Also planning a long ride this fall

[FrugalNinja250]

I too am planning a long ride, my first, this October. This is a trip I've done many times in a car, 808 miles driveway to driveway. In the car I tend to do it in about 11.5 hours give or take 15 minutes, with three combined fuel/bathroom stops on the way of less than 10 minutes each. I don't stop for food, instead snacking on salty foods to help me retain water (which minimizes the bathroom breaks.)

My thoughts are to break the ride into 160-175 mile legs with 15-20 minute refuel/rest/bathroom stops at each stop. Does this seem reasonable? My goal is to get there in 13 hours, maybe quicker, mainly because breaking a trip into two day legs leaves me completely exhausted the second day in the car and I would presume on the bike as well.

I just started riding 18 months ago and I'm definitely not a spring chicken. I've ridden just under 14k miles so far, mostly commuting 25-45 miles a day with some short out of town trips in the 180+ mile range.

My longest one-shot ride to date was 234 miles last summer, with many rides in the 50-75 mile range. I tend to cruise at an indicated 80-85 (actual of 70-75). I did another ride last month of about 230 miles but broke it up into a 100 and a 130 with about 45 minutes in between.

The biggest problem I've had, in fact the only problem, is saddle soreness. On last summer's ride I spent the last 50-60 miles alternately hanging one butt cheek then the other off the saddle for several miles at a time. It hurt, bad. I had on padded lycra biking shorts under my TGP armored riding pants but to no avail. The pain is deep, in the muscles, rather than the fascia.

My bike is bone stock except color, and the addition of a Mike's Euroshield.

I'm having a hard time find specific advice for dealing with this problem, and it's the one thing that may make me cancel the ride in October. I'm thinking that if I can get the saddle extremely comfortable the rest of me will do fine. What tips/tricks have come up for modifying the saddle, etc? The one thing I can't do is the Corbin, that's just plain outside my price-range until the economy picks up some.

[CC Cowboy]

Where are you going?

[FrugalNinja250]

I suspect I'll wind up in hell eventually, but for this trip northern Georgia, not too far south of Chattanooga. Almost all of the ride will be interstate, I-20 and I-59 which, based on my previous experience, I shouldn't have any problems traffic-wise maintaining an average speed excluding stops of 70 mph.

[revstriker]

If your longest ride was only 234 miles and you were sore from that, I would not attempt an 800 mile ride in one shot. I'd probably break it into two days, doing about 400 miles per day. That way you can take your time, and if you get sore, you can stop and rest for an hour. Also, since it is difficult to snack and drink while riding (you could get a camel back for water though), having some stops with time to stretch out and eat will also keep you focused while you ride.

[kkim]

Originally Posted by FrugalNinja250

I suspect I'll wind up in hell eventually...

da dum dum... pish!!

[CC Cowboy]

Why are you taking interstates?
Are you stressed for time.
There are so many nice roads you could take at a slowed pace.

[FrugalNinja250]

Yeah, pressed for time. I used up many of my vacation days this year for furlough days. The cut in pay also means that hotel rooms on the road are sort of unaffordable.

The only reason I'm even contemplating the trip is that doing it on the bike drops my fuel cost for the trip by two-thirds from doing the trip in the car which only gets in the low 20's. That savings is make or break for going.

I'm planning on leaving around 5am on a Saturday with the intent of arriving there about 13 hours later. If worst comes to worst and I just can't go on, then I'll find someplace where I can sleep and arrive on Sunday, but I really, really, really don't want to do that. I'll stay a week, then repeat the performance coming back.

This is my best friend, I only get to see him and his family once a year, so I'm loath to miss going because of trivial reasons such as personal discomfort, and just because I can tolerate immense amounts of pain doesn't mean that I want to.

So, what can I do to the bike and my gear to make this trip more bearable?

[M]

808 miles in 13 hours is an overall average of 62.153mph. That's fairly ambitious for your first long ride. You'd need a moving average of 75mph+ with your rest stops.

I'd restructure the ride to a 55mph overall average. That puts your ride at 14.7 hours. Of course, if you aren't on a tight schedule then you can adapt as needed.

[SteveL]

If I were you I think I would take the Greyhound, you may still get a sore butt, 800 miles in 13 hours is a bit over optimistic when you are not in shape for it.

Steve

[FrugalNinja250]

I took Greyhound once, it was a nightmare. The bus stopped at every little podunk town along the way, and then there were bus changes since they won't refuel a bus with passengers in it. That hellish trip was over 24 hours long, much of which I spent crushed into the window by a 400+ pound very sweaty person who just loved to talk, and talk, and talk, and talk. I was soaked in sweat, and it wasn't my sweat. No thanks, I'd rather walk.

As to ambition on this trip, I'm fairly ambitious when I want to be.

Based on my previous experience on this route in my car I know that traffic at the times I'm on various aspects of it will easily support 5 over the speed limit, making most of my actual moving speed averages around 75 excluding stops. I know from previous riding on the two 230+ mile trips and the several 100-180 mile trips that both myself and the bike can ride that speed without any issues other than butt-soreness.

The bike averages about 55 mpg with full saddlebags and around 62-64 mpg with just tank and tail bags at those speeds. Here's my current tentative itinerary, though it needs to be refined once I go through my logs from the car trips to determine preferred and alternate fuel stop locations. I'm assuming (based on my bike's history) a worst case 55mpg though I'm not taking saddlebags this trip:

TIME	MILES	LEG	EVENT
0530	    0		Depart
0535	    2	  2	Arrive interstate
0722	  118		Sunrise (USNO)
0810	  169	169 	Arrive Marshall, TX, refuel ~3.1 gallons, rest break 20 min
0830 	  169		Depart
1110	  341	172 	Arrive Delhi, LA, refuel ~3.2 gallons, rest break 20 min
1130	  341		Depart
1410	  511	170 	Arrive Meridian, MS refuel ~3.2 gallons, rest break 20 min
1430	  511		Depart
1700	  673	162 	Arrive Birmingham, AL, refuel ~3.1 gallons, rest break 20 min
1720	  673		Depart
1824	  743		Sundown (local time, CST)
1905	  785	112 	Arrive Trenton, GA, refuel ~2.5 gallons, assume 45 mpg, rest break 30 min, end of interstate
1935	  785		Depart- 3m  (twisties up to plateau, 3m twisties down other side, much 55mph, lots 30-40)
2020	  811	 26 	Arrive destination (35 mph average, county highways)

Average interstate speed when moving: 65 mph, 785 miles, 12:05 hours
Average county highway/local road speed: 35 mph, 28 miles, 0:48 hours
Time spent moving: ~13:00
Refuel and break: 20 minutes x 4, 30 minutes x 1 before last leg of 26 miles
Total stopped time: 1:50
Total trip time: 14:50
Trip average including stops: 54.7 mph

I've driven 30-40 mile stretches of this route with the speedo sitting on 85 through Alabama and Mississippi, just staying even with traffic flow. Though my conservative plan is to stay on 65, for safety's sake I'm going to stay with the flow of traffic so that I don't create a rolling road hazard and get myself run over from behind.

Other notes: I know from previous experience that my cellphone has virtually 100% coverage on this route. Gas stations and other places to stop are plentiful, rarely more than 20-30 miles apart and often much closer. I'm pretty indifferent to temperature extremes, generally being quite comfortable between 50-95 with minimal changes in gear. I will change the ride weekend if there's a significant change of rain; this is intended to be a fair-weather ride though in my day to day riding I ride no matter what.

At my current rate of riding I should have around 17,000 miles of riding experience by the date of the trip. I started riding 16 months ago and currently I'm at 13,700 miles.

[road_rascal]

I used one of these on my Nighthawk during a 36 hour 2000 mile ride:

http://www.aerostich.com/aerostich-s...ddle-pads.html

It worked great. Having a comfy saddle is one of the most important items to have. You should also move around as much as you can (safely, of course) while you're riding. Stretch out your legs, flex your arms and hands (having a thottle lock is handy) and move your shoulders. At gas stops stretch your muscles as much as you can. Riding long distances can be done quickly, safely, and comfortably.