Define a Long ride

Aussiedav · Post by **Aussiedav** » Mon May 21, 2007 7:29 am

After reading the topic "what to take on a long ride" I thought. What you need for a 300k day trip is totally different for what you need on a few thousand klm multiple days ride.

Well how do you define a "long ride"

You see that for a weekend rider a 200klm trip is a long ride and rightly so. I have seen posts on netriders of people talking of a long 50klm ride. Nothing wrong with that, its their idea of a long ride.

Now this is not about a contest but just curious as to what you consider a "Long Ride"

In the context of this lets say a days ride.

To start off to me personally anything over 400 is considered a long ride.

Mel · Post by **Mel** » Mon May 21, 2007 7:54 am

In my head, anything over 500km would be a long ride for a day trip I guess.

mike-s · Post by **mike-s** » Mon May 21, 2007 8:05 am

Anything over 450km is heading into long-ride territory. With all the regrouping, etc..

javaman · Post by **javaman** » Mon May 21, 2007 8:15 am

Well I've done it !! Of what few yrs ago just seems like a dream --- the beautiful coastal ride of Australia ... what a pearler

That was 14hrs including 1hr lunch. I'd call that one DAMN LONG

... ride report will follow

plane · Post by **plane** » Mon May 21, 2007 8:38 am

It would really depend on when and if boredom set in. Eighteen months ago I rode from the Whitsundays to Tannum Sands (670km) and it wasn't the distance that was a pain, it was the long straight roads from Sarina down to Rocky.

Yet the ride from Mission Beach, up to the best roads in north Queensland is a 350km loop and I would quite happily do two laps!

Cheers,
Pete

varden · Post by **varden** » Mon May 21, 2007 9:39 am

Any more than 300km, or a ride that needs more than one fuel stop to get you home.

Zombie · Post by **Zombie** » Mon May 21, 2007 9:49 am

A long ride is anything double and over what you would normally do every day.
Say you ride 30k to work 5 days a week, that would be considered a "normal" ride, so anything over 60k would be a "long ride."
If you drive to work then yeah anything over 10k would be considered long.
Or it could be on time rather than distance, 20mins to work would make an hour on the weekend a "long ride".
BUT stopping every 20k for a smoko in a 400k ride ride-out makes the day a series of short rides rather than one long one!!!!!!!

Gosling1 · Post by **Gosling1** » Mon May 21, 2007 10:28 am

A long ride is one that starts in the morning, and ends late in the afternoon. A long ride is 6 to 8 hours, even up to 10, in the saddle. Maybe 800-1000km....

A 400km ride is barely 2 tankfuls of juice !!!

My daily commute is 50km, a lot less than some, I cannot for the life of me ever consider that a 50km ride could be seen as a *long* ride.........maybe on a pushbike !!

A long ride is riding from Brisbane to Canberra, or Melbourne to Sydney, or Canberra to Mildura, in one day.

A long ride is not a loop of the Spurs, or a blat down to the Bay and back, or a quick ride up to Sydney and back (from ACT)..........these are all *short* rides.........

A long ride is any ride where you are not sleeping in your own bed after the ride........

A long ride is where you check your tyre pressures before you jump in the saddle........

Long rides are the best rides.......

zzzak · Post by **zzzak** » Mon May 21, 2007 10:38 am

600k in a day on a 625cc single.

Aussiedav · Post by **Aussiedav** » Mon May 21, 2007 11:11 am

Thanks everyone, see everyones idea of a "long ride" is different and no one is wrong.

Gosling I like how you think.

MickLC · Post by **MickLC** » Mon May 21, 2007 12:05 pm

Gosling1 wrote:A long ride is one that starts in the morning, and ends late in the afternoon. A long ride is 6 to 8 hours, even up to 10, in the saddle. Maybe 800-1000km....

A 400km ride is barely 2 tankfuls of juice !!!

My daily commute is 50km, a lot less than some, I cannot for the life of me ever consider that a 50km ride could be seen as a *long* ride.........maybe on a pushbike !!

A long ride is riding from Brisbane to Canberra, or Melbourne to Sydney, or Canberra to Mildura, in one day.

A long ride is not a loop of the Spurs, or a blat down to the Bay and back, or a quick ride up to Sydney and back (from ACT)..........these are all *short* rides.........

A long ride is any ride where you are not sleeping in your own bed after the ride........

A long ride is where you check your tyre pressures before you jump in the saddle........

Long rides are the best rides.......

I reckon this is pretty close to the mark. Definitely up to Sydney and back, or down the back and back is not a long ride. But if you do the loop down through the Bay, to Bega, Wyndam, Cathcart, Cooma and back I'd call that a decent ride (about 560km according to my records).

So I reckon anything over around 500km if it's got some good twisty's in it, but for straight line blats where you cover more distance it would be a bit further.

I'm sure it's already been said but it depends on your perspective and experience. I used to think a ride to the Bay was a long one, and would be sure of a sore arse by the time I got back...but now it's a quick blat. Ride to PI from Canberra in one day? 5 years ago I didn't think I could do it, but now I know I can it isn't a problem and I take the long route and a couple of days just to make it interesting.

I had a quick last minute blat out to Braidwood the other day with some mates. After the run to HG it felt like a quick trip down to the shops, but one of the other guys who hasn't done much riding at all recently had a sore arse before we even got there.

...but yeah, long rides are definitely the best rides

Aussiedav · Post by **Aussiedav** » Mon May 21, 2007 12:53 pm

Ride to PI from Canberra in one day? 5 years ago I didn't think I could do it, but now I know I can it isn't a problem and I take the long route and a couple of days just to make it interesting.

You just nailed it, once you know you can it all becomes a different story. I don't think twice about 1000k days and don't even bother with any prep. Few years ago I did a 700k day and thought I was bloody superman

No question, long rides are the best and do not need to be boring straight liners.

ty · Post by ty » Mon May 21, 2007 1:24 pm

Depends on the missus....
A quick ride down and back on the oph - approximately 80kms (I think) is ok.
Riding too and from work (75km each way) is ok.
Anything where's she leaves a few SMS's or VM messages asking 'where the fark are you?' is a long ride.

ty

mike-s · Post by **mike-s** » Mon May 21, 2007 3:31 pm

gotta love riding out of phone reception

JetPilot · Post by **JetPilot** » Mon May 21, 2007 4:21 pm

Ive done Bundaberg to Sydney in one hit. 1300km on a Z500 took 16 hours. Should have broken it into 2 days.