Last weekend, I attempted 1,500 miles in 24 hours. Think about it for a second… if your total moving average speed was 60 mph, you would only complete 1,440 miles in a day. We had to average at least a 65mph speed for entire day.
We planned, we prepared, we failed. Mother nature was not on our side. We planned to leave Las Vegas and go Lake Elsinore, CA and back to Vegas which would be 500 miles. We then would pick up additional riders who wanted to ride 1,000 miles in 24 hours, and the group would leave las Vegas a second time and go to Grand Junction, CO and back for an additional total of 1,000 miles.
Five riders attempted the first 500 miles and as we got back into Las Vegas, one of the riders was feeling more fatigued than what he thought he should of. We also looked at weather in Grand Junction which was a high percentage of rain with thunder and lightning. Putting our judgment on the side of caution, we aborted the ride and only completed the first 500 miles.
Lessons that I learned:
1) You can not ride 1,500 miles as a group. You can leave as a group and arrive as group but managing traffic must have a “every man for himself” mentality.
2) Don’t have a midway stop in your home town, it gives people the mental option to quit and some will take it.
3) Don’t start your ride in the late evening. if you start your ride at 8pm,your body is already telling you it’s bed time and that you should stop. It’s not a great way to start a distance ride.