Safety
Is Job One!
Hello!
Before you take on the long ride, please read this. It may safe your
life.
It might be good to check your travel plan, so there are points built in for
decisions about heading back. If it’s a long ride and if some are not used
to it, they’re going to be getting tired. It’s not a safe plan to be on
the other side of a continent and then decide you have to race back, long
hours in interstate traffic (which will get heavier and crazier as you
progress toward “back East” ) at high speeds, especially if it means
riding after sundown; that’s asking for accidents.
My wife and I “trained” before we spent most of September last year riding
across and back. From Spring to Fall, we took rides of various lengths but
gradually working up to about 1800 miles. Also, it’s a good idea to start
getting a little more exercise than usual if you don’t have a job or hobby
that is fairly physical. Riding a couple of hundred miles on a nice day is one
thing, riding all day including heat, hard winds, rain, etc. is something
else. It’s easy to find yourself getting a little stupid at the end of long
days, and that happens faster and deeper if you’re not in as good shape for
endurance exercise as you might be. IF you like to get a little more sleep
time, that’s good, but I’d suggest you do not say “ and we’ll just put
in more miles around sundown.” Just figure on taking a few “light duty”
days along the way, and don’t get into competing with each other to not be
the first one to admit being tired. Besides, if you’re planning to camp,
that means breaking down and packing the rig in the morning, and then having
to set it up again at the end of the day. That’s a lot less fun after
sundown, flashlight in your teeth, fumbling for stuff in the dark, not able to
judge how much the place slopes until you’re into the sleeping bag and then
figuring out you’re lying with your head downhill sliding out of the bag and
have to redo it all to be able to sleep… don’t ask how I know about that!.
Try estimating NOT what AAA or some travel service tells you it takes to drive
the route in a car, but figure you’re likely to run around 350-450 miles a
day – and resist the temptation to say, “That old guy is a wimp, we can do
twice that”. Yeah, you can – for a day or two. After that, if you’re not
“Iron Butt Association” members who train for riding huge distances
without seeing anything but the pavement and gas stations, you’re either not
going to keep that up, or one of you is likely to need that policy you took
out with MedJet, the one where they fly whichever of you crashes first from
the boondocks to some trauma hospital. Yes, there’s a service like that for
motorcyclists, and it can be worth thinking about.
If
you’re used to using motels, don’t forget the extra time to set up and
take down camp. Go do it on your driveway, the whole camp set-up and
take-down/re-pack, and time it, add ten percent for stuff going wrong. Add
another fifteen to twenty minutes for the daily stop you should make after an
hour or less to walk around the rig tightening and checking and adjusting
things that come loose – something WILL come loose, just factor it into the
plan. So, your traveling day will be shorter than in a car or van. Plus, you
can’t give someone else the keys and catch a nap, you have to do all the
driving. Therefore, camping translates into less miles per day on average if
you’re going to enjoy the trip.
Weather
radios are good, the kind that get the NOAA broadcasts. If one of you has a
laptop, or has a really fancy phone with internet capability, you can get all
sorts of weather in whatever detail you like, especially if you’re equipped
for WiFi. Many states have a highway information system that includes weather
as well as construction news, etc., most of these can be dialed on your cell
phone with “511” and working your way through a voice menu to find out
about the route you want to travel. Check out which on your itinerary
have this, and for those that don’t, contact their state highway department
and ask about ways to check on their roads while you’re traveling there;
most have a way for you to get information – and that will include things
like asking about high passes that may or may not get snow or ice even in
summer, & heavy wind advisories ( Once you hit the west slope of the
Colorado Rockies, Utah, Nevada, you’re likely to find days when the winds
will leave you feeling like you’ve spent the day wrestling a bear trying to
keep the bike in the lane you want to drive in.). A lot of states print a list
of planned construction and road repairs with dates, some even include which
lanes at what time of day, Ask them for this early in the year so you
can figure it into your planning, same time as you ask them to mail you the
state road map and some tourist information literature. If you’ve got a GPS
unit, great… take maps anyway. It’s good backup, and they’re easier to
plan with in the evening than all standing around the bike squinting at a
little screen.
You
don’t need to take winter clothes just for the times you’ll hit cold air.
You will almost certainly need something rainproof; just make sure it’s able
to fit over your other riding gear. A windproof/waterproof layer over a
sweater and your riding gear will pretty much do the job, though it’s good
to have a heavier pair of gloves at altitude. If it’s really cold put on
both pairs of pants you take along. I ride “armored”, have for a long
time; my wife was stubborn about that for a while, but for the long trip she
caved in and wore “armored” nylon mesh jacket and pants, as did I. She’s
now a believer! If it’s cool, wear your jeans under it; if it’s
blazing hot (and you’re likely to do some of that in August), leave the
jeans in the saddlebag and wear shorts under the mesh, it’s a big
difference. I quit using regular underwear for long trips in the saddle; the
modern “wicking fabric” sports-wear stuff really does work, and it will
keep you cooler at high temperatures (better evaporation of sweat when air
flows through your riding gear) – and it will literally save your butt
compared to good old cotton, which can retain perspiration, chafing, and heat,
and turn into a nightmare of saddle rash and sores. Again, don’t ask how I
know, it’s not a pretty story! There is a cost (besides the higher
price) for wearing this stuff, though. Remember, it works by pulling sweat
away from your skin and evaporating it off. You’re going to be riding in hot
weather, much of it in desert air, and the efficiency of the wicking fabric
means that you will have to replace more fluids than you’re used to. Make
yourself, and each other, consciously remember to drink every time you stop
for food or fuel, and don’t drink alcohol or a lot of caffeine in the
daytime, either of which take fluid out of your body at a faster rate.
Dehydration leads to fatigue, which leads to mistakes you don’t want to make
on two wheels.
Farther
west, you have more space and less people, and not so much traffic outside
towns and cities. That’s a great ride – but after a couple days of that,
it can be a little disorienting to ride into a city, even a small one, and
suddenly realize there is a lot more traffic than you expected, that
sign you thought would mark the turn isn’t visible, maybe behind a tall
truck just when you need to know if this is the turn or whatever (another
“don’t ask”!). Don’t cuss the traffic or the town, and don’t
try any desperate maneuvers across traffic to fix it. . Stop as soon as you
safely can, and hold a powwow on the solution, then all solemnly vow that for
the rest of the trip you will think ahead before you start any engines, and
spend a couple of minutes talking about how you’re going to pass through
this or that town, whether you change highways or maybe take a short piece of
bypass road, etc., and how you’re going to deal with it if (when) somebody
makes a wrong turn and gets separated; The answer will change depending on
each day’s planned route.
That’s
most of the bad stuff. Highway 50 is a lot of fun – a nice road to ride
(fabulous through the eastern
Rockies
), a lot of interesting places and geography and people. Keep your pace easy
enough to look around as you go, and you’ll find it’s a great show,
changing all the way. The superslabs are great for going fast, but the ride is
generally long stretches of dullness punctuated by occasional moments of fear.
Still, even those have some rewarding views. Campgrounds, however, tend to be
away from them, which is a little less convenient if you really want to camp
most of the time. Wulf’s suggestion of national parks is good. The state
parks are pretty good also, and if you don’t need vending machines and laundries
and electric everything, the Forest Service and Corps of Engineers
“primitive” campsites are great – quiet, very few people with huge
generators running all night, and almost always spaces available while
the KOA or national park is filled up. While they don’t all feature hot
showers, they have drinking water and restrooms and just plain beauty. One
caution on those, though – if you’re not used to riding unpaved roads,
check ahead to see if you have to navigate a bit of unpaved road to get in and
out of the more ‘backwoods” campgrounds.
What
else? My wife and I decided it worked better for us to take a long lunch break
and have our main meal of the day with some walking around after, and just
grab something light at the end of the day like a fast-food chain salad.
Easier than checking into a motel or campsite, unloading, then getting back
into riding gear to go off searching for a restaurant. We liked the day’s
ride, but found we purely hated that “extra ride” looking for a meal at
sundown. You may feel otherwise. Gas prices will likely go up again,
can’t do much about that – but once you hit the desert states, Do Not Pass
Gas - stations, that is, unless you know for sure there’s another one well
within your range. Your planning should show you there are some loooong
stretches here and there – and if your machine doesn’t like “Regular”,
tucking a cheap can of octane booster in your kit may save you when the one
station as you go dry turns out to not have had anything but 87 octane for a
week or so, sorry, mister! One more thing – figure out how you will deal
with the fact that for half this trip you will be riding straight into the
sunset every day, and the other half straight into the sunrise. Every day,
half of it with the sun straight in your face. Down around 30 degrees from the
horizon, it gets your attention. A stripe of electrical tape across the visor
doesn’t look elegant, but it beats riding blind!
May
the road rise to meet you, and the wind be always at your back –
See
you one the road someplace!
John
and Sue House,
March 2008
jfhouse@verizon.net