IBA Saddlesore 1000

My first IBA ride in April 2008 was basically a repeat of a ride I had previously done in February for a LDR 1000 ride, but the other way round. Starting from Corley Services, a few miles from home I went south-west down the M5 to Exeter to the services at J10. I then crossed country, stopping for breakfast at Tintinhull near Andover, before hitting the M25 and then the M20 to Dover. After a brief stop for fuel and the compulsory receipt I turned north, went round London on the M25 to join the M11 and stopped at some services near Cambridge for a sandwich and coffee. I did not stop again except for fuel and to change my visor when it got dark. I carried on north up the A1 until Newcastle upon Tyne, where I nearly forgot the receipt at a petrol station there - luckily I remembered 100 yards down the road and nobody else had been into the garage so mine was the last receipt on the till!

I crossed the top of the country, following the line of Hadrian's Wall to Carlisle as the sun fell and on to the M6 which I followed all the way south back to Corley Services - that definitely felt like the longest leg of the route and was certainly the busiest in terms of traffic. The weather the whole way was good - dry and reasonably warm for the time of year. The total route came to 1040 miles according to the GPS (1090 miles on the GS's odometer) - the travelling time was 14hrs 30mins, at an average speed of 71.7mph; stopped time was 1hr 17mins; so total time for the ride with stops came to 15hrs 48mins, averaging out at 65.8mph. Most of the route was on motorways or fast A roads with little traffic and few speed cameras which helped me keep a steady pace and good economy of around 52mpg.

My main reasons for doing this rode were firstly to complete an IBA ride as I felt I should gain membership of the IBA prior to competing in the first BBR in May, and also to confirm how I would feel at maintaining a good pace on the bike over many hours - while the rally would be on very different roads and far more broken up by stops, I was pleased and gained a lot of confidence from this ride.