Motorcycle Endurance Riding 101 by Ron Schmidt A Beginners Guide to Motorcycle Endurance Riding Bavarian Motorcycle Workshop promotes safe and responsible riding practices. This seminar will discuss the important points about endurance riding, but we will not try to tell you what is safe and sane for you personally. We realize that motorcycling in general is a dangerous undertaking and your acceptance of risk is a very personal decision. The more difficult the riding becomes, the higher the associated risk becomes. It is important to know your capabilities and stay within them. What is Endurance Riding? A rider on a chopper with no suspension might find 100 miles in a weekend to be an endurance ride; someone with great skills and proper equipment can make a 1000-mile ride in 24 hours a pleasurable and safe experience. Endurance riding is a very personal challenge with the only payback being the feeling of accomplishment you have when you are done. Remember that the winner of the 11-day Iron Butt Rally, the premiere endurance event on the planet, got paid exactly the same as you did for your last motorcycle ride. The best endurance rallyists in the world are not quite as famous as an average bagpipe player. While the safety and preparation concerns are very real, do not take the sport too seriously other than for your own enjoyment. About the IBA The Iron Butt Association is the premiere group regulating Endurance riding. Please visit their website at ironbutt. Their motto, “The World’s Toughest Riders” has always been a bit of a laugh for me. One hour on a motocross track would do in the majority of the riders in this group, so don’t let yourself get too puffy about having one of their license plate frames on your bike! But, they are a good group of enthusiasts trying to make endurance riding as safe and enjoyable as they can for veterans and newbies alike. The IBA has two forms of endurance challenges available. The first is a group of rides that can be done alone and at any time. The beginner’s level is called a Saddle Sore 1000, requiring the rider to complete a ride of 1000 miles in 24 hours. It is the minimum ride to gain membership in the club. There are several other rides that are more difficult, as well as some that are just plain nuts, but people do accomplish them. The second form is a rally that has a specific time and starting place. In rallies, the riders will be given a list of locations they might visit for points counted toward a final score to be compared to the other participants in the event. The difference between rides and rallies are monumental. On the rides, you pick the routes, the times, and roads that you like. As a result, you can spend as much time planning to accomplish your goal as you wish. The rallies, on the other hand, have someone making it as difficult as they can for you to do well. In my opinion, the rides are a walk in the park compared to the rallies. That is not to reduce recognizing the skills and determination of a rider completing a 1500 miles in 24 hours ride successfully, as that is an accomplishment not to be ignored. But to ride to someone else’s locations, trying to determine the most efficient way to do it, weighing the merits of your choices and having to develop a plan in a very short time is much more of a challenge. In my opinion, an endurance ride is not much more than planning a route, staying awake and holding the throttle open as wide and for as long as you dare. The rallies are much more of thinking mans sport. Basic Motorcycle Setup Almost any comfortable, well-maintained, mid-sized or larger motorcycle will be able to out-perform the rider perched on it. Realistically, for the beginner events, all you need to do is make everything on the bike easy to operate and make sure the bike fits you well. Before you enter your first event, spend a few weeks paying close attention to small things on your motorcycle that bother you. These will become more aggravating than you can imagine when you are tired. There are lots of things that can make your bike easier to ride or more comfortable. Pay attention to those details on shorter rides and make adjustments as needed. Anything that is uncomfortable on a 200-mile ride will be pure torture at the end of 1000 miles! Many of you have seen my R1150GS endurance bike. It is set up with all manner of performance enhancements to make it more powerful, handle better, go farther between fuel stops, light up the road at night as if it were daytime, etc., etc., etc. Most of the stuff on it is totally unnecessary for beginning rallyists, and frankly a lot of it is just unnecessary, period. Building equipment like that is a passion for me but has limited real advantages over a well set up, mostly stock machine. Any endurance event, ride or rally, will have many hours of riding in the dark. The one thing that very few motorcycles have enough of is light. I would strongly advise that the first piece of specialty equipment you add to your bike is good lighting. Beyond proper riding gear, lights are the most important part of your safety equipment for endurance riding. Lights are important for any nighttime riding, but particularly when you are trying to stay on time when you have already ridden many hundreds of miles before it got dark. We can help you with choices, but the simple truth is more is better. Light it up until the alternator groans and you’ll be about right. The Iron Butt Association got its name from the largest part of your anatomy that is so intimately connected to the bike. A comfortable seat is an absolute, must-have item. There are about 127 different ways to accomplish minimizing a sore posterior, most of which have to do with the seat itself. Mike Harris, our local seat guru, can fix you up with a seat so comfortable that you will want to take it into the theatre next time you go to see a full length movie. He will do the modifications for a very reasonable fee. Aftermarket seats are often very expensive and mostly are made in a one-size fits all; Mike will custom tailor a seat just for you. Ask him for the gel pad and you will be amazed how comfortable you will be. Also, try standing up on the foot pegs often. I’ll bet that on any 1000-mile ride I spend more than 75 miles standing up. It takes the pressure off your butt, is great for your circulation, and will help keep you awake. Amazingly, it is also illegal in some states. Check the local laws if you are in doubt. During the course of any event, you will be stopping to fill the fuel tank many times and if it is a rally you will be stopping often to verify that you have visited the correct place. Many of the BMW bikes are hard to get on and off the center stands and side stands. If yours is difficult, you will have a chance of dropping the bike when you are tired. We can modify the stands to make them really easy to work. You’ll thank us after the event! Handlebar position is important to your comfort. It seems that BMW’s are all made for people who are 6’5” or taller so often the bars are just too much of a stretch for many riders. If you are experiencing the “Ducati Dagger”, that most uncomfortable pain in your upper neck area, a bar relocation kit may do wonders for your comfort. If you decide to attempt doing the really long rides, you will find the ability to carry extra fuel with you will become important. The IBA allows 11.5 gallons total for motorcycles. If you are attempting a 1500-mile ride, most bikes will require 7 or 8 gas stops. If each stop takes 15 minutes, that is a stopped time of about 2 hours just for refueling. Additional fuel capacity could save you an hour’s time. The IBA has fairly stringent rules on how you can carry extra fuel; a 5 gallon can tied to the back of your bike will not do. See us for ideas if you are interested. Mental Prep I believe that the mental preparation for endurance riding is not any different than what it should be before any other motorcycle riding on public roads. If you have something to prove and are willing to risk your safety and the safety of other people on the street, sell the bike before you get killed, or even worse, hurt someone else. If you are distracted by life situations, stay off the bike until you can concentrate on riding. When you are riding, the only thing that should be on your mind is riding safely. Just signing up for an endurance event does not give you any leeway in this area. Safety should always be your #1 concern. One of the hardest things I find during an event is knowing when I am too tired to be safe. I have to prepare to be aware of what my concentration level is when I am tired or even just bored on a very long ride. One of the IBA champions, a rider whose skill and experience far exceeds mine, stated that he has a “3 mistake rule”. When he notices that he has made a small mistake (an example would be forgetting to cancel a turn signal, or having a steady cruising speed vary by more than his normal), he will watch for two more errors, then stop and rest even if he thinks he feels OK. That might be a good setup for him, maybe for you too. It does not work well for me because I’m not sure how many mistakes I have made and not even noticed. I notice things like having a hard time making decisions that should be instantaneous. I once stopped for fuel and was not feeling a bit tired. I looked at the pump and was trying to decide whether to put low or high-octane fuel in the bike. My bike HAS to have high- octane fuel all the time, so I knew I was tired mentally. I stopped, got off the bike and got some rest. You know your brain; if it is not working normally, stop until it does! I think that most people who are drawn to endurance riding are at least slightly competitive by nature. Part of the mental prep needs to be making a decision before the event begins concerning when it will end. That decision should not be based on a clock or odometer; it should be based on when you are no longer capable of safely handling the bike and road conditions. That may be a very hard decision to make at the time when it should be. Be mentally tough enough to make it. Physical Prep There are two main parts to Physical Prep. One is what you do before the event; the other is what you do during the event. Being in reasonable physical shape is a necessity for long distance riding. You do not have to be an Olympic champion, but the stronger you are the better you will feel during the long hours in the saddle. Time spent hiking with your dog is better than sitting in front of a TV. A walk with someone you love will do you more good than playing a computer game. Pursuing outdoor activities on a regular basis might be all that you need to do. If you know you are really out of shape, take up something fun that you will enjoy that is strenuous. Bicycling, hiking, skiing, snow shoeing, etc. are fun things that will get you in shape good enough to do endurance riding well. During the events, pay attention to what your body tells you and obey it. This is particularly important in the area of hydration. If you feel thirsty, you have already gone too long without drinking. I carry a hydration pack on my back that allows me to drink anytime I wish. On hot rides, I drink as much as 3 liters between gas stops. Everything your body and mind does is diminished in performance if you are dehydrated. If you are hungry, eat something. You have to keep your body fueled well or it won’t function properly. Once you “run out of steam” it takes a very long time to regain your energy level. It is far more efficient to keep up with the demands rather than try to recover from lack of food. What to drink and eat is a personal choice; what works well for me might not be good for you. I am not a nutrition expert, so rather than give you poor hints I would suggest you talk to an expert and try several things. Use what works best for you personally. One thing I can tell you for sure is to try the diet for several longer rides before you commit to one for an event. I once took the great suggestion from a very good, well-meaning friend that drinking a fruit juice would improve my energy level during the ride. She was completely correct, and for the first eight or ten hours my apple juice induced energy was noticeably higher than what I usually feel drinking Propel or Gatorade. But, later in the event I was forced to stop every 50 miles or so as my system decided to totally clean itself. Not the best way to keep on time, to be sure! Avoid coffee or any of the “energy” drinks. Most are full of caffeine and sugar. Both will make you feel better for a short time, but when you come down off the high, it is like hitting a wall. Plus, caffeine is a diuretic. See “apple juice” above. As I said earlier, stand up on the foot pegs regularly. I even do an exercise of standing up and sitting down quickly many times. It gets the old blood circulating, helps your hips and knees stay happy, and wakes you up. Just changing your seating position a few inches backward and forward helps to keep you more comfortable. When I stop for fuel or to document a bonus point, I try to run around for a bit before I get back in the saddle. A few setups or pushups during the stops can also help keep you alert for the next leg of the event. Really, anything that you do physically can help. Sleeping during the event is another personal thing. Many people, me included, can benefit amazingly from a “Power Nap” of 10 to 15 minutes. For some of my friends, that is rally suicide. You have to know what your body likes and do that. If the rally has a “sleep bonus” try to use it. Whatever it takes, though, rest as much as you need to be safe. Wear the Right Gear You must keep your body temperature regulated within reason to perform at your best. In this area, excellent riding gear is a must. Keep dry when it is wet, keep warm when it is cold, and keep as cool as you can when it is hot. And should you leave your ride at speed, the proper gear will prevent road rash and if the crash is severe, could allow you to live through the adventure. Jackets and pants are either mesh on the outside with a waterproof liner, or waterproof on the outside with air vents for warm weather. The liners of both types of gear often use Gortex which is waterproof but breaths. A good electric jacket like the Warm-n-Safe is a life saver in cool and cold weather. The electric jacket has sleeves which is much better than the vest, is light weight and packs in a very small space. In the heat of summer, a Cool Vest will keep you cooler for hours in the sun. Waterproof boots are the way to go; you never know when it will get wet and wet feet are not a thing to have on an endurance ride. Select the proper weight of gloves, and carry at least one extra pair of gloves. It only takes a small amount of space to carry a few pair of gloves; one for hot summer, one intermediate weight, one pair of thin rain gloves and one pair of waterproof winter gloves – you never know what you are going to run into. Take an extra pair of socks. In cold times, a balaclava will keep your head and neck warm. The correct gear will be your best friend when the weather is not perfect. In Utah, even in June, you might use all of the items noted thus far on any rally. A good fitting and safe helmet is the most essential part of your riding gear. If your helmet is a few years old, the liner is probably getting loose, which may feel good but is not safe. Most liners or at least cheek pads can be renewed. Helmets over 5-6 years old should be replaced. When you get a new helmet make sure it is the proper fit for your head. If you ride with an inexpensive helmet, to meet DOT and/or Snell crash minimums it is probably heavy. Good helmets – which are also expensive – are light weight and offer great venting. In cool weather get something that eliminates fogging, like the Fog City inner shield, or a good spray. In my opinion, endurance riding is one of the most enjoyable things to do on a motorcycle. Just do it safely so you can do more often.
Posted on: Thu, 08 Jan 2015 01:03:10 +0000