowell
I don't know if it computes or not, but the guy is getting plenty of press and he's done this a few times before.

Ducati North America


14 posted on 06/23/2004 1:25:19 PM PDT by Cagey
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To: Cagey

Anyone notice that this and the previous record were set using non-American made bikes?

No Harley? OH wait, he would have to tote a case of oil......

Then again, I"m surprised there was not a Honda or other "rice burner" used - as they generally are quite comfortable and reliable....


15 posted on 06/23/2004 1:26:15 PM PDT by TheBattman (http://www.miniclip.com/bushshootout.htm)
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To: Lowell

The Iron Butter I knew would just sleep on his bike. He figured out a way to strap a backpack around the gas tank, put his spare clothes in it, and when he was too tired to go on would just pull into a rest stop and lay right on the gas tank. He did two runs a year, Miami to LA and TJ to somewhere in Alberta (I think Calgary). Here's the website of the organized Iron Butt folks http://www.ironbutt.com/about/default.cfm


16 posted on 06/23/2004 1:26:43 PM PDT by discostu (Brick urgently required, must be thick and well kept)
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To: TheBattman
No Harley? OH wait, he would have to tote a case of oil......

Ut oh, now you did it!

17 posted on 06/23/2004 1:29:11 PM PDT by Cagey
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To: Arthalion

Lin im Post #14 says he was sleeping like 2.5 hour shifts and "mechanics" did the tire changing.


18 posted on 06/23/2004 1:32:25 PM PDT by Jalapeno
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To: Jalapeno; Arthalion
Lin im = Link in

I need to get some air.

19 posted on 06/23/2004 1:33:03 PM PDT by Jalapeno
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To: Lowell

Point to point I can understand, but Ron Ayers rode through all of the 48 continental states in under 7 days.


20 posted on 06/23/2004 1:33:16 PM PDT by Tijeras_Slim (John Kerry - Not the Swiftest Boat in the Delta.)
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