Join Tom and Todd from Best Motorcycle Roads as they share insights from their extensive experience to make your motorcycle trips safer and more enjoyable. Whether you're planning your first trip or looking to improve your journey, tune in to learn about the best gear, safety practices, and the thrill of the ride.
Transcripts
Episode 017 - Don't do what we did - Best Motorcycle Roads Podcast - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRZfdLeg3K0
Transcript:
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(00:41) from essential prep to Unforgettable Roots we've got you covered before we Kickstart today's Journey we ask you to sign up for our BMR Rider alerts it's our way of keeping you in the loop with the latest rides tips and stories we promise no spam only the essentials to enhance your motorcycle Adventures join the BMR crew today today we'll put a link in the show notes this segment about motorcycle gear reviews and tips we call the toolkit today's tool kit has rock straps in it I don't know if you've ever used the rock
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(01:46) little give to it and uh is Rock strap a typ it's a brand that's the brand R yep R okay R okay R okay okay and I've never seen anybody copy them quite yet so maybe they have the patent but they're they come in I think 3/4 in maybe 1 in um sizes and they're just wonderful um anytime you're trying to tie those you know you've got some luggage on your back that's tightly coupled and that's fine but anytime you're trying to tie on seats or anything like that there's just
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(02:48) try tie things down tightly and then it just loosens up over time and pretty soon half the bag's hanging over you know running into the muffler you get to the next stop and your back's actually on fire you know or you're dragging it down the road by one one strap yeah Rock straps Rock straps and they do c c covers and then some of them actually have a little reflectivity to them too oh that's nice yeah ridewise is the section we focus on planning and safety tips today's ridewise segment I
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(03:57) has the TPS sensors so you can bring it up on the computer but you know we're getting old we have to get down on the ground to uh lay that hard ground it's not so bad getting know I just getting back up getting back up is tough uh so yeah check check tire pressures check your lights um you know more than one time I've lost a headlight yeah on a on a trip and uh you know luckily we didn't get into Dusk and dark it's good to mitigate it though too like so if you lose a headlight just tuck you back in one behind so you're
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(04:57) uh side panels fall off motorcycles been riding and get run over uh we've had kickstands come loose yep uh we've had camera Dr uh brackets you know drop we've had mirrors drop uh I had a a a fog light fall off once you had a fog light fall off we've had uh Highway Peg you know fall off so yeah just kind of go around and and kind of check all that stuff at each stop I mean it just take you a minute or two to quick walk around especially when everyone else is filling up with fuel or grabbing something to
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(05:58) rest breaks while you're writing we've talked about hydration before but um you know stretch you know make sure you're not going to you know get that hip cramp you know and give your shoulders a break and yeah um yeah just stretch move around keep everything limber uh when you're when you're taking those breaks absolutely the next segment is what we call the mile marker it's our story segment for today's mile marker we're going to talk about uh maybe a first overnight trip Todd and I are both
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(06:55) just you asking people who have been on the road doing the thing that you want to do and one of the um trips that or questions that came in is like help us with the first overnight trip you know what should we know and we've talked a little bit about it before I think but really one of the things I like to talk about is really just um kind of circling maybe your location so even if you're going to do a few hundred 500 700 miles maybe keep your home base in the middle of that you can circle around it it makes it a lot
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(07:57) you know up Iowa Minnesota down Wisconsin in vice versa um and uh someone had pointed out that Illinois 84 that's a great ride that's on the that'd be north of savan on the Illinois side and it is it's a beautiful beautiful ride yeah we talk a lot about Wisconsin Highway 35 it's kind of one of our favorites we're generally riding home on that one coming from the north It's the Great River Road as well just unbelievable um rides Bluffs you know we've talked about the locks and dams
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(09:02) Native American burial grounds and just a ton of Scenic overlooks there um and then there's also I think in that same area by cville the Nelson Dewey State Park and then if you're going to cville you might as well take the fairy right that's cool it's an old fery it's very slow moving you pull the bike on put the kickstand in five minutes and you're there yeah the first time rewrote it I just remember my was like we rode up and you literally go and there's a metal box flip it open and then there's a red
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(10:06) music venue I I we talked about this I haven't seen you can tell it's it's nice for that um The Barn restaurant is in pren um that's pretty cool place um on the Iowa side there is the Balltown Family Restaurant that's kind of a classic and then also pososi Brewing Company now I don't think you've hit that yet hav been there yet Brad and Mike and I did that on a run and they have like a museum there's a great story about that if you if you have time and check out YouTube but toi is a very
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(11:07) are around you for the first trip what else do you got for your for first trip ideas yeah so you're you're thinking about like just getting used to riding longer yeah staying overnight you know yeah what to pack yeah I think that's a pretty good idea just kind of stay in your in your area in case you needed to be home or you know yeah you're just not feeling right about it I mean that's the story of the motorcycle that I got that I'm riding now is the guy bought it had it fully customized him and his wife were
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(12:01) time we'd go I'd forget and so that I'd go to Walmart and buy the exact same pair of swimming trucks because you like that pair that's all no it was like three years in a row the ex they just had the the one pair you know so I have three pairs of the exact same pair of so you never know you know you just but it's also a lesson I think maybe and you've talked about this a few times is pack it up what you think you're going to need and then take half out and then and then you probably still have too
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(12:51) com podcast all the information you need will be there uh but you can subscribe on Spotify Amazon music Apple pocketcast and YouTube this is the interactive segment we will be looking for input from you uh we want you to send us your questions and suggestions for roads topics and anything else you have on your mind today's roadside Q&A comes from Tim and uh Tim was uh just kind of asking about how do you find local information um you know in in all the various places and I know you've talked about you know Chambers of Commerce and
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(13:53) out and find things and yeah we've seen I mean it's interesting I mean I know that there's a post in there right now that's I'm looking you know best roads in Idaho best roads here best roads there there's someone from everywhere there I mean I think the motorcycle trips in device has about 25,000 people in it now and helpful all helpful yeah all helpful otherwise you get rid of them yeah I ditch them quick but yeah no Shameless self-promotion as I always tell right yeah uh yeah Tom runs a
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(14:47) people want solid advice from people that have been there don't give advice if you haven't been there you know and no I don't want to watch your motorcycle video you know like we just don't post that stuff so yeah it's great um both of those so yep I hope that helps Tim yeah now it's time for The Last Mile it's our way to close the episode with our reflections of everything we've talked about um you know the best first trip is the first one right I mean like you know you can have a best second trip but uh
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(15:49) being out there having fun and just the silliness of it and if you think you want to be an ultra planner then Ultra plan it you know and if you think you want to just wing it just wing it and see what happens and you know sometimes it'll work and sometimes it won't but I think um we've found great things in both of those things and highly planned trips have been very good and lightly planned trips have been very good and uh you know I think you say it a lot and I think about it as don't be afraid to
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(16:45) start with a one or two day trip I I love that idea just uh stay a little more local I mean you could stay at a hotel of course and and and that but maybe do it like the do the loop around where you're at y um because you just don't know until you've done it um you just don't know you know how's my back going to do how my legs going to do my wrists going to do um you know will I need to get a throttle lock maybe you know you're out for two days and go geez I can't hang on to the handle to The
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(17:41) in Eastern Iowa and all over a lot of those used to be Gold Wing clubs now they kind of converted to General um but those people camp a lot and they'll have a couple three-day thing and they they go they're pretty General they actually the rides that I've on with them they've always had a a car that comes with too and some people get in there for a little while and then swap out and so that's another option you know too is if you're just completely not sure you know take a car and a bike true but I I would
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(18:37) Adventure alive and remember bikes friends and endless roads the stories ride forever take care [Music] [Music]
