Kertrek

I've done a couple loaded overnighters, the first one totaling about 70 miles roundtrip, the next one 100 miles roundtrip. My bike is a hybrid, and I'm saving for a full on touring bike. Lots of climbing but I kept it at an easy pace, but even at the lowest gear on my hybrid, the climbing was a butt-kicker. I'm just wondering what I should aim for with practice, once I get a proper touring bike. On average, how far will you ride in a day, and how far was the farthest?

gpsblake

With me, it's about 50-80 miles a day. I like to take breaks and I like to do things like investigate a town or go geocaching which slows me down. Are you planning on hotels each day or just winging it for a place to stay each night (which is what I do).

azza_333

I feel most riding 100mi (160km), and my most is 200mi (320km)

They are with a cruising speed of about 17.5mph (28km/h) with my Steel Kona Sutra, carrying 2 panniers weighing 5kg each.
I am building a lighter and much faster touring bike with Di2 Ultegra, carbon frame, and plan to ditch the panniers, instead take a frame bag, 14L seat bag and a small custom handle bar bag. It will be my new developed world unsupported touring bike.

With the new bike/setup I estimate a cruising speed of 19mph (30km/h) so maybe a max distance of 360km. For me its all about what is around to look at though, the more their is to see the more I stop off, the less distance I travel each day.

wahoonc

My goal is 50-60 miles a day I like to see what is around me and take my time. Longest day ever was in the 120 mile range coming across the Midwest with a tailwind.

Aaron

staehpj1

It depends on the trip. On different trips I have averaged anywhere from 55-80 miles per day including any rest or half days. My longest day on tour was 142 miles and included a one mountain pass and some easier terrain. All of that was self supported touring with cooking and camping.

BTW, I don't use the touring bike any more, preferring to pack a light load of minimalist camping stuff and use a road bike.

andrewclaus

When I was young and carried lots of stuff, 50 to 60 miles was my average on a self-supported tour, and I never managed a century on a loaded touring bike. Now that I'm older and can't carry so much stuff, I go much farther every day. My last 4500 mile self-supported tour took 55 days, for an 80 mpd average, and I rode 17 centuries, quite a few them consecutive, with a few tail-wind days in the 120s.

Your experience will depend on your style of travel. If you like to take photos, geocache, blog, enjoy museums and fine dining or hikes in parks, your mileage will be lower than the person's who just loves to cycle all day and see what's over the next ridge.

irwin7638

I shoot for 60-80 miles per day. That covers some ground and leaves enough energy at the end of the day to enjoy where I am.

Marc

wheelinthai

For long tour, I prefer around 100km.(62.5miles) per day, ending my ride around noon. The longest ride I've done is 198km.(about 125miles) for the day. That was on a SAG 5 days tour on road bike. That day the ride ended about 1:30pm.

BigAura

AVERAGE MILES PER DAY: 30-70 (plus or minus 30)

LONGEST MILEAGE FOR A DAY: 114 (flat-lands of Florida)

SHORTEST MILEAGE FOR A DAY: 0 (many times )

gerryl

I try to keep the max at 100km a day. I seem to average about 20km/hrs which works out to a leisurely 5hr ride. I rarely ride more than 5hrs a day.

Machka 

On a tour, I prefer to ride less than 80 km/day. 60-70 km/day is nice.

But I have done a few centuries (160 km).

I save my longer distances for randonneuring or training for randonneuring.

fietsbob

I just ride , to see stuff , ride the hours that feel right that day.

robow

A lot of variables, depends on the wind, the terrain, the individuals that I might be riding with, how much gear, how much sight-seeing, etc but with that being said, 50-65 miles when fully loaded, but a few tours I've averaged in the mid 80's. The longest day if I remember correctly was about 120 miles and it was brutal because of the heat.

Btw, Azza_333 above is the anomaly, very few "cruse at 17.5-19 mph" when fully loaded and most can't cover centuries day after day.

escii_35

Running two bags on road tires camping ~80 miles.

Fat tires with four bags ~65.

Central Peru ~45

Add an hour of riding a day if tent tent up and deconstruct not required.

Fastest 64 miles in a smidgen over three hours. Montana tail wind.

Shortest full effort day 35 miles over two mountain in Peru.

Longest 120 miles.

Kertrek

So, to get this straight, a century = 100 miles in a day?

BigAura

Yep, a "real" century is 100 miles.

Jseis 

One of the craziest tours I ever did was Oly to Friday Harbor and we took a lot of ferries. Didn't make a lot of time & distance but literally raced ferry dock to ferry dock such that we'd often appear just as the last car rolled on and the deck crew would hail us and hold the ramp open while we jammed up over the ramp. I think 6 ferries.

Our 30-40 road miles per day was probably equaled or less than water miles. The longest day miles I ever had was 120 and that included 60 miles catching the Tobermory ferry before noon, a long ferry ride, then 60 miles down the Tobermory Peninsula. Ferries are cool.

Cyclebum

6 hours, +/-2, except for those zero days.

bobbyl1966

What crank size and cassete size do you use in your rides

DropBarFan

Anything from 45 miles on Blue Ridge Parkway to 100 miles in Florida but generally I'd aim at 60-70 miles. The 45 miles on BRP (camping gear) was much tougher than century in Florida. But if I went to Europe or something where there were special towns & sightseeing I'd guess I'd aim 50-60 miles. Finding a comfy saddle is half the battle; when a saddle turns painful after ~3 hours it sucks a lot of energy w/frequent raising off saddle to regain circulation. One weird thing I've found is that both on tours & local ~training rides the overall avg speed usually stays about the same no matter how much effort I put in. I guess that's because over 15 mph the air resistance really starts to climb. So on tours I make an effort to limit hard efforts so I don't get fatigued.

Machka 

Yes ... also known as an "Imperial Century".

B. Carfree

It really doesn't matter how far other cycle tourists ride per day. What matters is doing it the way you enjoy it. Some folks like to ride slowly, walk up hills, and stop to check out every little thing, including full meals at restaurants. As far as I can tell, all of them have a lot of fun on their tours. Other folks ride full-on all day and cover tremendous distances. Not surprisingly, they also have great fun.

Do it your way. Initially, you may enjoy experimenting. You may even find that you like to mix it up and ride greatly different speeds and distances on different days (probably the most common way to tour). If you're enjoying what you're doing, keep doing it. If not, try something new. It's all good.

Personally, I'll ride as far and fast as necessary to have a shower at day's end. It's just one of those things I enjoy a great deal, even more than a pint of ice cream in the middle of the day (never tour without an ice cream spoon).

Redhatter

Indeed, it doesn't matter. In my case, I've never toured, but would like to do so.

My concern is more along the lines of knowing that I'm a slow rider, I don't want to be the one holding up the group as I suspect I will. Thus hearing how long others takes gives me an idea about how to go about planning a trip, one that I could achieve going solo, that way I don't inconvenience anyone but myself and I don't push myself any more than necessary.

wahoonc

Depends on the bike and the terrain. I tour on everything from a 3 speed Raleigh to a 21 speed. My expedition bike has a stump pulling low gear of around 16", usually I aim for a low in the 21" range.

Aaron

bobbyl1966

The terrain i go for ride is hilly but have downhills too. is 10 miles trail. I park my truck i go for ride i do the 10 miles then i return in my truck 10 more miles that do total 20 miles. My average speed is was 12 miles. I ride road bike. My crank is 53/39 and my cassette is 9 speeds 12-25. gear ratio i have is 118.2 high low 41.7 The elevation in that trail is from 700 feet to 900 feet. I do the 20 miles but i had to walk 3 times. Sounds like i use the wrong gear ratio?