Ok - this is probably the least interesting of all my ride reports, but in the interest of being complete,
I thought I'd add it to the site. Nothing special about the ride - just a tune up for the Butt Lite - read it if you want, but there's not much to it. -CB

In my infinite wisdom (yeah right) I chose in 2006, to sign up for the Team Strange Butt Lite.  Also,
in my infinite wisdom, I chose to NOT ride my main motorcycle that year in the MN1000 - pretty stupid,
because I should have been using the MN1k as a tune up for the BL.  Instead, I rode my 1980
Suzuki in the MN1k, to the tune of a lot of pain and discomfort.  Unfortunately, this also meant that I needed to do a tune-up distance ride on my Concours to make sure everything was good to go for the BL.

Since I already had a Saddlesore 1000, and most of the lower level IBA awards, I thought it might be fun to try and earn one of their new pins, for doing a SS1000 entirely within a state.  I chose our neighboring state of Wisconsin, because it was the Fourth of July weekend, and I was planning on heading up to our cabin in Iron River, about 30 minutes east of Superior anyway.

Herein lay the problem.  I had to figure out a route, entirely within Wisconsin, that would allow me to start in Hudson, the closest point to home in the Twin Cities, and end in Iron River, which is about 180 miles north of here.  This was not easy to do. My route was really kind of a mess and I would not have blamed the IBA had they took one look at it and said no way.

Leg 1:
Hudson to Beloit:
This should have been an easy leg. A straight shot down I-94 and I-90 through Madison. As it was, it was kind of a mess, but it was valuable for the purpose of a shakedown ride.  First of all, I stalled just outside Madison, when I found out my fuel line from the main tank to the carbs was kinked. Then, when I pulled the main tank to fix the kink, I learned that my petcock had failed, and was on prime all the time. A gasoline bath in a Lowe's parking lot was my reward for this revelation. Still, it was good to find this out before the BL.

Leg 2:
Beloit to Milwaukee:
This was pretty uneventful, except that it was a really hot day, and I hit major construction and traffic through downtown Milwaukee. Uggh.

Leg 3:
Milwaukee to Green Bay:
Not a bad ride, except that you dont' actually see any of Lake Michigan on this stretch, which is sort of too bad.

Leg 4:
Green Bay to Appleton to Madison:
Here's where things get weird. In order to get my miles, I backtracked back down through the middle of the state back to Madison. My goal on the ride was to stay as much on 4-lane roads as possible, so I could make good time. The goal was to get done - not to sightsee. The highlight of this leg however, was a billboard for a
strip club called "Beansnappers." Yes - you read that correctly. I could not believe it either...

Leg 5:
Madison to Wausau to Tomahawk:
This was a long, hot straight stretch through the middle of the state. I hit a nasty mess of holiday traffic between Madison and Portage, where I-39 splits off for Wausau.  The rest of the leg was fine up to Tomahawk, where I caught US Hwy 8.

Leg 6:
Tomahawk to Rice Lake:
Riding west into the setting sun is never fun, and this part of Central WI is deer-infested like you wouldn't believe.  This was by far the worst part of the ride. Stopped in Ladysmith for gas and a sandwich.

Leg 7:
Rice Lake to Superior to Iron River:
Even at this point, I was sketchy as to where I needed to go to make 1000 miles. As such, I ended up taking Hwy. 53 all the way to Superior, rather than cutting the corner, to ensure I'd have enough mileage. As with every trip to Superior on a rally or IBA ride, I had receipt problems. Arrgh. It took me three attempts to get a valid one.  The ride to Iron River was uneventful (except for the ever-present deer), and I rolled in around 1:30 am or so, after getting my ending reciept.