Long distance training

Epyon

Epyon

Joined
Nov 20, 2015
Messages
42
Location
Minneapolis
I'd like to do some long distance riding this coming season, but I haven't really done much of it in the past. I have done some long days but not like SS1000 type days. I've done a three state twisty roads day and that was fine but quite easy to stay engaged during the ride.

I've done a ride from Minneapolis to Chicago and then back a few days later with relative ease. I'm wondering how you guys built up endurance to do long days rider? I want to ride to visit a friend in Detroit (again from Minneapolis MN) one day. I also have scheduled in a few years to ride to Colorado to visit another person and would like to ride to Phoenix AZ to visit my folks. I don't have an ST yet but I've started a fund. So in the mean time I will be using my Street Triple R. I'm sure it will break me in right and really make me appreciate an ST when the time comes.
 
Epyon said:
I'd like to do some long distance riding this coming season, but I haven't really done much of it in the past. I have done some long days but not like SS1000 type days. I've done a three state twisty roads day and that was fine but quite easy to stay engaged during the ride.

I've done a ride from Minneapolis to Chicago and then back a few days later with relative ease. I'm wondering how you guys built up endurance to do long days rider? I want to ride to visit a friend in Detroit (again from Minneapolis MN) one day. I also have scheduled in a few years to ride to Colorado to visit another person and would like to ride to Phoenix AZ to visit my folks. I don't have an ST yet but I've started a fund. So in the mean time I will be using my Street Triple R. I'm sure it will break me in right and really make me appreciate an ST when the time comes.
Click to expand...
Long days require mental endurance more than anything else.
 
I recommend you get in as good physical shape as you can given what physical limitations you may face.
Make sure that your bike is setup to be as comfortable as you can make it.
Then spend as much time in the saddle as you can.
Muscle memory is a wonderful thing when it comes to riding long distances.
And make one firm rule - if you start to nod, pull over and get off the bike for a while.
Your brain will tell you that it is 'okay' to close your eyes for just moment - but it's lying to you!
 
I am hardly qualified to offer advice as my longest day has been about 500 miles and Minneapolis to Detroit looks to be about 700 miles.

But here goes anyway... I plan on averaging 50 mph which includes stops to stretch, fuel and meals. so, 500 miles is about 10 hours. At that pace 700 miles is about 14 hours which is pretty much dawn till dusk. Definitely doable, but more than I would want to attempt unless I was trying to set a record. And I'm not. I'm trying to enjoy my time on 2 wheels.

How to build up to long distances? Take a break every 75 to 100 miles and keep it short. It's surprising how much time is lost during breaks. Get off the bike for 5 to 10 minutes, stretch, drink, re-assess where you are and want to be, get back on and go again. But most of all, make sure you're enjoying it otherwise you might as well have taken the train.
 
So would doing ever increasing days be a good idea. Do a few 200 mile days, then some 300 and so on.... I'd guess you will learn a lot about what needs to be changed and how you operate doing plenty of those kind of days. Oh I was hoping/planning to do an SS1000 this coming season as well.
 
ddemair said:
I am hardly qualified to offer advice as my longest day has been about 500 miles and Minneapolis to Detroit looks to be about 700 miles.

But here goes anyway... I plan on averaging 50 mph which includes stops to stretch, fuel and meals. so, 500 miles is about 10 hours. At that pace 700 miles is about 14 hours which is pretty much dawn till dusk. Definitely doable, but more than I would want to attempt unless I was trying to set a record. And I'm not. I'm trying to enjoy my time on 2 wheels.

How to build up to long distances? Take a break every 75 to 100 miles and keep it short. It's surprising how much time is lost during breaks. Get off the bike for 5 to 10 minutes, stretch, drink, re-assess where you are and want to be, get back on and go again. But most of all, make sure you're enjoying it otherwise you might as well have taken the train.
Click to expand...

On the way to Chicago I couldn't hardly do more than 100 miles or so between stops and had to cut down to like 50 miles or so. I wasn't impressed with myself. But that started to happen when I got on the interstate. One the way home I had to stop a bunch and in retrospect should have take a nap at the Iron Butt hotel and then kept on going, but I was feeling rushed. I did enjoy myself but it would be nice to be able to make those longer treks and still make good time. 17 hours to Detroit sucks. Also I found out that once your get around Chicago EVERYONE hauls major ass. I drove there this year and I was do 85-90 getting passed!!!! :oops:. So you may make up lots of time anyway heh.
 
Understand that it is not the 'miles' as much as it is the 'time in the seat'.
You obviously can cover a lot more miles on the interstate than you can on the backroads in the same amount of time.
You also have to figure when do you stop for fuel/de-fuel.
My ST1100s are set up so I usually go tank to tank before I get off.
I can refuel without dismounting and have done 8 hours straight and never got off the bike.
If I go from Nashville to the West Coast, it's normally 3 800 mile days out and 3 800 mile days back.
If I go to the AlCan, it's 3 800 mile days just to the start.
I can either do rides like that or sit at home and wish I could - so I condition myself to be able to do them.
And I ain't no spring chicken either and I do have some 'physical' challenges (recovering from one surgery right now). ;)

Examples -

8,600+ miles in 15 days - http://www.unclephil.us/Alaska2004Home.htm
6,300+ miles in 12 days - http://www.unclephil.us/West2007Home.htm
8,000+ miles in 19 days - http://www.unclephil.us/West2009Home.htm
6,100+ miles in 14 days - http://www.unclephil.us/Canada2011Home.htm
 
Last edited:
I don't have enough experience to really answer this either, but I was in your shoes just a few months ago. I do 150-200 mile back road days fairly often on my Road Star, but never more than 300. In September I bought an ST1300 near my parents place in PA, about 750 miles from here and rode it back. I was concerned about my first long ride, too, and planned to get a hotel half way home. The ST made the trip easy, though, and I just went straight through. I just made sure to stop about every 100 miles, whether I needed to or not, to stretch, walk and drink some water. I really never felt too bad. In retrospect, I wish I would have broken the trip in two and spent more time on scenic roads, but that's about the only thing I'd change.
 
I would suggest start off doing distances you are comfortable with and build up the miles gradually. I have done 6 Iron Butt SS1600km rides and the first was the hardest due to the unknown. I find if I ride through the night I get very tired just before daybreak and often stop for a 15 min nap. I live in New Zealand so dont have many straight roads like you guys in the US however I find that windy roads that make you work actually keep you more alert and less likely to fall asleep.
 
Uncle Phil said:
I recommend you get in as good physical shape as you can given what physical limitations you may face.
Make sure that your bike is setup to be as comfortable as you can make it.
Then spend as much time in the saddle as you can.
Muscle memory is a wonderful thing when it comes to riding long distances.
And make one firm rule - if you start to nod, pull over and get off the bike for a while.
Your brain will tell you that it is 'okay' to close your eyes for just moment - but it's lying to you!
Click to expand...
I usually go tank to tank as well on my ST13. About 300 miles till refuelling. This is on the interstate. Then take an hour break (because of the stock seat). Hopefully, that will change as I am sending the seat to Manchester, TN, to get it more comfy.
 
Like others say you really have to know your bike and your body. In 2012 I did some long distance riding to attend a national bike function in Dallas Texas. That year was when the whole country was caught in a record heat wave that lasted for a month or more. Set off from Saint Louis Mo at 4 am thinking im going to be down the road a good ways before the sun got very high in the sky. I was doing good for a while. First stop for gas was in Springfield Mo was starting to get warm so I took my textile jacket off and took my face shield off my helmet. I don't know what happened but when I stopped 100 miles later I was hurting and cramping. Got off the bike in Oklahoma and laid in the grass until a biker came by and asked me if I was ok. I told him I was overheated and he rode to the station up ahead and got me 2 bottles of water. I was dehydrated even though I was drinking water. Then I made it to Mc Aleaster Ok filled up the bike and bought 4 bottles of water. When I paid for my gas heard the man on the radio say it was 112 F. I did my best and made it to Dallas TX at 7 PM. I checked into my hotel room turned the air conditioner on high and laid on the floor for 2 hours cramping and not being able to move. That was the worse ride I have ever ridden and I have 45 years riding a motorcycle. But I tell you lesson was learn't. Just because your tank can do 300 miles don't mean you can. My other mistake was not listening what my body was telling me. Because I had not realized even though I was drinking water I wasn't peeing. Which mean't I was loosing water faster than I was filling my tank. Now that i'm older and hopefully wiser I ride and take my time.
 
iflyvfr said:
I can't explain why earplugs help so much but they really do.
Click to expand...
The constant din of engine noise exhaust noise and wind noise (especially from your helmet) over a long time is absolutely fatiguing.

Some people actually feel that just from listening to inferior speakers and headphones and that's in the comfort of their own home. So it makes perfect sense to me that earplugs would improve the experience.
 
I did an SS1000 with no real building up prep. My normal day rides run between 200 to 500 miles. When I did the SS1000 I picked a route and had a few dates picked as backup days if weather was bad. My ST1300 has a custom seat, helibars, MCL highway blades, and a medium Clearview windscreen. I did 1043 miles in 15 hours. I stopped only fir fuel and took a break at the Midway point for dinner at my sister's house.

I was able to easily make it between 200 to 260 miles between fields stops. I hadn't fuel stops planned out beforehand so I wouldn't out myself in a spot to run out if fuel.....

This way not a scenic ride, but a get there and back ride. I still had lots if fun though. I stram Pandora while riding, which keeps me out if the drone zone.
 

Attachments

  • Screenshot_20180919-010934_Maps.jpg
    Screenshot_20180919-010934_Maps.jpg
    75.4 KB · Views: 24
If you're going for any ride surely you've got to enjoy it, so just plan accordingly.
If your own comfort level is reached it's time to stop.
I don't personally try to ride long distances but have done a few 500 mile days on continental autoroutes when conditions have either dictated or allowed. But that 500 miles would have been done in about 7 hours riding at road legal speeds.
You will find your own level, and that's time to stop, that's why there's bars.
Upt'North.
 
For me, good tunes through a headset and lots of fluids. I keep a bladder of water in the tankbag along with either a plastic bottle of soda or a gatorade. My most intense ride was 6,000 miles in 7 days out to NatSToc and around. My build up was just a bunch of 200-300 mile days. Keep the mind occupied and do as you feel comfortable. When I left St. Louis and rode across Kansas it was topping 100°. I drank lots of water and kept dreaming of cool nights camping in Colorado. It's a mental thing.

Don't eat a big meal and get sleepy, remember you are just sitting on a bike, not burning up a lot of calories. Comfy seat, multiple leg positions and being confident to stand-up and ride occasionally can help you keep a steady pace in covering ground.
 
Last edited:
Also, you will not need much 'fuel' while riding. I usually eat a good breakfast, light snacks and fluids along the way, then a nice supper when I get where I'm headed. I try to plan my stops so that breakfast/supper are within walking distance of where I am sleeping. I always fuel up on the way in so if I get up early the next morning I don't have to be concerned about fuel availability. The only 'distance' I rode for the sake of distance was my 'official' Iron Butt run - down the entire Natchez Trace and back with a little extra. I do distance to get where I need to get based on the travel time that I have to use since I still work a full time job.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom