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**Wheelie** · #1 23 Jul 2018

Munching massive lengths of road, day after day, week after week, does not have to be very difficult if you are tactical about it. I thought I would share my experience, and also hope you would share yours.

Start early:
Start as early as possible so you can arrive as early as possible. The more time you have at your end destination for the day, the more time you have to enjoy life out of the saddle and recharge.

If you stay at a place where they serve breakfast, be there when it opens. Make sure you have checked out and that the bike is packed, fueled, serviced and ready to go.

Don't order anything from the menue that takes time to prepare. At this point, all you want to do is stuff your face and jump on the bike.

In places where they serve breakfast late, I make my own.

Ride slow
It seems counter intuitive to get somewhere fast by riding slow, but is one of the most important things you can do to really increase your pace over time. If you ride fast you will become far more fatigued. Not onli will you have to combat more wind, noise and vibrations, or muscle the bike in bends, but you will also spend far more energy being alert. Last of all, you will be able to recharge less from enjoing the scenery as all your focus is on the road and trafic.

The added fatigue will over time lead you to taking more breaks, longer breaks and/or ending the day earlier. Over time the added speed will put you behind.

In addition to the fatigue, you will consume more fuel - requiring additional forced fuel stops... taking more time. Although taking breaks is an effective means to recharge, fuel stops is not very effective in this regard.

Conscider that on a 1000 km ride, you save maybe an hour riding at 140 kms/h rather than at 120... if you did not have to refuel or take any breaks.

A last thing to conscider is that by by reducing your speed, you will also reduce the strain on the bike and reduce risk of accidents... in other words, fewer time consuming break downs and needed service.

Think about what the reduced speed can do to reduce the risk of riding into, or onto, something that will cause a tyre to blow out or a wipe out. Your reaction distance at 80 kms/h is rougly 30 meters with a total stopping distance of roughly 70 meters. At 100 kms/h the reaction distance is approximately 42 meters with a total stopping distance close to 100 meters. If you ride long enough, it is inevitable. Your goal here is to reduce the frequency and the severity of calamities.

Stop often, but short
Stopping is another thing that sounds counter intuitive when you are in a hurry, but it is extremely effective. Fatigueness is something that creeps up on you. Once it has taken hold, it takes an exponential ammount of rest to reset. It requires far less rest to keep fatigueness away by resting up befor it sets in than to recharge after it has. If you take frequent short stops, you can travel som serious distances, day after day.

My routine is that I start looking for a place to stop after an hours worth of riding. I try to stop every 60-90 minutes, and closer to 60 than 90. When I stop, I get off the bike and shut it off. I allways take off the helmet and air out my riding gear. I always drink some water and usually eat a small snack (a handful of trail mix, etc) or have half a smoke. I get on the bike again as quickly as possible - usually never having stopped more than 3-7 minutes.

Every 3-4 hours I try to take a "longer" stop, but never more than 15 minutes. I try to combine this with fuel stops and lunch.

Keeping your break times short is very important.Longer breaks will mean that you arrive at your destination later, eating into your "super charging" time. You want as much time at your end destination for the day as possible, but without arriving fatigued.

Don't eat at restarants or cafes
Although sitting at a table and being served a great meal really halps you to recharge, waiting for service and the check eats up a lot of time... even at drive throughs. I usually travel with a packed lunch, a thermos and plenty of water. I often carry bread and a jar of peanut butter and a jar of jelly, and maybe some cheeze so I don't have to stop to shop. Shopping in riding gear is very unpleasant.

When I close up on lunch time, I start looking for a pitoresque place in the "wild"... a place to stop on the road where I can lie down and enjoy the scenery. I try to avoid stopping in urbanized areas or near businesses where there allways seem to be well intended and interested people that want to talk to me, eating into, or adding onto, my resting time.

I always try to have my dinner at the end of my day... out of my riding gear with peace of mind, knowing I have no place else I ought to be.

Prepare for the next day's ride as soon as you arrive
I find that having a long stretch of uninterupted rest and leasure time is most effective in terms of resting up. This means that as soon as I have checked in to my room or camp ground, I go straight to work. I fuel and service my bike, I wash my clothes, and plug in everything that needs charging. Then I have the rest of the day off, to do whatever I like - with no duties on my mind.

The only exception to the above is if I arrive close to the end of dinner service... then I will have my dinner first.

Have a mid-leg contingency for where to sleep
In my itineraries I usually put in an alternative place to sleep, midway on every leg. Should the riding go smoother than anticipated, then I have the option to push to the next place to sleep. If it goes slower than expected - i.e. I had a break down, I had to wait for a ferry, there was a place I just had to stop to explore, there was a detour, the riding conditions made for a slower ride than anticipated... or whatever... then I have the option to stop before I over excert myself. I haven often resorted to both options.

Reduce stops on shorter legs
On shorter legs, for me legs with three hours or less of effective riding time, I ride it all in one go - only stopping if nature calls. I still get off to an early as possible start. My objective is allways the same, get to where I am going as early as possible so to gain the longest rest time possible.

Find your 60-80%
If you for instance find that your maximum riding capacity under a specific riding condition is 1000 kms in 12 hours, then you will not be able to do this several days in a row. You will likely on your second or third day find that you can only do 60% of this, and that each day thereafter will not get any easier - likley more and more difficult, effectively grinding you to a hault. Once the fatigue has set in, it requires complete days off to recharge, sometimes several in a row.

If you instead force yourself to limit yourself to 60-80% of max, there is a high chance that you can carry on riding at this level day after day with only a complete rest day every fifth to seventh day...

When planning an itinerary it is important to understand your limits with your specific setup and plan accordingly. Me for instance, riding mostly highway speeds at 120-130 kms/hour, on a one cylinder vibrating thumper with a very limited fairing and no throttle return stopper (i.e. f650gs dakar)... puts me at beyond max at 1250 kms in 16 hours, two days in a row... but will leave me screaming in pain the last few hours of riding. I have come to conclude that my max is 12 hours on the road including stops when riding at comfortable speeds. This puts my 60% at 7 hours, and my 80% closer to ten. With effective avarage riding speeds below 70 kms/h, seven hours on the road seems quite easy. But I have no greater problems doing 10 hours riding on the highway.

My limit is therefor not so much how far or long I am able to ride, but more my goal to arrive where I am going before dinner time. If I set off at 08:00, I plan to arrive so that I am able to prepare for the following day and still make dinner before 19:00.

Quit before it gets dark
Riding at night is far more straneous than riding during during the day. The risk of putting you or your bike into harm's way - adding to your time, is also much greater. A disporoportinotae ammount or damage to the wheels and tyres has happens to me in poor lighting conditions while being exhausted at the same time - i.e. by riding too fast into some damn pot hole.

While riding at night may seem to get you where you are going faster, far more than is gained will surely be lost if you ruin a rim. If you ride at night long enough, something is bound to go sideways at some point. In any case, you need to rest to be able to continue indefinately. Get to where you are going early, and rest hard and long!

Conscider rush traffic
Riding in traffic is not only slow, but also tiresome. If the start of my leg is in a heavily urbanized area with traffic congestion, I get an extra early start - beating the worst of it... not only saving time, but also conserving energy.

Take some time off
If traveling for more than a week, then the above approach will inevitably lead to fatigue. You will not only find that your rests becomes less and less efficient over time, but you will also experience that the mundaneness of riding day after day will also take its toll.

I need to put in some riding free days every now and then to recharge fully. This could be to go to the beach, dip in a pool, go sightseeing, do some necessary errands, hiking, go to a concert, doing a through bike service, or what not - anything but riding or staying at a hotel or camp site.

I find that riding for four days straight and then take the fifth day off, or riding for five days straight and then take two days off, is ideal. I allways try to time these days off with destinations that have some really nice attractions

Some additional tips

Wear ear plugs
Noice fatigue has significant effects on your ability to carry on day after day, but it is entirely avoidable...

Don't get a buzz on the night before riding
I loooove

and whisky, but restrain myself if I am to ride the following day.

Get a good nights sleep
I've become addicted to sleeping with my ear plugs even at home... Wheras I at home can get by with 5-6 hours a sleep on average, if I am to ride day after day, I need 8 hours.
Noice fatigue will lead you to put the bike up on its stand earlier and earlier every day.

Have comfortable bike and riding gear
If you are uncomfrtable on the bike, you will ofcourse get tired. A comfortable seat, farings that will protect you from the elements, a helmet without pressure points, a throttle return stopper, clothes that be adjusted to compensate for changes in riding climate, clothes without seams that cause chafing etc, etc, etc... are all very important investments.

Psyllum Husks!!!!!
There is one thing that no one likes to talk about - taking shits! Psyllum husks is a food supplement that can be purchased at pharmises and health food stores. It is a fiber that also have lubricating qualities. It will ensure perfect bowel movements. When you take this supplement you will be able to pass a turd allmost as quickly as taking a piss - with nothing left on the toilet paper. It also reduces bloating, constipation and gas. In the groups I have been riding with, everyone has become "adicted" to this stuff. The only draw back is that when you have to go, you really have to go!

It is not the time saver here that is the essence here, but a clean bung hole. (although I must admit I was very greatful for the time saver component one time I had to take a crap on a road with mine fields on both sides and nowhere to hide). If riding in a group where several people enjoys taking 30 minute shits, then this will take up a ton of time - especially if one has to wait turns at the same stall or if they are out of sync.

If you need tons of toilet paper to clean your bum, your ass will get sore. If it is not prisitne, your ass will also get sore - it's a catch 22 if you don't have lots of fiber in your diet. Psyllum husks is the cure.

Divide larger groups into likeminded buddy pairs
If riding in larger groups, there is always someone that you need to wait for. Either there is someone that is out of sync on bathroom breaks or need for refuelling, or there is someone that gets lost behind in traffic, has a break down or rides slow, etc, etc.

Having a riding buddy can make you more efficient, i.e. by having someone watch over your stuff while you go to pay for gas or check accomodation. Having many buddies on the other hand will slow you down.

My tip is to divide into groups of 2-3 bikes and pair up according to riding style and time management strategies. Pairing me together with someone that enjoys to stop for a warm meal would inevitably lead to a conflict, similarily with a person that likes to twist the throttle or ride until exhaustion before taking a break.

Most important, when riding with others is to agree upon the rules. In this, agree to stick to the rules and agree to change the rules rather than breaking them. It is very easy to be leniant towards others who want to break with the plan... but only for so many times before war breaks out.

Time Allowance Cards
Sticking to the plan to achieve max time efficiency at all times may have unintended effects. We are not 100% alike in our needs, and a good strategy therefore requires some flexibility to keep everyone you are riding with happy.

One great solution to be able to stick to the rules and allowing felxibility at the same time is to give everyone in the group a limited number of "Time Allowance Cards". Each of these should have a specific time allowance noted on them, with or without conditions applied. i.e. +15, +30, and +60 minutes without conditions, and +6 or +12 hours with conditions applied (i.e. pay for the

or the room). Allow one to be able to combine cards - i.e. 15+30 = 45 min. Also allow to add them to a planned stop, i.e. the 15 min lunch stop to make for an hour, or the 12 hours at the end of the ride to make for an additional full day and night at a specific logation - effectively an extra rest day.

By turning in a card, a person can claim the right to add the noted time to the day's leg, without argument.. to take the more scenic route or to make an extended stop somewhere - i.e. a cafe.

In this strategy it is important to add up the time of all the cards to your groups itinerary. Also, make sure there is a limit to these cards, i.e one of each of the shorter durations for every week of travel, and one of each of the longer durations for every three or four weeks of travel.

**mollydog** · #2 23 Jul 2018