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Good distance goal per day for a month long tour

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Good distance goal per day for a month long tour

Old 09-13-14, 01:14 AM
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Originally Posted by Lone
my daily tour average is about 1-3 miles per hour lower than my typical average speed.
That falls into about the right zones for me as well. I did a 20kmh average on the tour but usually hold at 24-25 if its a single ride or commute (without too many traffic lights) you simply can't go as fast when you're carrying the house on your rack.
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Old 09-13-14, 05:42 PM
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It all depends on you objectives. On a short, lightly loaded tour I rode 1774 kms in 11 days. I was using it as a training ride, and stopping to look at the scenery was not my objective.

On a longer fully loaded tour, my wife and I averaged 81 kms/day for 74 consecutive days for a total of 6,000 kms. While we had a timeline, we also had a little flexibility to explore, and enjoy the ride.

There are almost as many styles of touring as there are people touring. It is really a personal preference, based on objectives and physical ability.

Last edited by Doug64; 09-14-14 at 09:55 PM.
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Old 09-13-14, 07:04 PM
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Originally Posted by boomhauer
anything less than 300 km per day you will be considered a failure. Do not bring shame to this board again.
That's right!!
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Old 09-14-14, 05:03 AM
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What is reasonable mileage is so variable based on rider, weight of load, terrain, wind, and other factors that it isn't reasonable to really expect one person's or one tour's number to be even close to another. I think that it can be fun to do long mileage and also to do easy days. I generally do some of both an any tour, but do like to knock out longish mileage.

One thing I find is that on longer tours it makes sense to take it easy the first week or so and then build mileage as you go. If knocking out a lot of big miles is a goal I still think that starting out easy is way better than doing hard days at first and then needing rest days just to survive. I know this is not the norm, but I personally prefer to not take full rest days unless it is for some special place that I want to spend time doing something interesting. I do sometimes take easy days or half days.

If I had to be pinned down to pick a number, I'd say the most folks probably fall somewhere in the 50-80 mile per day range on long tours. We did the TA averaging 60 miles per day with a fairly heavy load and I tend to do more like 80 miles per day now that I pack much lighter. To calibrate that I will say that I am 64 years old, reasonably fit, but not a natural athlete, and don't ride all that much when not on tour ( I do trail run to maintain general fitness).

For me having an open ended schedule and no planned daily stops is the way to go. That way I can ride as much or as little as I want on any given day.
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Old 09-14-14, 07:15 PM
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My partner & I project 80 km/day when planning our tours; depending on scenery, terrain, weather, road conditions and motivation - we usually would cover this distance in 4-8 hrs.
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Old 09-14-14, 07:21 PM
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Lots of good input. Thank you. I think I'll go for 100km a day and add a bit if there isn't much to look at or I feel energetic that day.
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Old 09-14-14, 09:28 PM
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I don't ride kilometers, I ride miles! AND, I'm hoping to average 35 mpd on my CC next year. That's going to mean a lot of 50 mile days to make up for the rest days. Maybe si, maybe no. Time will tell.
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Old 09-14-14, 10:05 PM
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Originally Posted by krobinson103
I just finished a three day 600km ride from one end of South Korea to the other. We went 210,170, and 220km on consequtive days with at least 1000m of climbing everyday on loaded tour bikes. By the end of the third day my legs were just about spent. I'm not unfit and ride 200-300km every week with a long ride on the steepest hill I can find every weekend (130-250km). But, it took 2 days to recover from this one. Whats a reasonable distance goal that would last a month?

It's a tour. I don't make distance goals on tours. My goals are based on places I want to go.
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Old 09-15-14, 01:36 AM
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Originally Posted by krobinson103
Lots of good input. Thank you. I think I'll go for 100km a day and add a bit if there isn't much to look at or I feel energetic that day.
One thing I always keep in mind during planning is that distance travelled and distance subtracted from the route can be two different things. You might travel 100 km and see that you've crossed the distance between two towns that, according to the route, are 90 km apart. This is why I distinguish between what I cycle on average and what I 'effectively' cycle. Trips work out fine if I calculate travel times based on an effective daily distance of 75 km, but I'm not really sure what my actual average is.

I find that distance travelled depends mostly on how much time I can spend cycling, I usually don't gain much by putting in more effort. In other words, I can go as fast as I go and that's it: speeding up only works for a short while before I go back to my regular laid back average. For me, efficiency in the 'logistical' stuff (packing, unpacking, shopping, eating, looking for a place to sleep, etc.) is where I lose or gain significant travel time.
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Old 09-15-14, 04:01 AM
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Originally Posted by Jonathandavid
For me, efficiency in the 'logistical' stuff (packing, unpacking, shopping, eating, looking for a place to sleep, etc.) is where I lose or gain significant travel time.
That is another area where individuals are VERY different. I am one of those guys who spend very little time on that stuff. Packing and unpacking are only a few minutes for me, I don't spend much time off the bike or off route looking for places to stay I most often just ride until I see a place I feel like stopping. Usually there is no urgency to finding a place because I am done riding for the day pretty early having hit the road at or before daybreak. I have traveled with people who were my polar opposite on this. I have actually met folks who dallied enough that they would be starting to ride for the day when I was finishing.

One of my old kayaking buddies and I used to clash on this. It was kind of funny. We used to run a river that we were allowed to run without a permit if we started in a particular 30 or 40 minute time window. The funny thing was that after we had our boats off of the car and our paddling clothes on I would be wondering what the heck we would do with all the time until we could start and he would be wondering how he could possibly be ready before the end of the window. I'd find myself waiting around and then putting on the river the second I was allowed to. Then I'd have to hang out at the first rapid and wait 40 minutes (or likely more as he would be late and need to talk them into stretching the time limit) for him.

The funny thing is that even when I watched him I never understood where the time went. He actually seemed busy, but as far as I could tell was accomplishing nothing. On the other hand he couldn't conceive of how he could possibly be ready any faster.

Packing light with the minimum number of items can help a lot, but I suspect that a lot of it is just in the way you are wired.
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Old 09-15-14, 05:07 AM
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Originally Posted by staehpj1
That is another area where individuals are VERY different. I am one of those guys who spend very little time on that stuff. Packing and unpacking are only a few minutes for me, I don't spend much time off the bike or off route looking for places to stay I most often just ride until I see a place I feel like stopping.
I did not say this took a lot of time, just that being fast or slow in these things makes the bigger difference.
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Old 09-15-14, 12:45 PM
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Daily mileage is also dependent on distances between campgrounds, motels, food, water or other opportunities for provisions and lodging. In part of the western US. it can be a long way between opportunities. There are some stretches that are 200 kms long with 1 or 2 places to stop, and very few good areas to wild camp. This may either reduce the mileage for a period of time from what you would have been physically capable of riding.

In Oregon's high desert you tend to stop where there is shade and water, regardless of the distance. You could wild camp almost any where, but who would want to.

Last edited by Doug64; 09-15-14 at 12:49 PM.
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Old 09-15-14, 05:43 PM
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Originally Posted by Doug64
Daily mileage is also dependent on distances between campgrounds, motels, food, water or other opportunities for provisions and lodging. In part of the western US. it can be a long way between opportunities. There are some stretches that are 200 kms long with 1 or 2 places to stop, and very few good areas to wild camp. This may either reduce the mileage for a period of time from what you would have been physically capable of riding.

In Oregon's high desert you tend to stop where there is shade and water, regardless of the distance. You could wild camp almost any where, but who would want to.
Suppose it depends how much food and water you have with you at the time. I do agree that stretch of desert doesn't look like a great place to stop if you have a better option.We made the mistake of not taking enough water for the first 200km. There were no real places to resupply (unless you liked fish! A whole town full of fish restraunts) so we had to make do with one small convience store - and I mean small the front room of some old ladies house.
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Old 09-16-14, 05:57 PM
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Originally Posted by Doug64
In Oregon's high desert you tend to stop where there is shade and water, regardless of the distance. You could wild camp almost any where, but who would want to.




Anybody who was tired and needed to cash it in for the day, perhaps?
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Old 09-16-14, 06:24 PM
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Originally Posted by Doug64
Great picture Doug! Where exactly was that taken?
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Old 09-16-14, 06:56 PM
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Originally Posted by mtnbud
Where exactly was that taken?
I'm pretty sure it was between Bend and Burns on Highway 20. However, It could have been east of Burns still on Highway 20. It all looks pretty much the same
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Old 09-17-14, 06:15 AM
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A lot depends on other factors -- your age, fitness, terrain, how much gear you are carrying. However, I find that 60-65 miles (or roughly 100K) is a comfortable average daily distance on bike tours. We can generally ride this distance in 4-5 hours, allowing enough time for a leisurely breakfast, lunch, stops to view scenery and other attractions along the way, and reaching our destination in time to clean up, eat and sight see in our destination town. I generally ride one or two week-long tours every year as well as some shorter trips. Some days we might ride 70-80+ miles, other days 40-50, but it usually averages out to 60+/day.

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Old 09-18-14, 06:29 AM
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Originally Posted by krobinson103
Still it was the test ride for the big tour of New Zealand which is far hillier than South Korea.
Some parts of it maybe - the South Island is not particularly hilly at all, North Island more so. And your daily distances will be largely determined by the distances between places, which can be quite long.

A word of caution - there have been fatal incidents involving trigger happy hunters in EnZed. One when I toured there first time. Stealth camping can be extremely hazardous.
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Old 09-18-14, 03:58 PM
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Originally Posted by ekibayno
Some parts of it maybe - the South Island is not particularly hilly at all, North Island more so. And your daily distances will be largely determined by the distances between places, which can be quite long.

A word of caution - there have been fatal incidents involving trigger happy hunters in EnZed. One when I toured there first time. Stealth camping can be extremely hazardous.
The South Island has the range dividing the Island - a very fun looking place to ride. I bet you could do hills for weeks if you really wanted to.
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Old 09-18-14, 04:51 PM
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Originally Posted by krobinson103
The South Island has the range dividing the Island - a very fun looking place to ride. I bet you could do hills for weeks if you really wanted to.
As you say, the Southern Alps are the spine of the South Island. The roads mostly run parallel to it and are fairly flat. There are three main passes crossing the Alps but they not on the scale of the Rockies and are neither long nor high.

If you want to go off the sealed roads, then there are a plethora of back roads and MTB trails you can ride - even some of the tramping tracks (Heaphy, Queen Charlotte) can be ridden at certain times of the year.

Last tour I incorporated several stages from the Great Southern Brevet. I'm tempted to return and do the full course some time.

Probably the northern end of the South Island where I'm heading next visit is more lumpy, although there were a few lumpy sections through the Catlins in the Southland.
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Old 09-18-14, 05:38 PM
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Originally Posted by ekibayno
As you say, the Southern Alps are the spine of the South Island. The roads mostly run parallel to it and are fairly flat. There are three main passes crossing the Alps but they not on the scale of the Rockies and are neither long nor high.

If you want to go off the sealed roads, then there are a plethora of back roads and MTB trails you can ride - even some of the tramping tracks (Heaphy, Queen Charlotte) can be ridden at certain times of the year.

Last tour I incorporated several stages from the Great Southern Brevet. I'm tempted to return and do the full course some time.

Probably the northern end of the South Island where I'm heading next visit is more lumpy, although there were a few lumpy sections through the Catlins in the Southland.
Want to try that Great Southern Brevet when I finish my Grad program in 2016. This year I'll be going North though. Hit 90 mile beach, down into the coromandel, go for Hamilton and Rotorua (lake roads are pretty) then head for my parents place for xmas, pick up the car and head for the university. Got to get the long rides in before my family comes across from Korea - kids always restrict how far I can ride.
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