[aargee]

Aargee, I want to do saddlesore; can I do saddlesore in my CBR 250R? I want to do saddlesore & please help me choose a bike for me; how about doing a group saddlesore?

Errr...aaaargggh... I'm mighty frustrated hearing these for last few days

What increases the frustration is that, one dude rides from Bangalore to Chennai, hears about this Saddlesore for first time in his life & he wants to do it next weekend, like riding from his house to local kirana store; and another guy wants to buy a motorcycle specifically to do a saddlesore, whoa!!

While some here can debate asking what's wrong in achievement, there's something more beyond speeds, achievement & endurance. Let me be fair & look up this topic from the view of Saddlesore enthusiasts, anti Saddlesore crowd & some as Realist.


Pro Saddlesore

Technically speaking, it's a little over 1600 Km to be done within 24 hours. Which means, I only need to keep 67 Kmph so that 24 X 67 = 1608 Km. It's good to hear, but one has to account for few minimal other things such as Fuel, Food & Water.

So let's keep aside 1 hour for food & 1 hour for water; let's say your ride yields 30 Kmpl & has a capacity of using 10 liters of fuel in one go, this means, you'll have to stop 5-6 times for refueling (1600/300). And let's keep aside about 10 minutes for each refuel & that accounts for 1 hour easily.

So from 24 hours, take off about 3 hours that crunches our time to 21 hours. This also means, the speed has to increase from 67 Kmph to approximately 77 Kmph.

Next point is the route. Considering the GQ, outer ring road, outer of outer ring road & outer of outer of outer of...blah blah roads, it's quite possible not only to skip the crowded towns, but also keep the distance without much disturbances. Be it North, South or West (Sorry to my dear brothers & sisters in East & KL ofcourse, I have to be empathetic to you guys). So good roads these days are no longer an excuse.

Riding efficiently around 100 Kmph easily gives an average speed of 80 Kmph on these good long highways.

Considering today's reliable 200+ cc motorcycles, there's absolutely no excuse for not succeeding with a Saddlesore, if this is what you thought...


Anti Saddlesore

For sure the roads are improved, the rides are reliable, durable & comes with other able, however there's one indispensable truth...has the mindset of people improved?

I still see why are you passing through my village?, This is my village & I do what I like attitude on the roads. Yes, no one denied it's your village & you live in it, but, let me also pass; and hey, I'm not coming to harass you or neither I'm Mohammed Ghazni to raid the riches from your village. I'm merely traveling to my destination & let me use the road for few minutes, atleast, let me use it for the sake of toll that I've paid?

And the do what I like attitude is quite dangerous one; drive tractor the way I like; and suddenly our people becomes lord of all creations! they convert their Hero Splendor to Tata Sumo just that the Sumo still rides (not drive) on 4 wheels with 5 people; quite talented!

Cursed are those dogs (cats & other small animals) who're born in US & other Western countries; they live in A/C room with TV left ON, living on special diet, have doctor's appointment, demanding for evening walks & some of them even wear clothes like human. They don't have much freedom to move about. Fortunately (or unfortunately for us), this is India & there's too much freedom for them, if you want to say so, and they've no limited mobility & are free to move anywhere. May be that's the reason, they stare at you on a National Highway & consider whether to move out of the way.

Cow is Mother, Mother can go anywhere & that includes any highway as well

Last but not the least, there're bushmen. Those people who wake up early in the morning, find a hide out to finish off their morning ablution, come back sheepishly to the bushes in the median, ensure there's an oncoming vehicle & then try to dance on the road. They appear suddenly out of the bushes & try to make 0 to 120 Kmph in 1 second. Whoa!!

As if all these hurdles are not sufficient, there're other vehicles on the road who ensures to give you maximum possible trouble on the road. Most notorious ones ranges from the silent cyclists to loud farting auto-rickshaw.

Want more? Add potholes, signals, speed barriers, one stretch or other being under construction, uneven surfaces, high beam lights, truckers without danger light in the night.

Less said better is about the Rossis' of street racing; thanks to the new found power with C250R, P200NS & even the good old P220

Last but not the least, the speed limit of any two wheeler in this country being 50 Kmph (those specified are only for cars); anything above this speed limit is clearly VIOLATION OF LAW


For The Realists

A typical, one minute stop delays off about 8-10 minutes to destination. This means, 5 times stopped for fuel itself wastes about 50 minutes. Ofcourse, one can make up for this by increasing the speed, but, this is undeniable truth.

Riding for 100 Kmph for one hour is quite different from riding 80 Kmph for 5-6 hours; it requires immense concentration, stamina & energy, which is the ultimate test of all these attempts. But the fact is that, as time progress, it becomes extremely difficult to keep up the focus.

Riding steady for first 12-16 hours isn't great, but keeping the journey steady for the last 8 hours is really tough.

When brain is deprived of sleep, the effects are amazing; your vision becomes impaired, judgement fails miserably, causes anxiety & fatigue, worst thing being you start hallucinating & start seeing things that are not there in the first place.

Weather is one thing that has to be favorable; neither should it be hot, cold or should it rain. And switching the appropriate gears in accordance to weather also means, loss of time.

Riding in dusk & dawn becomes inevitable, and these are the two times in the day where vision is easily tricked even for a seasoned rider with immense concentration. Needless to say when one is exhausted.

On any account one HAS to ride during the night (or dark) at one point or other & certainly at one point it sure will be exhausted & that's the time one HAS to put in more efforts to stay awake, keep the focus, fight against darkness, fight against the high beams & ofcourse keep the speed.

Cop troubles...less said better

As reliable as rides can become, but, nothing can be taken for granted on accounts of vulnerability. Simple things such as cable cut, puncture or chain lube cannot be taken lightly. They simply eat away your time & forcing you to speed up more & more or skip a meal or much needed water break

One of the worst thing that can happen being PUSH to limit; at some point during the ride, you're body will certainly feel like taking a break, but your mind could be fresh & that is when the problem starts; your mind says to do something & your body does something (a gear shift down instead of shift up etc) are clear symptoms of these. And trouble starts when you decide to keep riding & push yourself instead of taking a break

There're some hidden activities during this attempt; taking ATM receipt for instance, computerized fuel receipt & pictures for evidence. Murphy laughs when your frantically search for an ATM & when you find, there's a big queue or the computer at the fuel station goes kaput & ask you to wait for 5 minutes.

BTW, no matter whichever route you do, IBA has their own way to calculate the distance of the route; so it's better not just stop with 1600 Km & do some 20-30 Km addition.


Let's wrap up this whole thing & do a realist calculation here...
Fuel break - 1 hour
Food break combined with Fuel break - 30 min
Let's eliminate the water break with a hydration pack (Cost Rs 3000 approx, unless your friend doesn't mind putting your mouth) - 30 min to refill alone
Butt break - 30 min
ATM receipts & photo - 30 min
Set aside a buffer of 30 min for any uneventful situation - 30 min
Total - 3.5 hours

Deducting 3 from 24 hours = 20.5 hours
That makes an average of 80 Kmph for 20.5 hours = 1640 Km

Now comes the cost...
Cost of fuel - 1640 Km/30 Kmpl = ~55 liters X Rs 72 = Rs 3960 = ~Rs 4000
This is excluding the $25 fee (and courier) to IBA = ~$30 X ~Rs 60 = Rs 1800
And the above is excluding the cost of mobile calls, food, water & consumables such as chain lube & most importantly VIOLATING THE LAW

The net result? You spend approximately Rs 6000 to get your name published in the list of IBA under SS1600 or SS2000 by putting not only your life but also others on the road to risk. And anything beyond these certification are equivalent to sending an meeting invite to Yamaraj for a G2G!!!

All for your name to get it published in that list. To show whom? To prove what? Is it worth enough? Can it fetch a job? Can it help to clear arrears? I'm leaving the conclusion to the reader to think about as I'm myself left in a mixed feeling of...
- Is it safer to do this ride outside India?
- Can I do a much relaxed ride else where?
- Can I use that money to buy additional safety gears or a bike accessory?

My write up here is focused to EDUCATE & break the myth of all these endurance rides & to say one thing very clearly that, you're still a rider if you ride a motorcycle RESPONSIBLY & you don't have to undergo a great ordeal inorder to prove it. If you have the natural instinct in you, you will do it someday.

[phamilyman]

Originally Posted by aargee

Last but not the least, the speed limit of any two wheeler in this country being 50 Kmph (those specified are only for cars); anything above this speed limit is clearly VIOLATION OF LAW

I don't know about Chennai (soon will) but city speed limits even for most cars in most cities except CHD are easily 50-60 kph except on designated expressways. Even passing by cities like Karnal on NH1, the designated speeds are lesser.

I hope you do realize that almost all BHPians are VIOLATING THE LAW everytime we are out there on the roads

But honestly, in such controversial topics, to each their own I normally say. As a forum, we should not actively encourage such rides. As you rightly highlight - it is very easy for some folks to get carried away and try ever riskier rides. You would probably know Vinu:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2iQYG7oe04

First Saddlesore, then a bun burner in rather questionable circumstances (riding for hours with an inflamed eye due to insect hit IIRC), then he went for the bun burner deluxe (2400km in 24 hours) and lost his life in a road accident. That kinda pain never leaves one's friends and as a forum with our principles, we should publicly discourage it.

[ebonho]

Fantastic inputs aargee - should be made a sticky!

[Rehaan]

Originally Posted by aargee

Let's wrap up this whole thing & do a realist calculation here...

A single rider doing 1600 kms in 24 hours is asking for trouble. Here's a simple way to look at it :

• Riding (or driving) for 24 hours straight is just asking for trouble. Riding/driving when drowsy is just as dangerous as driving under the influence of alcohol.

• Say you take 6 hours off for rest + 2 hours for refueling/food : That means you have to do 1600 kms in 16 hours. Average speed = 100 km/h. That's still a very dangerous average speed on Indian highways, especially when held for 16 hours.

• The more rest you decide to take, the faster (and therefore more dangerous) the rest of your ride becomes. The longer you decide to spend on the road, the more mentally and physically fatigued you are likely to be. It's a double edged sword. Either way you unnecessarily risk your life.

cya
R

[mac187]

This is a very debatable topic. So here are my 2 cents

One man's lunacy is another man's passion.
There shouldnt be any doubt that the person trying to do a Saddlesore is putting his life at great risk. Even with the improved highway condition, driving at highspeeds is a nightmare on Indian roads. I think ride to hills, Rann of Kutch or Leh is a better way to enjoy your passion that to ride dangerously for 24hrs without enjoying the ride.

Couple of my friends have done saddlesore and what Aagree failed to mention is, it cannot be done in a single attempt, a minimum of 2 or 3 attempts makes it Rs.6000 X 3. Not to mention the irreversible damage to the bike. My friend suffered a broken piston rod in his second attempt and was stranded on the highway at night. And after he finally managed to complete the ride, his bike had lost its smoothness and he sold the bike as he didnt like riding it anymore.

I personally am a 'Joureny is better than destination' kinda guy. I like to ride to soke the surrondings and experience.

[black12rr]

Its upto the person and passion .

A V8 at 10K RPM is music to me but noise to others .
Mount Everest will still be there even if someone doesn't climb , but still people climb(some die on the way).
Rivers still flows even if you don't do rafting , but people still raft(some drown on the way) ......so on

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by black12rr

Its upto the person and passion .

A V8 at 10K RPM is music to me but noise to others .
Mount Everest will still be there even if someone doesn't climb , but still people climb(some die on the way).
Rivers still flows even if you don't do rafting , but people still raft(some drown on the way) ......so on

Everybody is free to pursue passion. Want to go mountaineering in winter in extreme conditions, no problem.
The events like GQ run and saddlestore are a problem because you share road space with others. So you are not only putting yourself at risk, but others.
That is why racing at 200kmph at the Buddhh circuit is encouraged, while nobody encourages street racing, right?
Motorsport events, whether endurance, or speed, have now moved to dedicated tracks, as you do not share public road space.
Even for rallies, sections of roads are closed off.

Sure, go ahead do a saddle sore, but make sure you close off the road for the duration of your travel

[saket77]

Not worth it. It is dangerous and I agree with tsk & Rehaan. If riding is the hobby, it would rather be fulfilled much better if you undertake a nice ride to the Himalayas/ J&K valleys/ Himachal, etc.
Better not to risk your own life plus of others by riding dangerously on Indian roads. 100KMPH average speed is not a piece of cake to clock on Indian roads.

[nix1976in]

Off topic, but just needed to know what's the term for an equivalent of a saddlesore done in a car?

[naveenroy]

Nice post aargee!

Well, I wouldn't really shoot down the passion with which some people try and do saddlesores. But it is not for me. Simple. I'm just not that interested in riding such a long distance in such a short time for just a piece of paper that proclaims that I did so.

Not worth it. Would I try it if I ever get a chance to - in some foreign country with better traffic rules and roads - yes, will give it a shot. But not here. No way hosay!

[tharian]

Saddleore is something which I always think of since most of my rides, I do many hours of riding without a break.
But it is a different kind of saddlesore. I
don't keep a distance in my mind which means I don't speed. I cruise and do a saddlesore in my own right which is safe, satisfies me that I rode that many hours and covered a good distance and I don't need a certificate to prove it.

As long as you are in your comfort zone and happy and satisfied at that point of riding along with enjoying the view, I think that is what counts and not taking unwanted risk for a certification which yes, I would have done, if I was in the country Saddlesore started first.

Regards

[PatienceWins]

Not worth it. I am totally against rides like saddle sore. There are many incidents where the rider put his safety as well as OTHERS SAFETY at risk by attempting these events.

We should ride to enjoy the journey, not to meet these deadlines set by someone.

[latentpotential]

Originally Posted by tharian

Saddleore is something which I always think of since most of my rides, I do many hours of riding without a break.
But it is a different kind of saddlesore. I
don't keep a distance in my mind which means I don't speed. I cruise and do a saddlesore in my own right which is safe, satisfies me that I rode that many hours and covered a good distance and I don't need a certificate to prove it.

As long as you are in your comfort zone and happy and satisfied at that point of riding along with enjoying the view, I think that is what counts and not taking unwanted risk for a certification which yes, I would have done, if I was in the country Saddlesore started first.

Regards

This is the thing, it should be a wholly individual decision on how much is enough, based on body condition, safety, and external factors such as traffic, road quality and of course comfort.

Having a certificate has no real meaning, it is just a piece of paper.

Further, these long distance concepts are better suited to the US/ EU/ AUS since they have the road infra and network of a size to support these concepts combined with a lower population which reduces some of the difficult challenges mentioned by the OP

[kraft.wagen]

Very interesting topic argee. With due respect to the guys who have acheieved it, its simply a crazy feat. And I can't believe people are comparing it to climbing Everest, Agree people die trying to climb the mount, but they are not hard pushed to complete the climb in 24hrs!

The sadlesore is more suitable for countries like US where you can simply cruise at 75-80mph in a cruiser and achieve the target miles in 24hrs. But like you said back here in India there are so many factors to be evaluated and its becoming more like a show-off status now that everyone wants to do it.

Hope this thread will make the saddlesore enthusiasts think twice.

[govigov]

Originally Posted by nix1976in

Off topic, but just needed to know what's the term for an equivalent of a saddlesore done in a car?

Well, there is the canonball run. but cannot be technically done in india. There are three records currently in place for car.
1. east coast to west coast. (dont know who has that)
2. kanyakumari to ladakh. (held by record drive (Suresh Joseph))
3. touching all state capitals. (tantalizing india)