MTF  50CC Quest Iron Butt Association Ride

Guidelines Used for Developing the Trip Plans

• The 50CC from West to East is schedule leave San Diego at 2:00 a.m. PDST which is 5:00 a.m EDST, May 16, 2002. Riders must arrive at Jacksonville by 7:00 a.m. EDST, May 18, 2002

• The 50CC from East to West was originally scheduled to have the first group leave Jacksonville at 5:00 a.m. EDST. I forgot about the time change. The last group out will be scheduled to leave at 7:00 a.m. EDST, May 18, 2002 and must arrive in San Diego by 6:00 am PDST. This will allow the East to West group see the West to East group on their arrival unless they are pushing right to the last minute.

• We are going to gather water and sand from each coast. You will be supplied souvenir tubes for this purpose as a courtesy of the Motorcycle Tourer's Forum. We will not be able to ride our bikes on the sand, nor would we probably want to. The idea is to get gas receipt, drive the block or two to the ocean, hop off and get sand and water, and then head out. At the other end, gather water and sand and then gas up. The idea is that we will have gone truly from coast to coast in less than 50 hours.

• The Trip Plans are based upon default Microsoft Streets & Trips times:

  • Interstate: 65 mph

  • Limited Access Highways: 60 mph

  • Other Highways: 50 mph

  • Arterial Roads: 35 mph

  • Streets: 20 mph

  • These speeds should make the trip plan conservative as much of the posted speed will be at 70mph; Arizona and New Mexico are 75 mph. However, there are some urban areas that have speeds as low as 55 mph. If we make good time, we will get extra rest at the midpoint and arrive early at the end.

• The Trip Plans allow for 3 hours of problems, traffic, and the gathering of sand and water.

  • You should try to leave on or before the schedule depart time at the midpoint in order to reserve the three hours for problems at the end of the trip.

• Rest stops are scheduled for 15 minutes. This time includes the time to exit and re-enter the interstate, so the actual stop time should be kept to about 10 minutes. Just enough time to gas-up and pee. No time for stretching, etc.

East to West Trip Plans

The goal for these plans was to get the lowest mileage range for a given number of intermediate stops. If you have a trip plan that will reduce the range for a given number of stops (e.g. if your plan on requires a 151 mile range and 16 intermediate stops), please submit the trip plan so we can upgrade the above recommendations.

West to East Trip Plans

These are merely suggested plans. There is no obligation to follow them. However, we have put a significant amount of effort into verifying 24 hour availability of gas at the stops in each of the above plans. If you have a plan that you think is an improvement on the above please send it to amleduc@insightbb.com and we will add it to the web site. If you are traveling west to east and would like for us to develop a plan for you and add the stops to our verification list, please send your request to amleduc@insightbb.com