ljbike

I'm curious about how other tourers decide how much time they need for a particular tour; how many miles do you "budget" per day of travel and will allow sight seeing? I use 55 miles per day.

I hour in a car at speed limit for every one day on the road.

Remembering, of course that some days are 100 miles and some are only 25.

How do you figure yours?

chewa

Our last tour we set the distance between our pre booked accomodation(we did it on the internet) at about 35 - 40 miles. This allowed us to get there quick if the weather turned nasty, but on any reasonable days meant we could detour off the most direct route.

I guess we average about 50 - 60 miles per day this way, aiming to start cycling 8 am ish and be in our next port of call at 2 or 3 pm which still allows some time for sightseeing.

This also allows stops for applecake and beer or coffee of course

catfish

I usually averaged 60-80 miles a day. Somedays 90-100 and SOme days the wind keeps me to 25-30 or mountian climbing. For me it is more of i look at a map and see where i want to go on a particular day or where I want to end up that days ride to camp . Many times I would change my mind and take a side trip to a destination I would hear about along the way.

ljbike

I'm going to change the wording of the original question a little bit.

If you have 15 days to go from point A to point B and then back to point A; How do you determine how many miles per day you have to cover the distance, and still have time for touristing?

catfish

oh ok.. that is easy.... 15 days to cover the distance from point A to point B and back to point A divide the total miliage by 15 go that many miles each day.

actually it can be more interesting then that. if you have 600 total miles to do in 15 days, you would need 40 miles a day to keeep on track. Of course some days you may feel like going 60 or 80 then you are a day ahead on the scedule and have the freedom to take an extra day someplace nice or a side trip and still finish the loop on time

Other conciderations are hills, mountians, weather, and machanical problems.

YOu see it is difficult to maintain a ridged scedule on a tour with so many varrieables. But it can be done. If your scedule only allows 15 days, rather than thinking of how many miles perday go for how much pleasure you can get out of each day. the miles will come as you turn the pedals round and round YOu will know about how many miles you need to cover each day then pick out a place forthat days journey to finish up at.
touring is freedom !
sorry i have no black and white answer for you just alot of greay area
catfish

ljbike

That is similar to my method. I figure how many days I have, multiply by 55 then divide by 2. Then I take a drafting compass and draw a circle around my starting point A determine the posssibilities for point B and possible side journeys.
You are right, of course, touring is freedom, and I never allow myself to be bound by any schedule -- except the one that says I have to be back by a certain date.

I have had so much fun, at times, that I've overstayed and been forced to push the miles to get back. But the pleasure was worth the inconvienience. Even the time I had to do 257 in a day, fully loaded and raining cats and dogs almost the whole time.

My curiosity is more about how others figure there time/mileage limits. I would suspect that we all do it pretty much the same.

MichaelW

I plan on making progress at 10mph. That includes stopping times, so to cover 60 miles, I need 6 hours.
My formula tends to break down over 60miles, and a few miles of rough tracks or a headwind can throw it off.

Chris L

In future I'm looking at limiting my days to around 100km. That generally leaves a bit of time for taking detours and sight seeing without paying for the extra km the next day.

Brains

We found on our last trip through France, fully loaded, (tents, stoves, food, fuel) all on 6 MTB's with road tyres, that anything much over 40 miles per day was pushing it. Our best for a single day was 78 miles, all on the flat and without any load.

Now you see why I'm after ideas for a more suitable bike for touring/commuting but without drop handlebars.

ljbike

Brains, I would suggest a CROSS or HYBRID bike. The advantage of MTN bars and road tires. Usually a little longer wheelbase for stability and room enough for panniers. The ideal, of course is a touring frame. You don't have to use drop bars on any bike, if you don't want to.

Csson

I usually plan my tours pretty thoroughly. First decision is where, when, and how many days to spend. Then I look for infomation about interesting places in the area. Normally either me or my biking friend has some knowledge of the area where we choose to tour, but it is always good to read tourist infomation and travel reports by cyclists that already have toured there. A preliminary day-by-day route is drawn on a 1:1.000.000 map (or better, sometimes even a 1:200.000). I don't plan for days longer than 110 kilometres, since there are always extra kilometres at the end of the day searching for the camping ground.

Based on terrain (and sometimes temperature) and if there are interesting spots along the way, days are usually planned in the 60-100 kilometre range. Of course, things normally don't turn out as planned but it is good to have a feeling of what lies ahead when deciding for a detour or short-cut. Shortest day during last year's tour was 29 kilometres and the longest 138. My five last tours have averaged between 85 and 100 kilometres per day.

/Csson