1044mls in 24hrs

[Redmurty]

Try not to rush things, steady cruise and refuel stops every 200 miles or so, will do nicely I should say cheers Spud

[Nickj]

1000 miles in 24 hours is not really that big a deal.

It is for me and I would guess 90% of the members of this site. Good luck John.

I agree , it is a big deal , here in Australia large mileages are the norm but still not easy. A lot depends on terrain , when we do off road trips we are pushing to do 550 km in 10 hours and the mental exhaustion is the trouble , not the physical. Being bike fit is one thing but concentrating off road for 12 plus hours is a killer !

Good luck with your ride mate !!

[jonny955]

And there's me wondering if I should ride to Lake Garda for a friend's wedding next June! There I am, thinking; "should I give it two days or three" EACH WAY...and theres talk of 1,000 mile days being no big deal :pinch: !

I will have a re-think - I need to take in the Stelvio Pass en route and will probably be 2-up but it's given me an idea :whistle:

Jon

[Niklas]

thanks guys
if you look on the iron butt forum they do a one ride wich in my mind is insane
11,000 in eleven days!!!!
i did the end-to end run thats two ways in a long weekend 1800 mls in the wet.
total mileage 2200 that was hard .

is it NIKLAS OR NICKLE ASS

JOHN

If I ride long distances, I will dress my seat up with my lamb skin.
But for 1000 miles that's not needed.


Anyway, I agree that for someone not used to riding long distances, 1000 miles is quite a mouthfull.

And you see nada on your way. It's just drive, drive, drive...............

We had to take the trip as we had an appointment in the other end of Europe and we had a hard time leaving beautiful Brittany behind us.

Get to know how many miles you have in a tank at the march speed you will be doing so that fuel stops only will take place when really needed.
Have a spare canister of fuel, though. Not a lot. Just enough to get 20-30 miles. You will never have to ride longer than that in Europe for fuel.

What sets you back for real is if you stop to often or for to long a time.

Good thing to have water at hand also when riding.
I have a holder for a bicycle bottle on the handle bar.

Don't plan on eating food that has to be prepared after ordering.

A throttle holder comes very handy for long rides like this.
A windshield or fairing that hides your helmet from the wind is also a great comfort on long rides.

I can really recommend to buy a lamb skin and cut it to fit your saddle and put it on in a way that it doesn't fall off if you stand up. They come cheap untreated (which is best because lanolin is still protecting it from wet then) at around £25-30. Make sure you can pack it away if needed. Make room for that in your luggage.

Don't carry any luggage on your body. No Rucksack or waist bags when riding.
Strap it on the bike with sturdy luggage/skiing straps.

If your luggage is not totally water proof, pack everything inside the bags in plastic freezing bags (normally used for food) of different sizes.
They tend to come in 2L / 4L / 8L. I use the 8L most.

Forget doing 1000 miles in 24 hours on small roads.
You will have to go for the Freeway / Autobahn etc.

We went on the very rim (and that is mostly the smallest roads) of Europe along the Atlantic coastline all the way from Denmark to Brittany.
On the trip from Brittany to CZ it was only High speed roads; French motorway; German Autobahn etc.
We usually had an average of 130 - 150 km/h as march speed ( ~ 80 - 95 mph).

Don't get lost of your track / planned route. Preplan to avoid major roadwork.

Good luck.

Niklas

P.S. You may call me stainless-steel-ass if you want.

[devon john]

thats very good reading and advice to a novice to long hales.
i agree with you totally.
i will be doing the first 650mls on my own so its splash and dash then i have the big part of the ride out of the way this will be done over night arriving at Iverness at 6-7am
i have a mate there witch will feed me and will stop for one hour.
i will the start the return ride (422mls) witch i will have 14hour to do it in so with no brake downs there's my plan

john

[codcutter]

I agreed to a 1k mile ride with a couple of mates (in the pub it seemed like a good idea
During the early part of tyhe ride the "what ifs" were constantly in my head, but the other 2 riders had done these rides a few times meaning fuel stops were arranged for their maximum tank range (180 miles ish) with a 5ltr can as back up (i ran out at 125miles!! riding hard) so later fuel stops were arranged around me. Anyway to cut a longish story short, the ride was completed in about 19 hrs with a couple of reasonable rest breaks.
I have since completed several other "iron Butt" rides (including 1500 in 24) and can only say that the main aggro is trying to avoid any rush hour traffic (main reason for me starting at midnight) as time starts disappearing really quickly when slowed right down.
The most important thing is, if you feel tired STOP and grab a power nap they work wonders, and there is no shame in binning a ride at any time (done it twice) better to ride another day than die trying

Just my 2p worth

[mountainwhale]

I'd say a lot of it has to do with bike fitness, e.g. I rode just 160 miles yesterday but they were twisty slow roads in Connemara which took 4 hours and I was all aches after, but I know that if I were to do it again tomorrow I wouldn't feel it so much.

I did the first Iron Butt event in Ireland and found it no problem, but a few days previous I'd done 400 miles running in the bike and it nearly killed me. Note that roads can make a big difference too, there was a US guy on that event who'd done many Iron Butts and he reckoned that onewas by far the hardest he'd done due to lack of motorways, slow traffic, villages and towns everywhere, etc.

My personal best is about 1300 miles in a day and that was sheer pleasure riding around the top of Norway in the midnight sun, I simply didn't want to stop ! On the other hand riding 400-500 miles through Spain on motorways really pisses me off and tires me out.

My top tips are..

Work up a few long distance trips in the weeks beforehand to get bikefit.

Stop every hour or so and jump around/stretch/walk for five minutes and have a drink or quick snack. Cumulatively I've found it does make a difference at the end of a long day.

And my number 1, make sure you have comfy gear. E.g., I've two pairs of leather jeans and one is slightly short in the leg and as a result pulls against my knees and gives them serious aches, I can't do any long distance in them. On that Iron Butt I did I wore textile trousers with no layer underneath and at the end my knees were actually bleeding.
But that's nothing compared to a bad underwear choice :laugh: My personal hate is setting off then after twenty minutes or so realising I'm wearing underwear which has seams on the legs which start cutting into me, absolute torture after an hour or so and just ruins a trip. Cue sitting sidesaddle, hanging off, standing up, and doing a Rossi and the like.

[Gaffer64]

Hi,

Good effort, Some people have said that it is not that much of a big deal riding 1000 miles in a day, but I think it is and good on you, have a rest if you are tired though.

Cheers

Mike G.

[Mad Cow]

Best of luck, doing that sort of distance is no mean feat, even though there are a few here who regard it as routine, it ain't for most of us :laugh:

My particular record was back in 1988, 700 miles in 13 hours (including ferry - no chunnel back then) from Argentiere (Near Chamonix in the French Alps) back to Hertfordshire.

I left at 1.00 in the afternoon after lunch. did mainly autoroute to avoid towns, rode a BMW R80RT so had a barn door of a fairing to protect me and a nice big comfy seat. The RT also had the advantage of two big storage pockets in the fairing, I stored the lids in the tank bag and filled one with snacks for meals on the go and the other with cassettes for my Sony Walkman clipped to the top yoke (yes I know... how retro) to aleviate the boredom.

The only "proper" food stop I had was at the architypal roadside Frites stall, so got served almost instantly.

Managed to roll up to the ferry at the last minute so no waiting at Calais and rode home on a deserted A2/M2 and M25 arriving at 1.00am (2.00am C.E.T.).

Got up the next morning at 8.00 and was in work at 9.00, I still miss that old Beemer :laugh:

Have a good ride and have a safe one

[devon john]

done and dusted
i did the ride starting at 9 pm Thursday i got to iverness at 6,30am fri(622mls) there i meet up witha frend Sam who had a cooked breckfast waiting for me we then rode down to Perth where there was two riders waiting for methey then escorted me all the way down to Walesby (418mls) the only problem was they were going to the rally with me and had to stop off to meet over riders that were coming with us plus fag brakes. i did the ride well within the time and clocked up 1021mls but on the maps it was 1044mls so with in the milage wanted.
i had no problems with the bike and was very fit after the ride and no bum pains!!!!

john