Trip
Tips for trips
Everyone planes fairly well on prepping the bike for a long ride…
New tires
Oil change
Tune up
Can of fix a flat and tire repair kit
Tool kit
That’s all the bike really needs.
And figuring out what you need to take is fairly straightforward…
Clean under garments for
The trick is “knowing” what to take and what to “plan’ for that will make the ride the most enjoyable and keeping it that way.
The biggest problem most riders have on a long trip is staying hydrated.
Riders don’t want to stop to relieve themselves so they tend to drink less water.
When riding a motorcycle, you loss much more moisture than you do sitting around the house or riding in a car. Also riding in the southwest can be very hot and dry. You will loss moisture faster than you can possibly imagine.
DRINK LOTS of WATER!!!
Plan on drinking a bottle of water every time you gas up the bike.
Plan your stops.
Depending on the route you take finding a gas station can be difficult in the southwest
There are stretches of road that are several hundred miles between gas stations and if you haven’t planed your gas stops well you can find yourself on the side of the road for quite some time waiting for someone to come by that can help out. (Pack a length of small tubing to siphon gas with. I like to keep about 10 feet of clear plastic tubing, like is used with fish tank air supplies. It coils well, takes up very little space on the bike and can be used to replace a bad gas line on the bike.)
El-Paso to Carlsbad is 140 miles but has only one gas station half way between them which is no problem if you had just gased up but if you had a quarter tank and thinking you will look for a station when your low fuel light comes on, you will be in trouble.
A trip like this is rare, so plane on seeing as many points of interest as you think you can stand and check out
www.motorcycleroads.us for great roads to include in your trip.
One stretch of road you may want to consider is the road between Gallup and Shiprock New Mexico, it is now called Hwy 491 but it was originally Hwy 666 and was referred to as “The high way to hell”.
A few other things to keep in mind.
While you need to hydrate you also need to stay dry.
Staying dry is the next most important thing to staying hydrated.
If your clothing gets wet you can loss body heat very quickly and wet feet will bring you nothing but misery. If you find your rain gear is just not cutting it, stop at a store and buy garbage bags. Put them on over your dry socks and dry pants then put un another pair of pants over the bag. Also you can put three holes in the bottom of a garbage bag and wear it as a vest over dry clothing. Another set of bags over each arm with finger holes so you can put your gloves on work well too. Of course if you are driving in hot conditions and do not have to worry about hypothermia wet can be good but never your feet. Instead of garbage bags you can use freezer bags for you feet only.
Lastly take Imodium pills with you. The last thing you want is to be tied to a hotel room for days because you ate something that did not agree with you. (keeping hydrated helps prevent this type of problem as well.)
Good luck and happy riding.
