Passes & Canyons Blog

Compact is the word when it comes to two-up motorcycle camping.

Judy and I tried out two-up motorcycle camping once last year. It was OK for a first time and we learned a few things. Now we’re acting on what we’ve learned and planning to really do this thing this year.

Compact is key when it comes to two-up camping on a bike. I’ve been camping by myself on my motorcycles plenty of times and it’s easy. The bike has plenty of room to pack one sleeping bag, a tent, a foam pad, food, and whatever else you need. It’s totally different when you’re two-up.

When you go two-up you now need two sleeping bags, two foam pads, clothes etc. for two, food for two, and a significant part of your packing space–the seat behind you–is taken up with non-gear, i.e., your wife/spouse/friend, whatever. That’s why a lot of people who are serious about this pull a trailer, but that’s not something I have any interest in.

So compact is the word.

We had already bought two down sleeping bags because they squeeze down smaller than our fiber-fill bags. Now we bought two Thermarest self-inflating mattresses. The two of them take up less space than one of the pads I used to use. That’s a step in the right direction.

On our test run last year we learned one thing profoundly: Having no provision for breakfast or even coffee in the morning sucks. Figuring we were going close by and just overnight we had figured we could do without that kind of thing. “Cold camping” I believe it’s called. So we woke up at about 9,000 feet elevation and it was cold and we had no way to even have a hot cup of joe. Rather than enjoy our camping experience we quickly broke camp and rode over Guanella Pass to Georgetown and had breakfast there. We’re not going to do that again.

Asking around I found that the consensus is that the compact JetBoil cookstove is the way to go. It’s designed for backpackers, so it’s small and light-weight. We don’t care about weight on the bike but we do care about small. The JetBoil and its gas canister are probably smaller than a two-liter bottle of pop. So we got one of those and also some dehydrated camping meals. Now we’ll heat water in the evening and pour it in on the dehydrated food and that will be dinner, and at the least we’ll heat water in the morning for coffee. Of course this all eats up most of the space savings we made with the smaller pads.

Which brings us to the choice of bikes. We took the V-Strom last year because it’s the dual-sport bike and seemed the natural. Plus, it has two very large Givi side bags that hold a lot, and I have a top bag on the rear as well. It might still be the bike of choice, especially if we’re going somewhere where we’ll have to be on a lot of gravel.

We do want to try the Concours, too, however. There’s no top bag, but unlike the V-Strom it is easy to strap a bunch of stuff on the rear, behind Judy. Plus, when you’re strapping stuff on the back, larger or awkward sizes are not much issue, whereas they are if you’re trying to get something inside something else. The two side bags are quite large, too, so I’m thinking it should certainly hold as much as the V-Strom. We’ll try the Concours on a trip where we know we won’t need to do gravel. The Concours hates gravel. Hates it!

I’m not sure if we’ll be getting more stuff or not. A tent that packs down smaller would be good on the V-Strom, but on the Concours it’s no issue. Less bulky clothing specifically designed for this sort of thing could save space. We’ll see.

Right now, though, we’re just waiting for warmer weather. I had hoped to get out for my first ride of the year today but freezing rain overnight and cold temps early in the day persuaded me otherwise. Camping weather–June–is still a ways off. Patience.

Biker Quote for Today

Companion wanted. Male motocrosser seeks caring and generous lady with her own dirt bike. Please send photo of dirt bike.

You learn a lot in rider training classes; what you need to do then is put that knowledge to use.

I like to think I’m a pretty good rider. Not only have I been riding plenty for 25 years, I have also taken the Beginning Rider Course, the Experienced Rider Course, and the Rider Coach training to teach others to ride. So I’ve learned a few things along the way. Presumably I put at least some of what I’ve learned to use.

I was coming south on I-25 recently and traffic was middling thick. Apparently I wasn’t paying enough attention because all of a sudden I saw brake lights coming on in a hurry on the cars ahead and I was way too close to the guy right in front of me.

I went for the brakes hard and felt my rear tire lock up and start to slide sideways. I wasn’t overly concerned because I’ve experienced this before and reacted by pulling my foot off the brake. We had even practiced exactly this in a track day lesson I took one time.

This time was unlike any in the past. Whether it was because I was going faster, or I wasn’t as quick at getting off the brake, or whatever, when I did pull my foot off, the bike certainly straightened out and stood up right away but the front end also shook violently. I realized that that was exactly the sort of physics that would, under more extreme conditions, result in my getting through over the front end in a high-side crash. Fortunately, this time I rode it out.

That got me thinking about what we discussed in class. The general rule of thumb is that if your front end starts to slide you release the brake immediately. When the rear starts to slide the teaching is to ride it out, because if you don’t, you’re looking for a high-side.

But there seem to be discrepancies here. As I said, at a track day class we practiced braking till the slide started and then releasing. And that makes sense. If you don’t slide too much the counter action when you release presumably won’t be that great. Apparently, though, at higher speeds, and the further you’ve gone into the slide, the greater the counter action.

So what do you do in a case like the one I was in? In the split-second I had to think there was no thought in my mind of riding it out because I was pretty sure if I didn’t get off the brake right now that my back end was going to sweep around and I’d go down in a low-side crash. And I didn’t want to do that. So I raised my foot.

I don’t have the textbook answer as to what I should have done in this situation. I do know that what I did worked, so I have to think that wasn’t a totally bad response. But I’m thinking I need to discuss this with some of the very experienced rider coaches I know and get their thoughts. If I learn anything valuable I’ll let you know.

Biker Quote for Today

If you get it out of shape, gas it hard. It may not help but it’ll make it spectacular for anyone watching!

Having three bikes reduces the number of miles you put on any one bike.

My mileage numbers were up on all three bikes in 2014, so that’s the good news (at least as far as I’m concerned). And down on the car. I would have liked the numbers to go further in each direction but at least they moved in the right directions.

The Honda was up the most percentagewise, although it had the lowest base to start from. I rode it 712 miles last year, compared to a paltry 327 miles in 2013. That’s the thing with having three motorcycles: time spent on one is often time not spent on another.

The Concours numbers were still a tiny fraction of what they had been the four years I spent freelancing full-time, but at least I put in more than 1,000 miles on it, which I had not in 2013. Total miles for 2014 were 1,037, compared to a piddling 666 in 2013. Compare that to the 9,437 I put on the Connie in 2012. I’ll point out though that I took the Suzuki on the OFMC trips in 2013 and in 2014, so that reduced the Kawi numbers substantially. The Connie is the bike I normally like to take on that trip.

And how did the Suzuki do? It rang up 2,596 miles compared to 2,294 the previous year. So that was respectable.

Meanwhile, I only put 7,558 miles on my car, compared to 10,109 in 2013. Match that with the total of 4,345 for the three bikes versus 3,287 the year before and you get more than 1,000 more miles on the bikes and about 2,500 fewer car miles. I’ll take that.

The difference this year had an awful lot to do with the fact that I just simply rode to work more often in 2014 than I did in 2013. I also went to work less, having cut back from five days a week to four days a week in about June. And I still ride the light rail to work a couple days most weeks.

I’m looking for things to change seriously in 2015. My job at the National Park Service will be drawing to a close around the first of May and I just don’t see any way in the world that I’m not going to ride a heck of a lot more and drive my car a whole lot less. Plus, the OFMC is looking at taking several trips this summer instead of the usual one.

I have a strong expectation that 2015 is going to be one heck of a good motorcycling year. Bring it on!

Biker Quote for Today

I’d rather be a rider for a minute, than a spectator for a lifetime.