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 seem to enjoy it. I spend the winter 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. I think I spend so much time playing at planning because it gets so cold, snowy, and generally motorcycle hostile in Minneapolis during the winter that trip planning is the only substitute for actually riding.
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. The only package I'm familiar with is Street Atlas USA. There are a bunch of others available. I can't help with all the other stuff like picking hotels in advance and making reservations since I've never done these things.
I think that AAA maps are the best but you have to be a AAA (or CAA) member to get them. They also cross reference with their campground and motel guides which are also pretty good. If you can, get the maps for each state you'll be going through (or think that you may go through) before you leave home. A big road atlas is OK but doesn't have the detail of individual state maps, is too big for easy storage, and 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. Interstates are usually, but not always, the most boring but you'll make the best time. US and major state highways can be the worst. If they connect metropolitan areas they'll have traffic and the bigger the cities the worse the traffic. When they're two lanes and are full of cars they're awful. If they're in a more isolated area they're not too bad.
The state and county roads have the most potential. Be aware that some state and many county roads are not on most highway maps. Even if the one that you start on is on the map it can intersect a road that's not on the map and you can easily get lost. County roads that are paved sometimes turn into dirt roads and dirt roads sometimes dead-end.
Roads marked as "scenic" often are good but not always. I've taken some "scenic" roads that were the pits. I remember more than once thinking that the person who made the map must have been on drugs the day that it was decided to designate the road as "scenic.".
Some other things that may hint at a good road are;
Be flexible and take a good road if you come across it. I once ended up on Missouri 19 from Steelville to Alton
just because it seemed to be the most direct route from Hannibal to the Ozark Mountains in Arkansas. It was awesome!
I added half day to my trip just to re-ride several sections because they were so much fun.
When you do your planning, either in advance or on the road, it's important to realistically plan your daily mileage. 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 50mph (80kph) over the whole day, at least
when you're just starting touring. A more reasonable average speed is 45mph (72kph). This means that if you are
willing to ride 10 hours you can expect to do 450 to 500 mi (720 to 800 km) in a day. If you stop a lot or are
playing tourist your average speed will be much lower.
|
Activity |
Duration |
|---|---|
| 500 mi (800 km) @65mph (104kph) |
7:40 |
| Gas stop |
0:20 |
| Breakfast |
0:30 |
| Break |
0:10 |
| Gas Stop |
0:20 |
| Lunch |
0:30 |
| Gas Stop |
0:20 |
| Break |
0:10 |
| Total Time |
10:00 |
Say you decide to go 500 mi (800 km) on a particular day. You want to leave at 07:00 and arrive at your destination at 17:00. To do this you need to average 50mph (80kph). Assume that you go 65mph (104kph) whenever you're moving. Say further that you stop for gas about every 167 mi (267 km) (like I do on my CBR). This makes 7:40 of seat time and 2:20 stopped.
Can you do this? Should you do this? Do you even want to do this? You won't really know till you try it sometime. In a car it's a piece of cake (unless there are small children in the car) but on a motorcycle it's tougher than you might think. Don't plan your first tour assuming that you can average 50mph (80kph). If you discover over time that you can really rack up the miles that's great but don't count on it for your first couple of trips.
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 200 and 500 mi (320 and 800 km) that starts and ends at home. The distance should be long enough that you need to stop at least twice for gas if you start with a full tank. Don't try to go too fast -- just go whatever speed that makes you comfortable and still keeps the cops off your back. Try not to stop except for gas.
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. Next you could try a 1500 to 2000 mi (2400 to 3200 km) trip over a 4 day weekend. Doing 500 mi (800 km) in one day can be a lot different than doing the same distance four days in a row. After a few weekends you will have a good idea what sort of daily mileage you can handle and then can try your first one week trip.
The 45 to 55mph (72 to 88kph) average speed rule of thumb can vary a lot depending on a host of influences. The major influences are:
Two lane roads are more interesting and I prefer riding on them but they will produce a lower average speed than Interstates. Averaging 50mph (80kph) on a rural Interstate is way slow (for me) while doing 50mph (80kph) on most rural two lane roads is very fast - especially east of the Mississippi where there seems to be a town every five miles (8 km).
You'll get lower daily mileage on two lane roads for several reasons. Two lane roads have a lot of towns and you have to slow down and maybe even stop at a few traffic lights. If the towns are fairly close together this can take a lot of time and significantly reduce your average speed.
Two lane roads are more tiring. They require a lot more of your attention than Interstates. Your level of concentration is higher because there are a lot more hazzards on two lane roads and in towns than there are on divided highways. The hazard density on two lane roads is about 10 times what it is on the Interstate. Because you fatigue faster on two lane roads you need to take more breaks and this will slow you down. Pay attention to your level of fatigue. Don't try to tough it out, it's not worth the risk. If you're tired, stop. If you're really tired, stop for the day. If this screws up your schedule, tough, stop anyhow.
You also can't go as fast on two lane roads, at least not on most of them. The speed limit on most two lane roads is 55. Going 65 is probably pushing it for both safety and speeding tickets. Out in Nevada or Wyoming you can blast along at the ton with little risk except maybe a ticket. In more built up agricultural areas 65 or so is about as fast as you can safely go.
It's pretty obvious that if the weather turns to crap you should slow down. Bad weather usually means reduced traction or reduced visibility, or both, and that means lower speeds. If you have proper riding gear rain will only reduce your average speed about 5 to 10mph (8 to 16kph). If you have lousy gear you will be miserable and therefore fatigue faster and that can really kill your mileage. There's more ranting on riding gear in the riding gear section.
Cold weather alone won't affect your mileage as long as you have the right clothes and it's not too cold. If you don't have the right clothes it will severely slow your progress and might even kill yourself -- hypothermia is nasty. Hot weather will also slow you down -- how much depends on your gear and your personal tolerance to heat. Read more in Weather section.
The point here is that weather is not predictable so when you encounter bad weather accept that your daily mileage will be reduced and that you may completely screw up your schedule. This is part of touring and will happen, you can count on it.
In the end your daily mileage doesn't matter. What matters is that your mileage matches what you can do and want to see. If you want to stop at Yellowstone or Grand Teton and oggle the mountain goats don't plan on doing 500 mi (800 km) that day - if you try you'll be unhappy. Remember, this is supposed to be fun. Be realistic.
The biggest mistake I see people make is planning too many miles 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. I've done 900+ mi (1440 km) days with no ill effects but I'm used to it and I like doing it. However if you're going to do that sort of mileage 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 mileage days, try to put them at the beginning of the trip, not the end. Also try to have a non-riding or very low mileage day (say <200 mi (320 km)) every five days, 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 gotta get home fever" during the last days of the trip.