{"id":8556,"date":"2018-02-15T11:17:36","date_gmt":"2018-02-15T18:17:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/motorcyclecolorado.com\/blog\/?p=8556"},"modified":"2018-02-15T11:17:36","modified_gmt":"2018-02-15T18:17:36","slug":"summer-is-coming-roughing-it-on-two-wheels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/motorcyclecolorado.com\/blog\/summer-is-coming-roughing-it-on-two-wheels\/","title":{"rendered":"Summer Is Coming: Roughing It On Two Wheels"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"motorcycles<\/a>

Motorcycles are great for camping.<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

Days are getting longer, although the temperatures are still low. But summer isn’t that far off and that means it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for touring motorcyclists to start thinking about hitting the open road. For most that means planning routes and making motel reservations. And then there are the campers.<\/p>\n

No, not those humongo Runnamucca RVs, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re talking about two-wheeled travelers who prefer to rough it, with tents and sleeping bags.<\/p>\n

For anyone accustomed to car camping, where you take the cooler full of food and drink, an axe to cut firewood, a two-burner Coleman stove to cook on, along with eating utensils and everything else you can throw in, camping on a motorcycle might seem impossible. How do you carry all that stuff?<\/p>\n

You don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t. Motorcycle camping is an exercise in minimalism. In fact, there is very little that you actually must have, provided you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re really prepared to rough it. Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s start with the essentials.<\/p>\n

Staying Dry<\/strong>
\nMore than anything else, you need to stay dry. Getting wet means getting cold and that means all kinds of misery. Generally you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll need a tent. Sure, you can sleep under a bridge if a raging storm is beating down but that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not exactly camping–that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s survival.<\/p>\n

Obviously the smaller your tent packs up the better. A simple nylon one – or two-man tent will do the job, preferably of the pop-up dome tent variety with shock-corded poles. The kind with a rain fly that extends out to form a sheltered vestibule is especially good, particularly if there won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be enough room inside for all your stuff.<\/p>\n

Next, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll need something to sleep on that will cushion you from the rocks and\/or uneven ground. An air mattress works well but may be bulky. A thin foam pad takes up less room and doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t require blowing up. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s your choice.<\/p>\n

Sleeping bags are probably the bulkiest item on your camping list, so choose carefully. Yes, a down bag stuffs down to the smallest possible size, but if it gets wet it is worthless. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s probably better to accept the larger bulk and get a fiber-fill bag.<\/p>\n

One tip: Be sure you have some way to carry these things on your bike that keeps them dry, or that, conversely, you can pack them into wet without making a mess of everything else.<\/p>\n

Everything Else Is Extra<\/strong>
\nSo what do you do about eating when you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re camping on your motorcycle? Some campers carry the small, one-burner stoves that take up about as much room as a two-pound coffee can. But that then requires that you also carry utensils and something to cook in. That works best when you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re riding something like a Gold Wing and pulling a trailer.<\/p>\n

For everyone else, there are three options: eat at a restaurant near your campsite, pick up food that doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t need to be cooked, or carry one of those hand-held grills that fold over to hold food in place over the campfire.<\/p>\n

And of course you need something to drink. A small water bottle or canteen is easy to carry, but hey, if you picked up a steak at the last town it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pretty darn nice to wash it down with some red wine. Just be sure to carry a corkscrew or buy wine with a twist-off cap.<\/p>\n

All that other stuff you throw in the car when you go camping? Excess. You don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have room to carry it and you really don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t need it. Sure, if there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something else you feel you must have, and you can find room for it, take it. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s your ride. Yes, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nice to have a hot cup of coffee first thing in the morning, but knowing that that cup is 20 miles down the road is a powerful incentive to get up, break camp, and get rolling right away.<\/p>\n

For the Hard Core<\/strong>
\nThe bottom line on motorcycle camping, as long as the weather is good, is that all you really need to do is pull over and throw your foam pad and sleeping bag out on the ground. Or on top of a picnic table.<\/p>\n

Two other tips: Lacking the enclosure of a tent, sleeping in your helmet keeps bugs off your face, provides a pillow, and keeps your face out of the dirt. And sleeping in your rain suit keeps your clothes clean and dry.<\/p>\n

Biker Quote for Today<\/h3>\n

Feel safe at night, sleep with a biker.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Days are getting longer, although the temperatures are still low. But summer isn’t that far off and that means it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for touring motorcyclists to start thinking about hitting the open road. For most that means planning routes and making motel reservations. And then there are the campers. No, not those humongo Runnamucca RVs, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194],"tags":[797],"class_list":["post-8556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-motorcycle-camping","tag-motorcycle-camping"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclecolorado.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclecolorado.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclecolorado.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclecolorado.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclecolorado.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8556"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclecolorado.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8556\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8558,"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclecolorado.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8556\/revisions\/8558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclecolorado.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclecolorado.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclecolorado.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}