Tips On How To Plan Great Trip

[HispanicSlammer]

I have been reading alot of planning threads, and as a well seasoned traveler on a motorcycle I have learned a few things over the years on what to do and what not to do. I can go on and on here but I will try to only touch on the things that I made mistakes on myself and as such should pass along what I have learned.

1) dont plan multiple massive mileage days - maps look great when your sitting on the pot at home (on the perverbial throne as it where) but its easy to bite off more than you can chew. I would plan for an average of 50 miles an hour (that is including breaks, gas stops, lunch) I have found that when all is said and done the whole day through I take my milage and my total trip time and it usually comes up to 50 miles per hour! Thats just the way I like to ride, so plan 50 miles an hour times how ever many hours you can do and well you have a good milage estimate. For me 400 miles a day is pushing it 300 is an easy day, and 650 is a last resort interstate zip to get the good stuff! I would try to keep the milage per day between 300-400 miles if you really want to enjoy the trip!

2) Aviod big cities unless you are meeting sombody - you end up dealing with traffic, all of it hostile and your not sure where to go or where to turn off? I can be a real hazard to your health when the local commuters start picking you apart from all sides on some crazy 6 lane freeway you have never been on before - if you can go around it please do so you should at every opportunity avoid heavy traffic if you can - its dangerous and its a pain in the ass! Really blows the fun of riding a motorcycle out the exaust if you know what I mean

3) Dont over pack, think about all the crap you have in your bags and go back and pull out the stuff you just dont need! If you can get away with wearing the same jeans for 2 days in a row - go for it - your on a bike - nobody cares if they are a bit soiled. If your camping, you dont need to pack gear for a weeks stay on mount everest, just take what you really need and leave the rest! Think about it most that stuff you can get on the road at wallmart if you end up really needing it - doubt it leave it! I never carry weapons - cause well its packed away and if and when you actually might need it in the event you are attacked - well its packed in the saddle back where you cant get it! A lock however is a good thing, bring a lock, and maybe two! lock your bike up to somthing solid like a railing! Otherwise your on a grayhound on the way home with a police report and no bike!

4) Get good gear, stuff that is mulipurpose - if its rainproof and breathable and performs well in a crash situation use it! I have an Aerostich myself and so I dont need to pack a rain suit (yea) I can unzip it when it gets hot and zip it when it gets cold! no stopping to put on stuff I have packed away! Lots of good gear other than Stich that can do the touring thing. Trust me if your gone for more than a week - your gonna get rained on!!!

5) Plan your route in advance and know where your gonna stay - make reservations in places that are hot spots for tourist if you are gonna stop there, when your off on some byway in nowhere ville you can probably get a room but you might find it difficult to find a room in Montery come July 17th when your rolling through there on your Pacific Coast highway trip.

6) Fix the bike before you leave, check the charging system, check the oil, do any valve adjustments or fixes before it you go off on your adventure. Change those worn sprockets and tires well in advance - or just have a pro do it for you! Dont leave with a bike thats in questionanable condition - know for sure its road worthy! Dont ask me how I know this!

7) Let your loved ones know where you will be, and take phone if you can, stay in touch. - this really doesnt need saying but I said it anyway

8) iI you can ride with a partner - riding alone is fine also (see 7) but you are much safer with other riders. There will be sombody to look after you if the worse should happen.

- add your own ideas

[ki-speed]

After 4 years and 45,000 miles (no commuting - all trips) I've found the same as HS.

I / we average 50 mph. I plan all the trips for 2 lane back roads.

[elizilla]

1) dont plan multiple massive mileage days - maps look great when your sitting on the pot at home (on the perverbial throne as it where) but its easy to bite off more than you can chew.

Plan substantially less mileage if you are traveling with others. A group will cover a little less ground each day, than the slowest person in that group would have covered alone. And if people feel too pushed they just get tired and cranky. It's no fun to fight with your traveling companions.

2) Aviod big cities unless you are meeting sombody -

Two more reasons to avoid big cities:

1. A lot of them have those annoying pollution control gas pumps, y'know the ones with the rubber accordion tube over the nozzle, that has to be pulled back or no gas will come out? Those are fine for filling cars but it's a huge pain trying to fill a bike with those.

2. If you have to get a motel room there, it'll be more expensive, and there will be a lot more people around who might mess with your bike while you're sleeping. Out in the sticks you can get a motel where you can park outside your door and it will be clean and pleasant and safe. In the city, these older motels are just as likely to be crackhead central.

3) Dont over pack.

If you can wash all your clothes together, in one load, that's easier. I don't bring anything that can't be washed with everything else. A lot of people recommend against cotton, but I never had any trouble with cotton stuff until I toured outside the USA. In the states, we have these marvelous things called clothes dryers, they're easy to find and they work. Don't count on finding these in other countries. Traveling abroad, leave the cotton at home. Remember, jeans are made of cotton. So are t-shirts.

4) Get good gear, stuff that is mulipurpose - if its rainproof and breathable and performs well in a crash situation use it! I have an Aerostich myself and so I dont need to pack a rain suit (yea) I can unzip it when it gets hot and zip it when it gets cold! no stopping to put on stuff I have packed away! Lots of good gear other than Stich that can do the touring thing. Trust me if your gone for more than a week - your gonna get rained on!!!

I was gonna reply to this but I don't want to turn this into a gear thread, and he's said what needs to be said, anyway. I'd just add one recommendation - Electrics! One electric vest/jacket can replace a lot of bulky insulating layers that would otherwise be taking up room in your luggage, and make you more comfortable. Even in the hottest part of summer, it can get cold at night or at higher elevations, or if it's raining. I always bring them.

5) Plan your route in advance and know where your gonna stay - make reservations in places that are hot spots for tourist if you are gonna stop there, when your off on some byway in nowhere ville you can probably get a room but you might find it difficult to find a room in Montery come July 17th when your rolling through there on your Pacific Coast highway trip.

I only make reservations when I want to be in a specific place at a specific time. Any festivals or rallies or whatever. The rest of the time, I prefer not to have reservations - they cramp my style. I don't want to be pinned to a specific itinerary. If I'm tired, I want to stop early, not struggle to cover another hundred miles to the room I already reserved. And I don't want to commit to staying in places sight unseen if I don't have to. I like to pull into a town, and pick the most pleasant looking place to stay. The tradeoff here, though, is that I have occasionally slept on the bike in the rain in a rest area somewhere. It's all part of the adventure. I have learned the hard way that if you don't get a room by 9pm, you risk not being able to find one. If you don't have reservations, you should stop earlier! This is difficult for me because I am most energized and perky, right around the time it's getting dark. I want to keep going, in spite of the deer!

I counteract my night owl tendencies, in a gentle way, by turning the motel clock to the wall, and sleeping with the drapes open. If I wake up and it's light outside, and I don't know it's 5:30am, I will get up and not feel punished. If I can see that clock, I'd say "eew! 5:30! I can't get up!" and turn over and go back to sleep. And if I sleep in later even though it's daylight, I obviously need the rest. This is supposed to be a vacation after all, and motorcycling is dangerous when you're overtired.

6) Fix the bike before you leave, check the charging system, check the oil, do any valve adjustments or fixes before it you go off on your adventure. Change those worn sprockets and tires well in advance - or just have a pro do it for you! Dont leave with a bike thats in questionanable condition - know for sure its road worthy! Dont ask me how I know this!

Try to have all the fixes done a week or so before you leave, and ride a bit locally during this time. Remember, people can make mistakes while wrenching. Best to find those errors before you take off cross country. I once replaced my steering head bearings right before a trip. While reassembling the front of the bike, I failed to plug one plug in all the way. I left Michigan with it like that, all unsuspecting. It rattled loose in Texas, somewhere between Pecos and Odessa. There I was on the side of I-20, looking at the world's largest gravel parking lot, trucks roaring by, not a bit of shade anywhere, and I realized that I desperately needed to pee. LOL! (I'm proud to note that I managed to find and fix the problem myself, using the tools I had with me.)

7) Let your loved ones know where you will be, and take phone if you can, stay in touch. - this really doesnt need saying but I said it anyway

I have a paid account on Live Journal, and they have a "voice post" tool. I call my Live Journal from the road, tell it where I am and what's up with me. My friends can follow along there, and they do. I like that better than taking time out of my trip to get into long phone chats with people at home.

8) iI you can ride with a partner - riding alone is fine also (see 7) but you are much safer with other riders. There will be sombody to look after you if the worse should happen.

It's safer to ride with a partner, but it's less safe if that partner is causing you to take risks you wouldn't take when alone. Remember that you CAN always travel alone; you're not stuck with this person. So ride your own ride, and if your ride doesn't match their ride closely enough, and you can't come to a reasonable compromise, break up the partnership early, while you can still do it graciously and leave on friendly terms. It's not a value judgment, just an acceptance of the fact that people have different styles.

- add your own ideas

Thanks for starting the topic! This one is near and dear to my heart.

[Motor_Ref]

I have been reading alot of planning threads, and as a well seasoned traveler on a motorcycle I have learned a few things over the years on what to do and what not to do. I can go on and on here but I will try to only touch on the things that I made mistakes on myself and as such should pass along what I have learned.

1) dont plan multiple massive mileage days - maps look great when your sitting on the pot at home (on the perverbial throne as it where) but its easy to bite off

:rolleyes:

[elizilla]

Another tip:

Carry water. And drink it. If you don't have to pee at every gas stop, you're dehydrating yourself and this is bad. When it's miserably hot out there, you'll feel more comfortable if you stay hydrated. I personally find I don't feel so good if I gulp too much water down at once, so I like to carry a camelback and drink from it while riding. I forgot to bring it on my last cross-country trip and I got really dehydrated - I actually fainted. Not while riding, fortunately, but I ended up missing out on a couple days of great riding because I didn't feel it would be safe for me to go. Sitting in a hotel and forcing myself to drink gallons of water is really boring.

[Cageless-in-Seattle]

Practice packing and unpacking your gear and securing it to your bike. Take some local trips with everything packed to get a good feel of the added weight.

If you're going to buy new tires for the trip, put some holes in you old tires and practice patching and inflating.

I like to use Microsoft's Streets & Trips to plan my routes. You can enter start and end times, rest stops and expected speeds to find out how far and how much time you'll need each day.

May want to consider having roadside assitance in case you have a break-down:

http://www.ama-cycle.org/roadride/assist.asp#motow

http://hrca.honda.com/

There's also a VFR assistance group in case you need help:

http://www.vfr911.com/index.php

[sPOTO]

For multiple day trips, I highly recommend micro-fiber underwear.

You only need two pairs.

They are easily washed in the motel sink, and dry quickly overnight.

sPOTO

[HispanicSlammer]

There are a couple of things I havent thought of.

Insects, I was afraid of getting chiggers when I camped on the way to the south so I took all this bug repellant - never saw one - thank goodness. However I rubbed up against some thing and had a rash for a few days. It was the pollen that got me, I couldnt see for a few days for the life of me. The pollen in Tn/NC was so thick it got into my eyes and it was like I couldnt stop crying. Some visine AC green lable did the trick and I was able to see where I was going - funny I couldnt figure out what was wrong with me cause I have never suffered from allergies before. Baileyrock suggested I get some visine and sure enough that was what it was - pollen.

I did however enjoy how my skin cleared up and it seems I benifited from the humidity, it is very dry in Colorado. If you come here bring lotion, and asprin, headaces from altitude seem to happen often.