How far could I ride in 24hrs?
 

Not in a position this year both financially and because of work to go away for more than a week on the bike. I feel like doing something challenging without breaking the bank. I got to thinking, wouldn't it be fun to see how far abroad I could get in 24rs, so I had an idea from Manchester to Riga, latvia is approx 1100 miles. Do you think it is achievable to do this distance non stop in 24hrs? I would spend a few days having a look at Riga, then spend a couple of days getting back.

Has anyone any experience of endurance riding on here? Interested in hearing about long distances covered in a short amount of time.

Cheers

baluchiman

Hey Baluchiman,

An interesting idea, there are a few people that like the challenge of long distance riding. There are a few groups and sites that you may want to refer to (Iron Butt, etc.) to get an idea what some limits are. It'll be interesting to see the responses you get here, but in the past it's not a style a riding that a lot the users here adhere to and hence aren't that supportive of. To each his own though, enjoy your adventure.

1100 km is doable in 24h. many people did this, including me. if you only take motorways, it should take something like 16017 hours.

best of luck

Thanks for replying but you will note I said miles, approx 1900k. Cheers anyway.

[quote=MountainMan;224620]Hey Baluchiman,

There are a few groups and sites that you may want to refer to (Iron Butt, etc.)

I forgot about Iron Butt, cheers.

Remember that most who do a marathon are not much good immediately after it! Setting yourself up for a physically draining thing and then expecting to be good for further activity is bad planning .. you'll need more time to recover than if you were to do something less taxing - say the same distance over twice the time, it would also eat less fuel, ware on tyres etc... think about it .. you don’t want to collapse after the ride there.

Yeah, good advice, thanks.

Did 1000 miles around Ireland with a few mates last
year in 24 hrs ( not many motorways in Ireland)
The last six hours was a killer.........

NO, not in Europe, stop lights etc
but I have gone from Laramie, Wyoming, to New Orleans, Louisiana, a distance of 1620 milles on the ODOMETER (2592 km on GPS) in 21 hours 29 minutes. Also from N.O., LA to Key West, Florida, 2400 miles on the odometer, in 35 hours. Both rides fuel stops only. In my opinion these rides can probably be done only in the USA on the Interstate Highway System, where there are no stop signs and the speed limits vary from 65 to 75 m/hr (104 to 120 km/hr) depending on state laws. (You can exceed these limits by 10% w/o getting fined). Sample:
I-10 runs E/W from Jacksonville, Florida to San Diego, California, approximately 2400 miles that you can ride without putting a foot on the ground except to pump gas (petrol?).
Iron Butt has a tightly controlled bi-yearly rally that requires you to ride 1000 miles/day (1600km) for eleven consecutive days. I participated in -05 and -07, Very,very tough.
Good luck with your ride, Hans Karlsson (hansthebiker@yahoo.com)
PS Perhaps Australia's Outback could also accommodate these long haul rides.

if you must be ready for it. here is some people that like to do miles like that. IBA - World's Toughest Motorcycle Riders

I would think that you should break down the trip to 2 days getting there, 2 days back, with 3 days there. The recovery time either way will be too exhausting to get back to a somewhat normal state after a 24 hour ride, I would think, but could be done with a post-ride nap after 12 hours.

You never did say what bike you plan to use. This will definitely be a factor.

I don't think reading up on the Iron Butt rally will have much use to you, and your intended trip, unless you wanted to turn your trip into a personal endurance run rather than sightseeing.

Stop lights? On motorways?
You can do this easily on European motorways, especially Germany, France, Spain.
I've often driven, not ridden, between Slovenia/Croatia and northern Germany with kids in the car in far less than 24 hours. Plus a couple of times between Frankfurt and Granada, 2200km or so in about 27 hours - and that's with breaks for the kids to have a run around.

If you wanted to do it I don't think you'd have any problem. We regularly do the 750 miles between our house near Oxford and a flat in the alps in around 15 -16hrs, including the ferry and without breaking any speed limits. I've even done it a couple of times in the winter on my old XR600 on knobbly tyres in about the same time.

If you're starting in the UK timing the channel crossing is the biggest problem. It could take under an hour if you use the tunnel and get your arrival time right or about four hours if you use the boats and get it wrong.

If you are just wanting to see 'far flung' Europe rather than specifically wanting the challenge of riding a huge distance then another option could be the Auto trains.

OK so it adds extra expense but it does mean that your bike and yourself can cover a good few hundred k overnight while you rest, taking you into pretty much whatever part of Europe you want. Autozug in Germany and Rail Europe in France are two such examples that I am considering for a possible mini european tour this year.

One thing you don't mention is what bike you are riding, while it is possible to ride 1100miles in 24 hours on pretty much anything, it would be a lot more comfortable on some bikes than others.

Done just over 1000 miles a couple of times only stoping for fuel and cram some food in before going again. As someone else said the last miles are killers on the bum and mentally. Both times I've done it I sleep for a good 14hours after. So no real gain but I just love doing it.:D

Everything is worth doing once!