In November of 2007 (Thanksgiving Holiday run) I did a trip from Lehi Utah to Margate Florida, 20 minutes west of Ft Lauderdale. Did the trip in just under 40 riding hours and in the space of 4 riding days. The last day being a 4 hour jaunt. I tried to plan my rides to be in total daylight, key word tried but never totally happened that way. The mileage on the trip was just over 2500 miles. I had planned the trip to get there ASAP so my miles were all on major highways and since I never speed (grin) I kept it only 5 over whatever the traffic was moving at. Came close a few times with the State Troopers but never got caught.
Day 1 - Lehi, UT to Amarillo, TX little over 13 hours and 900 miles
Day 2 - Amarillo, TX to Alexandria, LA, over 10 hours and close to 700 miles
Day 3 - Alexandria, LA to Ocala, FL, @ 11 hours and just under 800 miles
Day 4 - Ocala, FL to Margate, FL, 4 hours and 270 miles
The trip back was a bit different:
Day 1 - Margate, FL to Alexandria, LA (FAST RIDE) almost 1100 miles and 13 hours of driving. I had to move on this as I was trying to stay ahead of a bad storm getting ready to hit central Utah.
Day 2 - Alexandria, LA to Amarillo, TX, Under 700 miles and 10 hours
Day 3 - Amarillo, TX to Albequrque, NM Just under 300 miles and 4 hours driving. Here is when I ran into the back of the storm and it started snowing as I pulled into Albuquerque. I decided this as as far as I would drive in snow with a bike as I knew it would get worse the farther I went, fortunatley snow wasn't sticking but I wasn't taking any chances. I pulled into the first Ryder rental and rented a van for the remainder of the trip and continued straight through to Lehi Utah. To bad to as the weathered cleared about 100 miles outside of Albuquerque and the ride through Durango was beautiful. Had I done that I would have had to stop in Durango for the night and I would have for sure been stuck as the storm would have caught up to me.
Driving notes:
Being as this was my first transcontinent trip I wasn't sure about what fatigue factors I would encounter stringing so many big ride days together but I was surprised. I never got tired but I did sleep very well at night on my stops but my butt would get sore and I had to keep changing positions in th saddle to relieve it. Not so much as saddle sore as I could get off on my gas breaks and get back on with no soreness till about an hour or so into the ride again. It was funny. The soreness only started after the first day of riding on both ends of the trip, going and returning. Not so much an the later leg.
I'd say the average day would be 700 to 800 miles if your using the highway system, back road driving takes time and miles off the trip.
The C14 did unbelievable, mile after mile of smooth fast driving. The only thing I would change would be the seat. For the type of miles I was doing I want to see if there was something better suited for the miles I was traveling. I had all the farkles, satellite radio, Ipod, Bluetooth radio and cell setup. I was in constant contact with everyone and everything.
My next trip is Lehi Utah to Boston MA in August of 09 hopefully. Can't wait!
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