Planning my first Road Trip

[andymetzger]

How would I go about planning a road trip? I'm headed from East Tennessee down to Tyler, Texas (East Texas) in the beginning of May, but figured I should start looking into which routes to take. Since I only have a 300cc, I'm thinking I don't want to mess with the major interstates too much. At 65mph she's wound up pretty good, and I'm not sure how long she can handle high speeds. Any suggestions on how to plan? Any roads/routes in between TN and TX I shouldn't miss? As always, thanks for your help y'all.

[Clint]

http://www.motorcycle-journal.com/fo...ad.php?t=13048

[drgibson]

On a 300cc bike for a 11 hour drive?! Man I won't even take my 1600 on that kind of trip. But then I'm a wimp.

[inspiron]

Check out GixxerDale's long trip checklist

You should plan on only riding 45 minutes of each hour, so you'll only be going "high speeds" for a short period of time. You need to take a break every hour - drink water, release water, fill the tank, check your tires, grease your chain, eat something, stretch, relax.

If you are a smoker, taking frequent breaks comes more "naturally" since your brain will start screaming for nicotine after a while. If you don't smoke, you just need to plan a stop every 45 to 60 minutes.

For long runs, it is important to keep yourself hydrated - you need to drink a lot of water (or sports drinks). Tee is better than coffee, since coffee tends to take a lot of water with it when it passes through. When eating on the road, try to eat light - salads, fruits and vegetables, rice and grains. Pasta and antipasta will give you a steady flow of energy over a longer period of time. Avoid having too much sugar and too much protein, as these can just make you tired. And don't eat until you are ready to explode - several small meals over the day are better than one huge one in the middle.

At each stop, check the condition of your tires. Long runs can cause the rubber to start graining, so you need to be very careful about keeping the correct air pressure and plan to take some twisty roads to use up some of the rubber on the side of the tire. Hour-long runs on the highway are boring ... and motorcycling is all about the journey, not necessarily the destination.

[stp1971]

+1 except the riding 45 minutes of each hour. But in your case that will probably be a good idea. But if you were on a superslab cruiser like mine then it's stop every 100 to 120 miles. That is when the old girl needs her tank re-filled again.

Oh yeah,, get you a buttbuffer pad. Makes the ride a whole lot better. www.buttbuffer.com

[andymetzger]

Well, I plan on making it a two day trip (or three if i have to, but probably not) anyway. I'm looking to take the scenic route, not interstate. Like I said, being so small, my bike doesn't fair well with the 4 laners that well anyways. I'll check out those mapping websites. Thanks a lot for those. One other thing: how often do you grease your chain? I've never done that before. What's the best way to do it? Thanks guys.

[kenworth]

Get a spray can of triflow at wallyworld and shoot your chain every other time you fill the tank. put it on the center stand in neutral and spin the rear wheel as you spray the top of the chain. Start at the masterlink and stop when you get there.

[jackM50black]

I've never been anywhere in that area of the country, but my advice is take a road trip that has a mixture of open highway and some twisties, and maybe shorter stretches of freeway. If you do all freeway you'll hate it.... and if you get on all day twisties you'll be worn out and way behind schedule.

Also, in some areas that are popular, you might want to call ahead and reserve a motel room, especialy if you are assuming that you're going to be staying in some small town and there is'nt another town with motels for 60 miles. Anyway, in rural Oregon thats what I did, so I knew I'd have someplace to stay if I was tired. and in a couple of cases, I wished I had done that...for instance althought I was lucky enough I got the last room in Roseburg that was in a decent motel... and not in a crummy old fleabag. I wished I'd made reservations in Seattle.... I'll never make that mistake again...otherwise youve got to get on your bike and ride around at night looking for some crummy place when I really wanted to stay in downtown. anyway, that's my advice.... Have a great trip... remember... do stuff and go places that remind you of your purpose in touring by bike, instead of a car. Stop at funky places, local diners, and roadside attractions. A trip by car is a different trip.

[tlwisner]

Riding on the Interstate isn't much fun anyway - take the 2 lanes and enjoy the journey. Make sure your bike is mechanically happy and take money. A roadside service plan is good too, I pay $16 / year to my insurance company for roadside service. The first day I had coverage, a piece of something cut my back tire about 60 miles from anywhere. I had cell service after climbing a hill.