The perception of long ride varies greatly among motorcycle riders. Especially new ones (does not mean young ones). Some call 400km ride a long ride, some call 1000km ride a medium one. Not that I am an expert on motorcycle riding, but I thought of putting the method to this madness.
I jotted down my thoughts about classification of rides. I thought of 3 key parameters viz. Distance traveled, Time taken, and Effort put. Based on these I came up with following categories
By Distance:
1. 400-1000 km. A ride should at least be 400km to think of it as a long ride.
2. > 1000 km. These rides really require a lot of preparation, stamina and experience.
By time:
1. 2-3 days: Have more than one day, and you can reach longer distances which is essential for long ride. Exceptions exist, but yeah. they are exceptions.
2. week-long: Week long ride requires good planning, carrying of enough luggage and tough mind. It should not just be a rote ride. Some sight-seeing, adventure, experience other than ride should be included.
3. multi-week: Rides longer than a week must have proper planning, fallback and mitigation plans, should incorporate rest days. Generally requires good budget and long planning and extra support mechanism
By Effort put:
1. High patience: Such rides test the patience. Sitting on a bike in rider's position for very long, riding steadily for extended hours, keeping focus, concentration and enthusiasm are put to test.
2. high fatigue: These are ones where a lot of physical activity comes in. e.g. riding off-road for long. Riding at night, through ghats or even traffic, under-construction road and all.
By stretch:
1. Less number of long stretches: once mounted, ride for several hours (with minimum required breaks)
2. Many short stretches: A lot of mounting/ unmounting, wearing/removing of safety gear, parking, starting/stopping the bike is required.
This does not include Expeditions, Rallies, Enduro etc. I have never ever experienced these categories.
-Aniruddha Raste
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