A little Pre-GVA warmup!

Countdown - 11 days!

If you've ever wondered if you could undertake a trip of roughly 6,500 miles in about 14 days on a motorcycle, I'm hoping this blog will help you figure that out.

I wondered it too. Many times, repeatedly. I still wonder. The best answer is one that my buddy Matt offered up (in his quiet but simple and profound way): "We'll see."

Of course, I'm sure that 99% of the folks reading this aren't planning anything this crazy. The few that would consider it have probably already done things that are just this crazy. But perhaps those that wouldn't do it can live vicariously through me, and heck maybe they can learn about stops along my way that will be interesting for future vacation destinations (although I don't typically see "Shelby, Montana" on anyone's bucket list).

No one should go from a standstill to full blast. You have to warm up to these things. That's why athletes stretch before a big contest. It's why race car drivers do 'practice laps' and qualifying.

So, I used Father's Day weekend to do my 'practice lap'. Matt and Lorraine rode two up and Jannette and I rode one up from Dayton, Ohio area to Oak Hill, West Virginia. Since it's an extra 100 miles from our house to the Dayton area, we get to ride an extra 200 miles total.

We took a slower and more meandering route to get to Oak Hill, going through some twisties on WV-60 near Kanawha Falls and over to the New River Gorge Bridge. All told, the ride out was about 285 miles. The ride home was about 290, but it was far more direct and about half interstate and half highway. For Jannette and I, it was a total of about 800 miles. I'm counting the few miles we logged around the Oak Hill area, exploring.

The "warm" part of 'warmup' was appropriate. Leaving Friday, Jannette and I left our place later than we wanted and arrived at Matt's at about 10 am. We then left there at 10:45am to get to WV. The sun was warm right from the start, but it really heated up when we were about 2 hours outside of our destination. In fact, we saw a few time/temp signs that said 97 degrees. When you are in the sun and there's precious little cloud cover, that will wear you down in a hurry. In any case, we arrived at our hotel about 6pm. So with our leisurely 'stroll' it took about 7 hours to go 300 miles.

On the way home Sunday, we left at 8:30am (again, not in any rush) and arrived at Matt's about 2:30pm. So with a more direct route, less heat and quicker stops, that 300 miles took about 6 hours.

Then of course, Jannette and I still had 100 miles to go to get home, but we arrived back at our house about 6pm. Nine and a half hours for 400 miles (granted, there was about a 90 minute break in Ohio.)

So, with all the stops and breaks and talking (we weren't in any hurry - we were on a vacation day!) you can't really compare this to any of the days that I'll have coming up on the GVA. This was a restful, 'easy' ride after all, with no real timetables urgent need to get anywhere by a certain time. The Vancouver Adventure will be far different.

I figure if I haven't knocked down 150 miles by 9am each day, I'll be way behind. My plan is to get through 300 miles each day before lunch. Tough? Yeah, maybe. Doable? Certainly!
But the more miles I can put behind me in the morning hours, the more I can take it easy in the afternoons and early evenings.

If you just do the math and let all things be equal, I'll have to travel an average of 464 miles per day to get this 6,500 miles done in two weeks. Luckily, I'll have more than a few days where 464 will be done by 3 or 4 pm and I can start banking some rest time for later in the day. Since weather is a huge factor, this will play a part in how far I'm able to get as well.

And please, no offense is meant to my wife and riding companions this past weekend. We had a blast (sometimes it felt like a blast from an oven) and we relaxed.

Just what I needed to tune me up and get me a little R & R before the real 'fun' begins!