Tiredness/long rides

So he died as a result of tiredness towards the end of a long journey and they think the best way to honour his death is a ride from Preston to Lands End!
 
In all honesty I doubt that anyone who has ridden bikes for any length of time can say there hasn't been times when they go out on a ride where even within minutes of setting off they don't realise that their riding is below par and they are just not switched on and should not be out on a bike.
Nowadays I will never use the bike on the first day or so off night shift because of this and at least twice last year after a couple of miles I turned around and put the bike back in the garage.
I drive every day at work doing hundreds of miles in all weathers both day and night often under shall we say stressful conditions and now unlike when I was younger if I feel tired it is a case of stuff what anyone else thinks I am parking up and having a rest.
Have attended too many serious accidents over the last 30 years where tiredness and often momentary lapses of concentration have ended up with people dead.
Trick is to recognise when you are at that stage and stop, whether you are 200 or 20 miles away from your destination and have a bresk
 
In all honesty I doubt that anyone who has ridden bikes for any length of time can say there hasn't been times when they go out on a ride where even within minutes of setting off they don't realise that their riding is below par and they are just not switched on and should not be out on a bike.
Nowadays I will never use the bike on the first day or so off night shift because of this and at least twice last year after a couple of miles I turned around and put the bike back in the garage.
I drive every day at work doing hundreds of miles in all weathers both day and night often under shall we say stressful conditions and now unlike when I was younger if I feel tired it is a case of stuff what anyone else thinks I am parking up and having a rest.
Have attended too many serious accidents over the last 30 years where tiredness and often momentary lapses of concentration have ended up with people dead.
Trick is to recognise when you are at that stage and stop, whether you are 200 or 20 miles away from your destination and have a bresk

When you have timescales and agendas to meet it can be difficult to force yourself into doing the right thing. But on pleasure journeys it should never present a problem. Most times ten to fifteen minuets is all it takes.
 
I find that staying properly hydrated is essential for maintaining concentration and drinking tea and coffee is not the answer. On long rides I use a ruck sack with a hydro pack in it so I can keep sipping. It makes a big difference.

It would guess that those guys were on the pop at night and the T&c during the day. All dieretics.
 
I find that staying properly hydrated is essential for maintaining concentration and drinking tea and coffee is not the answer. On long rides I use a ruck sack with a hydro pack in it so I can keep sipping. It makes a big difference.

It would guess that those guys were on the pop at night and the T&c during the day. All dieretics.

I would agree! I have been riding for 37 yrs, many long tours, once on our way back from Norway I nodded briefly twice, I assumed as we were at that time in Denmark and riding really steady I was simply getting bored - WRONG!
More recently we did a 3 week trip to Morocco when Brittany Ferries were on strike and had to ride there the long way. Before we left the ride leader told us, "if you start to feel tired, or start to yawn you are not nessecesarily tired, it's more likely due to dehydration. So I purchased a Camel Bak and used it all the time whilst riding. We had some days of 400 miles in the saddle. This is the first long trip that never once did I yawn, nor did I ever feel tired. I now strap the Camel Bak to my tank instead and sip from the trailing pipe regularly. I never go without it on biking holidays as I am convinced with me the issue was simple dehydration.
 
Mine may be a simplistic view. But error of judgement and a bad descision was the cause of this sad accident. Tiredness may have been a factor but many of us have and do ride and drive far further in complete safety.
I rarely ride or drive with anyone else and never in a group.
Aged father and his son riding together, in my book the father should have been the lead rider setting a pace that suited him and making the call on when he needed to stop. As lead rider himself he would have had a better choice on when to make overtaking moves and not be tempted into possibly making a chase after the lead rider or taking chances when overtaking.
Riding with others in my teen and early twenties on roads with unrestricted speed limits there were so many accidents and dangerous near misses wit following riders having to go far to fast to catch the front runners and taking silly risks overtaking as they saw lead riders disappearing into the distance.
Tiredness could have been a factor, but SORRY it was possibly not the root cause in my humble opinon.
 


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