Planning Your Trip
Trip planning can either be a big deal or trivial depending on your style. Some people need to plan every detail and pick every nit. I think these people are anal but they (I) seem to enjoy it. I spend hours pouring over maps and spend a lot of time running proposed routes through various PC trip planning software packages. I don't know why I do this because by the time I leave I pretty much ignore all that stuff and just ride. $If you're one of those anal types mentioned above and want to plan each evening's stay and every stop and break during each day's ride you'll find the computerized trip planning software useful.
I think that Hema’s Motorcycle Atlas is one of the most versatile references you can have though for more detail you will need to source local information related to where you are going. Anything larger won't fit in the map window of a tank bag.
Each morning figure out where you'd like to be at the end of the day and then work your way in that direction - just be ready to end up somewhere else. Look for small twisty lines - those are the good roads. Highways are usually, but not always, the most boring but you'll make the best time.
Some other things that may hint at a good road are;
• Roads through national forests.
• Isolated roads.
• Roads with altitude changes (the greater the better).
• Roads along rivers (smaller the better).
• Roads that don't seem to go anywhere in particula(i.e.there's not a town at either end).
•Roads that go across areas that other roads don't cross (there's usually a good reason).
•Roads that run through a valley (with a river is better).
Daily Kilometers
When you do you’re planning, either in advance or on the road, it's important to realistically plan your daily kilometers. It's important because if your expectations are different from what's possible you won't be very happy and your trip won't be fun.
As a rule of thumb, it's difficult to consistently average more than 80kph over the whole day, at least when you're just starting touring. This means that if you are willing to ride 10 hours you can expect to do 720 to 800 km in a day. If you stop a lot or are playing tourist your average speed will be much lower. If you've never toured before, I'd recommend setting up some trial rides as a test. Loosely plan a one day trip of between 320 and 500 km that start and end at home. The distance should be long enough that you need to stop at least twice for fuel if you start with a full tank. Don't try to go too fast.
How did it feel? What body parts are sore? Can you walk normally? Any problems could mean that you may have passed your daily endurance capacity. Or, it could mean that you just need to get used to it by doing it a few more times. It could mean that you have to change something about your bike to make it more comfortable. It could mean that you're doing something wrong, for example, how you put your feet on the pegs or hold the bars. It could mean that you're not doing something you should do, like stretching. All of the above problems have similar or identical symptoms. Only a fair amount of experimentation will give you the cause of the problem.
After a few day-trips, try a weekend - still beginning and ending at home. After a few weekends you will have a good idea what sort of daily kilometers you can handle and then can try your first one week trip.
The bottom line on endurance.
In the end your daily kilometers doesn't matter. What matters is that your kilometers match what you can do and want to see. Remember, this is supposed to be fun. Be realistic.
The biggest mistake I see people make is planning too many kilometers in a day. Usually they do this because they decide that they just have to be in a particular town on a particular day and they overextend themselves to make it. However if you're going to do big kilometers you're going be riding all day and a good part of the night and not see anything unless it's from the seat of your bike while it's moving. Again, it's not necessarily a problem if you know what to expect. If you think you might want to do this sort of thing (it's called "Iron Butt" riding for obvious reasons) work up to it.
If you're going to do any real high kilometer days, try to put them at the beginning of the trip, not the end. Also try to have a non-riding or very low kilometer day (say <320 km) at least until you know your limits.
Take it easy on the way home. On the way home a lot of people decide that the trip is over and that they want to get home now. As a result they push too hard. Most touring accidents are on the last two days of the trip, on the way home. The trip isn't over until you pull into your driveway. Until then it's all the same. Don't get "I got to get home fever" during the last days of the trip.
Selecting Riding Gear
There are three factors to consider when choosing what you wear when riding; safety, comfort, and cost. Fashion is also a consideration but it is the least important. Never let fashion considerations compromise safety or comfort. Your clothing is at least as important as the bike itself in making you comfortable on tour. Marginal riding gear can be just fine for short rides or even a day-trip but it can make a long tour less enjoyable at best and miserable at worst. I'll just start at the head and work down to the feet.
•Helmet
•Visors
•Ear plugs
•etc
Refer to the Riding gear
