Tips for Long Distance Touring - great insights from Jeff
I'll modestly claim to be one of the long distance tourers. Some of this might be obvious but I'll write it anyway.
Get Peter (The Bear) Thoeming's book "Motorcycling in Australia" and Hema's "Australian Motorcycle Atlas" both of which have good tips on touring. There is also an article in Australian Road Rider No 52 by Elspeth Callender about motorcycling camping. I've included some of that here but most are my thoughts. I have added some comments from Mike Crawley. Another couple of publications you might want to look for are Stay Alive by Maurice Dunlevy and published by the Austraiian Government Publishing service and Jack Absolom's Safe Outback Travel, Five Mile Press. Both are a bit old but you could probably get them secondhand on the net. Stay Alive is probably the pick. Both books are applicable to car travel too, although they refer mainly to real out-of-the way survival stuff.
Start by reading the articles I wrote for the newsletter on Riding in the Outback. The rest here isn't in any particular order.
You probably need less clothes than you think. Cheryl lived in her leather pants - even when we had to go to NZ for her mother's funeral during the trip. Wash and wear is the go and try and wear stuff that doesn't look like it has been dragged along behind the bike after it has spent the night hanging over the tent guy rope. In cooler weather stretch the number of days you wear stuff.
Get good luggage. We had panniers/saddlebags, top box, tank bag and seat bag. Wouldn't it be great if someone could invent the Tardis Luggage. Or try a trailer and tell us how it went. You don't want to have to unpack a saddlebag to get your wallet so pack the things you need most often in the most accessible places. This doesn't mean all of your tools. Most of them you won't need.
The hardest thing I found and am finding as I plan our next trip is what bike gear to wear for all of the weather/climatic conditions that you will encounter during an extended trip, especially if you are passing through very different climatic zones.. You can always post stuff to and from your destination or some convenient place. Wear layers so you can remove the under layers while retaning your safety gear. Buy some Space Bags vacuum bags (Target or K-Mart) for the stuff you might need but are not sure e.g. thermals, jacket liner. There are vacuum bags that don't require a vacuum cleaner. They have a 'valve' that allows the air out when you roll them up but not back in so they can be reused while on the road. They can reduce the bulk of clothing by 1/3 to 1/2. Stick a couple of strong elastic bands around them just in case they decide to leak. There are also compression sacks from camping stores that are useful for wet weather gear. These are the sort of stuff sacks modern sleeping bags come in. With anything you intend to take always consider weight and bulk. Good bushwalking stores have some great compact, lightweight gear suitable for motorcycle touring e.g a microfibre towel. Just how much/little you will wear depends on your temperature tollerance.
Don't think you won't need wet-weather gear.
Use zip lock bags (lunch bags from the supermarket, some come with double zips) for leakable items such as toothpaste, shampoo or sunscreen or to protect vulnerable items from dust, liquid spills etc. e.g. Camera, mobile phone, maps.
If there are several people riding the same/similar bikes split the spares among you and don't get carried away with what you will need. If the worst happens then worry about that at the time and don't anticipate having to replace the engine on the roadside. If you are riding as a group keep your headlights on so the rider in front can easily see if you stop. If you must race ahead of the group slow down and let them catch up when you have got it out of your system. If someone behind gets a flat and you have the spare tube they won't appreciate waiting for a couple of hours for you to return.
If you do have a break down then do as The Hitch Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy says “DONT PANIC”. The first thing to do after stoping in a safe place is nothing. Sit and have a cuppa or a smoke , sum up the situation and what you should do about it. The worst thing you could do is start ripping into things before properly assessing the situation.
Start out with new cables and good or new tyres and chain and then you shouldn't have to carry spares or try and buy them in Lesserwoopwoop, population 5. I intend to do this for the WA trip. You should have a spare tube and tyre repair gear and all of the asssociated tools.
Carry water, some spare fuel, oil, a small spray can of chain lube and a small Inox. Once again don't get carried away. You will need more water than spare oil or fuel. I carried 1L oil for 2 Electras but you may want to carry a full litre per bike. I had a 1L gear oil bottle with a pop-up spout. Unfortunately the spout didn't pop down again so I found a lid to fit and screwed the spout on when I wanted to add oil. This saved having to carry a funnel or spilling oil everywhere and made it really easy to add oil. I have since come across a gear oil bottle (Nulon) with a spout that pops in and out so next time I'll have a self contained oil bottle/filler. On the Canberra trip I had a petrol stove and 1L of petrol for it. This doubled as my spare fuel. Keep the oil accessible.
Each time you stop at a servo grab some paper towel from the driveway or toilet. This comes in handy when you want to check the oil away from a servo, for wiping hands, cleaning the bike etc. I'm sure you will find more uses.
Don't ride with a backpack. Even 2L of water in a hydration pack becomes a real pain after a few hours. My hydration pack fits to the top of my tank bag making it possible to drink while riding. No, not whiskey. No alcohol while riding is my rule. Wait until you have stopped for the day, but not in a public place in most of the NT or Port Augusta. Don't drink so much you have a hangover the next day.
Don't eat a big meal for lunch, it will make you sleepy. Have snacks (muesli/nut bars, biscuits) Carrry a vacuum flask of hot water and some tea/coffee (coffee bags?), sugar, powdered milk or coffee whitener. Or boil your own billy or your 1 cup espresso maker. There are not a lot of cafes along some of our highways and even less with decent coffee and it can be a blessing to have a cuppa during one of your frequent stops.
Take plenty of breaks. Stop at all of the lookouts, places of interest and roadside stops, even if only for a few minutes. Mike says boiling your own billy forces you to have a longer break as well as saving $. Take plenty of photos, this helps to justify the stops. If you find something interesting, funny, horrifying or disgusting take a photo for your story.
Carry spare AA batteries for your camera. Yours doesn't take AA batteries? Or your toothbrush, iPod, shaver? You are up shit creek if they go flat then eh? Perhaps you can fit an accessory power socket to the bike – but don't flatten the bike's battery. If you are camping recharging things is a challenge. Don't worry about the mobile phone, it won't work once you have left the town limits if not before. There are solar recharging devices on the market.
Work out some stretching exercises you can do while riding. Do some exercises when stopped. Get fit before you leave. Don't tense up while riding.
Keep hydrated. You may not notice it but riding a motorcycle is very dehydrating, especially in the heat. You should drink at least 2L of water a day and you may need quite a bit more. One symptom of dehydration is sleepiness. If you are feeling sleepy stop and have a drink. Although I am opposed to buying bottled water becasue of its environmental impact, not to mention the exhorbitant cost, it is good for hydration packs as you don't know the 'quality' of the local water. Some people can't stand the taste of water away from home and some towns have water with a high mineral content which give it a “taste” when it has been in the hydration pack in the sun for a few hours. I also don't believe in paying tens of thousands of dollars per kilolitre for “sports drinks”, however a bottle of Gatorade occacionally can help with your electrolyte balance.
Don't over-hydrate. Too much water can kill you. Drink whenever you feel thirsty but don't force yourself to drink more than you want.
Use lip balm
Cover up and use sunscreen and zinc cream on your nose, especially if you wear a jet style helmet. You can get seriously sunburnt on a motorcycle. I have had sunburnt wrists because my gloves were too short to reach my coat sleeves.
Use ear plugs. I wear moulded-in-the-ear plugs and find them very good at modulating the wind noise, which is the main culprit in destroying your hearing. And don't tell me you are already deaf so it doesn't matter because you need to save what's left. I also firmly believe that energy is sucked out of your body by noise. Remember what it was/is like listening to a child asking incessant questions – exhausting. Earmold (http://www.earmold.com.au/) can make ear plugs for you if there is a franchise near you otherwise you could check this out - http://www.diycustomearplugs.com.au/. Ear plugs can feel strange when you first put them in each time but you soon get used to them. I find them very comforting and if I forget to put them in I soon have to stop because something feels wrong. They do not stop you from hearing your engine, sirens etc. In fact you can hear the engine better with them in than out (Hmmm! That's a frightening prospect). Earmold plugs can be made with inbuilt speakers for your iPod. A bit of spit will help get them in your ears but they do taste a lot like Berties All Flavoured Beans – Earwax flavour.
Look around at the scenery. Even seemingly boring places have things to see. Look at the changes in vegetation, topography or any damn thing that stops you staring at the road ahead.
Remember to constantly scan the edges of the road way up ahead. You know the drill. Look ahead several hundred metres to the left side of the road and gradually scan back towards you; check the speedo; look ahead several hundred metres to the right side of the road and gradually scan back towards you and check your mirror; have a look around and start again. Whatever you do don't stare at the road ahead. It will mesmerise you.
Don't break the speed limit :-D
Carry your passport, rego papers, licence, Medicare card, spare key, spare credit/debit card and some cash just in case the credit card machine isn't working and also because it is embarrasing to fill up with fuel and it only comes to $3 and you only have a card. Some places don't have ATM facilities or cash-out. Passport? We needed ours to fly to NZ and we didn't have them. Fortunately we knew where they were and our daughter (bless her heart) was able to get them to us in time. Passports are also good ID. Also, I think you can get your passport stamped at Hutt River.
Carry a notebook, diary and pen/pencil as well as a good book to read (while waiting for the truck to pick up your stricken vehicle or that speedy bugger to come back with the tyre repair kit ;-) .
Keep good notes of the trip as you won't remember all of the details later.
Unless you are a mathmatics wizz-kid carry a small (solar powered?) calculator for calculating fuel consumption, distance to destinattion, GST, tips :-) etc.
If you are using Flashlube or similar carry just enough for the trip or buy it along the way. Most servos seem to have it. Get one of those little bottles (or 2) and mark it with the dosage for your tank. You can also use this for when you get back home and need to fuel up by refilling it from a 1L bottle. I also carried some waterless wash for the bikes and a tube of hand cleaner and a rag for after chain adjustments.
If you are intending to camp then that opens up another dimension which I won't enter here.
As for Occy straps, ditch them and get Andy Strapz (http://www.andystrapz.com/). They might still get wrapped around the wheel but if they let go while fitting them you won't take out an eye, or hook into your mouth or scratch the tank or ... Piggyback Strapz are particularly useful for packing a tent or sleeping bag if you can't fit it into your luggage. And check out the Rain Off gloves while you are looking at the strapz.
Mike said “I won't strap things on anymore. On the run to Talbingo I had bits hanging too far over the back and the bike handled badly, and Peter lost a few items because of a broken strap.” We've all seen someone carrying a backpack with a billy hanging off one side and a pair of shoes hanging off the other side. It looks bad, it is awkward and potentially dangerous. Same with a bike. It is best to keep your stuff inside something, even if it is a bag strapped securely to the bike ensuring the balance isn't upset.
If you wear spectacles it could be a wise move to carry a spare pair and a small container of glass cleaner. I'd be buggered without mine if they got broken or lost because I couldn't read that novel while waiting for the tow truck. Prescription sunnies would be a good substitute. I don't normally wear sunnies but on long trips I try and remember my clip-ons as it eases the eye strain. I have a Super-Visor (http://safetysolutions.com.au/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=23&Itemid=2) on my helmet. I think it is a great compaion to, or substitute for, sunnies.
Don't forget to pack any prescription medication and repeat scripts.
If you are carrying fruit and vegetables you may need to consume or dump them at the border.
Remember that your behaviour as a motorcyclist reflects on the whole motorcycle community. Don't act the fool or do anything to reinforce peoples' opinion that motorcyclists shouldn't be allowed to exist. The next motorcyclist passing that way may be refused service because of your behaviour.
Get Peter (The Bear) Thoeming's book "Motorcycling in Australia" and Hema's "Australian Motorcycle Atlas" both of which have good tips on touring. There is also an article in Australian Road Rider No 52 by Elspeth Callender about motorcycling camping. I've included some of that here but most are my thoughts. I have added some comments from Mike Crawley. Another couple of publications you might want to look for are Stay Alive by Maurice Dunlevy and published by the Austraiian Government Publishing service and Jack Absolom's Safe Outback Travel, Five Mile Press. Both are a bit old but you could probably get them secondhand on the net. Stay Alive is probably the pick. Both books are applicable to car travel too, although they refer mainly to real out-of-the way survival stuff.
Start by reading the articles I wrote for the newsletter on Riding in the Outback. The rest here isn't in any particular order.
You probably need less clothes than you think. Cheryl lived in her leather pants - even when we had to go to NZ for her mother's funeral during the trip. Wash and wear is the go and try and wear stuff that doesn't look like it has been dragged along behind the bike after it has spent the night hanging over the tent guy rope. In cooler weather stretch the number of days you wear stuff.
Get good luggage. We had panniers/saddlebags, top box, tank bag and seat bag. Wouldn't it be great if someone could invent the Tardis Luggage. Or try a trailer and tell us how it went. You don't want to have to unpack a saddlebag to get your wallet so pack the things you need most often in the most accessible places. This doesn't mean all of your tools. Most of them you won't need.
The hardest thing I found and am finding as I plan our next trip is what bike gear to wear for all of the weather/climatic conditions that you will encounter during an extended trip, especially if you are passing through very different climatic zones.. You can always post stuff to and from your destination or some convenient place. Wear layers so you can remove the under layers while retaning your safety gear. Buy some Space Bags vacuum bags (Target or K-Mart) for the stuff you might need but are not sure e.g. thermals, jacket liner. There are vacuum bags that don't require a vacuum cleaner. They have a 'valve' that allows the air out when you roll them up but not back in so they can be reused while on the road. They can reduce the bulk of clothing by 1/3 to 1/2. Stick a couple of strong elastic bands around them just in case they decide to leak. There are also compression sacks from camping stores that are useful for wet weather gear. These are the sort of stuff sacks modern sleeping bags come in. With anything you intend to take always consider weight and bulk. Good bushwalking stores have some great compact, lightweight gear suitable for motorcycle touring e.g a microfibre towel. Just how much/little you will wear depends on your temperature tollerance.
Don't think you won't need wet-weather gear.
Use zip lock bags (lunch bags from the supermarket, some come with double zips) for leakable items such as toothpaste, shampoo or sunscreen or to protect vulnerable items from dust, liquid spills etc. e.g. Camera, mobile phone, maps.
If there are several people riding the same/similar bikes split the spares among you and don't get carried away with what you will need. If the worst happens then worry about that at the time and don't anticipate having to replace the engine on the roadside. If you are riding as a group keep your headlights on so the rider in front can easily see if you stop. If you must race ahead of the group slow down and let them catch up when you have got it out of your system. If someone behind gets a flat and you have the spare tube they won't appreciate waiting for a couple of hours for you to return.
If you do have a break down then do as The Hitch Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy says “DONT PANIC”. The first thing to do after stoping in a safe place is nothing. Sit and have a cuppa or a smoke , sum up the situation and what you should do about it. The worst thing you could do is start ripping into things before properly assessing the situation.
Start out with new cables and good or new tyres and chain and then you shouldn't have to carry spares or try and buy them in Lesserwoopwoop, population 5. I intend to do this for the WA trip. You should have a spare tube and tyre repair gear and all of the asssociated tools.
Carry water, some spare fuel, oil, a small spray can of chain lube and a small Inox. Once again don't get carried away. You will need more water than spare oil or fuel. I carried 1L oil for 2 Electras but you may want to carry a full litre per bike. I had a 1L gear oil bottle with a pop-up spout. Unfortunately the spout didn't pop down again so I found a lid to fit and screwed the spout on when I wanted to add oil. This saved having to carry a funnel or spilling oil everywhere and made it really easy to add oil. I have since come across a gear oil bottle (Nulon) with a spout that pops in and out so next time I'll have a self contained oil bottle/filler. On the Canberra trip I had a petrol stove and 1L of petrol for it. This doubled as my spare fuel. Keep the oil accessible.
Each time you stop at a servo grab some paper towel from the driveway or toilet. This comes in handy when you want to check the oil away from a servo, for wiping hands, cleaning the bike etc. I'm sure you will find more uses.
Don't ride with a backpack. Even 2L of water in a hydration pack becomes a real pain after a few hours. My hydration pack fits to the top of my tank bag making it possible to drink while riding. No, not whiskey. No alcohol while riding is my rule. Wait until you have stopped for the day, but not in a public place in most of the NT or Port Augusta. Don't drink so much you have a hangover the next day.
Don't eat a big meal for lunch, it will make you sleepy. Have snacks (muesli/nut bars, biscuits) Carrry a vacuum flask of hot water and some tea/coffee (coffee bags?), sugar, powdered milk or coffee whitener. Or boil your own billy or your 1 cup espresso maker. There are not a lot of cafes along some of our highways and even less with decent coffee and it can be a blessing to have a cuppa during one of your frequent stops.
Take plenty of breaks. Stop at all of the lookouts, places of interest and roadside stops, even if only for a few minutes. Mike says boiling your own billy forces you to have a longer break as well as saving $. Take plenty of photos, this helps to justify the stops. If you find something interesting, funny, horrifying or disgusting take a photo for your story.
Carry spare AA batteries for your camera. Yours doesn't take AA batteries? Or your toothbrush, iPod, shaver? You are up shit creek if they go flat then eh? Perhaps you can fit an accessory power socket to the bike – but don't flatten the bike's battery. If you are camping recharging things is a challenge. Don't worry about the mobile phone, it won't work once you have left the town limits if not before. There are solar recharging devices on the market.
Work out some stretching exercises you can do while riding. Do some exercises when stopped. Get fit before you leave. Don't tense up while riding.
Keep hydrated. You may not notice it but riding a motorcycle is very dehydrating, especially in the heat. You should drink at least 2L of water a day and you may need quite a bit more. One symptom of dehydration is sleepiness. If you are feeling sleepy stop and have a drink. Although I am opposed to buying bottled water becasue of its environmental impact, not to mention the exhorbitant cost, it is good for hydration packs as you don't know the 'quality' of the local water. Some people can't stand the taste of water away from home and some towns have water with a high mineral content which give it a “taste” when it has been in the hydration pack in the sun for a few hours. I also don't believe in paying tens of thousands of dollars per kilolitre for “sports drinks”, however a bottle of Gatorade occacionally can help with your electrolyte balance.
Don't over-hydrate. Too much water can kill you. Drink whenever you feel thirsty but don't force yourself to drink more than you want.
Use lip balm
Cover up and use sunscreen and zinc cream on your nose, especially if you wear a jet style helmet. You can get seriously sunburnt on a motorcycle. I have had sunburnt wrists because my gloves were too short to reach my coat sleeves.
Use ear plugs. I wear moulded-in-the-ear plugs and find them very good at modulating the wind noise, which is the main culprit in destroying your hearing. And don't tell me you are already deaf so it doesn't matter because you need to save what's left. I also firmly believe that energy is sucked out of your body by noise. Remember what it was/is like listening to a child asking incessant questions – exhausting. Earmold (http://www.earmold.com.au/) can make ear plugs for you if there is a franchise near you otherwise you could check this out - http://www.diycustomearplugs.com.au/. Ear plugs can feel strange when you first put them in each time but you soon get used to them. I find them very comforting and if I forget to put them in I soon have to stop because something feels wrong. They do not stop you from hearing your engine, sirens etc. In fact you can hear the engine better with them in than out (Hmmm! That's a frightening prospect). Earmold plugs can be made with inbuilt speakers for your iPod. A bit of spit will help get them in your ears but they do taste a lot like Berties All Flavoured Beans – Earwax flavour.
Look around at the scenery. Even seemingly boring places have things to see. Look at the changes in vegetation, topography or any damn thing that stops you staring at the road ahead.
Remember to constantly scan the edges of the road way up ahead. You know the drill. Look ahead several hundred metres to the left side of the road and gradually scan back towards you; check the speedo; look ahead several hundred metres to the right side of the road and gradually scan back towards you and check your mirror; have a look around and start again. Whatever you do don't stare at the road ahead. It will mesmerise you.
Don't break the speed limit :-D
Carry your passport, rego papers, licence, Medicare card, spare key, spare credit/debit card and some cash just in case the credit card machine isn't working and also because it is embarrasing to fill up with fuel and it only comes to $3 and you only have a card. Some places don't have ATM facilities or cash-out. Passport? We needed ours to fly to NZ and we didn't have them. Fortunately we knew where they were and our daughter (bless her heart) was able to get them to us in time. Passports are also good ID. Also, I think you can get your passport stamped at Hutt River.
Carry a notebook, diary and pen/pencil as well as a good book to read (while waiting for the truck to pick up your stricken vehicle or that speedy bugger to come back with the tyre repair kit ;-) .
Keep good notes of the trip as you won't remember all of the details later.
Unless you are a mathmatics wizz-kid carry a small (solar powered?) calculator for calculating fuel consumption, distance to destinattion, GST, tips :-) etc.
If you are using Flashlube or similar carry just enough for the trip or buy it along the way. Most servos seem to have it. Get one of those little bottles (or 2) and mark it with the dosage for your tank. You can also use this for when you get back home and need to fuel up by refilling it from a 1L bottle. I also carried some waterless wash for the bikes and a tube of hand cleaner and a rag for after chain adjustments.
If you are intending to camp then that opens up another dimension which I won't enter here.
As for Occy straps, ditch them and get Andy Strapz (http://www.andystrapz.com/). They might still get wrapped around the wheel but if they let go while fitting them you won't take out an eye, or hook into your mouth or scratch the tank or ... Piggyback Strapz are particularly useful for packing a tent or sleeping bag if you can't fit it into your luggage. And check out the Rain Off gloves while you are looking at the strapz.
Mike said “I won't strap things on anymore. On the run to Talbingo I had bits hanging too far over the back and the bike handled badly, and Peter lost a few items because of a broken strap.” We've all seen someone carrying a backpack with a billy hanging off one side and a pair of shoes hanging off the other side. It looks bad, it is awkward and potentially dangerous. Same with a bike. It is best to keep your stuff inside something, even if it is a bag strapped securely to the bike ensuring the balance isn't upset.
If you wear spectacles it could be a wise move to carry a spare pair and a small container of glass cleaner. I'd be buggered without mine if they got broken or lost because I couldn't read that novel while waiting for the tow truck. Prescription sunnies would be a good substitute. I don't normally wear sunnies but on long trips I try and remember my clip-ons as it eases the eye strain. I have a Super-Visor (http://safetysolutions.com.au/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=23&Itemid=2) on my helmet. I think it is a great compaion to, or substitute for, sunnies.
Don't forget to pack any prescription medication and repeat scripts.
If you are carrying fruit and vegetables you may need to consume or dump them at the border.
Remember that your behaviour as a motorcyclist reflects on the whole motorcycle community. Don't act the fool or do anything to reinforce peoples' opinion that motorcyclists shouldn't be allowed to exist. The next motorcyclist passing that way may be refused service because of your behaviour.