Maine trip 609 miles

[dr death]

Two buddies and I are going cross country next year and wanted to see what a 600 day feels like as we have 1 600 day each way on the trip.
We started out in Templeton Mass.,went down to pick up our other buddy and then went up to and around Bangor Maine,had a lobster roll of course and then came back home.
I found out it can be done but I will need to tweak some things before I can do it for 5 days straight.I believe I'll need some highway pegs for a different position every now and then.different positions on the floorboards just didnt cut it.
Earplugs, as jamming my ipod up to full blast with my half helmet just to hear a little bit of drums didnt work so well.I am walking around today saying"what?"
All in all it was a good experience to see what needs to be done and to see what it entails and feels like.I have taken a couple of 420 mile trips to o.c.c. but this was certainly on another level.

[Motorcycle Forum]

[Drifter]

Looks like a nice run. I for one am jealous. I spend most of my time trying to talk my freinds into riding a couple hundred miles in a day. Then I just end up going on a couple of long runs solo.

Sounds like your trip is going to be a great one.

[dr death]

Thats too bad drifter,sounds like you need new friends or at least some new ones that want to ride for a while.too bad your in montana,we'd ride...

[Drifter]

Well the missus is my primary riding partner. She is a few years into riding and a hundred mile day is a long day for her. So most trips we take are to a selected location, then after we arrive she stays and I explore the surrounding areas. Which I don't mind, I find some really neat secluded areas with this method, not to mention that I don't plan on replacing her.

Next I got the few sportbike riders that I can stand. If I can get them to stop talking about some new little trinket they bought that makes them incredibly faster they will ride some distances but "cruise" at ridiculous speeds that make my toes curl. I am rather enjoying my clean driving record and want to keep it that way.

Then there is the Harely crowd I occasionally run with. They do just about as much talking about their bikes as the sport bike crowd. Most afternoons are at a garage some where trying to get one of them running properly. Then the rides consist of picking a bar out in the boondocks somewhere and hitting a few on the way.

I do know a few metric cruiser riders but they don't go very far either. I have two friends (Triumph triple, BMW 1000RR) that ride long distances quite a bit but they are very spontaneous. Just recently one of them was planning to help me with an other friends bike but I went up there and he had "headed for CA" for a few weeks. These guys aren't rich but they can basically just get up one morning and just disappear for a while. I at least have to give my job a few days of notice before I just disappear.

So basically I get up and ride about hundred miles then hide the bike real well and hike around fishing, then hit some corners and head back. I am thinking about a solo shot over to the Oregon coast this year, and am going to try to get the triumph guy to go.

BTW the descriptions above are of the people I know, not stereotypes of people based on the bikes they ride. I don't judge someone by the bike they ride just their actions with it.

[dr death]

lol,yeah you gotta keep the missus.She'd probably be pretty mad if you replaced her cause you needed someone to go on longer trips with.
As for the other descriptions,they may be the crowd you know but I guess people are the same all over cause you described them exactly as I would have from the sport bike crowd"oh my god,I bought a piece of tape that will give me .000002 more downforce and increase my speed by .0000003" to the harley crowd who paste big harley stickers on their trucks that i see daily but never actually see the bikes.Same with me,not stereotyping,these are actually people I know and work with.
That said,some of my best rides are solo.you go where you want,stop when you want and stay out for as long as you want.

[Easy Rider]

Two buddies and I are going cross country next year and wanted to see what a 600 day feels like as we have 1 600 day each way on the trip.

Good luck with that. I don't even do 600 miles a day in my cage anymore. 300 is about all I can hack on the bike.

Stop often; stay hydrated.....even if it doesn't feel very hot.
Inattention (boredom) and dehydration are probably your two biggest enemies.......right after brain dead cagers, that is.

[The_Hamster]

Stop and stretch every 60miles or so I found. Just 5 minutes walking around, a small snack and some water made things feel much better.

[dr death]

Well Easy,we don't really need luck(except from those cagers you mentioned) as we just did it.I wasn't really bored as it was all new places for me and will be on that trip as well.I will have to do a better job staying hydrated though.last stop had some orange juice but the other times was diet mountain dew.probably not the best choice.
We stopped at around 110-135 miles each time with I think 106 being the shortest and 135 being the longest.My light comes on at about 140-150 anyway.Towards the end of the day it does get harder to stay in the saddle though.I'm on a cruiser Kingpin not a tourer.

[Easy Rider]

Towards the end of the day it does get harder to stay in the saddle though.

And toward the end of the THIRD day of that, it likely will become even harder.

If you are going to take the Interstates (probably really NEED to for a 600 mile day)........tell me about how you are NOT bored after cruising by the corn fields and corn fields.......and corn fields......of Indiana, Illinois, Iowa and some wheat in Kansas.

I find it hard to do more than 30 minutes on the superslab in the country. It just seems like time goes by so S L O W.

I applaud your grit. By all means do it now. In another 30 years or so it won't look so appealing.....probably.

[dr death]

Wow,your really getting me psyched for the trip.
We will be taking interstates pretty exclusively as we have to so we can do it in the time alotted.5 days down,flying the wife and kid down for a week and then 5 days back for a total of 3 weeks.Boss gave us a strange look when we handed him vacation slips exactly 1 year to the day of when we are going but they approved it.We had talked about it but I don't know if they took us serious.they do now.
As for the boredom thats easy.I love corn!Really though,I've been bored on the bike before,I don't need to be excited all the time.Keep your concentration,I got an ipod stuffed with 900 songs with no filler and the trip itself is going to keep me excited.This is a once in a lifetime shot to cross something off my bucket list.I know it will be a grind.I started working out june 13th in preparation.I took this trip.I'm not going blind.I'm not expecting it to be la-di-da,lets just cruise.
People are different.What may not be for you may be for me.you have a hard time doing 30 min's on the superslab,I just got done doing 1 1/2 to 2 hrs on it at a shot.Now I have to times it by 5.
And I'll probably be dead in 30 years so your right,I better do it now.

[rapta619]

i did 1104 miles in 5 days 530 each way plus some cruising around. from buffalo,NY to ocean city,MD. buy some camel packs ( or knock offs) . there great for extending your ride time a bit. I'd look into a new seat. I've put 350 on this weekend with my new highway bars, they help alot, but this seat sucks. also, pa turnpike SUCKS.

but just stop as often as need be and keep hydrated.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

[Davecm203]

Just don't over do it. If your focus is off, it can get dangerous. I made a three day trip one time and averaged 1,000 miles a day on a VTR1000 Super Hawk. I went VERY wide in a blind corner for no reason. I wasn't ridding anywhere too fast and should have easily made the corner. Lucky there was nothing coming from the other direction. On the secound day, I went down a ramp and didn't slow down until I almost blew the stop sign. My focus was way off and I got very lucky.

[Easy Rider]

Wow,your really getting me psyched for the trip.

You're welcome !!

Sounds like you've got a good handle on things.....but you don't REALLY know 'til you get there.
Lots of riders think they can just hop on the bike and do a 600 mile day with no prep. You're past that already.
Then there are those that get in and try to "push through" a problem and end up in trouble anyway.

My last piece of "negative" advice is: Leave a little flexibility in your schedule so if something unexpected does come up, you won't think you HAVE to push on even though you know you shouldn't.

I'm planning my 3rd annual trip to Atlanta.....and beyond...... this fall.
Normally 600 miles to get there; this time I'll probably go on into Florida and not come back 'til spring.

[dr death]

See,now that last piece isn't negative,it's pretty spot on,We've already said that we'll get there when we get there.if that means another day so we don't do something stupid then were o.k. with that.

Good luck on that Atlanta trip.

[Y2K]

As I always say in these threads,get up early and knock off some miles before breakfast.
I start early and retire for the night early before the motels and campgrounds fill up.
I've managed 8000 miles in 14 days riding two up and loaded with camping gear this way.