Trip planning

[Mrs. DantesDame]

Brought up by this thread, there is curiosity in how strict riders are in their motorcycle trip planning efforts.

What sayest thou?  

[Sport-Touring]

[coho]

I usually have a general idea of direction or region, but aside from that weather and whim are the rule of the day.

[SLK50]

I'm in the early planning stages for a trip in 2016.
16 days, 14 states, 4000+ miles.
6 planned stops, 2 reservations.  ( in cities )
The remainder will be "on the fly".
Weather will be a factor in determining routes each day.
This has worked very well for similar trips in the past.
Ride, eat, sleep, repeat.

[radlefty]

Depends on how much time I have. I prefer to just have a general direction and change on the fly, but the last several yrs my vacation time has been either on the way out or way back from upstate New York ( I live in Mpls) where I work for 3 weeks in July. I teach bowling for a living and have camps that I have to teach either right before or after the 3 weeks of camp in N.Y.  So I usually have 6-9 days I can sneak in one way or the other. My favorite trips have been where I've had 2-3 weeks and just ridden with just a general direction. Been a few yrs since I've been able to do that.

[mugwump58]

I have to plan due to work. I look forward to that bottom option.

[Yankee Dog]

Although there is
Much romance in deciding on the fly it is very difficult to know which road is best sitting at ground level at an intersection.   

I much prefer to do a good map study. Experience shows that if it looks twisty on Google than more than likely it is twisty on the ground as well.

[sagerat]

Destination gets selected and then look for fun roads to get there.  I have a general direction and daily distance +/- 100 miles and call it a plan.

[naustin]

I usually plan the ride "there" in detail, including specific routes and nightly reservations.  There isn't much left to chance other than the watering holes.  On the way "back", I typically wing it.

Works for me and is a nice balance of making sure I hit all the roads and locations I want to see, while allowing serendipity to guide me into things I would otherwise have never found on my way home.

[Cameleer]

Well, I guess it all depends on one's circumstances. Living in the Sandpit, I have to fly to Europe on 3 days off from work so I can enjoy my bike, which means that for me time is always the issue and cannot afford to leave much to chance.
Normally I have the whole trip planned and timed as far as route and hotels go, but once there I always end up improvising something either to shorten or lenghten the ride by getting on or off the motorways. I normally end up riding between 300-600 kms per day.
On the rare occassion that I can ride in the same area for a day or two, it is totally a random route.

[PatM]

It depends on the trip, destination or time in season. Also who I ride with.
Usually, when I ride alone or with my wife or a friend, I plan the roads but don't plan the stays.
My trips to Europe were planned a lot more because of the group I was travelling with.

[Roadhound]

I'll usually pick out something that I want to see and that's the extent of my planning. I will spend time looking at maps and file away in my mind places and roads that might be interesting if I wind up in that area. Reservations, never, planning out gas stops, you've got to be kidding. I made a 5 week trip a couple of years back and the only thing I planned was that I wanted to see Toketee Falls in Oregon, best trip I ever made.

I'm going to the west for 6 months next year, the extent of my planning is a handful of things I'd like to see and a bunch of roads I'd like to ride. I do like the "fart in a whirlwind" technique of planning that really fits in with my thought of the perfect motorcycle trip.

[APEowner]

The less structured the trip the more I like it.  Sometimes out of necessity I have a destination but I prefer not to.  When I can I like my destination to be something like someplace warmer, the ocean or a mountain.    

Some of my best day rides have been when I program the GPS for home, tell it I don't want to ride on highways and then ignore it except for the arrival time while I turn on any road that looks like fun.  When the arrival time is the time I want to be home I follow the GPS directions back home.

[Nodaclu]

When I first started covering some distance, I wanted every single detail planned out. Then, as time passed, I got it down to the point of picking my destination city/town and motel/campground, and as long as I got there, it didn't really matter how or when.

When the next bike is in the garage, and I'm ready to take a trip, I'm going to try and back down further, to just a general direction and sense of the things I want to see, but otherwise just let everything unfold in front of me as it will.

Reducing the planning bit by bit has made me happier each time, so I'm curious if there's any outer limit to that. Knowing where I'm going to lay my head each night has been a big source of comfort for me in the past though, so it'll be really interesting to see if not planning that part either is too far out of my comfort zone.

[barrypz]

Short rides might be spontaneous, but over 1000 miles, I want good roads to ride, good places to eat.

[Last1Out]

I'll plan where I want to get to, eventually, then-
Rule number 1, no GPS.
Rule number 2, no maps.
Rule number 3, along the way, stop often and talk to the natives at the local restaurants and shops, ask for good roads to get to somewhere along the route to where you're headed.

I've found people to be more than willing to point out some phenomenal roads that I would never have imagined were there. No where have I found this to be more true than in Western North Carolina. Everyone talks about the Dragon, the Snake, the Cherohala, etc., but when the locals show you their roads, you won't believe what you'll discover!

[Mrs. DantesDame]

I know that this is a poll, but since the title fits, here are some links that I've compiled of websites for planning trips. So far I've tried Furkot and really like the features. Granted, I'm about 10 minute into planning a trip, but so far, so good!


https://trips.furkot.com/welcome

http://tourstart.org/

http://ww1.aaa.com/scripts/WebObjects.dll/AAAOnline?association=caa&club=282&page=ITTServices

http://www.motowhere.com/

http://rideplanner.harley-davidson.com/rideplanner/ridePlanner.jsp

http://www.motoplaner.de/

http://ridewithgps.com/

https://roadtrippers.com/?mode=plan

[mugwump58]

Thanks! I just started playing with one and it looks like it'll be a great help.  

[Mrs. DantesDame]

Reporting back that after another 30 minutes with Furkot, I REALLY like

It shows me "points of interest" along my route, as well as listing food/sleep options. Very convenient!

[HipGnosis]

I voted 'plan with a little wiggle room', but I actually plan with quite a bit of 'wiggle' room.

Before I got a GPS that let me plan and load a specific route, I used multiple highlighters on my map(s) - Green for scenic roads, red for twisty, yellow for sweepers or the best road to get thru an area and yellow circles around points of interest.
How much color was in an area made it easy to pick general directions.  How much time I had available helped decide how far out of my way I'd go for a twisty road (or two).

I'd luv to find a way to incorporate this concept into the GPS, smartphone and/or tablet/notebook way of planning and travelling.

Furkot looks interesting - I'll play with it this winter.

[Orson]

I know that this is a poll, but since the title fits, here are some links that I've compiled of websites for planning trips. So far I've tried Furkot and really like the features. Granted, I'm about 10 minute into planning a trip, but so far, so good!


https://trips.furkot.com/welcome

I added furkot to the trip planning recources thread:

https://www.sport-touring.net/forums/index.php/topic,78907.new.html#new