I'm sure you'll hear more about this over the next year or so since I've been given permission for an awesome ride / vacation for my 30th Birthday next year. I live north of the Twin Cities, MN and I've thought of riding out through the blackhills SD, up to Yellowstone and down into northern UT to see my sister.
My plan was to go with my bro who says "my bike isn't setup for that type of ride (cbr1000rr) blah blah blah blah..." So I may ride solo and just go on an awesome, long distance ride for 7 or more days. What is a reasonable amount of mileage per day and keep my sanity? Any ideas on where to go / what to do? I have a year to plan this so I'll have many more questions. Thanks as always..
How far can I ride in 7-8 days? It depends on who is chasing you and how mad they are....... How far really depends on you and how well you feel. I have gone 600 miles in a day and felt great. Other times I was wrung out after 300 miles. Keep it loose and allow for variation. An Awesome Trip becomes a marathon endurance test if you have a strict schedule. Leave yourself time to stop and see interesting stuff/roads.
It depends on sooooo many factors, such as how old you are, how much of a hurry you are in, and what roads you choose. However, if you are on a very long ride, 500-600 miles per day becomes pretty routine. When I have gone on very long rides, I use 500 miles per day as my guide, unless I decide to stay in one location for a while. But even then, I will likely ride several hundred miles per day.
how far HAVE YOU GONE in a day? Not exactly going to start out doing high mileage days just like that. Commuting miles are probably 3-4x easier to handle than technical miles.
You have to ask yourself what is your primary goal for taking this trip. Do you want to ride a specific route and see certain sites? Highways or back roads? Are you trying to get as much riding time in a given time frame? Are you trying to get to one location and back (ie. Utah to visit sister)? etc... With each one comes a different expected riding time...and overall distance expectations....then there is the BIGGEST variable....MOTHER NATURE. As you plan your ride work around potential weather issues, historically speaking, but remember that no matter what history says the weather can throw a curveball at your daily riding conditions and distance. If you plan on stopping as you hit certain "sites" to take it in and snap a few photos, etc. this can easily add up and take away from riding miles. What you lose in riding time you gain in seeing the sites off the saddle. Couple of years ago took a 10 day 3,800 mile ride. KY to New England and back. Weather (a few days of heavy rain) impacted the planned daily ride but managed to average 380+/- miles of mainly off-highway riding including the occasional leg stretches, meals and photo ops. It was a good paced ride with the occasional slow days and days when I tried to make up for the rain limitations. Plan for the best, expect the worst and no matter what ENJOY your ride. Let us know how it works out for you.
It also depends on what kind of roads you ride. You can do 600 to 700 a day of slab, but may only get 300 a day on nice 2 lane. Weather is a huge factor too. Sun is a lot easier to rack up mile is than rain. The last is temperature. 100+ degree days really take their toll. If your head to the black hills at certain times you can almost count on that.
My wife and I take a three week trip every year and we use 500mi as our average in the twisties. The first few days we do about 300mi and then we are good. If you go out and do a 700-800 mi your first day and get a soar bum your first day it will be soar for the whole trip. Also from a few weeks to a month before you go ride every day that you can even if it's only a short ride this pays off in the END. LOL
Because of somethings that came up at work this year we only rode for 13 days with one day off in the middle, we rode 8426mi(avg 648mi) only the first day was on the slab (but had to rush home because an emergency at work). Keep hydrated and eat Bananas.
How old are you. IE; what kind of shape are you in.
At 65 and over weight I can do 300 a day minimum.
Other than visiting your Sister I'd suggest running to Yellow Stone/Jackson Hole/Flaming Gorge/and down though the Rockies/and stay in the mountains for 80% of the trip. That's what I'd do.
Well, the trip will be because I turn 30 next year. All I need is some type of excuse for a big ride and that counts. I have 7500 miles this year so far with plans of over 10k easily. I commute every day, 30 miles one way. A 250 mile day is no problem for me, but it's the farthest I've done. I was thinking of tenatively MN to black hills to yellow stone, to northern UT to Crater of the moon in ID, to Glacier up into canada and back home to MN. It'd be about 3500 miles, figuring 500 per day that'd put me at 7 days.
Up early, ride until night or until I hit my destination stopping for sights / pictures along the way. So I'm looking for advice on how long I can ride and also where I should go.
I also did a quick map of the same route, except to the west coast near portland, up to seattle and back cutting out the canada part. But it's 4500 miles and I think that may be pushing it. I'd rather have room for sights. I'd also like advice on another good trip of about 3500 miles from the twin cities. I thought of going out east but it didn't seem to have the open riding experience as the west. IE, it's more big cities that are cool to see where as the west has more sights and roads. I could be wrong... That's where I'm looking for help and guidance.
This trip right now is a clean slate and I'm looking for ideas.
I've done a 10 day 2500 mile ride with the longest day (the 1st day) at 750 miles of two lane US hwy/county hwy the whole way. We mixed in a variety of days with one day stationary and another short 150 mile day of "out and back" to the same town. I'm headed out on a 14 day ride next month with a predicted milage of about 3500 miles. Again, the first day we will be rocking just to get out of CO and WY and into MT. After that, the days should be more enjoyable with our shortest day planned in Glacier National Park just going from St. Mary over to Kalispel for the night. I don't mind blasting for a day, sometimes two in a row, but I'm out for the sights/photos as well as the ride. I've NEVER been saddle sore but I have over-done it mileage wise where I just want to get off the damned thing for a day.
Rather than miles focus on time. Make sure you leave by 8am and stop for the day at 5pm (or 6pm). Some days you will want to stop a take more pictures than others. Some days you will want to make some distance. On the recent trip I just took (ride report is in the ride report section) our shortest day was 280miles and our longest was 500miles. It worked very well. If you do end up going solo you will probably make 400-500mile days no problem. Plan your route and stop riding when you want. Like all trips I take, 90% of the planning goes out the door while on the trip! The research and planning is still key. Have a great trip! I turned 30 this year as well.
Hours. Not miles.
Your standard of measure should be based in daylight and places.
Trying to cover 'X' miles is just asking for trouble and getting just tired instead of having a great time.
I've driven long distances, nearly non-stop for runs of 12 to 20 hours. On the 3rd day of this, shit that's supposed to stay put (buildings, trees, lightpoles) start to move for no reason. and you can't recall wtf you where 1,000 miles ago.
Go visit places through great roads, take pictures, and stop often. Far isn't measured in miles, in my humble opinion. :fing02:
Thanks for the input everyone. I plan to ride 8 - 5 or sundown, however it works. I'm not concerned with covering a specific amount of mileage, I'm just trying to gauge how big of a loop I can handle. 3000, 3500, 4000 miles? I'm thinking 3-3500 with plenty of sight seeing.
The first thing I did when I decided to start doing multi day rides was doing an all day ride on the weekends. It really helped me get a feel for how much I could handle and at what intervals I should stop and rest for a few minutes. I just got back from doing 850 miles this weekend with 378 miles of Colorado twisties in one day. I basically kept the ride to 8 hours or less so I would have plenty of time to stop, rest, eat, take pictures, etc.
Funny thing is I feel more rested and relaxed this Monday morning than I have felt in a long while. So set your pace so you can have the most fun and that is how far you should go in a day. :fing02:
I have found Google Maps quite useful in route planning. Essentially you take whatever time it says to drive a particular distance between points and multiply by 1.5 to account for stops along the way ~ gas, food, sightseeing, etc.
This is a recent ride from just outside of Calgary, AB to Essex, Montana through Glacier National Park.
Google says 276 miles in about 6 hours 16 mins. We left at 9:30 am and got to Essex at 7:45pm, for a total of 10.25 hrs. Had a nice breakfast in Turner Valley (45min), gas stop in Pincher Creek, gas stop in St. Mary's, short walk around the summit at Logan's Pass, and a final gas stop in West Glacier. Used gas stops to stretch, have a drink of water and a handful of trail mix ~ probably about 20min each.
I find I want to get off the bike after an hour to an hour-and-a-half of riding.
Of course the answer is....IT depends. :computer-noworky:
If you are riding twisties I would say a 300 mile day is a good place to start. Not only are the roads slower but there are more things to stop and see and you have to take pictures. All of this takes time.
If you are the on the lonely straight roads out west..........you can fly. But watch the gas! In these conditions depending on your condition you should be able to manage 500 plus miles/day............this assumes of course that you are not documenting every overlook.
It would be nice to take one day off on. I would plan for a reasonable daily mileage and if you can beat by a bit ....do it and then have some rest time/day in the bank for the remainder of the trip.
I use Streets and Trips to do the master plan which allows you to plan an overnight and scan for local dumps to stay in.
What is your goal for this ride, if you are trying to just enjoy the time on the bike 500 mile days should be no problem and give you plenty of excess time to stop and smell the roses, if you are visiting places and just using the bike to get from point a to point b, then 1500 mile days are attainable and you can still get 3 or 4 hrs of sleep each day. There is a big difference between motorcycle sightseeing and using the motorcycle as a means of transportation. I use the bike for both, so if I am in a hurry to get someplace and by myself I enjoy riding the bike more than driving my truck, as a bonus the bike gets 38mpg and the truck gets 15mpg. Overnight riding is enjoyable to me so all day means 24 hrs not 15 hrs of daylight. If I am just out for a ride with no destination I will limit myself to 750miles so I can enjoy it more, plus this makes a big difference for my riding buddy on his speed triple. If you are trying to make time on the bike you might want to look at adding a fuel cell to push stops to be based on bladder needs and not fuel (although if your friend and his supersport go this will not be an issue as you will always have enough to outlast him), this also helps for riding new places overnight where even along the interstate stations close.
On a side note, if you are ever interested in road rallying or other long distance riding stuff you should check out http://www.teamstrange.com/ and http://www.glmc.org/
Team Strange is based out of MN, and the GLMC is based out of Watertown SD and has events in Minnesota. Both are great groups and welcome new people
Uhmmmm... how much sleep do you need??
Aside from weather, the need for sleep is the biggest thing you need to worry about. It might also determine whether you complete the trip safely without killing yourself or the driving public because you pushed yourself beyond your physical capacities.
Once you figure that out, it becomes a question of how fast you dare to drive and will you get yourself in trouble with the LEOs along the way.
The bike's (VFR? ) is no problem as it will outlast you easy with it's bulletproof mechanicals, as long as you already put any needed attention into it's charging system.
So I'm looking for a comfortable amount, it sounds like 500 or so is a good amount. I have a few plans of trips, all hinging around the start of going to see my sister in UT. I'd feel bad if I didnt' stop by. I'm very high level planning out 3000-4000 mile trip with the thought that some days will be some freeway to make up time and some will be slower with more sights to see. Thanks for all of the help so far.
Now where do I go?
Base trip (to utah) is MN, freeway to black hills SD then backroads from there to YellowStone WY. Then again backroads down to northern Utah near Morgan. From here I have mapped out a few other possible trips.
1. Up to crater of the moon in ID, up to Glacier, through Canada and back home. About 3500 miles total.
2. Up to crater of the moon in ID, out to Portland OR and to the coast. Up the coast to Seattle, back East through Glacier, North Dakota and back home. (this is 4500+ miles and would be a stretch)
3. Down through Colorado from Utah, East through Kansas, up through Iowa or Illinios along Mississippi River. Over to Madison Wisconson and back home.
[image: View Post]danmurphymn, on 23 August 2010 - 01:09 PM, said:
So I'm looking for a comfortable amount, it sounds like 500 or so is a good amount. I have a few plans of trips, all hinging around the start of going to see my sister in UT. I'd feel bad if I didnt' stop by. I'm very high level planning out 3000-4000 mile trip with the thought that some days will be some freeway to make up time and some will be slower with more sights to see. Thanks for all of the help so far.
Now where do I go?
Base trip (to utah) is MN, freeway to black hills SD then backroads from there to YellowStone WY. Then again backroads down to northern Utah near Morgan. From here I have mapped out a few other possible trips.
1. Up to crater of the moon in ID, up to Glacier, through Canada and back home. About 3500 miles total.
2. Up to crater of the moon in ID, out to Portland OR and to the coast. Up the coast to Seattle, back East through Glacier, North Dakota and back home. (this is 4500+ miles and would be a stretch)
3. Down through Colorado from Utah, East through Kansas, up through Iowa or Illinios along Mississippi River. Over to Madison Wisconson and back home.
Have you ever toured before? If you have not I would not be too ambitious on your first major tour. All kinds of things to figure out like gear, MC seat, bars, electrics etc etc
I would pick up as many of these roads as you can ...but if you do you will be lucky to get 500 miles a day.
Thanks for all of the helpful information. After checking out the www.byways.org I've tenatively narrowed down my ride. I'm thinking of slabbing the twin cities to the black hills, then backroads in the black hills to somewhere in WY. Probably slab it up to Yellowstone unless I can find some good backroads. Then backroads down to NE Utah. On byways.org it looks like there are quite a bit of good roads and sights in CO so I figured I'd spend some time there. Then slab it over through NE and IA to the Mississippi River and then follow it back home with a possible stop in Madison WI to see an old friend.
(I can't figure out how to imbed a google map)
This isn't final but it's a quick overview of the tenative trip.
Other than the black hills and yellowstone, I'd be spending the majority of my sigh seeing ride in NE UT and NW CO. What are some can't misses in this area?
I'm not actually to far from you over in Menomonie WI. the longest I have ridden was 600 miles in a day. got really old in the end but then again it was from Menomonie, WI to sandusky, OH. Indiana has to be the flatest straights most boring cop filled state ever. So have some fun and since you have the time go on some adventures while riding will make a huge difference. when you enjoy what is around you tends to help you forget about the monkey butt you have going on :bliss:
I plan my trips based on hours, not miles. I aim for 6-8 hours with 8 definitely being the max and that includes rest stops, meals, gas stops, etc. It adds a sense of adventure when you have to pick your stop for the night too. Google maps is your friend. :fing02:
[image: View Post]danmurphymn, on 22 August 2010 - 05:39 PM, said:
I'm sure you'll hear more about this over the next year or so since I've been given permission for an awesome ride / vacation for my 30th Birthday next year. I live north of the Twin Cities, MN and I've thought of riding out through the blackhills SD, up to Yellowstone and down into northern UT to see my sister.
My plan was to go with my bro who says "my bike isn't setup for that type of ride (cbr1000rr) blah blah blah blah..." So I may ride solo and just go on an awesome, long distance ride for 7 or more days. What is a reasonable amount of mileage per day and keep my sanity? Any ideas on where to go / what to do? I have a year to plan this so I'll have many more questions. Thanks as always..
You may remember my "Epic Ride" of last summer when I disappeared from radar for five hours. Got rescued by the EH Team in Ottawa. I usually rode about 400 per day. I lost my tank bag because I didn't rest enough late on the last day. Mental lapses can get you if you don't rest enough. What is too much depends on road type, personal stamina,and what bike you are riding. At 65 it was something of a problem. At 30 you should be able to pull anything off if you are in condition. I agree with Vanion2, test yourself on the weekends and see what you can do.
[image: View Post]Dutchy, on 14 January 2011 - 11:52 AM, said:
The last post from the originator is from August 2010........
Time for an update!! :biggrin:
I've been busy planning my summer trip with the help from everyone. I'm planning a trip out to New York and then down down south through Pennsylvania and possibly further south, but not much (haven't mapped this yet). From there I'd head back West on some planned route and up the Mississippi back home. With the help from everyone I'm planning about a 3000-3500 mile trip. I'd like to get it down to 3000 but we'll see how it works out. I have a friend who will be coming. My plan is to ride morning - dark with plenty of stops for rest, sightseeing etc. I figure with plenty of stops and all day riding we can hit 500 miles / day. Plus if I can get it down to 3000 miles we should have plenty of leeway... With 2 of us I figure we can push more miles than solo since we'll have someone to talk to.
As soon as I have a mostly planned route and sites I'll post a final planning post to try to organize any ride alongs or get togethers...
Again thanks to everyone so far for the help and input!
I've done 5 annual "Great Ride" adventures. Each one was around 6000km (3600 miles) and took 11-15 days depending on circumstances. So my 'distance per day' recommendation is around 600km/day (360 miles). You will be hard pressed to do better than 60mph AVERAGE speed, so 600 miles means 10-12 hours in the saddle. I like riding (~12500mi/yr) but that much time per day kinda sucks the fun out of it for me. So for me 6-8 hrs in the saddle (+ 3 meals & pee breaks), makes for a full day, hence the 360mile average.
When I have done my long solo rides, I don't make hard and fast plans for how far I will get in a day, although I usually have a planned destination if it is a meetup. I will ride depending how I feel, the weather and the roads. When I set out I don't have specific campgrounds picked out - I just ride, and stop when I get tired, see something interesting or it gets dark. There are lots of places to stay.
By allowing your plans to be flexible, the trip is a lot more enjoyable and you don't feel the need to push yourself if you don't want to. This summer when I did my trip down the West Coast I was surprised by how slow highway #1 in California was, especially near the origin. It was a very technically challenging road, and not something I would have wanted to be pressuring myself on. This reduced my mileage per day significantly. Along with a need to replace a rear tire meant that I modified my route, and didn't travel quite as far through California as planned, heading instead through Bakersfield. In 2010 I broke the big toe on my shifter foot on the first day of a trip. I reduced my planned mileage significantly, because it slowed me down - but since I wasn't married to a specific route it didn't ruin my trip. The following year I saw some of the sections of Utah I had missed out on.
I don't need to create extra stress on a trip, and I'm OK with having flexible plans. When I set out I have a route map, sometimes with some alternatives. I keep a friend posted about my whereabouts (as a single woman riding through the States it makes a lot of sense), and I really enjoy my trips.
Since you are not going for another year take a few shorter runs to see how it feels like to you.
Do not underestimate the toll that the first few trips will take on you until you get used to high mileage. Do not become bumbed out.
That being said-I have 3 or 4 one thousand mile days on two different bmw rt's but only about 600 miles on the vfr until that was enough for me. However ,I am 6'4'' and 220 lbs.
On one trip on a '97 rt I did one leg of 307 miles without stopping-I will never ever do that again.
On the vfr I have added a Freedom Air seat pad which helps my bulk go long miles.
The two main things are: the different roads that you are going to take and the weather. Remember you are going to be like a pilot that is vfr rated flying into instrument rated weather,at times. Sometimes you will have to wait out the weather and that is the only choice that you will have!! Make sure to allow for extra weather days so you do not have to get home or else.Because none of us wants to see the end of" or else."
We want to see some cool pics of the trip.
79 mph winds-sleet-hail-snow-rain out of this storm cell
[image: 11-10 012.JPG]
Enemy drivers on this section[image: 11-10 435.JPG]
Tropical storm Ermine on this leg of Saint Louis to Padre Island ,Texas[image: 11-10 437.JPG]
I know my 500 mile / day goal may be pretty hefty but I have a lot of flexibility built into my trip. I plan to hopefully leave Friday morning or mid day, but at the latest Saturday morning. This would mean 7 days would have me returning home the following Friday. If that worked, I'd have 2 days of recovery, if not, I have 2 days of flexibility. Also if I could get the trip down to 3000 miles that would allow me even more leeway.
I have long term aspirations of adventure trips in other countries and a ultimate dream of a round the world trip so saddle time I will get used to. I plan on stopping when I'm tired, spending a decent amount of time stopping to see sights and setting up camp when I feel it's time.
On my cross country trip most of my days were around 350 miles. At that pace I was able to take in the scenery while still getting somewhere. My longest day was over 700 miles, and while I felt like a hero when I finally stopped, I was very tired and felt beat up.
300 to 500 miles a day is very do-able on a 6th gen vfr, so I'd figure you can count on that.
[image: View Post]Alien VFR, on 09 February 2011 - 11:41 AM, said:
On my cross country trip most of my days were around 350 miles. At that pace I was able to take in the scenery while still getting somewhere. My longest day was over 700 miles, and while I felt like a hero when I finally stopped, I was very tired and felt beat up.
300 to 500 miles a day is very do-able on a 6th gen vfr, so I'd figure you can count on that.
+1
It really depends on what you're wanting out of the ride. If you have somewhere you want to make it to then the more miles a day might matter, but if you're wanting to enjoy the "trip" itself, a more leisurely pace will help you take in and capture the stuff along the way.
Tell your brother he can DO EET! I somehow made it 1700 miles last year from OH all the way down the Blue Ridge Parkway to NC and back in ~3.5 days on a 600RR. Couldn't feel my arse afterwards but it was wicked fun and I can't imagine how much I'd regret it if I hadn't gone! :fing02: We only slammed miles the first day, putting in around 500 as quickly as possible, the rest of the trip was much more relaxed and awesome.
I have done 4,800 miles in 12 days with the longest day being 700 miles, and I have done 5,200 miles in 10 days with the longest day being a little less than 1,000.
600+ mile days will hurt the next day, heck it will hurt during the ride. 350 miles is just a good goal, maybe 3 or 4 hours in the morning, a good long lunch, a couple in the afternoon and find a place to stay with daylight to burn. It gives you time to stop and look at stuff. Also, if weather catches you out for a day, you can make it up the next day or spread it over two or three days. It is very hard to make up a 600+ day if you loose one due to weather or your buddies failing clutch slave cylinder that you have to rebuild for him in a hotel parking lot with o-rings from a hardware store... Ask me how I know! :biggrin:
To me, 7 hours a day x 100 km/h (or 60 m/h) 7 days = 4900km (about 3000 miles) round trip. Then, you have to plan for days where rain makes you stop at a coffee shop nearby to watch it go by and talk to people.
Good luck!
C
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