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So how far do you ride in a day? Paved or loose and how many hours?


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Hey everybody,

     As another season begins (with hopefully no underaged arsonists) i’m wondering what are everyone else’s mileages in a single days’ ride? I’ve gone from a 40/60 bias doing barely 250 and hating it on my XR to over 700 30/70 on my Tiger. Now of course that’s at the end of a 17+ hour day in the saddle and I’m pretty wiped the day after, but I’m still serviceable. Can’t ever be away from my house for longer than 24 so I try to pack as much into the short time as possible. That’s one of the BIG reasons I went for the BIG bike, ability to extend. I may not be able to go to Baja, but I can ride endurance like nobody’s business and dream. Took a little 720+ mile spin the other day that saw me traveling through the Great Basin out east and choking in the dust and heat after spending a chilly dawn with icy mountain pass roads and tandem dump trucks up my tail as we descended to the high desert. Finally got to stop at a station in the middle of nowhere where I’d fueled before last year and all I’d had was plastic and still the kindly old gentleman ran off an actual paper charge slip for my miserable little purchase of fuel. I was glad to return, this time with cash and a few kind words for his kindness in seeing to my needs back then for damned little recompense.

Small towns and places in Oregon are still like that occasionally: little glimpses into the past where people and things didn’t move so damned fast. I’ve waved and smiled at older folks just out strolling from Church on a bright and frosty day in Vernonia, stopped and chewed the fat like a local in every ‘burg from here to Lakeview and up to Joseph and all the way to Montana. The one thing I really took away from Ted Simon’s bit was his sense of adventure through being alone. I HATE traveling with a group, it changes the whole dynamic of social interactions. Instead of that half-mad fellow on the big ADV bike soaked to the skin, you are one of a bunch of noisy Klim-Klad Wild Hogs wannabes. Not really my cup of tea, and where’s the bloody adventure in that?

i LIKE riding by myself and the reactions of people to me and the interactions therof, it’s one of the major kicks to this. Plus the ability to rely on oneself and one’s own natural coping skills in the face of little kinks in the road are just the spice that make it ADV. A sense of vulnerability as Mr.Simon puts it, a sense that you just might end up with more than you bargained for. Which inevitably turns out to be just enough to keep it an adventure instead of just a trip. It’s curve balls and adversity that make the spice of adventure, not smooth sailing with everything according to some plan worked in advance. 

Oh, that and the cute waitress will NEVER treat you the same when you are with the BOYS. Just not going to happen. Think about it for a second and you’ll realize that THERE is the secret to adventure, leaving your group/caste behind and just being available to whatever might occur. We’re social animals that’s for sure, but I don’t get big grins by hanging around a bunch of other middle aged fat guys in minty ADV gear congratulating each other on our great taste in front of the local Tavern OR dealership. I quit smoking AND drinking due to ADV motorcycling and I miss neither. Never did hold with drinking and riding under ANY circumstances, and smoking was just plain nasty and shortens your life.

But back to the topic at hand: How many miles a day do you ride and in how many hours? I’m kind of curious as to whether or not I’m actually crazy for riding so much at a single sitting, but with good aux lights and the twin H4s of the Tiger I’ve got GREAT lighting at night so 1 AM departures are a thing with me. Already spooked well over a dozen cows at night so far this year, let alone the Puma, antelope or more regularly encountered Elkosauruses.

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  • 3 months later...

My "normal" ride day is about 300 miles for my Tiger, serious off-road rides are about 40 miles (single track).  I prefer to sneak off on weekdays so the traffic is much lower.  I have frequently done over 500, but realistically, after 400, it is just to get where you're going, not enjoying the ride.  I recently did about 4000 miles across Labrador, Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, where we averaged about 350 per day.  Some days that was too much, some days too short, but we also busted out about 600 in transit one day.  I like hitting diners and out of the way spots, following the road less traveled.

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Well written and love the solo riding part!

I did 987 miles once from Steamboat Springs, CO to Irvine, CA and would never do it again.  Should have stopped in St. George, UT but "wasn't tired."  

Last week I did an IDBDR trip were I did 750 miles the first day from Irvine to Rome, OR and it actually wasn't too bad.  I set out at 4:45 am and 87 was the max temp I had to endure so not too bad.

On the way home Sunday I did 786 miles from Klamath, CA to Irvine and it was a bit more than I wished I had to do but got home just after midnight so not horrible.

Like SF Demo about 5 hours or around 300 miles is what I'd prefer, especially on the 990.  These guys on the GS's can do a lot more in more comfort than I can.  With taller gearing, cushy seat, good fairing and street tires it's a LOT more bearable.

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8-15 hours a day on pavement.
About 4-8 hours off pavement.

Longest time on a bike was 1000 miles in 18 hours on a Honda CBR600F, trying to stay ahead of the rain on bald tires from Italy to the Neverlands. Not something I would recommend on a sportbike.

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Thanks Folks.

 

     Sounds about like what I was expecting, especially given the audience  (XLADV). Those numbers are pretty much my own depending on season and availability so it appears my suppositions were fairly close.,

@Eric,

     How astute of you especially the kind words about SOLO riding, it's the part of the Ted Simon bit in "Why We Ride" that really put the hook in for me.   It's become especially close to my heart as I have had less and less time to actually get away here lately and ride as we have been working seven days a week 12 hour days to try to keep the County licensor from going insane and shutting us down.    Now I'm back to full occupancy, Attorneys paid and we're back in fighting form but it's taking me time to focus on anything not Business related and I can sure relate to Elon Musk's 120 hour work week!

     That being said, I DID have a slightly ulterior motive in posting those questions other than curiosity, but I'll defer that for right now in the interests of brevity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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