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Blog Date - 23 October 2012
A few years back I was talking to a fellow biker. He was one of many like myself with dreams of riding to far flung lands and to explore the world on two wheels. Just like myself he'd yet to actually do anything about it either, other than to talk of it. There are many that talk about it, there are very few who actually do anything about it. We talked on the subject of mileage, he'd been riding for many years but only as a hobby, a pastime, he reckoned he'd covered maybe 50 or 60 thousand miles. A round the world trip may take in that many miles, how many did I reckon I'd covered?
Well in excess of the quarter million I said. "WHERE !?!?" he exclaimed. And that is a remarkably obvious question. Where indeed can someone who's barely ventured out of the North West have covered that mileage. Apart from a few holidays each year around the UK and the odd trip abroad, I do indeed rarely venture out of my home area. And yet I find myself most years covering 10 to 15 thousand miles on two wheels.
I supposed for most people the miles I cover are usually done in a car. 12,000 miles per annum is not uncommon for someone who has a reasonable commute to and from work along with a few holidays and family visits. I just do the same sort of thing but on a bike. I know a sales rep or anyone else who travels in the course of their work can easily rack up 25,000 miles. So that's where most of my miles go, running around my town, my city and my county. It's the run to and from work, rides to various jobs here and there, trips to visit friends, a run to the shops and errands. It's mind boggling to think that many of us cover the distance from here to Australia each year just going around within a 20 or 30 mile circle.
Alongside the everyday journeys bikers also tend to ride purely for pleasure. There's very few car drivers that will jump in the car to enjoy a drive, most bikers only ride their bikes FOR pleasure. I do the same. Even on a commute I may take a different route to go and look and to enjoy being on the bike. I'll go for a ride just to go and look at some place and to see if there's any good twisty roads. Sometimes I'll ride to clear my head and sometimes for no other reason than the sun is shining. If I've covered maybe 150 miles that week commuting I may cover another 150 miles just for pleasure. It all adds up very quickly. Then there's the biking holidays. A trip to Scotland or Cornwall can easily rack up 2,000 miles in a week. It all adds up, the ride to your destination, a day out, taking the long way back and then popping out in the evening to find somewhere to eat.
So there you have it. What I do, the miles I cover, are completely unremarkable. There were a few years when I clocked up silly mileages. I spent over 2 years dispatching and even though I did not cover the whole of the UK I'd easily see 30 to 40 thousand miles each year, then when I was instructing it wasn't hard to add up 25,000 miles, most of them spent at less than 30mph talking into a radio begging riders to not forget their blooming lifesavers!
I still dream of the "Big Trip". The mileage doesn't scare me, I know I can do that and I already have. It's the unknown that scares me. Where do you go to get a puncture fixed in Poland...can you get spares in Mongolia...do they sell chips and a pie in Tibet or will I have to eat sheep's brain...What's Cambodian for "I'm lost"...and will I get home in time to watch Top Gear? Oh dear, I guess I'll just keep on talking about it for now eh?
Reader's Comments
Tom McQ said :-
Yeah right! As if you'd spend money buying chips and pie, lol.
01/01/2000 00:00:00 UTC
Dave T said :-
This makes me think of all those BMW GS riders with the massive cases, the sat nav, the gel seat pad and stickers from around the world...with only 2,000 miles on the clock and have ridden to the pub and back
01/01/2000 00:00:00 UTC
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