square_horn

I have never toured on my bike, but am really interested in it. I was wondering what is a good average distance to cover in one day when touring across a state or across the U.S.? say with minimal wind and minimal elevation change

mikeetow

how ever much you feel like riding.

Machka 

+1

Unlike racing or randonneuring or other organised events, there are no rules or guidelines as to how much distance you need to cover each day on a tour. It's all up to you.

Paul01

To answer the OP's question, we CC tour with lightly loaded bikes and usually plan our days for 60-80 miles.

RepWI

I tend to average 12 MPH no matter what the conditions are. That is just how I am dialed into touring I think, so, I don't fight it.

How far do I go? Well, it depends on what I want to do.

I leave Wednesday for a tour of oh, 500 miles or so. The first day I plan around 70 miles, the second about the same and then they shorten out to 50 - 60 because my tour is stretched out a certain way.

Learn what your pace is fully loaded, what your stamina is and how many miles/hours in the saddle you want to do, and you will be fine.

nashcommguy

Did a seven week tour of Ireland and Wales a few years ago and averaged a little over 43 miles per day. Shortest was 19 and my longest was 62. I'd ride 3 straight days then rest for a full day, regardless of how I felt. Was able to finish the trip in pretty good form.

Stayed in hostels, IHH in Ireland and IYH in Wales. It was a great experience. All the hostels had equipped kitchens, so I'd get enough food for one or two days to save on weight. Pasta, rice, vegetables, trailmix, 2% milk and museli were my staples. Honey as well. And Snickers bars.

imi

I have always found 60 miles (100 km) to be a good distance on a day like that... But hey, this really is where miles may vary!
There's a big difference being fully loaded, especially up hills. Take some test rides loaded up before taking off on a big trip.

An early start to the day lets you get in more miles. I often ride half my day's goal, take a longish lunch/siesta and ride the rest in the afternoon/evening.
Shorter days in winter mean a shorter lunch break :/

My planned average on longer trips including rest days is 70km (45 miles)/day, about 2000 km/month, which is on the conservative side, but much better than having to rush...

Aushiker

Hi

For on-road fully loaded touring I tend to use 100 km (about 60 miles) as my ball park figure and then work either way depending on camping options but I feel around 100 km is a good guide. Off-road it drops to around 40 to 50 km.

Andrew

Rowan

One factor that can really influence how far you ride each day (and how exhausted or not you are at the end of each day) is whether you are prepared to wing it on accommodation, or have meticulously planned your tour so that you have booked accommodation at places, which on paper, seem reasonably far enough apart.

There are members here and other places who have had the organisational thing down to a T, but in reality had to scramble each day to make their destination because weather, terrain or personal physical condition, among myriad factors, have slowed them down. Plus, they also missed out on the opportunities that exploring detours along the route can bring.

Riders also find that often distances early in the tour are shorter, simply because they are getting into the touring groove -- things like pack-up routine from camp, sorting feeding and rehydration, getting used to traffic conditions, getting used to how the bike handles...

So really, the answer is the same to the question, how long is a piece of string?

wahoonc

It is going to vary, but the general average seems to be around 60 miles a day when you ride.

Mine has been going down, but I ride slower bikes and don't care about miles, I am more into enjoying the ride and what is going on about me.

Aaron

Machka 

I used to think I liked the 100 km/day (60 miles per day) tours, and I don't mind that distance for short tours, like maybe 3 days, a long weekend. But I have discovered that I prefer something more like 80 km/day. I ride at the whopping pace of 10-15 km/h, so 80 km takes me about 5.5 - 8 hours ... which leaves me enough time for lunch and stops to take photos and have a look at things.

Thulsadoom

I'd say somewhere between 25 and 150 miles a day.

I'm not trying to be a wiseguy, buts that's about the size of it. This is a frequently asked question, but almost impossible to answer since it's totally individual.

I know a guy who tours with a light load, and who is a life-long athlete, and he comfortably rides 150 miles a day on average.

I know some folks who figure that more than 30 miles a day is endurance riding and anyone that does it is not having any fun. It's all what you want to do.

You have to gauge it off your regular rides. If you are in shape and enjoy riding lots of miles, then you'll probably ride lots of miles touring. If you ride slow and easy and whatever, then that's probably how you'll want to tour.

staehpj1

Obviously it can vary widely depending on the rider, what the trip is about, what the conditions are, and a lot of other things.

For me it so far it has varied from about 50 to about 80 miles per day average for my various longish trips. All my tours thus far have been either partially in the mountains or in one case completely mountainous the whole way.

Given your stipulation of minimal wind and minimal elevation change (a set of conditions that I don't think I have ever experienced for more than a day at a time), I'd say 80 miles per day average can be reasonably easy to accomplish. You might choose to do substantially more or less though.

Edit: I forgot to mention that I count rest days or half days in the mix when I calculate the average. The exception was the one case where i stopped for a week to see Yosemite.

dcrowell

I think I averaged 70-80 miles per day on my last tour. That included "lumpy" southern Indiana.

I had my first day planned for 110 miles to get to Bloomington. A friend of mine lives there and was hosting me for the night. I ended up calling him at 80 miles and asking for a ride.

Be careful if you planning an inflexible schedule, it's easy to end up behind schedule... or just too damn tired.

BigBlueToe

I'll just answer for me. I tend to average 50-55 miles per day. Having said that, I'll also tell you that it varies - wildly. Accomodations are one big factor. If I have to ride 80 miles to get to a suitable place to spend the night, that's what I'll do. If I find a great place to stay after 25 miles, I'll consider stopping.

How I feel on a given day is also a factor. Some days I have a hard time getting up and getting started, and I tend to take lots of breaks. On days like that I usually look for an early end to the day's ride. Other days I bounce right out of bed, put my cycling gear on first thing, do my morning breakfast/packup quickly and efficiently, get on the road early, and ride, ride, ride. Some days my body just tells me it's tired; take it easy. Some days I feel fit and strong and want to ride far.

I think your destination and schedule can also dictate. If you're going to do a coast-to-coast trip you're going to want to make progress each day. When I rode the west coast from Seattle to Santa Cruz I started to feel a need to get it done - after about half the trip. I was less likely to take a rest day and less likely to do an easy, sub-30 mile day. However, on lots of my trips I have no set destination and no limit on time. I'm a teacher with summers off, but I usually don't take tours that last more than a month. So I often have a fuzzy itinerary with several options for ending. I see how I feel. If I feel like it's time to go home, I end the tour. If I'm having a great time and not ready to go home, I keep going. With this kind of flexibility, I think I'm less likely to worry about each day's mileage. I'm worried more about enjoying my vacation. Sometimes sitting around a campground all afternoon reading is just what I want to do!

You'll have to decide for yourself what your priorities are. Your daily average will probably take care of itself.

Dan The Man

RAAM winners have a tough time breaking 350 miles per day. So that probably gives you an idea of the upper limits of human endurance. At the lower limit, unless you ride backwards, you probably can't do worse than 0 miles per day. So somewhere between 0 and 350 miles in a day will be a good ballpark.

square_horn

That is the main reason I asked this question, to see if I could plan my schedule out ahead of time perfectly. Where I live the larger town are usually farther apart, so there was a risk of being in the middle of nowhere and, like your situation, dead tired. But for the most part It sounds like 60-70 miles a day is a good average for people. But for the most part it sounds like playing it by year sounds like the way to go, but this might be hard where I live.

dcrowell

If you do have a fixed schedule and no help along the way, you may find yourself riding through the night, or at least later than planned, to get to your nightly destination. Have a headlight and tail light.

Paul01

A lot depends on how much weight you carry. We limit ourselves to 5-7 pounds per bike including tools and tubes.

Here is what we carry in addition to what we're wearing:

Bike Shorts

Bike Jersey

Gore Tex jacket

Fleece hoody

Off bike shorts

Off bike shirt

Off bike shoes/sandals

Merino wool leg warmers

Small toilet kit

Tubes

Patches

Bike tool kit

Machka 

60-70 miles is only good if YOU feel comfortable doing it. Have you ridden that distance yet? Have you done a weekend with back-to-back rides of that distance? Do that first ... then decide if that's a good distance for you.

Oh, and do it with the bicycle loaded with the panniers you're planning to take.

60-70 miles is a fairly comfortable distance for me when I'm riding with only a trunk bag, but load the bicycle up with panniers, and all of a sudden the ride starts to become a bit of a slog. We did that on Saturday ... I was working to maintain 18 km/h with the panniers, then Rowan put them on his bicycle and I was up to 20 km/h.

Although I am a long distance rider, when I'm riding a fully loaded touring bicycle through a variety of terrain and weather conditions, and when I'm trying to get to my destination by about dinner time, I find 60-70 miles a challenge, and 50 miles is much more realistic.

But you won't know if it might be a challenge for you until you do a little practice weekend.

Aushiker

Good suggestion and one that I was reminded of on my last commute. I hadn't taken into consideration just how much slower I was going to be on the mountain bike pulling the BOB the "transport" stages of my ride and had set the first two days distances at around 120 km each. It was nice to get to the third day with a shorter planned day which gave me so flexibility to add a 1/3 to the distance and nearly put me back in the same boat as the first two days

Andrew

irwin7638

I agree,60-80 miles is what I plan for any given day. I sometimes ride furthur, sometimes less, but that's about the average.

Marc

spinnaker

Most people seem to say around 60 / 100km average. Well I am sort of in that category with he exception that instead of average, I would use the word max. I like to mix in some 35 - 50 mile days too. If need be, I can stretch it to 80 miles or so but anything over 60 makes me feel uncomfortable the next day.

Strange I can do flat bike paths or the hills of the Pacific coast and that 60 miles always seems about right. Though I think I am convinced that a flat limestone bike path is just as tiring as a hilly ride.

I think for the average rider 60 miles gives you time to "stop and smell the roses". In my opinion if you are out just to do the miles then there is really no reason to be on tour.

irwin7638

I make my plans around the 60-80 mile range, but always have a strategy to bail on that because a lot of things happen, including just wanting to spend more time somewhere. As spinnaker said, if you are just out for mileage there's no reason to tour. Take time to smell the roadkill...I mean roses.

Marc

spinnaker

Not everything always goes perfectly. Yet another reason for not planning on riding too many miles in a day.

And for a first time tourer I would not recommend that you stress yourself out too much by trying to tour in an area near your home that has amenities far apart. Instead consider traveling to places like the KATY, Pacific Coast Highway, Selkirk Loop or the Great Allegheny Passage. Of course there are other places too that offer plenty of amenities along the route.

Some here will tell you to stealth camp. It is always a subject of great controversy here. My opinion is that you should not plan on stealth camping and it should be reserved only for emergencies or times when there is no other reasonable option.