Cleaning off bugs when on the road

Unless you ride a naked cruiser without a helmet you have to deal with cleaning dead bugs off of your helmet shield and/or windscreen while you are traveling.  They don't just look bad, having to look through a dirty or bug carcass littered visor or screen will cause you to get mentally tired faster as your brain has to process the bugs out of your vision when looking for car drivers texting and wandering into your lane, or yard sharks (dogs) deciding to try and commit suicide under your front tire.

There are thousands of special products out there for you to clean your gear with,  all of it expensive and either has to be mail ordered or bought at the motorcycle shop.   And I'm here to tell you that all of it is junk.   I have tried it all and found what works the best and you can make it at home to bring with you.

What I have is a three step process with one step being performed before you leave on your trip.  You start with washing your bike with standard car wash soap that does not strip wax.  Dont bother with the Special  BMW Motoraad wash number 47, Honda unique special farkle polish, or Harley Bad ass Bike Wash now with more added bad ass ness and leather scent,  go to your local bog box store or car parts store and buy the cheapest gallon of "car wash soap" they have.  You now have enough soap to wash your bike perfectly for the nest 2 years.    After washing dry and wax the bike.  At this point I now diverge to a "special" product but only because I find it works great.   I used to use a very expensive plastic polish and protectant called Plexus.  It's $25.00 a can and is designed by scientists in a secret bunker using captured alien technology to protect your motorcycle windscreen...   Until I discovered that it actually is nothing more than "Pledge" furniture spray polish without the lemon scent.  (The lemon version seems to attract bees for a short time after applying it) I actually spray my windshield with a little bit of pledge and then buff it to a perfect shine after I made sure it was very clean.   This gives me a non-stick layer to keep the bugs from gluing themselves to the screen and helmet visor, it also makes rain bead up faster and run off faster.   I typically do the outside only with the Pledge polish and wipe up everything,  be sure to not get any overspray on your seat or controls as it is very slippery.  I try to get the "environmentally friendly" pump version and not the aerosol can. because it makes the next part easier.

Now you have the windshield treated,  you can make your travel kit.  get two small travel spray bottles from the cosmetics and hair products section of your local big box everything store.  in one of them, fill it most of the way full with tap water, and then add about 1/16th the water volume of car wash soap to it.  I cant give you exact amounts because I dont know what size bottle you bought.  If you bought a 2 ounce spray bottle, add about 12 drops of the soap for a comparison.  you do not need a LOT of soap,  in fact too much will cause problems so be stingy with it.  you can adjust this later to your own taste.   This is your cleaner, you will spray the shield down with this to get the bug guts off.
Now to make a small bottle of your high tech polish,   dump some of the pledge bottle into the second travel bottle.   If you only have the spray can, then go outside downwind from your bike and spray it into the bottle trying not to breathe the fumes and get yourself all coated in wax.

How I use these depends on what resources I have.  I try to carry with me a 3 or 4 of 2 foot squares of old cotton T-shirts cut up  ziplocks as well as some paper towel, although I have used old cotton socks as well.  I never ever scrub with the paper towel, I only use it to lay over the bugs to keep the soap and water in contact with the bugs for a bit to soften them up.   take some of your drinking water and get a single paper towel wet,  spray down your windscreen with the soapy water bottle and lay the paper towel over the bugs, wait about 3  minutes and then remove the towel and wipe clean with one of your microfiber cloths.  repeat as needed.   when you have all the bug guts cleaned off,  very lightly spray the screen with the pledge and then use the second towel to buff it clear and shiny.  Most guys that claim that Pledge does not work are using way too much,  typically it will be the old guy that thinks that more is better so they blast it heavy all over the helmet or windscreen.  Just spray on a small amount and wipe it around evenly, it's not going to be instant, you have to wipe the windscreen or helmet for at least 30-60 seconds to get it on evenly,  add more if it is not covering but only a tiny bit.  Some guys try to make the Pledge dissolve the bugs, and it will, but that is using a ton of the stuff and it will not buff out clear.  so If you need to get a very stubborn bug off you can add some pledge as a solvent but then you need to use a paper towel to remove some.  be careful as paper towel will scratch plastic.

That is all there is to it.  for less than the cost of a single can of Plexus you can have enough cleaner to last the life of your bike and your buddy's bike.  Plus you have a portable kit to take with you for on the road cleanings.  The motorcycle world is full of overpriced "special" snake oil that companies are desperately trying to get you to purchase.

NOTE: you will find a lot of guys on motorcycle forums of all types that swear by or swear at using Pledge on their bike, almost every single time it's someone that is using way too much that is having the problem, or they expect it to act like a spray car wax.   It's not going to act that way.  You have to learn how the product works and work within it's needs.   A LOT of guys in the recreational aviation world use Lemon Pledge on their windscreens that cost significantly more than even an OEM BMW windscreen could from the Beverly Hills BMW dealership.   They trust it and use it for years on their toys that cost way more than our bikes.   All I know is that from my experience on trips the dead bugs come off easier and faster and in the 20 years I have been riding it has never ruined a windscreen or helmet visor EXCEPT for a pinlock anti fog insert.  but you cant get anything on those I tried cleaning one with pure water and it damaged it.

Tips for making a long motorcycle trip more enjoyable

You are packed, your bike is ready and maintained, you have your route and are ready to go.  But how can you make things easier for yourself on the road?   I have some tips to make it a lot more enjoyable, many of these were updated from my recent 3 day trip.

Don't drink local water, drink only bottled water when on the road or drink the water from the soda fountain if it's a purified type (Coke machines at McDonalds for example)  The reason for this is that local water changes can upset your stomach and cause issues.  If you are used to city water and hit a place with very high iron content, you could end up needing the porcelain throne for a few days.  That is the last thing you want when on the road.  Sticking to bottled water will eliminate that.  I suggest having a couple of fresh bottles of it in your bike luggage or bags and replace them at every stop if you drank them.  Stay hydrated and you will have a better ride. I leave the house with about 4 bottles of water and replace them at fuel stops.

Schedule your meals at "Odd"  times.   Everyone will be hitting the restaurants at 8 am, noon and 6pm.    Why cause delays and get jammed up with everyone else? Get breakfast very early or wait until 9-9:30 am so you can have a leisure and calm meal.  Eat a little less than you would at each meal, you do not want to feel full and an excuse to stop should be always welcome.

Don't eat or sleep in "tourist towns"  Popular destinations will have the prices increased from 50% to 200% or more higher than honest pricing.   For example, 10 miles south of Mackinac City, MI  an ice cream stop was on average $2.50 for each rider.    In Mackinac City,  $7.25 was the price of an ice cream cone,  Motel rates went from $50 a night to $133 a night.  Expect prices to go higher on holiday weekends.

Carry a short thin metal cable with loops at both ends.  you can run it through the jacket arms and lock your jacket to the bike with the helmet lock if you need to.

Bring flushable baby wipes..  Don't question it, just do it.  Nothing sucks more than the toilet paper at gas stations and restaurants.   Not having them also sucks when you are on the side of the road behind a bush.

Take a camera and take photos,  LOTS of photos.  And yes take the cheezy selfie photos of you and your bike in front of the sign as you enter the town, or cross the great divide, etc...   Bring a small collapsing tripod as well,  There are some tiny ones that work great for this use. Go Pro cameras can be set to take a photo at a regular interval for even cooler photos that you don't have to even think about.

If you wear synthetic cloth socks and other garments instead of cotton you can wash them easily at night in a sink and let the m hang to dry overnight.  That way you can go several days without starting to smell horribly.

If you are stopping for the day, pick a campground or hotel/motel on the outside of town in the direction you are headed.  That way when you leave in the morning you do not have to deal with traffic through town.


Wear earplugs.   I do not recommend the high price motorcycle earplugs, Just get some cheap foamies that you can throw away.  Even if you wear a full face helmet, having earplugs in will significantly increase your enjoyment of the ride.  If you end up riding on a superslab, you will be thankful for those earplugs if you get stuck next to a semi-truck for any distance at all.

Be realistic of the distance you ride each day.  Honestly more than 300-400 miles a day and you will start to hate your trip.   Some days you might not make 150 miles.  And never ever think you can ride as far on the back roads as you can on the Freeway.  Enjoy your trip, don't make it into an iron-butt contest.  Also remember if you are riding with others or with a passenger, they may not be able to ride as far as you do, don't make it miserable for others.  If you did not get a good night sleep the night before,  you can expect to almost half the amount of miles you can safely ride.  Take more rest stops on those days,  even a mid afternoon nap. 

If you are traveling east or west, Schedule breakfast and dinner for the hour or two after sunrise or before sunset.  Riding into the sun utterly sucks, so try to be off the road so you don't have to stare into that big ball of fire that is trying to blind you.

Drink more water.  No you have not drank enough.

If you are typically a clean shave man or only have a Goatee or other small beard, do NOT think you can go a few days without shaving.  At about day 3 your stubble will grab at the helmet strap and drive you nearly insane as it tries to act like velcro and the strap tries to rip hairs out of your neck.  Either shave every day while you ride or go mountain man for a week before your trip and have a nice beard.

Yes you CAN get sunburned through your helmet visor,  get some sunblock on or you will have a really weird looking sunburn/suntan. If you are the no helmet type,  you can easily get far more sunburned even through a head-cloth, I get my shaved head burned right through that Harley branded head wrap at Bike events every year.  Get and wear high SPF lip balm.  Even if you ride with a full face helmet and the visor down all day.   sunburned lips sucks,  that same lip balm should go on the nose as well.

Get in the habit of checking everything at every stop.  check all straps and make sure all your gear is stowed.  you will be amazed at what can come loose after a hundred miles.

Bring something to clean your windshield and helmet visor.  Paper towel will scratch it bad and you really want the bug guts off before it etches the surface.  Bring a couple of soft cloths, and if you can soak a towel and let it lay on the dead bugs for a bit to soften them up.  Paper towels are great for this so you do not have to carry a wet towel with you, do not scrub with the wet paper towel.   I also carry a plastic windshield cleaner to spray on and buff to make the next day's bugs not stick as hard.

Get a spare key and hide it in a spot on the bike that is not obvious but you can remember.  Being stuck without a key really sucks. Spare house key as well if you want to get back home and then inside. If you are riding with a passenger, they can carry the second key set.

If you are yawning,  time to stop.  If you are still a good distance from where you can stop for the day, then get some energy drinks or other stimulants in you, but be aware that the clock is ticking on your boost of awareness, when the clock runs down you will lose a lot of awareness and focus.


If you ride a motorcycle that is actually designed for long distances,  like something with an adjustable windshield on a sport touring or touring, you will actually find the big superslab highways to have less wind buffeting than the 55mph 2 lane highways.   If you are mentally exhausted from dodging idiots on the side roads constantly pulling out in front of you, the big interstates give you a break as there are no side roads for people to pull out from.

Bring some electrical tape or duct tape to cover up spots on your helmet that may create a whistle.  I had a 45 mile stretch where I was distracted by a whistling in my helmet that was driving me nuts.  It took some of my attention away from the road.  The whistle was only there at 45mph and this was a very long construction zone.

If you ride a higher performance motorcycle that needs high octane fuel, get a bottle or two of "octane booster" and carry it on the bike.  Riding in rural areas it is actually uncommon to find anything higher than regular gas, so you need to carry something that will not cause problems by running the wrong fuel on your bike.  You can help reduce the chances of having to buy rural small town one pump gas by filling up every time you can at larger chain stations in bigger towns.


Check the weather often,  get a weather radar app for your phone so you can look at your route and see if there are any surprises down the road.  If you are riding into rain,  stop and get gas and put on the rain gear there.  NEVER put on rain gear in the storm under an overpass.  It's dangerous as all those cars are blinded by rain and will be driving 3 feet from you at 90mph.  Don't be afraid to wait out some thunderstorm cells and take an early lunch.  Light rain is easy to ride in, I can tell you first hand torrential rain and hail really really sucks to ride in and no rain gear on the planet will keep you dry in it. Your rain gear will make your comfortable in 10-12 degrees cooler than your riding jacket will typically keep you comfortable,  so it rocks as a windproof layer.

remember your trip is all about enjoyment, if your trip stops being fun then you will be miserable the rest of the time.  Stop, take a breath, enjoy a side trip.  And honestly if for your safety you have to get to work a day late,  then do it. Tell the boss to stuff it if he would rather you be dead or in the hospital  than late.  If you really are worried about the possibility of being late back to work after your trip, then shorten it by one day and plan to be home 2 days before you are to get back to work so you have time to rest or have a buffer in case you have to delay your return.

Review: Tire Sealant from Ride-On installation and observations

I decided to try a product that a lot of motorcycle riders have raved about for years, Ride-On tire sealant.  It seems that there is a cult following online for this product just like SeaFoam has a cult following in the motorcycle world.  So I decided that before a long multi-day trip, I would add it to the tires, the website makes a lot of claims about how it will self seal punctures as well as a claim that it balances the tires constantly and you can even remove the tire balance weights you have on your rim if you want to.   I am skeptical of that claim, so I will leave my weights on the bike for now.  First of all figuring out how much you need is not an easy task, I had to search several places and get the information on my tires before I found out how much I needed, and strangely, you cant buy a bottle of this big enough to do your tires, it requires multiple bottles.  For example on my K1200LT the minimum is 11 ounces for the rear tire and 9 ounces for the front.  The bottles of the product specifically designed for motorcycles only comes in 8 ounce bottles so that means I will have left over that I waste.   Until you read further that adding more, up to 25% more of the recommended dosage is needed for dynamic balancing.  So I figured out that I will put 1 and 3/4 bottles in the rear tire and 1 and 1/4 bottles in the front tire, that makes me feel better about not wasting some of this product.

Adding to the bike takes some planning, if you are a normal person you do not have a nice high pressure air compressor in your garage you typically have the small 12V compressor for doing car tires and your motorcycle tires.  Well adding Ride-On requires you to have a way to do a high volume rapid air inflation to clear the valve stem of the product before you re-insert the valve.  I discovered that what will work for this is a CO2 based emergency tire inflator sold for motorcycles and bicycles.  These will do the job of clearing the valve stem, and honestly are a great idea to have on your bike.  I found one at a local big box store in the bicycle department,  replacement cartridges from the paintball department.  I found you need 3 of them to inflate both tires, so that is what I carry on the bike now as an emergency tire inflation system.  But back to adding this thick pink goo to the tires.....    Big bikes with giant tires and tiny disc brakes will have an easy time of installing the goo,  My K1200LT provided some challenges to this.   The rear tire was easy, the single sided cantilever arm leaves one side wide open for access to the valve, so I removed the valve core and promptly shot it across the garage at high speed.  With your tire at pressure these things will just disappear on you, have your hand cupped over it to keep it from flying away.  Let all the air out and follow the instructions, what the instructions do not tell you is this stuff is sticky and messy goo,  it is also impossible to get the last ounce and a half out of the bottle.  I actually cut the bottles open to get what was left out and used a Popsicle stick to push it into the third bottle to get as much as I could into the last tire.   

On a bike with huge discs and a smaller tire diameter it is a challenge to get in there to get the core out of the tire and get the goo in,  I found that instead of having the valve pointing down, rotate the tires so you have some angle let's you get a better shot at getting all the goo out of the bottle.  Just follow the directions and be patient at the end when you cant get the last bit in the tires.   Clean off the valve stems very well, reassemble, re-inflate to your recommended pressure and right away go for a long ride.  The bottle says 3-4 miles, and that is wrong.  You need to take a 10-15 mile ride and do it at 45-55 mph sustained.  city riding will not do, and superslab 70 is not fun until you get this stuff spread around in the tires.  I hot the road and took a ride north on some rural highway.  I really did not feel much to begin with,  my rear tire is already cupped so I was used to having a vibration. but when I hit the 8 mile mark and stopped to turn around to head home things changed.  It really smoothed out and I could hear the cupped tire when I leaned into a turn but I did not feel the vibration from it anymore.  This stuff actually does smooth out the ride, I was completely surprised by that as I was expecting it to be all marketing BS but there it was.  

So it does seem to balance the tires out better than weights, was not too bad to install but is very messy and does not want to come off when you wipe it off the rim,  I had to use a cleaning product to get it all off.  and unless you have a huge compressor, you need to buy a tool to clear the valves when you install it.  They do claim that it's safe for TPMS but I do not have that on my bike so I cant really speak to it's effectiveness.  I do wonder if the goo will puddle to the bottom of the tires when I let the bike sit and cause vibration until it spreads out again,  only time will tell that.  I do like the idea of a sealant in the tire if I run over a nail or screw on a back road, but I will continue to carry my tire plugger anyways.

I found the best deal on the stuff from amazon.com  My local BMW dealer wanted over $20.00 a bottle for the stuff, I bought them for under $11 a bottle in a 3 pack.  It's expensive for tire sealant but it is the only one designed specifically for motorcycles as far as the marketing tell you, and it has the biggest following online.  Photos of tires with Ride on inside are clean,  Photos of tires with "slime" are a complete mess and I have heard that tire places really hate "slime" because it get's all over their machines.  Is it really effective?  people say it seals punctures well, some say they discover nails in their tires that they never knew were there after having ride on in their tires for a few thousand miles and getting new ones.  Only time will tell if the claims are true.

Basically, I like the peace of mind and I did experience a smoothing out of the ride from the tire balancing effect.  So I feel that the $33.00 I spent was worth it.

Preparing for a Long Motorcycle Trip.

Planning a weekend ride or a week long ride presents some challenges.  If you are riding nearly 500 to 1000 miles from home the last thing you want is to have any issues on the road and have to be towed to the nearest u-haul so you can load up your bike in a truck and drive home. Almost all towing companies will severely damage your motorcycle because most tow truck drivers have no clue at all how to tow a motorcycle safely and without damage.  The second a tow truck driver touches your bike, damage will start to happen.   So you need to avoid having a breakdown on the road, or at least have the tools with you to deal with any problems.


You need to do the stuff that you have been putting off,   first check your air pressure and bring it up to what you need for the load.  IF you are riding 2 up and with full luggage for 5 days then you need to be near the MAX air pressure.  My K1200LT wants the rear tire at 48psi for a full load, check your manual for recommended pressures.   Also consider adding a tire sealant product such as ride-on to your tires.  This will seal small punctures on the road without you ever knowing it, walking over to the bike in the morning to see a tire flat from a slow leak ruins your whole day.   Lastly, will the tires take the miles? 1000 miles rack up fast on a week long trip,  if your tires are already close to being worn out you want to go and get new rubber before your trip.   The worst failure on the road is a tire problem and they can be avoided.

How are your brakes?  did you flush your brake fluid lines in the spring like you were supposed to? how much brake pad is left?  Do not just look at the front calipers and pads, the rear typically wears out first and uneven on most motorcycles,  check that first and get them swapped out, it takes less than 15 minutes on most motorcycles to change the brake pads, yes even bikes with ABS. You want 100% stopping power in case a deer jumps in front of you at 60mph.

One other thing that a lot of riders do not look at is their throttle cables.  disassemble them and get some lubrication in the cables if they do not feel very smooth and quick.   Many newer bikes have teflon lined cables that do not need lubrication but if they are sticking or hard to move, you  need to replace them or lubricate them with a compatible lube.  I need to replace my throttle cables this next winter, so I bought a dupont teflon lube and put some in the cables.  they instantly freed up and after 3000 miles are still nice and smooth.   The same is for your clutch cable if you do not have a hydraulic clutch.

Go over the whole bike looking for loose bolts or nuts,  lubricate the foot peg pivots, the shifter linkages, etc...  Look for oil and fluid leaks and correct them if possible,  how old is that battery? Motorcycles don't have a kick-starter anymore so if that battery is 5 years old, replace it.   Now get the bike up on the center stand and have someone hold the rear of the bike down. straddle the front forks and lift up.  did you feel the forks move?  can you wiggle the forks up and down?  If so then you may need new steering head bearings, or it just needs to be tightened.   the last thing you want on the open road is for the steering to lock up or get hard,   Start with checking to see if it just needs to be tightened up.  If that does not solve the problem, then disassemble to check the bearings,  but don't check them,  just replace them with new. It is a lot of work to just ckeck a $25.00 bearing set, just replace them with new and not worry about them for another 30,000 miles.  While we are at the frontend, when was the last time you changed your fork oil?  Yes that oil needs to be changed regularly. 

Note: You don't have to do all this maintenance,  in fact a lot of riders don't do any maintenance at all to their bikes.  They love the adventure of sitting on the side of the road trying to fix a problem, the adventure of meeting new people that stop to help them.  The excitement of walking 10 miles  in motorcycle boots to get a truck,  and the huge fun of trying to push a dead motorcycle up a ramp onto a truck.  You have not lived if you haven't spent a couple of hours on your own trying to get a 600 pound motorcycle up a short ramp pushing it yourself, the best vacations are when you drop the bike on the ramp and now you have to pick it up and try again.


If your bike has been well maintained you will find only a few things that need to be taken care of, so the bike is good to go for a long ride.  You still want your tool kit with you just in case, I recommend adding to the kit a spare headlight bulb and a spare signal bulb wrapped up so they do not get broken.  Change the batteries in your flashlight, and make sure it works.  Add a medium towel to your kit as well.  It's nice to have something you can wipe the seats dry other than your jacket or shirt.  Also add a first aid kit,  put in that kit some extra pain killers, some allergy medicine, antacids, etc... I also recommend aspirin in addition if you can take it.   One of the tricks to avoid "I cant stand sitting on the bike anymore" is aspirin,  it's an old iron-butt rider trick.  if you are going to ride a very long distance, take a single aspirin before you ride for 300 miles or more without stopping.  If you can think of a problem you will have on the road, prepare for it.  I will tell you the most miserable ride in your life is trying to ride when you have diarrhea.  So be sure to pack something that will treat the trots.

Fight fatigue before you leave.  Plan on getting good rest every night and plan on rest stops along your way.  Unless your trip is to see how far you can ride without dying you do not need to push yourself, take breaks and even figure taking a long lunch where you can even sneak in a short nap in the shade.   Bring earplugs that are comfortable to you to help with cutting down road and wind noise.  Plan to stay well hydrated, riding will suck water out of you fast as running a marathon so drink a lot of water.  Lastly make sure you can see,  if your helmet has a scratched shield, replace it.  You will get  headaches and get tired of looking through scratches and distortion.  Be sure to pack what you need to clean that shield often.   Be sure to also have good sunglasses, you will be riding into the sunset or sunrise regularly and honestly it sucks having to look at that ball of fire for an hour or more.  I recommend not riding at those times because your risk of an accident is very high, just pull over and take a brake or wait to leave a little later.   Lastly stimulants should be limited.  I am a coffee addict, I cant start my day without it.  But using it to stay awake in the saddle is a very very dumb idea.  I have done it, and I knew how dumb it was but I was only 40 minutes from my destination so I took the risk and also reduced my speed as well.    You are not less of a man by going slower, the car drivers are not laughing at you.   Get there alive, your ego can handle it.

My experience with energy drinks though has shown what works best for me is the little "5 hour" bottles.  They deliver a huge boost of "awake" in their first 30 minutes,   but they have the  side effect of that when you get to your destination you will ruin your sleep for that night if used late,  so it will affect your next day.    I really recommend that you plan on being off the road around 5-6pm each day to give you time to relax before bed and get a good meal in you.  There are no gains from trying to push your ride well into the night and then collapsing from exhaustion.

Have a GPS for your bike?  That's great!  Bring a paper map along as well.  No, do not print out the Google Map, go to a store and BUY a real map or set of maps of where you are going.  You cant Zoom a piece of paper, so you need to buy the big fold out map of your state, or the states you will be riding in.  3 of these maps take up very little space in your tank bag.   You do have a tank bag for your bike? right?  Even plastic bikes like my K1200LT has a tank bag option, get one for your bike as these bags make your ride far more enjoyable by keeping things you need regularly right there at your fingertips.  It's nice to be able to simply stop at a desolated back roads stop sign and take a drink of water, or grab a bite of a granola bar.  Be sure to bring some small food with you, there will be times you will be hungry but nowhere to eat around for miles.

Packing the bike is important.   If you have a touring bike with hard luggage then this is really easy, put your stuff into those and lock them.   If you don't have those then you can get motorcycle luggage designed to strap to seats and elsewhere.  NEVER strap anything to your forks.   Yes I know movies show fools with sleeping bags and things strapped to the forks of their Choppers. And those people are fools.  You do not need something fighting you if you need to make an emergency maneuver to avoid a 1 food deep pothole that will destroy your bike.  Strap it all on  behind you and strap it on tight.  No bungee cords.  if it can move it can shift and force your turn to go wide or even cause a slide out.  Being lazy when you pack your bike means you like the adventure of road rash and head injuries.  Keep heavy stuff like tents on the seat or saddle bags, and light things like sleeping bags high.   What to bring is up to you, I know guys that take only a bedroll and the clothes on their back, Other friends ride a full size touring bike with huge luggage AND pull a trailer.   Most of us are in between that.  If you can stand wearing the same pair of jeans for 3 days in a row,  only pack a single spare pair.  I strongly recommend packing some light shoes, living for a week in your riding boots can get uncomfortable.  Even a pair of sandals or casual shoes that will pack way down is fine.  I found recently that companies are making pants out of ripstop nylon.  These will pack down to nearly nothing.  And the new trendy "rayon" action shirts also pack down to nothing plus work great as an additional layer under another shirt when it's cold.  I have a "compression" type muscle head shirt that I look hideous in but wicks moisture very well and when under another shirt keeps me very comfortable on mornings when you have a light chill.  Look for stuff that packs down small.  Nothing cotton packs down well.  

On the road you can "cheat" and clean your clothing with just water and a very very small amount of hand soap.  grab your shirt, socks, or underwear and head to a bathroom with running water.   Get it soaked in the sink then lather your hands above it.  now rub and squisk the item until you get soap all over it, wring it out and get it soaked under the faucet, wring it out and repeat a few times until you only get clean water.   You now have a clean item to wear after it dries.   Hanging all night works, or tie it to the bike and ride.  It will be completely dry in no time at highway speed, but it may have a couple of bugs splattered on it.

Lastly, bring enough cash to get home if things go sideways.  Figure about $1 per mile away from home will be enough to get you and the bike home if everything went horribly wrong.   I personally like only using cash on the road because places I eat are little mom and pop places and many do not take credit cards.  Enjoy the trip, see the sights, and love getting back on the bike each morning.  Silly trips like riding from NYC to LA and back in a single 3 day weekend, while epic sounding are nothing but pure hell.   Pick a sane route and shoot for a max of 600 miles a day if you really think you have to feed your distance ego.   I try to limit daily mileage to 300-350 and enjoy the ride as well as the sights,  At 55mph 350 miles is 6 hours in the saddle,  that allows a 1 hour breakfast, 2 hour lunch, and a few 30 minute stops each day.   It's really cool to stop and turn around to buy some fruit at a farmers stand on the side of the road and chat with them while you eat a snack of their produce.

Make the trip memorable, something you talk about fondly for years.  You don't want it to be your "summer vacation from HELL" that makes you almost sell your motorcycle and not have anything to do with bikes ever gain.

A trip to bring home a new friend.

This is an article I wrote a year ago for a local magazine. I had to wait until now to publish it on my personal blog.

 

The trip out of the state was not really planned,  in fact none of this was planned but it all seemed to fall into place rapidly.  I have been casually looking at getting a new motorcycle for some time now.  I loved riding a custom classic from the 80’s but the amount of work you need to give classic motorcycles to keep them running perfectly continues to increase each year.  My Yamaha Venture is a one of a kind,  custom paint job with a lot of repairs and upgrades to try and make it reliable enough to bring me home each time,  but each year parts became harder and harder to find.  So I started to look at alternatives, and started a chain of events that created an unplanned trip of 850 miles across 2 states through wind, rain, sun and a whole lot of fun for a single very long day.

I had a deal of a lifetime fall in my lap on July 1st, an almost brand new BMW motorcycle that was only 10 years old and maintained perfectly but barely ridden.  It was owned by an older gentleman that did not fit the bike well who really needed it gone.  I was in the right place at the right time, the only time he was available was July 5th and his home was 425 miles from mine.  I had one day to get to his home and get back with my “new” motorcycle, so we packed up  the car with all my riding gear and a huge thermos of coffee and left Muskegon, MI at 4:30 am bound for Hubbard, OH that was only 2 miles away from the Pennsylvania border.  Our drive out was uneventful, but it rained a lot and I was getting worried that the weatherman lied to us.  Although, you just can not predict the weather for a long distance like this, you need to plan for everything that is possible,  always pack your rain gear just in case.

We arrived in Hubbard, OH at 11:30 am  and I claimed my new motorcycle. I was honestly very nervous as I really have not ridden this type of bike before and I have close to a 7 hour ride home with it, riding an unfamiliar bike brings a lot of new risks to your ride.  You do not know the control layout instinctively, you don’t know the sounds and feel of the bike as if it was an extension of yourself and this will increase your stress levels as well as be quite a distraction.  My wife and I decided to take a small short side trip, we came all this way it would be a shame to turn around and head home without exploring.  So we decided to hit the town of Warren, OH and see the exhibit the Warren Library has about the Underground Railroad. Unfortunately we were there too early and had to leave before the guided tours started, besides it was time to head back to Michigan, and I-80 was the route home at 1:00 pm.

Riding on one of the largest interstates in the country is not a relaxing thing to do.  The sheer number of Semi trucks as well as traffic that seems to be on a mission to drive far over the speed limit will push your stress levels skyward as you ride.   Being alert, awake, and comfortable is what you need on such a ride.  My new motorcycle can easily outride me, it has a 350 mile range but I can barely make 100 miles before I need to get the helmet off and walk around a bit.  It was cloudy when I left Warren, OH and as soon as I hit the first bout of construction the skies opened up.  Riding in the rain can be tricky,  riding in the rain in heavy traffic through construction is not something I recommend to anyone.  You need all your wits about you, and you can not get too upset at the car drivers that are riding a few feet from your rear tire because you refuse to do 80 in a 45 mph construction zone.  All I can say is breathe slowly and stay in control,  They are not in charge, you are.  Don’t ride faster just to make someone else happy, ride at the speed you are comfortable at and get out of their way when you safely can.  If it is a single lane, then the car drivers can simply just deal with it, do NOT pull over on the highway to let them pass.  You are at a greater risk of getting hurt if you do that then if you obey the law while you are in the construction zone, Simply stick to the slow lane and let them zoom by at the end of the construction zone when all the lanes open up.

This Long ride also taught me that taking a break every 2 hours is a very good idea.  We stopped at several of the I-80 Oasis stops to just get something very small to eat and something to drink.  I topped off with cheap Ohio gasoline just before we left the turnpike to head north at Toledo to get back into michigan.  Each stop helped me feel more comfortable for the next leg, walking around a bit and drinking water with my helmet and gear off really helped, at one point I was gladly doing this in the rain much to the amusement of the group of harley riders that were waiting out the storm under the gas station awning.  You would be surprised at how dehydrated you can get riding even with all your gear on and a full face helmet,  even in the rain I was incredibly thirsty at each stop.  I tried to eat something small at each stop and only at the end  resorted to energy drinks  to keep riding and make it home.  They can be effective, but understand that when  the energy drink wears off you will become really tired if you were feeling tired to begin with.  I have not tried the “5 hour” types, but I doubt that they can overcome real fatigue.  If you have time,  it is not a bad idea to pull over and get an hour nap.  A lot of riders will do this at their lunch stop,  have lunch and take a short nap to digest and overcome the afternoon tired feeling.

Once we hit Michigan, we had only two stops.  One in Ann Arbor, MI for a walk around and a soda, and then in Grand Rapids,MI  for fuel to make it all the way home.  At this point I was just powering through the discomfort as I could tell I was starting to feel more tired and I knew that was the single most dangerous thing to a motorcyclist.  This is where I drank the energy drink and powered through the helmet pain and stinging butt from sitting for 3 hours to make it home.  Grand rapids I double dosed another energy drink to make sure I was wide awake for the ride in the dark to the lakeshore.  I arrived home awake but ready to get off the bike.   Total time to home was about 10 hours with all the stops for taking a break and fuel.  Would I do it again?  you bet!  a “boring” ride down I-80 and back home was quite an adventure.  Every stop I had strangers asking about my bike, I had a panoramic view of the world as I rode past it, and I learned a lot about long distance riding.

First,  do not try to make distance each day.  If you can not ride more than 2 hours at a time,  add at least a 30 minute stop every 2 hours to your trip, your body will thank you.  And if you are getting tired, stop for the night or at least for a couple hours to take a long rest or to get some sleep.  It is better to arrive late than in an ambulance.   If you are riding on a major interstate with a lot of Semi-Trucks, wear ear plugs under your helmet. I was trapped next to a semi truck for 1 hour at one point, its tires were so loud that my ears were ringing and I had to stop and find a quiet place to sit for 45 minutes for my ears to calm down.  Plus long distance highway riding at 70 mph is generally loud and for as long as you are riding you will suffer hearing damage, please protect your hearing and wear ear plugs, I noticed that the more my ears started ringing the harder it was to concentrate on the road.  Drink a lot of water, and I mean a LOT of water, you feel better and have a better attention span if you are well hydrated. I was suprised as to how much I drank on the ride home,  your lips feeling dry are a sign that you went too long without stopping for a drink. Take your time, enjoy the ride,  and make it home safe.

A new year.

So my bike and camping gear sits in storage waiting for the snow to go away and temperatures to go back up again.   I'm itching to go riding and here in michigan the DNR has a new reservation system for the State park campgrounds making it easier for people to actually get a campsite as it requires you to pay for your campsite fully when you reserve it,  this stops people from hogging the state parks by reserving every single weekend, then cancelling when they decide they dont want to go that weekend.

Some of the state parks have "mini cabins" that make life really easy for Motorcycle campers.  Not having to pack shelter opens up a lot of options for people with smaller bikes.   A lot of private campgrounds also have mini cabins nowdays that are quite affordable.  No running water or power, but they are warm and dry and typically Twice the price of the standard dirt campsite.

This spring I will be taking a camping trip to Ludington, MI state park on the motorcycle with my wife and writing a story about the advantages and disadvantages of the mini cabin camping that is possible in many areas.