Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 84Winter 2014 | IRON BUTT MAGAZINE  EAT BREAKFAST AND EAT SMART ALONG THE WAY I am a creature of habit, so every day started with the same meal. I carried a Ziploc bag with a serving of quick-cook oat- meal to which I would add walnuts and almonds. Most motels now have microwaves in the room. If not, they have in-room coffee makers that can make hot water that can be poured on the oatmeal. Eating smart meant focusing on low glycemic index foods so my blood sugar never spiked (more on that topic when we turn to gas stops and efficient stopping). GET TO THE HALFWAY POINT IN 19 HOURS This is central to the whole ride concept. Getting to the halfway point (about , miles) in  hours (this equates to a very doable  mph average) means there are  hours left to sleep and finish the ride. Knowing that will by itself take a ton of mental stress out of the ride. A -hour ride day for me is an ideal max long day since riding longer means more wear and tear. We did not feel beaten up on the first day and had time to sleep, which meant we started the second day fresh. Also, the second day is easier riding east to west as the speed limits are higher and there is less traffic. On day one, we hit Junction, Texas in exactly  hours, arriving at midnight local time (Junc- tion is , miles from Jacksonville Beach and roughly halfway). We now only needed  hours to go from Junction to San Diego with the exact same stopping patterns. (Note: If riding west to east, it is likely you’ll get further than Junction on day one due to the increased speeds in the west.) I’ll be frank.To make this work,you need to be on a bike like a BMW GS Adventure with a big tank, use an auxiliary fuel cell, or have a bike like Peter’s Yamaha FJR, which is fuel-efficient and has a .-gallon tank. Also, luck was on our side, as we did not encounter any accidents tying up the highway or other delays that brought traf- fic to a stop. PLAN YOUR STOPS I was rigorous in laying out the stops to make this -hour rule possible.And in our case it meant that we only stopped  times for fuel, not counting the stop for the night. The day one mileages for fuel stops were , , ,, and .Add to that a separate -minute stop to eat a meal.Know- ing precisely where to stop was critical and at the core of our plan. For a cc Quest in particular, its may be important since nearly half of those responded to the survey said that they had a problem with finding gas in the west at least once. Let’s explore this a bit more. If you are on a Harley-David- son without a fuel cell, for example, you might have to stop for gas more often. Frequent gas stops will eat up time. This will reduce time left for rest or to stop for a meal. I saw this play out in the research. A lot of folks admitted to not eating breakfast, perhaps because they were maximizing the time available for sleep and were in a hurry to get back on the road. I have a fuel cell. Peter has a .-gallon tank. I planned the stops to max out his tank. It was that simple. I knew that if he ran out of gas, I could top him off out of my fuel cell. And he set a personal record at one stop by putting . gallons in the tank.This was due to high winds, higher speeds, and riding uphill as we rode west, thus lowering gas mileage on that one route segment. USE ONLY TRUCK STOPS Need to hit the John? No wait — lots of stalls. Need a quart of liquid? It is there. Receipt a problem? Not likely. EAT SOMETHING AND HYDRATE AT EVERY GAS STOP Think protein and fiber and avoid simple sugars or anything that converts to sugar rapidly. For me, road food means a couple of mouthfuls of unsalted peanuts at every stop. I drank a half- quart of Gatorade, Peter used a hydration bladder, and we ate a meal around  p.m. or  p.m. every day. I found that a salad works best for me. BE EFFICIENT WHEN YOU STOP There is no need to be stressed — there is plenty of time. Our meal stops lasted  minutes. I suppose we averaged about  minutes at most gas stops. Got off the bike. Pumped gas. Checked the receipt. Checked the date/location/time stamp. Filed it and marked it with our mileage. Walked around a bit. Went to the head. Bought some Gatorade. Ate a couple of mouthfuls of peanuts. Remember: This is not a race. You have all the time you need. »