Seeing the country and the world on 2 wheels

[oVTo]

been loving the touring around on the St1300 with the better 1/2. nova scotia the long way (no ferry). Tennessee and all those roads down there. Florida 1480 miles in 22 hours. Upper state NY and Penn. Penn mid state has some of the most amazing roads around.

also rented a few bikes when on business trips in Washington state and Nevada.

trick I'm finding to touring is wind protection, water and the seat. We have a camelback in the tank bag and sip along the way and 45-30 min before fueling up chug a bunch of water. pit stop relief, refuel and roll on.

Whatever the cost find the best seat possible for you!!!!!!!!!!!!

IIRC you had a thread on the PNW rental trip a few years ago. We're thinking of going there next partly because of how much you raved about how beautiful it was out there.

[capitalcrew]

I've done Albany NY to Nashville in one shot, and Charlotte NC to Albany also in one shot. I'd like to be able to just ride and stop whenever but it seems like I always end up on long rides out of necessity, instead of just looking to explore and have a nice time.

I did tell my wife that eventually I'll throw camping gear on the bike and just... Go, but I have no idea when that may happen. Not for a few more years at least

[RandyO]

I've done Albany NY to Nashville in one shot, and Charlotte NC to Albany also in one shot. I'd like to be able to just ride and stop whenever but it seems like I always end up on long rides out of necessity, instead of just looking to explore and have a nice time.

I did tell my wife that eventually I'll throw camping gear on the bike and just... Go, but I have no idea when that may happen. Not for a few more years at least

nothing wrong with long thru rides to explore at the other end

[DirtDawg21892]

nothing wrong with long thru rides to explore at the other end

True. It took me a few years to warm up to the concept, but when you've only got a set window of time available, less travel time means more time spent at the destination. It's worth it to me to just hit the slab and blast off if it means getting there a day earlier and staying a day later.

[Crconnor18]

How many of you long mile riders have exceeded a back to back 800+ mile days?

Part of my ride home from Utah has a a quick rip from Colorado Springs to Knoxville over 2 days but curious if that’s exceeding limits or not. I don’t have any intentions in sight seeing the endless corn fields or the giant ball of yard and just slab it early in the morning to late at night to get to the smokies for the 2nd half of the trip.

Never exceeded 400 miles in a day on a bike

[capitalcrew]

I haven't done back to backs, but I've done a 1k mile day and an 800 mile day. Neither is super fun. Your legs and ass will hurt. It's probably not as bad on a cruiser, I did my trips on a tl1000s and a klr respectively.. but I don't imagine you'll be feeling great either. Lol

[SRTie4k]

How many of you long mile riders have exceeded a back to back 800+ mile days?

Part of my ride home from Utah has a a quick rip from Colorado Springs to Knoxville over 2 days but curious if that’s exceeding limits or not. I don’t have any intentions in sight seeing the endless corn fields or the giant ball of yard and just slab it early in the morning to late at night to get to the smokies for the 2nd half of the trip.

Never exceeded 400 miles in a day on a bike

You're getting into IBR territory there. Most I've done is ~650 miles on the interstate (NH to Waynesboro VA, several times), with a follow up 500 mile day on the BRP, and while the BRP was (and is always) phenomenal despite the mileage, doing that many miles on the interstate is 1. boring/tedious and 2. uncomfortable. Good roads and scenery make long distances much easier to ride; slabbing is often the exact opposite of that. Make sure you bring plenty of water and don't discount Advil, it'll make that last 200-300 miles much easier each day.

[DirtDawg21892]

How many of you long mile riders have exceeded a back to back 800+ mile days?

Part of my ride home from Utah has a a quick rip from Colorado Springs to Knoxville over 2 days but curious if that’s exceeding limits or not. I don’t have any intentions in sight seeing the endless corn fields or the giant ball of yard and just slab it early in the morning to late at night to get to the smokies for the 2nd half of the trip.

Never exceeded 400 miles in a day on a bike

It can be hard to predict sometimes. If you're comfortable on the bike, it shouldn't be too bad. It's the stuff you don't consider that can get you. Maybe your knees bend in a way you didn't expect while you sit on it, or the seat doesn't agree with your backside the way you hoped it would, or you're too tall/short for the windscreen, etc. Weather has a lot to do with it too, don't beat yourself up too bad if you can't make your mileage goals due to torrential rain or something. You've got to be smart about it and know when to quit.

Chances are you'll be fine. You can cover a lot of ground in a day when your only job is riding your motorcycle. Also, Ibuprofen is your friend. even though we're both under 30, taking 2 an hour before you ride and then another every 4 hours or so does wonders to prevent your ass from going flat. For me at least, once that sets in, it's a losing battle.

Don't forget to have fun!

[Crconnor18]

Already have a good sized bladder pick for my tank bad, wind protection, 1st 2 days in the canyons I’ll be with the PO and trying one of the two seats out for best fit. All poly base layers and cycle shorts.

Really just doing 2 long days to linger more in the canyons & mountains than the flats of Missouri or one of those Fly Over states.

Will either end with the FJ in the stable for ever or immediately for sale

[Vovchandr]

One thing I've learned is a good rule of thumb.

Between rests, gas stops etc I'd average about 50miles an hour while going point A to point B.

So for easy math for me to cover 500 miles would take about 10 hours, mostly highway.

[e30addict]

Longest slog I've done is 500 miles down to VA and would have zero interest in doing that back to back. I don't find super long slogs fun and they detract from a lot of enjoyment I get from riding. I get that it can help people get to places faster, but it's not for me.

200 miles of tight twisties on a loaded ADV bike can get tiresome, especially in heat. Typically stay between 300-400 miles, as a good overall balance. Leaves time to set up/break camp and relax some at the end of the day.

My boss just rode out and back to Sturgis. He said something like 5k in a week. Totally not my thing. 1 week trips that I've been on tend to land around 2600 total miles and 2 week trips have been in the 5k range. I like that as a sweet spot.

[DirtDawg21892]

Already have a good sized bladder pick for my tank bad, wind protection, 1st 2 days in the canyons I’ll be with the PO and trying one of the two seats out for best fit. All poly base layers and cycle shorts.

Really just doing 2 long days to linger more in the canyons & mountains than the flats of Missouri or one of those Fly Over states.

Will either end with the FJ in the stable for ever or immediately for sale

Sounds like you're all set then, on a bike with nice ergonomics like that, it shouldn't be difficult. I almost bought an FJ, but found a better deal on my ninja. I still wonder how I would have liked it. Maybe when you're back we can meet up for a ride and I can check out that SV if you've still got it.

[RandyO]

Ilso, Ibuprofen is your friend.

um.... NO, Ibuprofen is bad for your liver, tweak your ergonomics my friend

[Crconnor18]

Sounds like you're all set then, on a bike with nice ergonomics like that, it shouldn't be difficult. I almost bought an FJ, but found a better deal on my ninja. I still wonder how I would have liked it. Maybe when you're back we can meet up for a ride and I can check out that SV if you've still got it.

Always happy to give some other bikes a try for sure. I’ve looked around a lot for a proper FJ and this one has everything that’s wrong about the FJ fixed. Suspension, fuel mapping, upgraded seat, wind protection , bar risers, electronic cruise control all with low miles and in the burgundy

A series of unfortunate events on my initial race bike has the blue Sv my race bike until October so there is a good chance it will be available still. Had to pull it from the market in efforts to finish the season on good standings.

[boosten lebaron]

In my 20's i took my gsxr from key west to boston in a single shot. Mandatory fuel stops every 2 or 3 hours meant i could stretch. I think it took me like 22 hours. I was pretty fucked up at the end. I just didnt have the time to spare to rest. I remember crying at one point because i knew how much further i had to go. Zero chance i would ever do it again. I can cover 8 or 900 in a day pretty easily still. If i have to go to HQ for work its about 500 miles round trip and i find that very easy. Boring but easy.

[oVTo]

The longest 2-day run for me was 2 days of about 600 miles each, Nashville to Boston. That wasn't easy but we would probably done another hour or so the first day if we didn't run into a thunderstorm.

The longest/worst single day riding was from the Ozarks to Dodge City, KS this summer. About 525 miles 2-up. It was 95-100 degrees much of the day with a gusty cross wind and heavy traffic on a 2 lane highway. Oncoming tractor trailers were brutal, like hitting a wall. Never again.

We'll still slab long distances to get to our destinations in the future, but once we're in an area we want to explore we'll keep the miles to 200-300, with more days off than we included this year. By 'days off' I mean not changing campground/hotel for a day or two while exploring locally.

[DirtDawg21892]

um.... NO, Ibuprofen is bad for your liver, tweak your ergonomics my friend

Alcohol is worse for the liver, you're thinking of Tylenol.
You can take like 3000mg of ibuprofen every day with no adverse affects. All I was saying is that it helps me stay comfortable on the 500+ mile days. The Ninja and FJ-09 aren't goldwings, no amount of ergonomic tweaking is going to make them comfortable after 12+ hours of sustained riding.

[DirtDawg21892]

A series of unfortunate events on my initial race bike has the blue Sv my race bike until October so there is a good chance it will be available still. Had to pull it from the market in efforts to finish the season on good standings.

I'm sorry to hear that, good luck with the rest of your season. Nice score on the FJ too, I think you're going to love it.

[SRTie4k]

I love riding fast in far away places! I've been taking a week long trip down to West Virginia every year for a while now. We go to the Cass BMW rally and goof around in the mountains. Down there they get federal highway funding, so the roads are in beautiful shape but there's no industry so there's nobody driving on them. Most of the roads are a 55 mph speed limit even tough you can only comfortably drive 40, and there's basically no law enforcement to speak of anyway. Some areas are every bit as much fun as the dragon, its a good time. We usually put down 2500 miles or so over the course of 6 days. We will slab it a couple hours to Scranton or so, but once you're in the Appalachians you can just ride mountain roads south basically all the way.

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That satellite dish wouldn't happen to be part of the Sugar Grove NSA Listening Station in Brandywine WV?

[butcher bergs]

Longest day for me was 760 miles followed by the next day of just under 500 miles on a fly-n-buy for a an FJR down in St Pete. That hurt a bit however those were "miles on a mission" to get more north and play in the Smokies for a couple days. Rode the Dragon during that trip and found it to be nice but kinda "meh" overall. Had a whole lot more fun on the Snake and surrounding roads in that general area. I think I covered something like 2600 miles in 6 days going from St Pete to where I lived at the time in Hudson, NH. Fun trip but that last stretch from DC area to home was interesting as it started to flurry the more north I continued. Old railroad towns in Georgia, Cherohala Skyway and everything within the the Smokies. I'd say the most memorable moment was taking a break on a ridge somewhere near a restaurant and watching clouds roll directly through that area at ground level.

Back when I had my '03 FZ1, we'd cover 600 mile days fairly regularly but that was with a Corbin saddle. Never had the desire to use that factory seat once the Corbin showed up.

Next time I pull miles like that on a motorcycle is never again.

[e30addict]

That satellite dish wouldn't happen to be part of the Sugar Grove NSA Listening Station in Brandywine WV?

Probably Green Bank since that's right near Cass.

[SRTie4k]

Probably Green Bank since that's right near Cass.

Interesting, didn't know there were more in that area. Makes sense though given how rural WV is.

The listening station isn't too far away, and the MABDR passes right next to it. Didn't have any comms in that area (although surprisingly my Inreach worked), then realized later it's the National Radio Quiet Zone.

[e30addict]

Interesting, didn't know there were more in that area. Makes sense though given how rural WV is.

The listening station isn't too far away, and the MABDR passes right next to it. Didn't have any comms in that area (although surprisingly my Inreach worked), then realized later it's the National Radio Quiet Zone.

Actually never knew about Sugar Grove and didn't realize the quiet zone was so large.

I've been to Green Bank a few times though. There's one large and 2 small dishes there. Nice place to take a break, cool off in the visitor center and just stare at the large dish.

[DirtDawg21892]

That satellite dish wouldn't happen to be part of the Sugar Grove NSA Listening Station in Brandywine WV?

It's the green bank radio telescope. Pictures don't even begin to capture the scale.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Bank_Telescope

[nt650hawk]

now that I am retired, I want to take more time to tour on 2 wheels, everything I have done in past is an IBA ride to get somewhere, that check out local roads, then a couple days to get home, 4000-5000 miles in a 4 day weekend, and my 1/2 week vacation (when I could take one) down to Deals Gap with the crew, been at least a decade if not more

I've toured Southeast USA, Northeast USA, Ozarks, Appalachia,

I want to go to Southwest USA next, Alaska, Northwest, and Canada, I've been to Canadian Maritimes, Quebec & Ontario, by car, camping with family, but want to get back on 2 wheels

and once I get all that done, if I have any energy left, maybe New Zealand, or Australia

I love Quebec City. it is Europe, like, right here. If and when you do go please stop off at THE Irish pub down town and have a Kilkenny Beer for me!