Touring Advice

I've probably chosen the wrong name for this page as "advice" is normally just nostalgia rehashed and dispensed for others consumption.

My reason behind writing this page, is the past couple of years I have done a couple of short tours in Europe, nothing too fancy, nothing adventurous and not much to write home about overall, but I've picked up a few bits along the way, and I figured if I didn't put them into print sometime then I'd forget. So as much as this is an "advice" page for those thinking of touring, it also serves as a reminder for yours truly, more importantly it gives me a chance to spin some yarns.

Within a few years I plan to tour for a couple of months, and I'm sure when I get back from that Ill have a totally different write up to make.

The Bike

Let's make one thing clear from the start, if you can put a rucksack on your bike then its a touring bike, regardless. From the humble C90 that a group of fellows rode all across Africa to an R1 Honda sports bike that someone else has ridden around the world, so don't be thinking that your bike is inadequate, and instantly rush out to buy the latest 1200GS from BMW, draped in Touratech Kit. Its worth watching the Charlie McBoarman "Long way Round Series" to see about large bikes, and its equally important to watch Austin Vince's Mondo Enduro to see the flip side.

The touring market has exploded and much to my annoyance a lot of the Magazines define what a touring bike is, and are often so far wrong of the mark, we end up buying something that is more costly and only ideal for tarmac pounding.

Myself, I've owned a few bikes in my time including 1200cc bikes that some might say are ideal for touring, however I now tour on a 650 Versys. Why? because for me its light, easy to handle, especially after a long days riding, it can be loaded with as little or as much kit as you choose, pulls 55MPG and once your at your campsite and you strip all the luggage off is great fun to ride round the bends and the mountains nice and light.

If I was touring for months on an end, and time was on my side, I would honestly consider a DRZ 350, and plod along slowly to my hearts content, what's the rush?.

Ironically one of the most underrated bikes for European touring is the humble little Mk1/Mk2+ Bandit 600, simple, reliable, comfortable and can be fixed by the roadside with commonly available parts. Its not all sunshine and stars with a small bike though, on my charity run this year I covered 2000 miles in 3 days mostly on motorway's and it was an arduous journey, moral of that story was either a)Buy a bigger bike and loose the handling fun that could be gained later b) Get the motorway sections out the way on the first few days of the holiday, and then spend the rest of the time relaxing on the fun small roads. I now choose option b).

So in a nutshell, look at what you currently own, if its your first time on a holiday on a motorcycle, then take your current steed, bungee on some roll packs a rucksack and head off into the sunset. At least then when you get home you will then be able to make an honest self formed opinion of the sort of bike you would prefer to use.

The Plan

So what do you want from the "Tour", is there a town somewhere in Italy you've always wanted to see?, or a section of a country you want to explore?. Maybe you've heard about these fabulous roads with amazing corners and fantastic views?. Perhaps you just aspire to the open road with no destination in mind?. Or maybe there's a woman at the other end waiting for you?.

Write down some bullet points, just rough ones at this stage, form an outline of area's you want to see and the purpose behind the tour, the rough mileage and distance you plan to cover, congratulations you've just started planning your tour.

Now at this stage sensible people would research hotels, roads, customs and all of that. No. First thing I do, is book a ferry (assuming your in the UK going to Europe). Why?. So many people plan there holiday and say "one day" and then never do it. Decide when you want to go, book the time off work, and book the Ferry, that's it your committed now!.

Planning the actual Tour in more detail is really a subjective matter, I have friends that book all the hotels in advance assuring the best deal etc etc, I have another friend that is happy to book nothing plan nothing and just ride into the country and discover as you go along, and each to there own, there is no "best" way to do this.

Me, well I have this "Curiosity killed the cat" mentality, and also I really only get a couple of weeks a year to do my tours/holidays, So I need to work out a healthy balance of both planning and freedom. Usually the first thing I do is sketch out roughly where my destination will be at the end of each day and the rough mileage involved. Have done this on both my previous Summer/Winter trips, and its not an agenda but it helps me get a feel for how far along I am on the trip, and how far away vs. day's left to get back, it also helps ensure you don't overstretch yourself on the mileage or rock up to your next site at 11am the same day.

The Link as follows, shows my Summer 2010 Tour plan that I drew together at the first stage. (opens in MS Word),  its nothing to heavy or too organised.

I've added in certain roads to visit and places/areas, I tend to research those roads in a bit more detail and either commit to my Sat Nav or memory, also using a site called Best Biking Roads to look up the ideal places to ride, available in Smart phone format if your feeling spontaneous En-route.

Essentially building up a pack of information about the area's I am going into and roads etc, and keep these in a ziplock wallet on the bike.

No one ever says you have to stick to this plan, when riding from Italy back to the middle of France last year Jamie and myself decided to take a detour through a French National Park, and it took us two days to cross, scenery was awesome, roads were good. So don't be afraid to combine planning with some spontaneous changes of route on the way.

Commonly what I have gathered from research is that most bikers want the same thing, excellent roads, fantastic views and the feeling of being away from home, I also wanted Swedish Lesbians at the end of a days journey, but sadly that never materialised.

Interestingly if you plan your destination for the end of each day at the beginning of a trip then your setting yourself up for a fall, simply you gain target fixation, I have to be somewhere each day etc... It takes the emphasis away from the journey but more about being somewhere, for me that ruins the wanderlust. Sure have a place in mind but stay flexible, for saving a few pounds/euro's on pre-booking a hotel/campsite you tend to put yourself under pressure, remember this is supposed to be a pleasurable relaxing experience.

Save your target fixation for the riding the lovely bends as your reading the road ahead!

Also the internet being the misinformed place it is does offer some advantages when planning a trip, get on Google maps and street view and then you can look at the roads you want to ride down, look at the outside of campsites you want to stay at or towns etc. Have a look on YouTube at some of the places.

All the above is based on a 14 day trip away, rule of thumb, the longer you away for the more time to explore and less time needing to plan.

Solo or with Mates?

All depends on what kind of person you are, my personal preference is Travelling with 1-2 other people, however if solo was my only option then I would most certainly do it, its a bit of a culture shock travelling on your own, your are unaware of how lonely you can be until you suddenly realise you are on your own and 1000 miles from home!, but it ultimately comes with a certain feeling of "I did it on my own" self satisfaction.

But solo does offers one advantage, on my way back from Grenoble in April this year, I must have chatted to a good 2-3 people, both French and English, you are more approachable when your on your own, people are curious mostly.  When my exhaust snapped many people stopped to help, and in the end the repair was done with a lot of help from a French couple. Kindness in Strangers.

Travelling with other people is in my view more comfortable, but choose your travelling partners carefully. Nothing worse than tensions building because of different rider ability, or if one person wants to ride all day with out a break, where as the other needs a smoke break and drink every hour.

Before you start your planning agree with them roughly when you want to stop for breaks, riding speeds etc. I was fortunate on my Normandy trip that I travelled with 4 like minded people, and even more fortunate when travelling with Jamie that we mostly agreed on riding styles. On occasions when we didn't we both were able to compromise, and both enjoy the holiday.

If your pounding the motorway for a day or so, and one of you is a little slow, here's a tip.. Agree when you will next stop by mileage rather than time..  I discovered this on my own oddly enough, if you know your objective or next break is in 100 miles and your only on a dull motorway then your tempted to get there a bit quicker rather than just plodding along because it doesn't matter as its only 1 hour instead.

Another tip for motorway riding, say your riding 300miles that day, and your stopping every 100miles, then break it down into pre-planned stops. So 300 miles equals 3 breaks, then at the first break your 1/3 in to the day, 2nd break your on the home stretch e.g. 2/3 in, psychologically it sits better than oh Gould I've got 200 miles to go or 6 hours etc.

Of course if your off motorway, then who cares about time or speed, just enjoy.

But I digress, back to Solo Vs Mates, really you need to see what suits you best, each option offers different experiences, but for the first trip my preference would be to travel with at least one other person, ideally a chilled open minded travelling partner as you may face unexpected situations like rain or a breakdown that can put "pressure" on the situation.

Above all enjoy the company and have a laugh!

Distance

Another subject of touring that has been not only researched by yours truly but also put in to practice. In order for me to decide what was an ideal distance for me to cover in a typical 14 day riding holiday I had to see both ends of the spectrum.

On my previous trips with Jamie, on the motorway sections we covered normally approx 250 miles a day, and it was a comfortable journey, average speeds plenty of breaks. Now in Particular our November Winter Tour 2010, we had an objective on the first day, which was Le'Havre to Pau near the Pyrenees. It was to be a day of dull Motorway pounding, something like 500miles.

As it was November and mainland Europe we had planned for cool crisp days, however we didn't plan for the amount of rain that fell on us, and by that I mean 36hrs of solid rain, not the light English stuff that we get, but more the Heavy New York oh shit type stuff.

So the whole Le'Havre - Pau section took in fact the thicker end of two nearly three days.

Frustrating really because I'd set out to see how a long day of 500 miles in the saddle would fare, particularly as we only had seven days on the holiday and would like to have spent 5 of those in Spain.

As a revenge to myself In April 2011 I did my charity tour, roughly 700miles per day. It was hard work, but good, it gave me a fair idea of the extreme mileage covered in one day.

But overall the experience was worth it, I'd now seen both ends of the spectrum of riding, from 100 mile days down bendy sunny roads to 700 miles of Tarmac pounding.

If your riding holiday is to be outside of France, e.g. Spain, Italy, Switzerland etc, then its perfectly possible to get to any of those countries in one day, even on a little 650. I'd recommend however that at the end of that first day you have either pre-booked your campsite or hotel so that the whole process of relaxing is quick and simple, you will be tired both mentally and physically. The end of my first day of the charity tour I'd ridden for 700 miles from 3am to 8pm that evening, and pre-booking the campsite was the best thing I could ever have done, along with carrying the food I needed for when I arrived.

Overall its a trade off, 1-2 days hard riding affords you more time to relax and see the places and experience what you want to do, but pre-plan those hard days where possible. Also when covering a lot of distance in a day, I can't stress the importance of Hydration enough, motorway riding floods the body with air, warm air and you dehydrate very quickly and to the Humble motorcyclist, that is dangerous.

Overall remember the holiday is more about the journey than the destination, so as soon as you are at where you plan to start your tour from, relax, enjoy, avoid the motorways, go at a pace that suits you and if possible take the smallest wiggly roads possible in the greenest bits of the map, I promise you sports rider or Harley rider you wont regret it.

Take a break?

Yes "Take a Break", yes your on Holiday/adventure/touring (what ever you choose to call it) but take a break for a day or so mid-way through. Motorcycle touring is very Ride, Sleep, Eat, Rinse repeat scenario.

Its good to kick back for a day or so at the same place, particularly if you have chosen a good campsite/hotel, maybe on the day of rest just go for a poodle locally on the bike with out all the luggage on and enjoy the improved handling. Take time from the holiday to relax, you'd be surprised how tiring riding every day can be.

Try to plan this in at the beginning of the trip. Tour 2010, myself and Jamie stopped at Lake Como for 2 nights and it was well worth it, a good chance to unwind. Personally I was able to drink enough beer without worrying about having to ride the next day.

Taking a break and maybe exploring the area your in in more detail affords you time to see things that maybe you would have ridden past in a blur, so choose your break location carefully.

Have a beer, relax and wait for those Spanish/Swedish Lesbians to arrive :-).

The Cost

All depends on how much you want to spend, I've done two weeks on £800 + Ferries, but then I've spent £1500 in a week on another trip. If you pre-plan and book your accommodation then can cut down your costs, but to a degree that takes away the freedom of just riding for the hell of it, and turns your journey into a "target fixation" everyday and that's not liberating.

Principal costs are obvious, accommodation / Petrol / Ferry. Avoiding Toll Roads to a larger degree helps cut down on costs. Camping can make the holiday as cheap as you want, anything from Wild Camping for free to relatively cheap well equipped campsites for £20.00 a night, half if shared with a friend.

Hotels of course is where the costs mount up, but that's all down to your choice and where you sleep best.

With Camping, you can pick up most equipment that you would need relatively cheap from somewhere like Argos, £100 would see you fully equipped with cheap tent, airbed, stove if required, sleeping bag, slam the whole lot into a Rollpack, strap to back seat and that's your accommodation. If your a first time camper I would recommend this, you can always upgrade en-route France for example is full of cheap camping shops, look out for "Decathlon".

So don't let the cost of touring put you off, if your fortunate to be outside of Europe for your trip, then of course your costs will be a lot less. An example would be a hotel in Morocco where the average cost is under £10.00 a night!.

An obvious tip for planning, is to work out a budget per day,  then carry a little bit spare just in case. in Europe myself and Jamie had a kitty of £50.00 between us to cover food, drink and Campsite per day. not including Petrol which was on average £20.00 a day for the Versys. More often than not we would have £10-20 left after that day. That was without caution being applied to our spending as well, self catering would reduce that cost, if you like to cook.

Another tip for the French Paeage toll booths, if you pull up to pay on an unmanned toll booth press the help button then announce "Je suis sur le moto" and your ticket price should drop in price, the French unmanned toll booths default to car, and if you have a heavy bike then that can be mistaken for a car and it gives you the car price, or in my case my bike was packed light and it wouldn't register me as being by the booth at all, a problem at 11pm in the middle of nowhere. I was fortunate, earlier a passing toll booth staff member had showed me this little "Trick".

If your riding with a mate, both pull up at same time, one pay's for both of you with one ticket, but that requires some immaculate timing through the barrier and I'm not sure that's strictly legal in France, ha ha.

Clothes

Minimalism is the key, the old adage of sorting out the kit you want to wear and then putting half away doesn't really apply to motorcycling, that would still be far too much.

No one ever says "I wish my bike was Heavier", and carrying 14 days worth of clothes around is as pointless as filling the bike to the brim to pop round to the shops to get a pint of milk, too much weight and the bike is no longer a longer streamlined affair, economy will suffer as well as handling, even to the point of dangerous when leaning over for bends, owing to un-centralised weight being applied when only the smallest part of your tyre is contact with the road.

Its an inevitable fact that to motorbike tour means you will have to do some laundry along the way, how much or how little is entirely up to a combination of factors, how much you want to smell vs. how little you want to carry and how much your motivation is at the end of the day, to setup camp and then go do your laundry.

In order to cope with this routine when your supposed to be on holiday is to develop a routine mindset at the end of the days riding which I confess I have been guilty of not following on past trips and letting the laundry pile up.

First thing you should do when you get to the campsite is go shower.. "Eh?" you might ask, "Why would I want to shower now". Well put simply you have to reverse your way of staying clean when on a motorcycle, at home you like to wake up in the morning, shower and put on fresh clothing. But if you do that on a motorcycle, then 5 minutes down the road in the 38degree heat your no longer fresh and clean.

So why not ride in the clothes you were wearing last night, and then when you get to camp, have a shower to cool down, put on fresh clothes, and wash the dirty clothes leaving them out to dry overnight. And who cares if they are still damp in the morning, they will be dry by the time you change into them the following evening.

Essentially, be nice and clean and wearing fresh clothes when relaxing by the tent or popping out for an evening meal, and then in the morning use those clothes for your days riding, putting on clean clothes when arriving at site, rinse repeat. Following this process it then removes the need to carry much in the way of clothing.

Below is a typical kit list for my 14 day Tours.

2x T-shirts (wick dry type)

2x complete underwear (Pants, Socks)

Combat trousers with removable lower section to become shorts

Tracksuit bottoms (for lounging round the tent and to from shower room)

Pair of very lightweight Jeans

Short sleeved shirt for evening meals out etc.

Exercise vest (for wearing on campsite)

A good quality pair of Flip flops (sports type).

Lightweight Fleece.

I don't have any boots or trainers packed as these items are far too bulky, I do cheat a little, my motorcycle boots are Altberg special forces boots, which offer me good ankle support and comfort on the bike and with a little polish are fine to be worn with jeans, for an evening out.

The Naysayers will say that my shins are unprotected, but as generally in motorbike accidents I habitually land face first I given up worrying about my shins.  There are times I've parked the bike up and wandered round towns etc, the boots are perfect for that, with motorcycle boots I find I wander round like a knock kneed chicken.

All of the above kit, occupies 1/2 of my top box. a much neater solution. By all means take as many clothes as suits your holiday style, but I guarantee after the 5th day they will be looking like the picture below :-).

Bike Preparation & Breakdowns.

If your new to Motorcycling then its important to note that maintaining a motorcycle is nothing like maintaining a car, the service intervals are shorter, and they have less research and design spent on them, they also will commonly have more parts fail. Even my trusty Kawasaki Versys a good Japanese bike has failed on at least once occasion whilst on a trip.

So the emphasis again is that good old preparation. At least one month before you leave on a trip, have the bike fully serviced. You need 4000 miles of tread on your tyres for 2000 mile trip. The wear is far greater in hotter climbs. So think ahead, if the chain/sprockets might be needing replacing in a couple of thousand miles then get them done now.

You then need to load up all your kit for the holiday and this is especially important if its your first time, take the bike for a long ride, say 200miles, maybe a short "Shakedown" type weekend away. See how the bike performs fully loaded. If your taking the missus for the first time on the back, see if she has any complaints, learn how the bike handles, more importantly check everything is working as it should be. Would also be a good time to set up camp for the first time, to see if all is as expected.

Check tyre pressures, Oil, water, suspension settings, brake fluid, clutch fluid, chain tension, and fill the bloody Scottoiler if fitted (I always forget). Its one area where it pays to be thourgh.

Good advice is to work from the front of the bike to the rear, checking bolt tightness, play in bearings, everything electrical works and that all is as expected, look for suspension leaks as well.

I'm a bit of a wannabe home mechanic,  I don't trust anyone else to work on my bike, but a useful side affect of this is, I now know every bolt nut, washer on my bike. Of course home bike mechanics is not for everyone, but for me its my pervasion that adds to 50% of the pleasure of motorcycling.

Having said that, the unexpected can happen on the road, however, before you reach for the recovery card ( I do hope you took out recovery cover ), don't panic. My Exhaust snapped on a French Toll Road last year, 350 miles from my destination, what did I do, I pulled into a lay-by rest area, stripped most of it down, decided it would take a while to fix, so made a coffee with my camping stove and relaxed for a while.

A Couple of people stopped and offered help, but sadly they had the wrong tools, then a lovely elderly French couple pulled up for lunch, and offered help, I explained that I was lacking a hammer and a saw, lo and behold out the back of his car came the tools needed, and he was an engineer, within 2hrs they had my exhaust with a semi permanent repair done, enough to get me back to Blightly.  It turned out to be one of the more un-unusual experiences of my holiday, but hey it left me with a little fable to tell my friends when I got home.

Jamie will tell you a similar story about a warning light that came on one day on his Buell, these are the things we remember from our trip, you might be thinking "But I don't want to break down".. Hey I didn't really want to ride over an active ski resort past 6 foot of snow last year, but I am glad I did, these are the things that define the experiences of the trip.

As for Jamie's Buell its not a question of "If" its "When".  Summer 2010 his Pannier came loose, the gear lever fell off and after Stelvio Pass the bike refused to tick over. Winter 2010, his Front Wheel bearing developed some alarming play in it, and the Back tyre got a puncture, guess what it never ruined his trip, and gave him some stories to tell, I have a different opinion but that wouldn't be relevant to this page :-)

So Moral of the story is Prior Preparations Prevent Piss Poor Performance, or as I call them the 6 P's :-), get your bike serviced, take a small amount of tools, I recommend the motion pro toolsets as available HERE.  Get good bike breakdown cover, a 2 week policy would be no more than £40.00.  And above in the words of Douglas Adam's "Don't Panic" if anything goes wrong, its a little adventure, it might cost you a day of travel but hey its part of the fun ;).

Oh and and don't ride a bloody Buell :-)