Mike's last ride..................

[ZX Raziel]

I have done it once , on a motorway i was so worn down that when i blinked my eyes for what i thought was a split of a second and then realized that i have moved two lanes , lucky that there was no trafic but it made me realize how dangerous it is to be seriously tired , now i take a break when i feel i am loosing it

[Locksmith]

Thats very sad . I'll think twice when i'm tired from now on .

[-Ralph-]

The optimum time for stopping doesn't just vary from person to person, it varies with:

Day to day
Day to night
How much sleep did you have the night before
Rain or shine
Hot or cold
The number of miles you need to cover in the day
The type of road
Whether you know the road
Whether your in good health or have a bit of a cold/cough/headache/infection
How much you had to drink on the campsite the night before!!!
Etc, etc, etc...

As riders we need to understand that we are different on different days and in different circumstances

If your doing 100 miles it might be OK to ride that in one 2 hour stint, but there's no way if doing a 400 mile journey that I would be doing only 3 stops.

I set myself a rule of a stop every hour, whether I feel like I need to or not! After the first, second or even third hour, I don't feel like I need the stop, but I take it anyway. If you ride until you feel like you need a stop, then the very fact you feel you need one means you are ALREADY suffering from fatigue. Stopping BEFORE you need to means you stay at peak concentration throughout the ride, and don't have that last dangerous 10 miles that killed this guy.

If doing a ride of between 1 and 2 hours, then if I have the time I split it in half and stop once mid distance.

For me every hour means about 70 miles on the motorway, or 50 miles on A roads.

If you think about a full days motorway riding as an example:

1 hour = 75 miles
15 minutes stopped have coffee
1 hour = 75 miles
15 minutes stopped get fuel
1 hour = 75 miles
15 minutes stopped have coffee
1 hour = 75 miles
stopped for 1 hour have lunch and get fuel
1 hour = 75 miles
15 minutes stopped have coffee
1 hour = 75 miles
30 minutes stopped get fuel, have coffee, have chocolate bar, late in the day worse fatigue = longer stop
1 hour = 75 miles

9 hours 30 minutes on the road (lets say 9am until 6:30pm) and 425 miles covered. Not bad going, and when you can make that kind of mileage within the space of a normal working day, there's no need at all to be riding for more than 1 hour at a time!

The great thing is you don't feel like you've ridden for 7 hours, you just feel like you've done 7 easy rides of 1 hour each. Because you never get to the point of suffering from fatigue, the whole journey just seems like a walk in the park.

Try it, it works!

[daytona-supersport]

Having watched the video, My heartfelt sympathies go to his family and friends.
Mistakes come easy when your just a bit tired and maybe not as sharp as usual.

Now an old fart note for all you going down for the Stella. Give yourselves an extra days travel time each way. It's a long ride down and yes I know that it can be done in one bloody long hit.
Don't do it. A couple of years back my mate decided to rush home to save a days holiday.
The N/S pannier box was all scraped up where it had run along the concrete motorway centre divider. He could not even recall scraping along the walled section, he was more than half asleep at the time. He does not even recall how he stayed on the bike.
Give yourselves a bit of extra time, chill out and enjoy the ride, use the smaller roads and stop off for a decent lunch, it's not a race, it's a fun ride. (thumbs)

[EricKTM@]

Very sad.

[Elle]

I watched that video via FB yesterday.
Then I read a comment from a friend - Mike had been the senior observer to my friend whilst she was training to be one. Brought it closer to home. No matter how well we ride, no matter how much knowledge we have, mistakes happen and sometimes they don't have a happy ending. R.I.P Mike.

[sexysi]

R.I.P. Good video!

Probably tiredness was a major factor here as said in the film, but the fact he was a second rider behind his son - I would also take this as something what could have been a factor here as well.

As they were overtaking, first rider overtook three cars in one go and then the second rider wanted to do the same, overtake asap and catch up with 1st rider, just not to stay to far behind ?! However, he didnt manged to overtake all three cars just two, then tried to overtake the third one....

TBH I caught myself doing this few times when riding with my mates and trust me sometimes you just dont think (not the same as you'd do riding solo) you just want to overtake and catch up with riders in front.

I must admit overtaking 3 cars in one go seems a bit extreme, espically riding down country roads. What are we talking each car 13ft-15ft long, plus say 10 feet in between, so we are talking about 80ft in one go!

That is a bit of an ask, even if your riding something very quick. I ride in the countryside and to over take three cars for me and I know the roads is a bit dodge. I would have to be doing over the national speed limit when I finished the overtake.

You can read so much into this, tiredness, a rush to get home, keen to keep up with the lead rider! Just trying to work this overtake out if the lead rider overtook the cars, that could have been doing 60mph and the bike was doing 70mph, it would take 8 seconds to overtake the lot, that is a long time on a country lane to be on the wrong side of the road.

Just a thought.

I feel for the family I really do, what was probably a wonderful day went terribly bad in a split second. We will have to watch ourselves in europe this summer.

si

[AndyB]

I've read through this and while the fact that the guy died is sad it's sad when anyone dies in a road traffic accident but this one had been publicised so he isn't just a forgotten statistic.

What I find a bit strange is the number of people who are taking it as a wake up call. Most of you have been riding bikes long enough to know what your body needs in the way of breaks to be able to maintain concentration and if you've been regularly ignoring them that's a bit worrying.

If I'm on a bike which can do 200 miles between fuel stops that's usually what I'll do if I'm on a long day but when I stop it's usually for a long enough period to fill the bike, drink a coffee and smoke 2 tabs so I'm ready to roll again and if it's getting dark I stop about 50 miles earlier because of the additional concentration required. If I'm on a bike with a much shorter tank range I only go for the extended coffee/tab break every 2nd stop just so I can cover a decent distance over the day.

Once I'm actually in the area where I'm spending some time I'll stop whenever I see something I want to look at no matter how long it was since the last stop. It's all about what type of riding I'm doing and how much I'm having to work at it so 100 miles of tight mountain passes will have me wanting a much longer break so I stop at a cafe and have a meal.

[ZX Raziel]

Some bikes have been slaughtered in the reviews for only having just over 200 miles range because of the small fuell tank ( vfr1200 for example ) , i personaly think that in this day and age ( petrol station behind every corner ) this is not a problem and i am actualy enjoying having little break for drink and food when doing long rides its part of riding for me , not sure if i would enjoy riding for long hours without stopping .

[bond_yzf]

the aftermath of that crash will stick in my mind for a long time