Sunday, May 10, 2009

Sleeping.....

One thing that will be more important than gasoline and good tires in motorcycle camping is getting a good nights sleep. I have been through almost ALL of the sleeping pads out there and I'll tell you this point blank. Most of them are garbage. Air mattresses fold up thin, but are not durable or comfortable and they make lots of noise all night. The foam pads that fold up or are corrugated foam feel warm, but after 30 minutes you feel the stones, sticks and things you missed under your tent because they are thin. I'm not one of those people that can sleep anywhere, I need comfort, so I turned to the self-inflating foam pads.

I started with the high priced ones, if you weight more than 90 pounds you will bottom them out and end up uncomfortable at night. The ones I ddid find that were comfy were the ones that had regular sealing points throughout the pad. rings or dots in the middle allow you to fill up the pad with more air to make it firmer and not turn into a balloon that rolls you off. Also make sure it has 1/5" or more of foam inside. the 1" thick pads are pretty much worthless.

Basically you need to try a lot of different ones to find what you like the best. If it's not very comfortable on your living room floor, it will be miserable in the tent. I settled on the Coleman self-inflating mat with pillow. This cheap sleeping mat was far more comfortable to me than even the $250.00 high end outfitters mats. It does not roll up really tiny, but it's a size that is manageable.