About Two Hundred Miles a Day

On average two hundred miles a day is what suits most people while they are on a touring holiday on their motorbike. OK, I'll explain how I came to this figure and let you apply my simple formula to you and your motorbike so you can get your ideal distance.

How long can you remain comfortable on your motorbike? This time determines the riding time between comfort stops. In order to be safe and to enjoy your riding you have to be comfortable. Aching joints or other discomforts like nicotine withdrawal or hunger will distract you from the road and make riding at worst dangerous and at minimum a chore instead of a pleasure.

Say for example you're OK for about an hour and a half before needing a break or a cigarette then, this number is ninety. Halve this number. This halving of the figure is based on an average of forty miles an hour and an allowance for a few minutes rest. I use forty as an average miles per hour figure, because it is a sensible average speed when travelling on a wide variety of roads.

It may be that for you and your bike how long you can ride for isn't known as you have to stop for fuel before you feel uncomfortable if this is the case the comfort distance is replaced by half your tank range, this allows for the time it takes to fill up, stretch your legs or anything else you may do at a petrol station.

To get the mileage per day that you can reasonably ride you need to multiply your comfort distance by the number of hours you can ride for. Be realistic, eight hours a day on your bike every day for a week is not going to be fun for anyone. I'd suggest perhaps five hours riding time, remember you're planning a holiday not an endurance test. This time has to be carefully considered particularly if you have a pillion passenger as it's likely they'll have had enough before you have.

Five hours riding a day with a comfort figure of forty five would give a daily mileage two hundred and twenty five miles a day.

To extend this figure you can calculate a maximum figure. Something you could perhaps achieve for a couple of days in order to extend your range if you need to. You could do this by extending your on-bike hours or perhaps by by-passing your nicotine cravings by chewing gum instead. Whatever method you choose your bike's fuel range will ultimately set the maximum distance between stops.

Two hundred miles a day may not seem much. I'm sure you've done more than that in a day at least once. But, remember this is every day for perhaps a week. It is not the same as a Sunday ride out then the whole week off your bike.

Visibility

As a motorcycle instructor I'm always conscious that I should practice what I preach.

Telling new riders to increase their visibility carries no weight if I ride wearing black clothing on a dirty bike, with my lights off. So I always run with my headlight on, I always wear a hi-vis vest and my bike is kept clean.

I'm giving myself the best chance to be seen by other road users. So, how is it that they still don't see me?

Well after three separate incidents yesterday I have now got the answer.

SOME PEOPLE JUST DON'T LOOK!

All the efforts to make yourself more visible on the road are wasted if the car driver doesn't even glance in the mirror. Buying the hi-vis jacket was a waste of money if the van driver doesn't even turn his head and if the driver of the four by four just drives straight out of the pub car park without even slowing then he's not looked at my nice bright headlight.

Surely all road users; pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists and drivers of all the other vehicles on the road share the same common aim?

To get to where we want to go without colliding with other road users.

We all need to take our responsibility seriously and check that the space we are moving into isn't going to be occupied by the time we get there!