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.