top Mistakes i made on my first road trips
At the base of the Cherohala Skyway with the Triumph Tiger 660, a press bike loan from Triumph Motorcycles
All of my trips so far I have gone alone, so especially as a solo female traveler, I better make sure I am prepared. Every trip I learn something new, and have a shorter and shorter list of things I want to do differently on the next one.
After writing this, I went on a road trip to the Smoky mountains on the Tiger 660 you see above. When I wrote this blog post, I had gone on these three road trips:
2000 miles on a Harley Street Glide - my first road trip ever. Visited Her Two Wheels, Lali and Revzilla headquarters. About 1500/2000 miles were doing in torrential rain! I found out in part 2… was actually a coastal flood warning. Oops.
1000 miles on a Road Glide - I visited my family and the #ShadeTreeArmy
2000 miles to KEY WEST on a Harley Road King - to the Southernmost point of the continental US! First time taking LOTS of scenic routes and now I’m hooked.
1. HAVING A STRICT SCHEDULE
Having a strict schedule and not calculating enough time. If your GPS tells you it's going to take you eight hours, on a motorcycle you take a lot more stops than you do in a car. I had to add about 30 - 40% more to the time depending on how long the ride was.
2. Too much highway
Basically prioritizing time over the whole experience. I discovered only on my third road trip that taking the scenic route and taking as little highway as possible may be slower, but it's quieter, there isn't as much wind buffeting, reducing on fatigue, and it's just so much prettier. So I found that I was able to ride a longer without stopping and I was just in a better mood at the end of the day.
3. NOT FITTING A BIKE for MY body
I did that to myself and I'm going to continue doing that to myself until I find a more road trip friendly bike. Then I will buy my own bike and modify it to fit me. Comfort helps so much with fatigue and being able to go further and not have an aching body at the end of the day. What’s tolerable for 30 minutes or even an hour, can be really tiring after 5+ hours of riding.
My ‘must have mods’ I would want for comfort:
Handlebars positioned so I’m not reaching too far forward
Good wind deflection
A comfortable seat
And then some additional bonuses but not super essential:
A backrest
Heated grips
Highway pegs (depending on the kind of bike of course)
Cruise control
4. NOT BRINGING THE MAGIVER TOOLS
Some added tools that would've have come in real handy at some points:
A satellite phone or way to contact someone without cellphone signal
A first aid kit
A tire repair kit
A portable battery jump
A headlamp
Remembering every little detail or thing to bring can be overwhelming, so I created a checklist that I’ll email you for FREE, just sign up for it here. After every road trip, I seem to keep adding just a few more things to it.
Can’t wait for the next adventure!