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Welcome to the Best Motorcycle Roads Podcast

[00:00:00] tom: If you want a dumb answer, just ask the internet. But if you want a smart answer, you're in the right place.

Today's bottom line is this document your trips.

You'll thank yourself in the future.

Mile Marker - How to plan a great motorcycle trip

[00:00:17] tom: Todd, how did we find out about this this podcast information or how did we find out today? What's the how to plan your perfect motorcycle trip. How'd we get here?

[00:00:27] todd: I was looking through a bunch of the motorcycle groups on Facebook and I belong to several of them.

And together we moderate one of them. And I saw someone post it. Just a simple question.

[00:00:39] tom: Yeah.

[00:00:40] todd: And of course, along with a simple question comes 50 stupid answers, ridiculous answers, but then there were some good ones. And I just thought, Let's tackle this one. Let's talk about it.

Yeah. So

[00:00:51] tom: what'd they have to say? It was a great

[00:00:53] todd: question.

Planning your first trip

[00:00:53] todd: So this was a person that has been riding motorcycles for quite a while But they're only doing one or two hundred [00:01:00] mile trips like day rides only And they've been on these long distance forums and some of the motorcycle map forums and things.

And they've gotten interested in maybe doing a longer trip, 500 miles or multi days, and so they really wanted to ask, they said, we're, I'm just writing a deuce right now. And what are some things that, I should think about adding to my motorcycle. And of course you've got all the stupid answers, just ride, or I wrote across the country on my, basic bike and

[00:01:28] tom: on a 1952 yeah.

Whatever, dude

[00:01:31] todd: with one change of clothes.

[00:01:32] tom: Yeah.

[00:01:33] todd: That's not what the person was asking. They're like, you know what can I do to make you more comfortable?

[00:01:37] tom: And that know, and that's one thing. It's just like sometimes I get it. We all wanna be the funniest guy on the internet, right? . But half the time when you do that, the context.

Correct, it's answer the question for the person I mean they like it's has enough. I have enough anxiety asking the question the first time Yeah, let alone to turn the flames on and tell him, I don't know It just those things drive me crazy. It

[00:01:59] todd: drives me [00:02:00] crazy.

[00:02:00] tom: Yeah,

[00:02:01] todd: but along with All the stupid answers and the ignorant things.

There were, a lot of great answers. And then, we have a lot of experience in writing multi D trips and, five to a thousand, over a thousand miles in a day. I haven't done that,

[00:02:14] tom: but you've so basically I see what you're saying is the question was basically. How can I take my current bike and minor improvements or modifications that I could do and make it so I could take a motorcycle A few day motorcycle trip and be comfortable and be somewhat comfortable, right?

Yeah. That's the bottom line, right?

[00:02:31] todd: Yeah, and some any other tips that you know people wanted to share.

Top 10 Tips for Planning a Motorcycle Trip

[00:02:34] todd: So yeah we're gonna start with start small maybe take a single overnight trip.

[00:02:40] tom: We came up with 10, right? Yeah, we're gonna come up with 10 tips that we feel like You For you taking maybe your first or one that we should do very good.

[00:02:47] todd: Yes, ten and there could be a hundred but of course we're gonna start with ten just to get them started.

Number 10: Start Small

[00:02:52] todd: So Start small take a single overnight trip. Not too far from your familiar [00:03:00] area I know I've done that with my wife. We've gone, maybe three, 400 miles, stayed overnight somewhere, did a little sightseeing and then, a couple of hundred miles back.

Yep. That's an easy way to do it. Yeah. If you have any issues. At least you have, yeah,

[00:03:15] tom: I always say to him if you're really nervous about it, if you just are having that anxiety, just maybe the weekend before, take the car, take the same trip. Cause generally speaking, you could do 500 miles in a, take the car if you're really that nervous.

Cause then you visualize everything too.

[00:03:31] todd: Yeah. I hadn't thought of that. That's probably a good idea. And really just plan your route in detail to begin,

[00:03:37] tom: I'd say that. So the 10th one is start small.

[00:03:41] todd: Yeah.

Number 9: Plan your route in detial

[00:03:41] tom: Ninth tip is. Oh, ninth tip would be just

[00:03:44] todd: plan your route, be very detailed.

Using like Google maps or any of those routing ones that are made for motorcycles. There's a reaver and there's a bunch of them.

[00:03:56] tom: That'd be something for us in the future to talk about, but you can take a Google map. [00:04:00] And you can plan out your exact turns and trips. You can get it all down to the exact mileage per day.

And then that's an easy way, so you can see, I would say when you're planning those routes to avoid the four lanes in most times, once in a while, jump on there to bypass a city if that's the case. But, and you don't have to, like a lot of times.

We're mounting our phones on the handlebars and or GPS, but you can go The poor man version of that is really just to write down every next stop on a card and have it, and have it right there.

[00:04:36] todd: Yeah. A tank bag is an easy place to stick a And

[00:04:39] tom: even just a magnetic, like map, if you have to, like those are 20 bucks.

But that's just go to this stop to the next stop. So even if you have a mechanism to put your route in so you can see it, great. Use your phone, use your whatever. But you can do it. You don't have to buy a gps for the very first ride You need to figure out if this is what you want to do, [00:05:00] right?

Yeah, good point

[00:05:00] todd: before you spend a bunch of money Yeah, exactly.

[00:05:03] tom: Yeah,

[00:05:04] todd: so that's that was number nine. Yep. Plan the route in detail

Number 8: Prepare your bike

[00:05:07] todd: number eight don't go crazy. Don't buy too much stuff, right? I think there's an episode we're gonna do coming up about all the stuff we've purchased enough Yeah, i'm gonna get rid of it.

But Just bring some of the essentials you do want to have some tools with

[00:05:22] tom: yeah I mean you're talking here like really just getting the bike ready for travel, right? More or less number eight. So like even if it's just zip ties Some duct tape a multi tool. Yeah, you know those three things will get you Mostly as far as tools go and then like you said check your tires because we've seen that a few too many times

[00:05:46] todd: Unfortunately, it's happened to us on several trips where we've lost a tire But if

[00:05:51] tom: you check your fluids you check your tires and you bring those few simple things, you'll be okay.

Yeah. Yeah

[00:05:58] todd: and and then you have to [00:06:00] start, packing,

Number 7: Pack Smart

[00:06:00] todd: so number

[00:06:01] tom: seven,

[00:06:02] todd: yeah. Pack smart.

[00:06:03] tom: Yeah.

[00:06:04] todd: And if your bike is basic, it doesn't have, luggage on it and trunks and space. You can strap a backpack down to the passenger seat. If you don't have a passenger seat, you can just wear the backpack.

[00:06:14] tom: You can't, I would not do that. I would not do it myself. But so that would be in a, I would say that if you're going to take a bike on a multi day trip. You're gonna have to have a way to attach the bag to the bike somehow. Usually, most bikes that you'll take will have a back seat. And I know on our first trip that we took, that was a three day, 1, 000 mile trip.

I literally used a June bag, and I just got one of those small cargo net cargo, the small cargo net looking one that just have six bungee cord straps on it. It was fine. Now if we'd have got into some heavy rain, everything would have definitely got wet, but but just to get by, it was good enough, and I think even just some of these, a couple of the straps, you basically just attaching it to your seat,

[00:06:58] todd: and you just made me think [00:07:00] to If you do just have a duffel bag, a gym bag, you could still put your stuff inside plastic bags, Ziploc bags in the duffel bag, a garbage bag. So that if it does get, rained on, keep it dry.

[00:07:13] tom: Getting for to know that, but.

Number 6: Gear up for Comfort

[00:07:15] tom: If we look at number six, I think this is the one that is probably the tough part, but just the question answers, how can I be comfortable? If this is your first day, if you, this is your first time writing a multi day trip and you're going to ride over 200 miles a day, it's going to be a little painful.

That's where I would start, and for me, I think the biggest pain is generally speaking, the seat. If it's not a tour style bike. Most of those seats are fairly uncomfortable.

[00:07:41] todd: Yeah. They're really just made for shorter rides. They are not necessarily made for three, four, 500 mile day.

Yeah.

[00:07:49] tom: So you can buy a new seat if this is a committed thing. And if not, I guess what I recommend is just going 60, 70, a hundred miles and pulling up and stop. Get off the bike, stretch, [00:08:00] relax, rest yourself. That's the way I think those two things are the. Are the things I'd say.

Yeah, you can definitely get comfortable like making sure you have bar risers in the right spot. Adjusting the motorcycle, if you can, is the biggest thing to comfort as far as I know, but

[00:08:17] todd: yeah. And they make some air pads. Yeah. You guys have

[00:08:19] tom: an air Hawk, which is the name brand.

And then there's others. And I've got the generic version of the air Hawk.

[00:08:24] todd: It's same shape and everything. You can put air in it or water in it. And it helps, I've got a, a nice seat on my motorcycle. It was made for long distance. However. It's 22 years old and it's broken down a little bit.

So I've put the air seat on there and it helps.

[00:08:40] tom: We just rode a big trip, many thousands of miles. And the thing that was my favorite part was the beaded seat because I feel like I can move around, like even just my We've talked before about highway pegs and getting your legs stretched.

But for me, I was just moving laterally, forward, back, laterally on the seat beads. And [00:09:00] that did help too. It depends, and I think this is where the Airhawk style, see it's when it gets the hotter, it gets the more moisture shows up in places you don't want it to.

And to me, that's when I start feeling the pain. But yeah. So that was number, was that number six?

[00:09:15] todd: That was six.

Number 5: Know your limits

[00:09:17] tom: Five, what's five? Number five

[00:09:18] todd: would really just be know your limits. Don't push yourself too far. In the beginning, of course, this person so they, they've done some one and 200 mile rides.

So maybe they know how they feel at the end of that. But I would say don't push it. You don't want to get yourself overly tired or, start cramping. That, that can be dangerous. So

[00:09:39] tom: what ties into that to me is really high, keeping hydrated in those things that we, when we were riding recently, it was 95.

Yeah. It's really hot. And I think just making sure I was doing some electrolytes. In the water and we stopped in that really I was surprised how well that helped you. So

[00:09:54] todd: really? Yeah Were you doing like a gatorade or like I would do a

[00:09:59] tom: [00:10:00] liquid I was just doing water and then I put a Electrolyte packet in it. Yeah, and then just usually drank that.

Number 4: Plan for Fuels and Rest Stops

[00:10:05] tom: So yeah, but what about number four this kind of ties in

[00:10:09] todd: Yeah, I would plan fuel stops and rest breaks Especially if you're going to be out in remote areas, right? No, you're going to be out in that country remote there might not be a fuel stop for 30 or 40 miles, so you can get yourself in trouble quickly on a motorcycle.

So I would plan those ahead.

[00:10:28] tom: And so that goes, that ties in really well with number two, right? So four and two go together, just making sure when you're planning the route, plan for the fuel stops so that you don't just, you don't get too far. You're better off stopping more than less. Yeah, hopefully it's not a race and especially on this first few that you take.

[00:10:48] todd: Yeah, and that anxiety of running out of fuel and I have yeah, I've run out of fuel. Yep. Me too It's it sucks. And yeah, I mean you walk for a while then finally someone [00:11:00] picks you up You can get up to a gas station by a can and then figure out how to get back. Yeah

Number 3: Stay Flexible

[00:11:05] tom: What's

[00:11:05] todd: number three?

Be ready to adjust and adapt. , be flexible because the weather will change, road conditions, depending on the time of the year, but I would say don't make your route so rigid. That you can't make changes to it. Make sure there's always a like kind, a plan B maybe.

[00:11:25] tom: Yeah. And if you're just not comfortable, if the weather, it happens to be a weather thing. Just stop. It's okay. You don't have to just push on just because writing in the rain is not fun. It's not. And if you get wet it's worse, right? Once you're wet, it's, it doesn't, it's not that much fun.

It's hard to see. It's hard to control the vehicle sometimes based on how bad it is. Just pull over.

[00:11:49] todd: Exactly. Depending on the time of the year, it might be light until 9 p. m. or might only be light until 7 p. m. Yeah. I would say maybe plan your first couple of rides, maybe [00:12:00] to end by four or five.

That way, if you do hit a heavy rainstorm, you can wait for a few hours. Yeah. Yeah. Wait three, four hours till some of it passes. And if you're planning

[00:12:10] tom: on using motels, you can usually get a check in at say, Three o'clock. So that way if you get there that soon you can check in That's fun do and then go for a shorter ride and add on if you want to.

Number 2: Connecting with Local Riders

[00:12:21] todd: Yeah, I like I think number two is one of my favorite ones And I think it's one that people don't maybe use enough and you know Kind of how this whole story started is how this can actually be a good thing and that's just connect with local writers you know throw it out there in some of these forms.

[00:12:35] tom: Does anyone know this area? They'll at least help you find roads. But sometimes it's like, Hey, I'll be there in that Saturday. I can, I'll ride with you, and we've done that before in the past. On the ADV Rider is a very popular, a very big forum, off Facebook forum, and they have regions, and people are so willing to ride with you, and just, they want to go ride, and [00:13:00] they're always looking for someone to ride with.

Man, I would definitely check that out, if you can find any local riders. Those people and then you're just following sometimes, let them lead and Sure. Or they'll let you know where the cool little, place with the best chicken salad sandwiches and I was osa. I was just

[00:13:15] todd: gonna say they'll, they'll show you where the best place to eat or they'll, have you pull off or show you some scenic overlooks or Right. Or just, some neat waterfalls or Yeah. Cool things to see this house

[00:13:25] tom: where this person did what Historic yeah. Yeah. Historic

[00:13:27] todd: places. Yeah. Those local writers with local knowledge.

Fantastic.

Recap 10 through 2

[00:13:32] tom: Let's recap before we go to number one. So we have the, this is the 10 tips to plan a perfect motorcycle trip. Number 10 was start small. Number nine, plan your route in detail. Number eight, prepare the bike and then pack smart. The one thing that we didn't say on pack smart is pack, take half of it out.

I know. And then, I don't

[00:13:51] todd: do it myself. And so I tell people, yeah, this

[00:13:53] tom: last trip that I took was a long trip. It was about 11 days and I did a really good job of [00:14:00] packing smart and man, it actually felt good to not have so much stuff. So yeah, that was number, was that? Yeah. Seven pack Smart.

No that was 1, 2, 3, 4. That's not four. Yeah, it was four. pack smart number five. Gear up for comfort. So just be comfort, be in comfort. Four, six. Know your limits. We're going backwards, Jack. It's ten start small, nine plan your route. I see what you're saying. Eight. Oh, you lived in David Letterman land for how many years did you do top ten lists?

[00:14:32] todd: I forgot you were on ten minutes. Wow, man. You're right.

[00:14:36] tom: All right, seven is pack smart. Six, gear up for comfort. Five, know your limits, four, plan for those fuel straps and rest breaks three, stay flexible to connect with local writers and our number one that you already heard.

Number 1: Document the Journey

[00:14:50] tom: But we already snuck suck it, do it, document the journey.

In many ways, if you feel compelled to write it down in a Book, I tried to do that on the last one. It didn't do a great job. [00:15:00] One of the things on our next trip I'd really like to do is write down at the end of the day, just some thoughts about it because you just forget so much, we have cameras on our phones, we have all this stuff.

And if you can document the journey. How many times have we looked back? We've looked back a lot on the timeline because that has shown us where we were, the

[00:15:15] todd: Google timeline,

[00:15:16] tom: but I'm, we really try to at least take some more pictures as we go on this next trip that we're taking, I'm going to really try to stop right before some of the roads that we're going to be on and just stop and record a quick something like here we are in, we're at the great river road in Iowa, starting here.

And just to try to be a little bit better about documenting But all of the videos and the things I've even looked back at videos that I forgot that I recorded And just pictures that pop up. I'm like, oh my gosh, that was awesome yeah, some of the really fun pictures and stuff is in the people we've met.

Oh gosh Yeah, and I don't know that we've taken pictures with all these people we met but we really need to do that Yeah, right selfies,

[00:15:55] todd: right? Make sure we have email addresses and phone numbers before we leave.

[00:15:59] tom: Yes. Yeah,

[00:15:59] todd: [00:16:00] because there's people that I've wanted to talk to again

[00:16:03] tom: I did do that when we went on this last trip.

I've got an email of a guy We met at a rest stop in Iowa and then two guys that we met on a ferry One of them was a state police officer and Rose riding a motorcycle and the other one Rode his 150 cc scooter from the west coast to the dragon.

[00:16:22] todd: Wow. So

[00:16:23] tom: Somebody to reconnect with but yeah, so those are our top 10 But please document the journey because it's that's what it's all about.

Yeah, it really is.

Toolkit Essentials: Gear and Tips

[00:16:31] tom: I think the two things That probably you know, I would say that the multi tool is really that one.

If you have that one tool, grab that multi tool. But then rain gear, I know we've talked about this a lot, but people have a lot of questions about it, but, and you can pick up a pretty reasonably priced rain gear. Like I think you're running, is it Nelson rigs right now?

[00:16:59] todd: Nelson [00:17:00] rig.

[00:17:00] tom: Yep. I think the two things that we've two or three things maybe that we've decided is one.

See if you can get the really compact, if you can see how tight, cause you're using rain gear, hopefully 10 to 15 percent of the time, but you need to have it on the bike a hundred percent of the time. So finding something that gets small. And I would say the only thing that stinks in is if you end up riding a day long in rain, you're going to get wet, but probably going to get wet anyway.

So that. probably a slightly more conducive. You getting wet. Yeah. But you really like, and I had it on the last one with the hood.

[00:17:37] todd: Yes. It's got a little roll up hood inside the neck roll. What's nice is it's so it's super thin, but it connects, to the back of the coat. So once, if it's raining, take your helmet off, pull that hood up over and then put your helmet on.

That way when you stop water, doesn't run down the back of your helmet into your jacket. Into your collar and then down your back. Absolutely. And into your underwear. Yeah I really like having it. Yeah,

[00:17:59] tom: I [00:18:00] want to look at that Harley Davidson ring gear, because I think that stuff is like, it just, I don't know what space age material they're using with that, but that thing gets tiny.

Yeah. Maybe it's just because the Harley Davidson bags are so big. Yeah.

[00:18:13] todd: I feel like my

[00:18:14] tom: side bags, if I put my rain gear in there, it's like a third of the rain gear.

[00:18:17] todd: Yeah. And some of the cheaper rain gear doesn't compact as small.

[00:18:22] tom: It's it looks like that rubbery. It's usually, it's a little not so good.

Yeah. Yeah. They can be bulky. Is yours

[00:18:28] todd: pretty small? This one's very small. In fact, it's got its own pocket in the back of the jacket. It all wraps up. That's awesome. I like it real well.

[00:18:37] tom: If you like the podcast today, please and subscribe, or sign up for our BMR rider alerts that you can find on our website. It's our way of keeping you in the loop, and we promise, no spam.

[00:18:48] todd: Keep the spirit of adventure alive, and remember, bikes, friends, and endless roads, the stories ride forever. Take care.

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