Even when they travel in packs, long-distance riders feel very alone.

"Your bike is your wife, your master, it's your best friend and all you want to do is succeed. And you don't think you're getting older and you don't think about what happens at home or with your family or who pays the bills. You don't mature because, on the road, life is going at 110 miles per hour and you don't have time to think how the world actually moves."

Stephen Roche, 1987 Champion