long distances ....

Yesterday did a lovely ride, about 250 miles in total. We had very strong winds, which I found tiring when on the motorway, and its the first decent bit of mileage I have done since last summer. But, MY GOD, I was in agony las night, and towards the end of the ride. My back got so stiff I could barely do my safety checks, and last night I didn't know where to put myself!

So my worry is, is this just time off the bike, or is it me and the bike! I have planned to do a Europe trip in the summer, which starts with a 1st day of 200 miles and a 2nd day of 600 miles. Am having serious doubts if I am made of the right stuff after yesterday!

i dont do big milage but i find my first few long rides really tire me out your body then seems to get used to it, last year we did a few long rides with no problems.

You will get used to it, just do a few longer rides before your trip to get your long distace biking ability back.

My first longer rideout last year after returning to two wheels left me in a similar state. During the summer days though 250+ miles were a breeze with no problems as long as I kept the speed up a tad, slow traffic on my pointy and things got quite painful.

I've had a similar dilemma myself, to be honest when I have gone touring on the SV things usually go from bad to worse. 6 hours a day is about my limit before the seat wrecks your backside and the back starts to complain. One trip to Scotland was cut short because I just couldn't stay in the saddle for more than an hour after a real long day from London to Glasgow....

yeah i also did my first long ride of the year yesterday, 6 hrs country roads with just one brief stop - great fun but couldn't move for about an hour after i got home! GSX-R600s were certainly not made for comfort...

Originally Posted by Fizzy Fish

yeah i also did my first long ride of the year yesterday, 6 hrs country roads with just one brief stop - great fun but couldn't move for about an hour after i got home! GSX-R600s were certainly not made for comfort...

Yer thats very true, did a rideout on Sat and after that I started to feel it, was a couple of hours but part of it is getting used to the miles.

A gel seat or similiar would help matters and also a bigger screen may go that extra bit to making it more comfortable for not much money. Further on you could get rearsets to make the pegs more comfortable and different clipons/handlebar risers to make it more relaxed riding position.

[Bluepete]

I don't do that many long distance trips, but I tend to have a bit of a stretch whenever I stop, either for fuel for the bike, fuel for me or (old biffer excuse) a nice view! It helps, sets the blood surging around and relaxes me on the bike for the next stage. Plus, if you stop somewhere you have never stopped before, no-one will know who the tart is doing yoga

Originally Posted by Tomcat

a 1st day of 200 miles and a 2nd day of 600 miles.

You will have a backside of iron at the end of day two

But my, that first beer will taste good

600 miles is considerable distance. Cant that be split a bit more evenly? I normally plan for 500 a day if I'm making progress, no more. Its feasible to do more, but questionable as whether its wise unless its a real marathon or necessity. I find thats plenty and I'm sat upright. Having said that it was the kness that got me on the SV. If the roads are twisty 500 in a day is sometimes tricky, distances go way down off the motorways in Europe.

[mattSV]

The most I have done in a day was about 300, mostly motorways, and it was bloody hard work on the SV1000 - resting my legs on the crash bungs helped to take some of the pain from the knees, however I don't think plod would be impressed.

As Dr Rich said, 600 miles is a bloody long way, especially for am SV, mainly because of the position of the legs. If I had a GS like Dr Rich however I would give it a go if I really had to, however you would still be looking at getting on for 7-8 hours in the saddle, which I feel would be too much for me.