New Driver 2weeks Out. Run My Clock Or Not

I am new to the industry since November 2021, I’ve been running solo since December 1 running five days out, 2 home. How I’m looking to run two weeks out in two days home so my question is what’s best? Should I run hard and run out my 11 hours and take my 30 forward falls or run 9 to 10 hours for the entire time I’m out and not do a 34?

You can run 9.5 hours TOTAL, a day, or less if that happens, and keep running on recapped hours. Which normally, come back after midnight. And also depends on your loads requirements for pick up's and deliveries too. Fuel and go, don't waste much time at fuel stops lol I could refuel, wash the windows, grab a coffee, hit the urinal, and be done in under 15 minutes and roll on out. Or I used to log off on my 30 DOT break, do all that, then pull forward, go inside for eats, watch my 30 tick off, and hit it as soon as 30th minute clicked, and my drive clock reset......

Or, with my last company, before retiring, I'd burn up my 11 hour clocks, for my usual 1,500 mile runs, to do 700+ miles (So Calif to Muldrow, OK, and back)

I am new to the industry since November 2021, I’ve been running solo since December 1 running five days out, 2 home. How I’m looking to run two weeks out in two days home so my question is what’s best? Should I run hard and run out my 11 hours and take my 30 forward falls or run 9 to 10 hours for the entire time I’m out and not do a 34?

Howdy, Steven A., and welcome!

As we often say, it's all about LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION!!

When we (my hubby & I riding along) were in the New England states, it'd be RUN, RUN, RUN. Kinda have to.

Central states and the PNW, relax & enjoy the surroundings .. sometimes!

There are SO many mitigating circumstances/factors. If you'd at least add your STATE, we could be of better service; if you don't care to share the company.

Best forward, for sure!

~ Anne & Tom ~

I think you would want to avoid having to take a 34 hr. reset during the two weeks you are out. Your resets will take place during your weekends at home, you don’t want to waste time doing one while you are on the road for those 2 weeks. So keep an eye on what you have coming back to you for recap hours and try your best to avoid running up against the 70 hr clock during your 2nd week out. I hope that makes sense. It’s how I would manage my clock if I did your schedule.

Here we go again...

you don’t want to waste time doing one while you are on the road for those 2 weeks.

There's that same misconception that taking a reset is a bad thing. Once again, taking a 34hr reset is not a waste of time if you are able to make good use of the week leading up to it.

If the driver has the load availability and ability to max his days (full 11 or close to it), he can turn more miles in those two weeks than if he ran recaps. And that includes taking the reset midway through his 2 weeks out.

As Anne said, there are so many mitigating factors involved that giving a blanket answer to his question is impossible. It will all depend on his unique circumstances. In some cases, recaps might be best, others will require long days with resets.

Hey Steven, to better understand Turtle's comments take a look at this recent conversation we had on this very topic.

Having Fun With Your Logs

How you wish to run depends on a lot of variables. Try experimenting with different methods and see what works best for you and your situation.

Here we go again...

you don’t want to waste time doing one while you are on the road for those 2 weeks.

There's that same misconception that taking a reset is a bad thing. Once again, taking a 34hr reset is not a waste of time if you are able to make good use of the week leading up to it.

If the driver has the load availability and ability to max his days (full 11 or close to it), he can turn more miles in those two weeks than if he ran recaps. And that includes taking the reset midway through his 2 weeks out.

As Anne said, there are so many mitigating factors involved that giving a blanket answer to his question is impossible. It will all depend on his unique circumstances. In some cases, recaps might be best, others will require long days with resets.

We Turtle, I see your point about the second week reset. My question is this: Theoretically, a 34 hr reset is only a 24 hour reset if the driver does a normal 10 hr break and then stays off duty for an additional 24 hrs. So if the driver took 3 days of 8 hr driving (8X3=24), instead of the reset, he could drive about 1,400 miles during those 3 days of 8 hrs driving. Then when he got home for his 2 days of home time, he would get a “default” reset and start Monday with his full clock. Wouldn’t this give him the most productivity?

Please tell me if my thinking on this is faulty. I would appreciate knowing if there is a factor I’m not taking into consideration here.

BK, I encourage you to go back and reread the thread OS provided a link for. It clearly lays out the differences between productivity and downtime.

However, I'll try to answer your question specifically to how Steven described his situation.

In a two-week (14 day) schedule, if a driver starts on Monday, he can drive 11 hours each day for 6 days, ending his first week sometime on Saturday. He then takes the remainder of Saturday and all of Sunday off for a 34hr reset.

He now starts on Monday again with full clocks, and drives 11 hours a day for 5 days (m-f), and takes his desired two days days off on Sat-Sun.

In this scenario, he has 11 days of driving in those two weeks. At 65mph for 11 hrs per day, he'll log 715 miles per day, or 7865 miles for the two weeks. He'll get his desired 2 days off, plus free time during the reset.

By contrast:

If he runs recaps, he can run 12 days in a row and take the final two days off. At a max average of 8:45 driving per day, he'll log 568.75 miles per day, or a total of 6825 miles for the two weeks. He'll work less hours each day, but only have two days of free time.

I would appreciate knowing if there is a factor I’m not taking into consideration here.

I think maybe you are overlooking the fact that a recap driver has less productivity each and every day vs the reset driver. This has a major cumulative effect over the course of two weeks, as shown above.

BK, I encourage you to go back and reread the thread OS provided a link for. It clearly lays out the differences between productivity and downtime.

However, I'll try to answer your question specifically to how Steven described his situation.

In a two-week (14 day) schedule, if a driver starts on Monday, he can drive 11 hours each day for 6 days, ending his first week sometime on Saturday. He then takes the remainder of Saturday and all of Sunday off for a 34hr reset.

He now starts on Monday again with full clocks, and drives 11 hours a day for 5 days (m-f), and takes his desired two days days off on Sat-Sun.

In this scenario, he has 11 days of driving in those two weeks. At 65mph for 11 hrs per day, he'll log 715 miles per day, or 7865 miles for the two weeks. He'll get his desired 2 days off, plus free time during the reset.

By contrast:

If he runs recaps, he can run 12 days in a row and take the final two days off. At a max average of 8:45 driving per day, he'll log 568.75 miles per day, or a total of 6825 miles for the two weeks. He'll work less hours each day, but only have two days of free time.

I would appreciate knowing if there is a factor I’m not taking into consideration here.

I think maybe you are overlooking the fact that a recap driver has less productivity each and every day vs the reset driver. This has a major cumulative effect over the course of two weeks, as shown above.

Yeah, that makes sense. Thanks for such a clear example. Eventually I’ll get this stuff. I get the general thrust of most trucking things, still filling in all the details.

Yep, basically, what Turtle describes, is how I was running my 4 months @ Legends, solo. Since my runs were pretty much to the same areas of Tx/Ok. Burn my 11 hour clock, and reset at either end for my 3 weeks out.

Roland/Muldrow, was my favorite spot to reset, right next door to my delivery location @ a Cherokee Casino lol Where I did pretty good, making some extra cash on a few poker machines (didn't have any keno games there grrrrr) And a pretty good eatery inside