The Road to IRONBEARD: Part 1
It was Valentine’s Day when I decided that April 8th would be the day. But what was it?
IRONBEARD is a name I came up with. It takes the goal of riding at least 1000 miles in a single 24-hour period like the IBA Saddlesore 1000 (required to be completed to qualify for the actual rally) or 1kinaday and strips it of all the requirements for submittal. It is just me and the road, a couple GoPros and a 124cc, 8.7hp Honda MiniMoto. Horsepower is the limiting factor. Maybe it will become a trend and we can create our own IRONBEARD Association.
Less than 60 days away.
This attempt was first mentioned in a YouTube video published nearly a year ago. Framed as an incentive for internet folks to subscribe, it is the carrot to help me reach 1000 and start getting that sweet sweet ad revenue sharing of pennies per year. With only 100 subscribers at the time, it seemed quite far off. I took a break from videos (and this site) for about 4 months but was up to 750 subscribers by February.
Time to start planning.
Important decisions needed to be made. The first of which was when was I going to make the attempt. April 8th was a Monday of a week I already had off. If anything went sideways, time off work was already locked in with ample buffer to resolve said sidewaysness.
I doubted I would have 1000 subscribers by April but the second part of that first decision was filming the attempt prior to reaching the milestone. An internal debate at BaldRider Studios had been going on for months regarding whether I should wait until I reach 1000 and just jump on the bike or plan. Planning allowed me to think about everything better and ultimately have a more likely positive result than a spur-of-the-moment road trip. Having all the raw footage in advance would also allow me to tackle the estimated 2TB (24+ hours from each of two cameras) of footage.
Some equipment would need to be ordered.
Do I need a spare tube and tire? If I get a flat, I’m going to be stuck for up to 10 hours waiting for someone to come get me potentially in a certified dark-sky area. If you have never been anywhere without any light pollution, it is DARK. How about tire inflation? Auxiliary lights? If you have money, there are unlimited ways to spend it.
I have a bad habit of going overboard in shopping and packing. Neither of those things works to my benefit in this scenario. Every ounce counts with so little power on tap. Some last minute dieting to shed holiday weight may also be in order.
Next week will be an update on what additions are being made to the bike and the route I plan to take.
Stay tuned.
