OMG... Toast.

Ok I didnt read all the entires as I am too lazy LOl But wifey and I have made several long distance runs. We will zip off 500-800 miles a day on these trips day after day. My strategy is we do alot of night riding. We will pull out at 2 am or 3 am and head on down the road. Solitude at 75mph. Granted you have to be a bit more alert as your visibilty is not as good but you will also be dealing with less people on the road. Do we do a lot of day riding...well sure but night time is cooler in the summer and you have less chance of a nasty sunburn....Im a red head so I gotta watch that stuff.A few other things, dont let the road hypnotize ya! Its kinda unusual for people to ride a bunch at night. Flying down the highway with the constant thumping of the motor and the lines flashing by under your wheels can draw ya in. Be careful. Take some water with ya, invest in a good seat or a good seatpad. Dont over do yourself. Stop every 120 miles or so to stretch and circulate the blood. distance riding is ez if you dont try to hard, know what I mean? With some good planning and some good weather you can really log the miles. we have made trips such as Columbia,Mo to Ft. Collins, Co in one day - Jackson, Ms to Miami in one day- and 4600 mile trip in 5 days. Stay away from the bigrigs, plan for emergencies and take sunscreen and water. I also try to plan my ventures thru big cities away from rush hours...places like Atlanta, Denver,St. Louis are best travelled at night in my opinion or at least early enought to miss traffic as much as possible. Sorry this got a bit long....oopps.

Well Frank I read alot of this stuff some good advice from all. My wife and I do a lot of major riding. We do 2 to 3 weeks at a time. We cover anywhere from 500 to 750 miles in a day. We do 4000 to 5000 miles within those 2-3 weeks. A 750 mile day is nearly 14 hours. A lot of guys say to stop every 120 or so! Well I don't know about them but I stop about every 120 to 140 miles cause I'm putting in gas so getting off the bike is part of that! We get off the bike gas up go to the restroom and then get back on. We stop for breakfast, lunch & dinner. I pull a trailer behind my bike so I have a full tool box. I could tear my bike completely apart if I had too.To me my most important tool is my cell phone & a credit card. If I run into a problem I can call 911 and I keep a credit card just in case I should need to rent a u-haul truck to bring my bike back home should she ever break. I have over 68,000 miles on my bike and I never worry about my bike breaking down when we head out. If we are going to cover 4-5000 miles and my tires already have 4-5000 miles on them I put on new tires! At which time I put in proper air pressure. I change the oil just before I leave. Other then those two basic things that's about all I worry about. Your riding a R* it's not going to break! We always bring a helmet,rain gear & rain-X for the windshield. We bring enough clothes to last the whole trip,we have a porta potty, generator & ice chest. We try to find KOA's to camp in. Riding cross country is a lot of fun. I will end up on the interstates sometimes and I think it's safer then the back roads. As for truckers pulling out in front of you! It's because he is trying to maintain his speed and if he slows down to let you go by it will take him several miles to get back up to speed. If you give the trucker respect he will give it back. I found most truckers to be friendly to us when were on our bike. Yes you will find the A hole every so often but for the most part they are good people just trying to make a living. I don't ride near trucks as I worry about the re-cap tires coming apart. I almost never get passed by truckers, it's me passing them and I when I do I push it so I can get by them quickly. The one thing I hate about being in the wind is when you go by where there is a dead animal somewhere in the area trust me you will smell it. Other then that it's all an adventure and a ton of fun.

I've had several long rides and plan on a few others this summer. The most I've done in a day was 1100 miles. Can you say ouch! I recommend the following:

1. Check oil/tires/brakes before you leave.
2. Take pain medication before you depart and keep taking it. I usually take 800mg of ibuprofin every 4 hours.
3. I also take icy hot patches. My seat is uncomfortable after about 650 miles. Think they all are.
4. Stop when you need to. I've stopped because I was either tired, in pain, needed a break, nature calling, hungry, need gas. Don't push it.
5. I ride like I do in a cage. Just a bit more alert. Try to make sure the person in front of me can see me. So I ride with brights on during the day as well as passing lamps and get in the left or right of the lane depending on where what going on around me (such as in front, the lanes next to me, etc). Be courteous to other motorists.
6. Take some extra water and perhaps some jerky or energy bars in case you break down.
7. Cell phone is good.
8. Enjoy the ride!

Man... Thank you guys so much! Fantastic and practical advice... I mean, this is the real nitty-gritty stuff that books will eventually tell you, but you have to get around all of the fluff that they shovel in to fill up a 300 page book. I love this place..

DAYM.......500 plus miles per day.... my axx would be gone after that..... I would rather ride a while and stop and smell the roses..... ( Killians Red) .... if you ride that much is it all Interstate? I like curves.... anyway... guess that's why I don't ride that long at a time..... to each his (or her) own.
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sounds like some of you guys need to join the iron butt club. 2 years ago me and my friends did the butt burner 1,000 miles in 24 hours. We did Ne, SD, IA and NE again. You get a nice award and can order patches and stuff.

Like the pic of hardone2get and wife riding down the road the ride is what dreams are made of planning all winter for that first big trip!Freedom of the road bugs in your teeth can't wait till spring!

I read the first two pages, not all...so this may have already been covered but here is my one nugget.

I never ride next to another vehicle unless I have to. If a vehicle is in an adjacent lane and we are at similar speeds, I speed up or slow down to stay ahead or behind it. This is in case they or I have to make a maneuver, or if they forget I am there and they come over.

Also, when I am coming up on someone and and we are close in speed, I accelerate hard to go by them. This is so I do not hang out in their blind zone or next to them for too long. I also like to roll on the throttle so they hear my pipes and are aware that I am there. Very often, as I am passing someone, I can seem them look in their side mirror to look for me because they heard my pipes.

d.

Hey Frank; Sounds like you have done some pretty nervy things already. When I ride the Interstates or Superslabs I ride in the commuter lane or far left lane as you only have to watch the right side traffic. I find that if I'm in the middle lanes you have a lot of things going on around you. Riding over to the Bay Area, 5 wide traffic, I stay in the left side. I try to get a good amount of sleep each night of my trips, and stay hydrated. I don't ride any farther on any one day that I need to. Most I've ridden on one day is 625mi.