Rider Fatigue

[bwizz]

Just completed my regular journey to mothers in Lancashire  , some 350 miles from my home in Cornwall, I usually do this trip in around five and a half hours in my old Diesel Astra. most times i arrive feeling reasonably fresh . This time on my Fazer i had a recurrence of the extreme fatigue i have experienced on a previous bike trip, I took extra care this time to keep the speed in the 80's and do regular stops keeping hydrated with caffeine drinks etc. but I still arrived feeling absolutely knackered,
the first sign that i am tired usually creeps in with a paranoia of changing lanes. anybody else experience this trouble

[Tiberius Onklevaart]

Caffeine/coffee/tea/energy drinks are diuretics and make you piss more liquid put than you should. They also give you a withdrawal-like crash after a while so will make you feel more knackered.

Stick to water.

Keep the speed down as well as the wind fatigue will have a harder effect on you with harder forces on your body, wind noise combined with the strain on your senses in trying to be more alert and reactive to big and/or static things approaching you at quicker speeds.

[bwizz]

Hi re speed , If i travel slower I am on the road longer and hence tired.
faster reqs more concentration in either case fatigue is the result.
I don't have issues with energy drinks whilst driving the car .
I usually don't feel particularly thirsty so I don't think de hydration is the isuue here. wind noise certainly is . I always wear ear plugs , but still hellishly noisy even at 70mph

[Tiberius Onklevaart]

Take the car and go for a kip when required. Problem solved

[AdieR]

I personally find keeping speed down a bit (not slow per se, just backing off a bit) helps - I find it easier to concentrate and plan, and from that, everything flows better.

Other factors that can hinder include temperature - being wrapped up in leathers etc gets tiring if you've got the heat of the sun beating down on you. Similar can be said for the cold.
Tea and coffee do de-hydrate you - even if you don't necessarily notice it; similarly with foods, healthy foods which release energy slowly are best for concentrating.

Stopping regularly can help - but be aware that each successive stop will have less effect than the one before.

Don't know about others, but I always get a bit of anxiety when I take the bike out (recognising the increased vulnerability on a bike) - what I usually do is to do about an 1.5 - 2hrs on the road, stop for a breather (a cig or 2 and stretch my legs a bit), then do another couple of hours. I'll also try and time it to avoid the worst of the traffic (ie the worst of the retards) - being annoyed at other people's stupidity can be distracting if you've been on the road a while.

[SteveH41]

Banana and a bottle of water, works wonders for me

[Hodge]

Remember your body behaves differently on the bike than it will in the car. Factors such as age, health, weather conditions etc all have a bearing. We all have to adapt the way we drive/ride on any given day. There are days when I can ride at high speed for hours and others where I just want to plod along at 50mph. Enjoy the ride and take everything that has been said into consideration.

[phil on a fazer]

Caffeine/coffee/tea/energy drinks are diuretics and make you piss more liquid put than you should. They also give you a withdrawal-like crash after a while so will make you feel more knackered.

Stick to water.

Keep the speed down as well as the wind fatigue will have a harder effect on you with harder forces on your body, wind noise combined with the strain on your senses in trying to be more alert and reactive to big and/or static things approaching you at quicker speeds.

Thats bang on. a lot of Iron Butt riders keep there speed down for this reason.....you're basically playing the long game. Coffee and stimulate drinks are fine....in small quanties. I did a 38 mile trek a while ago (against the clock), we had gels, carb drinks and so on. But when we had finished we crashed bad  :eek

Also depends on what you eat, heavy food (fry up e.t.c) is hard to digest and makes you tired.

[bwizz]

Taken on board everything said here.The big issue is it being vey boring and tiring going sub 80. or lots of concentration based fatigue of speed !  I like having access to a bike when i'm at mothers otherwise, for motorway trips it would be the car any day. Seems a lot of bullshit dished out re long high speed trips on bikes. but there obviously  some who do long trips with no problem. In my case this trip has started to fill me with dread.
Be good to know how many riders have experieced this issue and what time scales are involved before onset

[karlo]

Trailor???

[bwizz]

Suppose trailer is an option, but  fitting a towbar, + storing the trailer +manhandling a big bike on and of is a drag. also hiring a bike an option to think about .Ta for prompt!

[Phil TK]

Tea and coffee do de-hydrate you - even if you don't necessarily notice it.

Actually they don't, even if you drink 40 cups of strong coffee/tea and even then you will still have a net gain of water in your body despite your body being stimulated to eject 'more' water (if at all).
I used to avoid tea and coffee, cola and pepsi before scuba diving years ago because of the so called de-hydrating effect but it was a hyperbaric doctor treating me for a bend who explained to me why me it was a myth. The caffeine amounts just don't add up to enough. Unfortunately this dehydrating myth actually causes dehydration, it's not unheard of for new divers who don't have access to their own water to avoid the free tea and coffee on the dive boats because the've been told by a scaremonger that it will dehydrate them, then of course they get dehydrated anyway.
Ask any paramedic what the best 'easily available' rehydrating tonic is, they'll tell you it's flat Coca-cola with a half teaspoon of salt added per litre, the caffeine is negligable. And that's no myth.

[locksmith]

Riding a bike takes 100 percent concentration wheras driving the car takes less, so it's natural to feel more fatigued after riding.
You say extreme fatigue though, how is your health? Have you had a check up recently, maybe your body is telling you something?

[Phil]

The first time (and last)  I got dehydrated on a bike was at a trackday at Donington on a hot sunny day. I thought I was ok, but last session of the day I ended up arse over tit at Coppice.
Was it the One Show yesterday where they did a bit on dehydration? They also mentioned the affects of drinking too much water.  My take is if I drink a pint of water and dont have a wee for an hour then I am not hydrated enough.

I'd take Locksmiths advice as well if you are getting extremley fatigued. 350 miles is a long way, I do it occasionally and at the end of it I feel like I've had enough but its not extreme fatigue.

[bwizz]

Hydration is not an issue in this case. my health aside from athritic neck is ok.

[Phil]

Dunno then. Whats changed since previous trips? New kit which is too restrictive? Undies too tight?


btw if anyones interested, link to The One Show, 22 minutes in
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01...3_07_2012/

[VNA]

Interesting wee thread.

I often find these days on long car journeys I have to  pull over and take a nap.  I mean I just have to, or I know something bad might just happen.  So 15-20 shut eye and off I go again.  But at the same time the sensation of being on a bike keeps me awake no matter how tired I am.  It's when I stop and I'm staggering all over the place I realise how extremely tired I've become. 

Ask any paramedic what the best 'easily available' rehydrating tonic is, they'll tell you it's flat Coca-cola with a half teaspoon of salt added per litre, the caffeine is negligible. And that's no myth. 

It's all relative.  Sure a can, or a few cans of coke will hydrate you (not de-hydrate you), both the sugar and the caffeine may perk you up a bit, but not for long, and of course all that sugar is bad for you, so best avoided unless you need a quick sugar buzz.  But a proper mug of coffee, like the stuff VNA makes, will have you buzzing for a few hours and no it will not hydrate you, it will definitely dehydrate you.  So if you stop for a couple of proper espressos or something, you really should have an extra large glass of water with it to combat the dehydration effect of proper coffee, and hopefully you are kitted out with a stronger bladder than I.

[limax2]

Personally I would get off the M5 motorway after Bristol and take the old Seven crossing M48 to Chepstow. Then Monmouth, Hereford, and A49, to rejoin the motorway south of Warrington. It's the same distance but you swap 140 miles of motorway for nice A and B roads. It will take a bit longer but cuts out some of the motorway boredom and because your moving about on the bike more may help the physical fatigue. I do the run from Lancashire to near Weston-Super-Mare fairly regularly and wouldn't dream of doing it all the way on the M6-M5.

[bwizz]

Thanks for a good suggestion linmax 2 ! I am heading back on sunday so i could do a reverse  route to Bristol. The M6 is the scary bit of the journey !

[limax2]

Pick up A49 from Junction 10 on M56 and then enjoy the ride. Wet or dry it's far better than the motorway.
Cars pay on the Seven crossing when coming into Wales, motorcycles don't pay. Always gives me a nice warm feeling inside  .