Coast to Coast to Coast - 7,000 Miles

In about three days, I'm taking my Hyperstrada from the Pacific coast(ish) at Tacoma, Washington to a family reunion on the Atlantic coast(ish) near Frankfurt, New Hampshire. And then I'm retracing my steps back a week later to go home.

In total, it'll be nearly 7,000 miles (11,250km) of mostly highway and lots of boredom. I'm taking the cell phone with music, and my bluetooth helmet mic/speakers to keep me entertained.

Before this, I've done 750 miles in one day. That was a long day. The shortest leg in this trip is only 375 Miles with the longest at 1,075 and average around 500-600. I might take pictures as I go but I'm dealing with 10-16 hours a day riding, add time for gas and bathroom breaks, resulting in predicted passing out each night. That won't leave much energy for status updates.

Day 1 complete! 755 miles in 15 hours or so.

Kickstand up at 4:30am I followed Highway 12 out of Seattle almost exclusively. My phone was insistent that I needed to take I-90, so I wound up lost...I mean on an adventure right off the bat. It kept trying to reroute me on a "faster" aka "less fun" route all day. The entire morning was all sorts of blegh. I didn't get gas at home since I had only gone 30 miles since filling, I missed my first gas stop thanks to the adventure, and had to refuel from the external tank at a scenic spot in the mountains.

Seattle was wet and stormy. It cleared up when I left Yakima towards Idaho, where temps skyrocketed to 100F in some areas.

On the fuel stop before the fun section, I had the misfortune of dropping the helmet off the bike when I went to throw the center stand down. It's 5 years old and it makes an excuse to buy a new one.

But that brought me to the fun part. Anyone know of the "Twisty Road: Next 167 miles" sign in California? I saw one for the next 77 miles. I didn't think it'd be a big deal, but imagine running your favorite winding road for over an hour with no end. Soo much fun, it's almost too much fun. One of the few breaks today was in the middle of the run. Having to deal with an alright road (the center section was rough with the tire tracks smooth) took a toll. I only had one line go bad, trying to do a 45mph curve at 75mph and starting on the inside of the curve. I held it into the oncoming traffic lane with no one coming and rolled back into my lane when it straightened up.

I finished with the fun and rolled into Montana and their glorious high speed limits. Just short of Butte I ran through a segment of the area storm and got drenched without rain gear. I threw it on shortly after, and didn't need it for the final 50 miles to my overnight spot.

Tomorrow is the long run to the midwest. I planned on going to Minneapolis, but I'm looking at something more in line with upper Michigan. I'll try to post an update tomorrow night if I have the energy after 1,000 miles in a day.

The Bike



2013 Hyperstrada
It was white, and then I used a few spray cans of "khaki" on it. I hate the new color. It's too yellow/orange compared to the desert tan I wanted (kinda like the 1198 TerraCorsa)
Kuryakyn Universal Econo Throttle Assist (The godsend that makes the trip possible)
New (not any more) Michelin Pilot Road 4's
Bellevue Ducati Givi Monokey Mounts
Givi Trekker Paniers
AltRider Tail rack & Kickstand plate
EvoTech Radiator & cylinder guard
Speedymoto Axle Sliders
1.75USgal Rotopax Fuel can
Kriega 30L Drybag
Wolfman Timberwolf Tank bag

Bike picture added to my Day 1 post!

Monstard: 5 was the plan. I'm off to a really late start today so it might extend to 6. I planned on rolling out at 6am, it's 7:42am and I'm still eating breakfast.

Gatdammit: Solo, yes. I wish I had a friend on the back or another bike to ride with.

Zippy49: I've got a throttle lock on the strada, and a crampbuster on the FZ6. I wouldn't be doing this without it. I test rode a Monster 696 while the HS was being re-tired. Besides being too small in size, the forward lean caused an old wrist injury to reappear.

Jamemoto: Fine actually. It was irritated because of the thermal unders that I was wearing. Those are gone and I'm back to regular cotton shorts for the rest of the trip.

Day 2 complete! I'm at around 1500 miles now, +700 for today. I meant to grab the odometer reading before leaving the bike...

I'll have time in the future to recap. Right now, its bed time. Early start to make up for not hitting my 1K goal today.

The Gear

I planned to do reviews. I'll do them too...Later.

Scorpion Evo 1100
Sena SMH-10
Rev'It! Sand 2 Jacket/Pants
Sidi Canyon Boots
AlpineStars GoreTex Gloves
or
Icon Compound Long Gloves

Day 3 complete. I'm waiting at the S.S. Badger to cross from Wisconsin to Michigan. No WiFi, so super short post via phone.

I'm a bit late on this...

Day 4 complete! I'm finally at a spot where I can relax. I'm taking tomorrow off to recover the throttle hand and shoulders/back/neck.

The bike is performing amazingly. The seat is stupid comfortable, and my only hurts are the hand from the throttle, my neck, and my shoulders. The HS is not a very good highway bike, with a lack of wind protection. I'm starting to hear a rattle coming from the front chain sprocket, and the front breaks are dragging enough that I can hear them when I spin the tire with my foot. I'm calling a dealer in the area to have them check it out before anything breaks.

Time for recaps of what I can remember.

Day 2:
+750 miles

This was planned as the 1,000 mile "iron butt" day. If I had wanted to actually do this, I should have left long before the sun was up. I waited more than a few hours after, had breakfast, etc. etc. and didn't set off until around 9 or 10 am. It got to a point that I just decided to call it a night around 11pm and found a hotel room.

Montana's speed limits are ridiculously high. A back woods highway with no median is 70mph. The freeways might as well be free game, and I only saw one state trooper the entire time.

I love gas stations in the Midwest. At nearly every one I went to, premium was labeled as ethanol free. I used the last of my ethanol gas from the fuel can and refilled the remainder in the tank and empty can with the good stuff. I haven't touched the can since, so it's still sitting pretty with 91 octane ethanol-free premium.

The morning started cool, so I was wearing the goretex and insulated liners on pants and jacket. It turned near opposite where I was trying to stay cool with just the riding pants and jacket shell, a pair of shorts underneath for modesty. I don't know what was higher, my cruising speed or 100+ Fahrenheit ambient air temp.

Day 3:
+750 miles

I had planned to go all the way to Minneapolis, MN on day 2, and I'm almost 300 miles short, still in North Dakota on the morning of day 3. This was supposed to be the up-and-around leg through upper Michigan to a night in lower Michigan. To give me time to get sleep I changed plans to making the 1am departure of the S.S. Badger carferry across Lake Michigan.

There's not much of note today. More highway riding than I really needed. My neck is starting to complain every time I pull the helmet on or off, and turning my neck is difficult.

I hit Minneapolis at exactly the wrong time, and got to deal with rush hour traffic. Eventually I made it through and worked my way into Wisconsin.

Despite living in Seattle, this was my first ferry ride. It was also my sleep for the night, so I went straight for a recliner on the deck and bundled up in my riding jacket and pants for the night. I think I got rained on while passed out because my helmet and tank bag were wet when I woke up a bit cold. I couldn't fall asleep after that, so I stared at the stars

Day 4:
+800 miles (or so)

Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. I rolled off the ferry and straight onto the highway. Hours and hours and hours later I made it. I ran on not a whole lot of not very good sleep. By the time I hit my destination I was in bad shape and ready for bed. I spent a moment typing most of this up, but sleep got the better of me.