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Get Yourself Ready for the Great American Motorcycle Road Trip
There's no denying that Harleys and other large motorcycles have a certain mystic that surround them. If you've seen "Easy Rider" and other famous biking films, you may visualize yourself out on the open road, perhaps in the middle of a desert on a long road trip, riding along with the breeze in your face. If you are a new motorcycle rider, however, you should realize that there a lot of physical demands associated with a long road trip and you need to be properly prepared for it to be a success. Here's how to get yourself ready for the great American motorcycle road trip.
-- Become a seasoned rider around town before taking your bike out on the open road
You should get acclimated to riding in all kinds of weather and under all kinds of traffic conditions within the safety and proximity of your own home. Make sure you get plenty of experience riding in the driving rain or in gusty winds and in heavy highway traffic. Testing the roads under less than ideal circumstances will help you to choose the kinds of foul weather gear work best for you and will give you the confidence to handle just about any situation that may come your way.
-- Get physically fit in order to be able to take the rigors of a long trip
As you probably have already found out, it takes a lot of muscles and a lot of strength to ride a bike. You'll have to multiply your fitness level exponentially in relation to the long distances you will cover on a road trip. It's not unlike horseback riding: you may do OK for an hour or so, but the longer you ride, the sorer your leg and back muscles get.
Take the time to work out, do strength training, and work up to riding longer distances in much the same way as marathon runners do. A marathon runner could never run the full distance without training, nor can a cyclist handle a long road trip without being physically ready.
-- Keep in mind that you your concentration levels will be working on overdrive, so when planning your trip make sure to factor in frequent rest stops. It takes a lot of concentration to drive long distances in unfamiliar territory, and this is naturally fatiguing. You cannot trade off driving duties and take a nap like you can on a car road trip, so go easy on yourself. You will be much more prone to making mistakes and your judgment will be impaired if you get too tired, leaving you vulnerable to unnecessary accidents.
Good planning and preparation as well as exercising sound judgment will help your first motorcycle road trip be a roaring success.
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